SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Wednesbury, Walsall

Grace Academy Darlaston

Herberts Park Road, Wednesbury, West Midlands, WS10 8QJ

Sixth form
School website 01215683300

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 21 April 2026.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

41.2 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

30% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

54% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

5% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.04confidence interval -0.25 to 0.18

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
D+
Average points per entry
24.9

England average 32.3

A level students
29

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1059
Places
1075
How full
Nearly full — 1059 of 1075 places taken
Girls / boys
512 / 547
Overall absence
11%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
36%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
52%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
14%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
21%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
89%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
83%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
34%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
175

After sixth form

Went to university
63%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
35

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

11% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
44%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
27

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. 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 Walsall 038A, 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
21%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
27%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
54%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
23%

England 17%

Households with no car
18%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
38%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
TOVE LEARNING TRUST
Headteacher
Principal: Henry Holland
Local authority
Walsall
Ward
Darlaston South
Constituency
Wolverhampton South East
URN
135956

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
St Thomas More Catholic School, WillenhallVoluntary aided school Good 2022 41.4 0.4 mi
Moseley ParkAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2024 44.8 1.1 mi
Gospel Oak SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 32.8 1.4 mi
Ormiston SWB AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 42 1.4 mi
Stuart Bathurst Catholic High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 41.4 1.8 mi
West Walsall E-ACT AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 39.9 1.8 mi
Wood Green AcademyAcademy converter No grade 44.7 1.9 mi
St Matthias SchoolCommunity school No grade 40.6 2 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
The St Thomas the Apostle CollegeVoluntary aided school No grade 61.7
E-ACT Royton and Crompton AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 38.7
Clapton Girls' AcademyAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 59.4
Lord Derby AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 39.9
Nottingham University Academy of Science and TechnologyFree schools Good 2022 51.1
Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 30.2
Addey and Stanhope SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 41.1
Harris Academy MertonAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2022 53.7

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.