Granville Academy

Granville Academy has improved since its previous inspection and is now performing well across the board. Inspectors found an ambitious, broad curriculum, strong teaching and effective support for pupils with SEND, with pupils achieving increasingly well. Behaviour is calm and purposeful, pupils feel safe and happy, and personal development and careers provision are strong. The school also benefits from clear trust support and good staff morale. However, the quality of education is not yet consistently excellent. In some subjects, work is occasionally not matched closely enough to pupils’ abilities and prior knowledge, so a few pupils find tasks too easy and do not learn as much as they could. A small number of pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, also miss too much learning because of poor behaviour or attendance. The report identifies two main priorities: making sure the ambitious curriculum is delivered consistently well in every subject, and building on current work to improve attendance and behaviour for the few pupils who are missing lessons. Safeguarding is effective, and the school is part of the Affinity Learning Partnership multi-academy trust.

Strengths

• Unwavering ambition and high expectations for pupils
• Rich, broad curriculum that prepares pupils well for life beyond school
• Pupils achieve increasingly well across a range of subjects
• Positive staff-pupil relationships help pupils feel safe and happy
• Strong behaviour management creates calm, purposeful lessons
• Bullying is rare and addressed quickly when it occurs
• Wide range of trips, clubs and leadership opportunities
• Effective support for pupils with SEND
• Well-trained teachers with strong subject knowledge
• Good use of retrieval activities and questioning to check understanding
• Effective support for pupils in the early stages of reading
• Comprehensive personal development provision, including values lessons and assemblies
• Strong careers education and guidance
• Staff workload and well-being are prioritised
• Trust and governance provide appropriate challenge and support
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum implementation is occasionally inconsistent across subjects
• Work is sometimes too easy or not closely matched to pupils’ abilities and prior knowledge
• Some pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, miss too much learning due to poor behaviour or absence
• Gaps in knowledge remain for pupils who miss lessons frequently
• Attendance and behaviour need further improvement for a small number of pupils

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Granville Academy attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 18.1% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 4.5% of pupils at Granville Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Granville Academy had 16.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.1% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 19.1% of pupils at Granville Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Granville Academy received £7,750 and spent £7,696 for each of its 911 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £974,000 (£1,069 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Affinity Learning Partnership, income was £7,699 and spending £7,452 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Swadlincote · Derbyshire local authority: places and applications

Granville Academy is part of Affinity Learning Partnership, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• The Pingle Academy Swadlincote
• Lansdowne Infant Academy Burton-On-Trent
• Eton Park Junior Academy Burton-On-Trent
• Horninglow Primary School Burton-On-Trent
• The de Ferrers Academy Burton-On-Trent
• Richard Wakefield CofE Primary Academy Burton-On-Trent

What is Granville Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Granville Academy is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Granville Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Granville Academy was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Granville Academy have?

Granville Academy has 914 pupils on roll.

What age range does Granville Academy cover?

Granville Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Granville Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.0, and 49% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Granville Academy?

Granville Academy is at Burton Road, Woodville, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 7JR.