Stour Valley Community School Review 2026: A small 11 to 16 secondary with clear routines and community focus

Tutor time starts at 08:20, and the day finishes at 15:00, a rhythm that suits families who value predictability and a defined routine.

This is a non-selective, mixed, 11 to 16 free school in Clare, serving rural West Suffolk and the surrounding border area. The school’s own emphasis is on knowing students well and building a strong sense of local community, supported by a compact scale compared with large town secondaries.

The values are consistently signposted as Be Kind, Be Brave, Be Ambitious, Collaborate, and they show up across wellbeing, enrichment, and behaviour language.

A school’s culture is often easiest to understand through the small mechanisms that make the day work. Here, that starts with an early tutor session and a layout of five teaching periods with structured break and lunch points. For many students, this predictability reduces friction and helps staff intervene early if attendance, organisation, or friendships start to wobble.

Relationships are a repeated theme in the most recent external evidence. Pupils are described as comfortable speaking to staff, with wellbeing prioritised through mentoring and counselling, plus multiple reporting routes for concerns, including anonymous options. That combination, relationship-based pastoral systems plus practical reporting channels, tends to suit students who do best when adults are accessible and processes are clear.

Student voice has some distinct hooks. The ethics committee, made up of pupils, is referenced as a contributor to behaviour expectations that students understand and follow. This is more than branding, it is an example of how leadership tries to make expectations feel co-owned, rather than simply imposed.

Leadership context also matters. Rachel Kelly is named as headteacher in the April 2023 inspection report, and she was appointed to the role on 1 September 2018 according to the Stour Valley Educational Trust’s 2018 to 2019 trustees’ report.

The latest Ofsted inspection (25 and 26 April 2023) judged the school Good overall, and Good in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

On GCSE performance measures, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 47.4 and Progress 8 is -0.14 provided. EBacc average point score is 3.96, and 2.6% achieved grade 5 or above across EBacc subjects. These figures point to broadly typical outcomes on headline measures, alongside an EBacc profile that is an area of focus rather than a defining strength. (FindMySchool metrics based on official data.)

Rankings add helpful context for parents comparing nearby options. Ranked 2,473rd in England and 2nd in the Sudbury local area for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), performance sits in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile). (FindMySchool ranking based on official data.)

A key nuance is curriculum entry, not just results. The April 2023 inspection describes an ambitious curriculum in many subjects, but also flags a “pocket” where teaching engagement and expectations are weaker, and links this to low EBacc entry historically. Leaders’ response is described as having already increased EBacc take-up for Year 10, which suggests active course correction rather than denial.

The curriculum intent is framed as broad and balanced across key stage 3 and key stage 4, with arts, sport, design and technology, and languages presented as important alongside English, mathematics and science.

Where the school appears to place particular emphasis is on sequencing and retention, rather than novelty for its own sake. In most subjects, teachers are described as modelling clearly, setting activities that build subject knowledge, and checking what pupils know so that gaps are addressed quickly. The implication for families is straightforward: students who respond well to explicit explanation and regular checking are likely to feel supported, while those who need very high autonomy may find the approach more structured than they prefer.

Reading is treated as a cross-school priority, with regular opportunities to read for pleasure and attention to subject-specific vocabulary. Some interventions are described as not consistently precise for pupils at earlier stages of reading fluency, which matters for parents of children who arrive in Year 7 below chronological reading age. The school’s direction of travel, however, is to tighten those interventions rather than treat reading as solely an English department job.

With education ending at Year 11, the central transition question is post-16 choice rather than sixth form entry. The school integrates careers guidance into personal, social and health education and plans employer engagement and work experience opportunities, which helps students connect GCSE choices to realistic next steps.

Families should expect the school to be strongest on guided decision-making and preparation, rather than publishing a glossy destinations headline. The practical implication is that parents who want a highly quantified destination picture may need to ask directly about common pathways to sixth-form colleges, further education providers, and apprenticeships, particularly for students whose strengths are technical or vocational.

For September entry into Year 7, applications are made through the coordinated local authority process (your home local authority if you live outside Suffolk). The published deadline for on-time secondary applications for September 2026 entry is Friday 31 October 2025, and Suffolk’s national offer day for secondary places is Monday 2 March 2026.

The school’s Year 7 Published Admission Number for 2026 to 2027 is 115.

Oversubscription criteria are clearly set out. After children with an Education, Health and Care plan naming the school, priority is given in order to looked-after and previously looked-after children, siblings, children of staff (where eligible), children attending the named partner primary school (Clare Community Primary School), then distance from home to school measured in a straight line.

Local demand looks real rather than speculative. In the 2025 to 2026 admissions round, 145 applications were received by the closing date for Year 7, 120 places were allocated to on-time applicants, and 25 on-time applications were refused.

The same Suffolk admissions data also records that the last child admitted in that round was allocated under the distance criterion at 5.264 miles. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

Parents who want a precision check against historical cut-off distances should use the FindMySchoolMap Search tool to measure from their front door, then treat it as guidance rather than a promise, especially in rural areas where applicant distribution can shift year to year.

Pastoral support is not a small add-on here, it is positioned as core to how students experience the school. Mentoring and counselling are referenced as part of the wellbeing offer, and students are described as having different ways to report worries, including anonymously.

The school’s wellbeing pages also point families towards named internal roles such as year leaders, form tutors, and a wellbeing and futures lead, alongside signposting to external agencies for mental health and emotional wellbeing support. That blend is useful for parents who want a clear escalation route, from form tutor to specialist support, rather than a single generic inbox.

Special educational needs support is framed through a combination of universal offers in each subject area and person-centred plans for students on the SEN register. The stated intent is early identification, planned provision, and regular review, with outside agencies involved where appropriate.

A candid point for parents is that the April 2023 inspection flags inconsistency in how fully some parents feel included in the review cycle for pupils with SEND. If your child relies on tightly coordinated home-school planning, it is worth asking how review meetings are scheduled, how parent input is captured, and how adjustments are shared across subject staff.

Ofsted also confirmed that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

The enrichment offer is one of the clearer “personality signals” of the school, because it includes clubs that go beyond the standard menu.

For quieter students, the library and SEND spaces are explicitly referenced as calmer lunchtime options, which matters in a small school where social dynamics can feel intense if you do not have places to decompress.

The published Autumn 2025 clubs list shows distinctive options such as Dungeons & Dragons, Climate Emergency, Literature Society, Poetry & Spoken Word, Birding Club, Film Society, Music Tech Club, and Design Ventura 26 for Year 9, alongside practical support such as homework club and GCSE catch-up sessions.

Sport sits alongside that. The same list references football opportunities across year groups, plus netball, and a school show with set design activity, suggesting a performing arts strand that includes both on-stage and behind-the-scenes roles.

A particularly helpful example of STEM in practice is that the inspection references pupils building a racing car in a STEM club, as well as the climate emergency committee improving recycling procedures. The implication for parents is that enrichment can translate into tangible projects, not just discussion groups.

Trips and visits are also part of the picture. Residentials are referenced, alongside theatre trips and ski trips, which indicates that the school uses experiences beyond the classroom to broaden horizons, even though it is not a large urban secondary with immediate access to museums and universities.

The school day runs from tutor time at 08:20 to the end of the day at 15:00, with a stated weekly total of 33 hours and 20 minutes of compulsory attendance.

For families planning logistics, this timetable often works well with rural transport patterns, but it also means after-school supervision is more likely to be via clubs and enrichment than a formal wraparound childcare model. The site’s enrichment schedule includes lunchtime clubs and after-school activities, with some sessions running to around 16:00.

Transport is a real planning factor in this part of Suffolk. Suffolk’s own application guidance strongly encourages parents to think about travel before applying, including eligibility rules for local-authority funded travel and the use of nearest-school tools that are updated annually.

• EBacc pathway is a developing strength, not a headline feature. The inspection links historically low EBacc entry to a weaker pocket of teaching engagement, with leaders already increasing take-up for Year 10. Families who strongly prioritise a full EBacc profile should ask how options are structured and what support exists for students who might otherwise opt out of languages or humanities.

• Reading support may need close monitoring for some students. Leaders prioritise reading, but interventions are described as sometimes not precise enough for pupils still learning to read fluently. If your child needs structured catch-up, ask what screening is used at entry and how progress is tracked through Year 7 and Year 8.

• SEND review processes are worth clarifying early. The school states a person-centred approach, but some parents are described as feeling not fully included in review cycles. Families may want clarity on meeting frequency, communication routines, and how adjustments are shared across subject teachers.

• Competition for Year 7 places can be meaningful. Recent Suffolk admissions data shows more applications than allocated places in the 2025 to 2026 round, and distance was the deciding factor for the last place offered. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

This is a small, community-rooted 11 to 16 secondary where routine, relationships, and a structured approach to learning shape the day. The academic picture is broadly typical for England on headline measures, with clear improvement priorities around EBacc take-up and targeted reading interventions.

Who it suits: families who want a local, non-selective school with a strong pastoral focus, purposeful enrichment (including clubs with genuine character), and clear expectations around behaviour and daily routines. The main challenge is admissions pressure in some years, especially for families living further from Clare.