Astor Secondary School
Academy converter · sixth form · 732 pupils
72% stayed in education · Attainment 8 27.9
Foundation special school
Valence School
- Pupils on roll
- 129of 131 places
- Free school meals
- 32.0%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 9
- Ofsted
- Standards maintained, 18 June 2025Read the Ofsted report
What the data says
Of the 14 pupils who finished Year 11 at Valence School in 2023, 0% stayed on in Valence School’s own sixth form (Kent average 56%), 7% went to a further education college and none started an apprenticeship.
Every pupil in the 2023 cohort went on to a sustained destination, against 92% across England.
Almost every leaver found a sustained destination: only 0% were not in education, work or training six months on, against 6% nationally.
Almost nobody goes straight into an apprenticeship or a job: none took an apprenticeship and none went into work, against 3% and 3% across England.
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Kent and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Valence School | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 14 | 17,954 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 100% | 93% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 100% | 88% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 0% | 56% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | — | 13% |
| — further education college | 7% | 28% | 37% |
| — other education | 93% | 4% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 0% | 2% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 0% | 5% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 0% | 3% | 3% |
Where students went after sixth form
Destinations of students who finished 16–18 study in 2023, measured the following year.
No published destinations for sixth-form leavers yet.
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Valence School | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 3.7 | 46.7 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 47% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% | 65% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 0% | 47% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 0.31 | 4.18 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 44% | 25% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | — | 32.2 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | — | 51.5 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 0% | 12% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Literature | 3 | 33% | 86% | — | 21% | — |
| Mathematics | 3 | 33% | 88% | — | 22% | — |
| Combined Science | 2 | 22% | 65% | — | 9% | — |
| Art and Design | 1 | 11% | 7% | — | 24% | — |
Other secondary schools in Kent
Aylesford School
Academy sponsor led · sixth form · 916 pupils
73% stayed in education · Attainment 8 37.6
Barton Court Grammar School
Academy converter · sixth form · 995 pupils
97% stayed in education · Attainment 8 66.4
Bennett Memorial Diocesan School
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,913 pupils
95% stayed in education · Attainment 8 54.0
Borden Grammar School
Academy converter · sixth form · 938 pupils
94% stayed in education · Attainment 8 63.2
Brockhill Park Performing Arts College
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,314 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 37.4
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.