The Keystone Academy, Shrewsbury
The Keystone Academy is a special school for pupils aged 4 to 16 in Shrewsbury, part of Youth Engagement Schools Trust.
Data last updated 27 Oct 2026
The Keystone Academy in detail
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other special schools to The Keystone Academy are Bettws Lifehouse (1.2 miles, Good); Oakwood School (1.5 miles, Good); The Fitzroy Academy (2.5 miles, Good, selective); and Severndale Specialist Academy (3 miles, Requires improvement).
Bettws LifehouseOakwood SchoolThe Fitzroy AcademySeverndale Specialist Academy
The trust
The Keystone Academy is one of 7 schools run by Youth Engagement Schools Trust, an academy trust.
What parents say
32 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about The Keystone Academy (as of September 2025): 75% would recommend the school, 78% say their child is happy there and 42% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.
The strongest agreement was that the school supports their child's wider development (78%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (42%).
Who goes there
42.6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, and 1.6% speak English as an additional language, according to the 2026 school census.
Almost every pupil at The Keystone Academy has an education, health and care plan (122 of 122 in 2026). The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Shrewsbury Rail Station, about 1.9 miles away in a straight line.
The area around the school
Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood The Keystone Academy stands in is among the 20% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.
Suspensions and exclusions
In 2024/25, The Keystone Academy issued 33 suspensions, 29.7 for every 100 pupils, and no permanent exclusions.
Sources: Ofsted Parent View; DfE school census and special educational needs statistics; NaPTAN (Department for Transport); English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG); data.police.uk street-level crime; DfE exclusions statistics
Key Information
DfE GIASOfsted Rating
Ofsted · 2 years agoOverall
Quality of Education
Behaviour & Attitudes
Personal Development
Leadership & Management
Ofsted Insights
From Ofsted's January 2025 inspection report.
What This School Does Well
This school has a genuine big heart and excels at helping pupils who have had negative experiences and interrupted learning to settle and thrive. Staff are highly skilled at supporting emotional and social needs, and pupils report feeling valued and like they belong for the first time. The school is ambitious for every pupil's future and provides excellent personal development opportunities through residential visits, charity work and strong careers guidance.
Key Strengths
- Strong focus on pupils' mental health, well-being and emotional support with expert staff
- Excellent prioritisation of reading with effective strategies helping pupils catch up quickly
- Very well-supported personal development including residential visits, charity work and careers guidance
- Respectful and nurturing relationships across the school with calm behaviour most of the time
- Clear celebration of individuality with the school motto 'be yourself, be brilliant'
Areas for Improvement
- Curriculum in secondary phase does not build coherently from primary phase, creating disjointed learning
- Key knowledge, skills and vocabulary not clearly identified or sequenced in parts of the curriculum, particularly primary
- Variability in how well staff deliver curriculum content - some subjects taught sharply while others lack clarity
Safeguarding
Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
Extracurricular Activities
Residential visits, charity fundraising, board games, football, playground equipment activities, careers guidance
The Keystone Academy is a caring and vibrant specialist school for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs that opened in September 2022. Pupils feel safe, happy and valued, with staff highly skilled at supporting those with interrupted learning and challenging prior experiences.
At a Glance
42.6%
Free School Meals
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Sixth Form
No
Special Measures
What Parents Think
32 responsesSource: Ofsted Parent View, responses as at September 2025 - % who strongly agree or agree
Primary Performance (KS2)
Academic year 2025/26KS2 Results (% meeting expected standard)
Reading has declined from 33% to 10% (2024 to 2025). Maths has declined from 11% to 0% (2024 to 2025). Writing has declined from 22% to 0% (2024 to 2025).
How Does This School Compare?
Ranked against 5 nearby schools
Keep up with The Keystone Academy
Getting There
Bus Stops
Free school transport
Check free transport to The Keystone Academy from your postcode →
You apply to the council where you live. The Keystone Academy is in Shropshire; for families living there:
Apply to Shropshire for free school transport. Its policy is on the council's website.
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 4
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 1
- Children hurt
- 0
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 4 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 1 serious and 3 slight.
No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt.
1 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in Shropshire is 1 (the median across 187 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Capacity & Demand
School Occupancy
102%
Over capacity
122 pupils
120 places
2 pupils over capacity
as recorded on GIAS
Area Demand Pressure - Shrewsbury
Based on MHCLG Live Table 122 (2024-25, last 5 years) for Shrewsbury
Across Shropshire council
Places available
3,213
Applications
2,845
Got 1st preference
91.0%
Got preferred school
98.7%
All secondary applications across Shropshire council (2026/27), not just this school.
Inspection History
SEND & SEN Provision
SEN Overview
0
SEN Support
122
EHC Plans
100.0%
of Total Pupils
2026 academic year
Provision & Specialist Facilities
Pupils by Need Type
Pupil Demographics
Ethnicity
2026 academic year
Key Indicators
122
Total Pupils
83
Boys
39
Girls
2026 academic year
Workforce
21
Teachers
5.8:1
Pupil-teacher ratio
£49,017
Mean salary
2026 data
Pupil Absence2024/25
17.7%
Overall absence
48.3%
Persistent absence
120
Enrolments
Absence trend
Source: DfE pupil absence statistics. Persistent absence = pupils missing 10%+ sessions.
Feeder Primary Schools
Primary schools that likely feed into this school, based on proximity
Questions parents ask about The Keystone Academy
What are GCSE results like at The Keystone Academy?
In the 2026 results, pupils at The Keystone Academy achieved an Attainment 8 score of 7.9. 0% passed GCSE English and maths at grade 5 or above.
What is the catchment area for The Keystone Academy?
No fixed boundary. When The Keystone Academy is oversubscribed, Shropshire allocates places by its published criteria, usually ending with home-to-school distance.
How many pupils go to The Keystone Academy?
The Keystone Academy has around 122 pupils on roll. 43% are eligible for free school meals.
What is attendance like at The Keystone Academy?
17.7% of sessions were missed at The Keystone Academy in 2024/25. 48.3% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
How do I apply to The Keystone Academy?
Apply through Shropshire's coordinated admissions process, naming The Keystone Academy on your application. The national closing date in England is 31 October for secondary places and 15 January for primary places, in the year before your child starts.
How many road collisions happen near The Keystone Academy?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 4 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 1 serious and 3 slight. No children aged 0 to 15 were among the people hurt. 1 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in Shropshire is 1 (the median across 187 schools, same distance and years).
Where is The Keystone Academy?
The Keystone Academy is at Squinter Pip Way, Shrewsbury, SY5 8PY.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)