The Dean Academy, Lydney

Ofsted's report card from its 27 January 2026 inspection grades The Dean Academy on 6 areas: 4 expected standard and 2 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "The school and the trust have raised expectations for attendance with pupils and their families."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders set a clear and ambitious expectation that all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve well and thrive."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "School and trust leaders, as well as those responsible for governance, have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and the areas that need further development."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have fully reviewed the personal development curriculum."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils' outcomes in national tests in English and mathematics are in line with the national average, including for disadvantaged pupils."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Teaching across the curriculum is too inconsistent."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "• Leaders should ensure that highly effective teaching is embedded across the school so that all groups of pupils progress well across the curriculum. • Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment strategies to identify what pupils know and can do. This information should then be used to adapt teaching so that pupils build on their prior learning and achieve well. • Leaders should ensure that teachers have the expertise they need to support pupils to produce high‑quality written work so that pupils can achieve highly in all subjects and qualifications. • Leaders and those responsible for governance should evaluate the impact of school improvement strategies to ensure that their vision is fully realised and is having the intended positive impact for pupils".

In its own words: "British values, as set out by the DfE's guidance, are defined as: At TDA we view British Values as encompassing what it means to be a socially moral citizen in a modern and diverse Great Britain."

From the headteacher's welcome: "The Dean Academy is a school that is committed to the core values of respect and responsibility, with everything we do focused around our mission statement of “Preparing you today for a successful tomorrow”."

In 2026, pupils at The Dean Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 43.1, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 51.2 in Gloucestershire and 47 across England.

34% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 54% in Gloucestershire and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 43.1.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.02: pupils made about average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 33.8, against 47.9 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 14.1 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Geography and History.

For September 2026 entry, 162 families put The Dean Academy as their first choice and 219 named it as one of their preferences, for 165 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 1 family who put it first was not offered a place there.

The Dean Academy is one of 10 schools run by The Athelstan Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.7 in 2024/25.

102 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about The Dean Academy (as of April 2026): 78% would recommend the school, 75% say their child is happy there and 53% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (78%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (53%).

Of the 123 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 75% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 53% to a further education college, 7% to an apprenticeship and 8% into work.

34.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 4% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 157 pupils (19.2%) received SEN support and 50 (6.1%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is a moderate learning difficulty.

The Dean Academy has a resourced provision for autism: 10 places, 10 pupils on roll.

The nearest tram or metro stop is St Mary's Halt (Dean Forest Railway), about 390 metres away (roughly a 5-minute walk).

14 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is The Dean Academy (by), 90 metres away.

In 2024/25, The Dean Academy issued 157 suspensions, 21.4 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 2 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to The Dean Academy are Lydney Church of England Community School (0.4 miles), Severnbanks Primary School (0.8 miles), Aylburton Church of England Primary School (0.9 miles) and Primrose Hill Church of England Primary Academy (1.1 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.