Special school in Dover, Kent
Elms School
Elms Vale Road, Dover, Kent, CT17 9PS
Ofsted
Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 14 March 2023.
Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.
Exam results
Special schools serve pupils whose needs the standard measures were not designed to describe, so results are not shown or ranked here.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 131
- Girls / boys
- 16 / 115
- Overall absence
- 22%
- Persistently absent
- 66%
England 5.8%
England 14.7% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 88%
- English as an additional language
- 1%
- With an EHC plan
- 100%
- On SEN support
- 0%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
- In education, work or training
- 84%
- Stayed in education
- 79%
- Started an apprenticeship
- 0%
- Stayed at this school's sixth form
- 0%
- No sustained destination
- 0%
- Pupils in the cohort
- 19
England 91.4%
England 85.4%
England 3.5%
England 5.8%
A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Dover 014B, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.
- Adults with a degree
- 23%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 17%
- Households owning their home
- 75%
- Households in social housing
- 7%
- Households with no car
- 15%
- Adults economically inactive
- 34%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Foundation special school
- Phase
- Special
- Ages
- Ages 5–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KSENT)
- Headteacher
- Head Teacher: John Dexter
- Local authority
- Kent
- Ward
- Maxton & Elms Vale
- Constituency
- Dover and Deal
- URN
- 119046
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest special schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sallygate SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 1.7 mi |
| Portal House SchoolCommunity special school | No grade | — | 4.6 mi |
| The Beacon FolkestoneFoundation special school | Outstanding 2024 | — | 5.1 mi |
| Compass Community School Coastal ParkOther independent special school | No grade | — | 5.3 mi |
| Learning Opportunities Centre SecondaryOther independent special school | No grade | — | 6 mi |
| Ripplevale SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 6.3 mi |
| Brewood Secondary SchoolOther independent special school | No grade | — | 8.3 mi |
Where these figures come from
- School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
- Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
- Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
- Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
- Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.
All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.