Fox Wood Special School
Holes Lane, Woolston, Warrington, WA1 4LS
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 4 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Miss Lucinda Duffy
- SEN provision
- SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Warrington North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 78
- Pupils on roll
- 174
- URN
- 111496
- Local authority
- Warrington
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01925811534
About this school
Fox Wood Special School is a community special school in Warrington. It teaches children aged 4 to 19 and has 174 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Fox Wood Special School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Exceptional
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Strong standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Exceptional
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Strong standard
- Post-16 provision
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 11 | 15 | 10 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | - | - | - |
| Average scaled score in maths | - | - | - |
| Reading progress | -3.30 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.70 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -4.30 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| Attainment 8 score | - | - | - |
| Progress 8 score | - | - | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | - | - | - |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | - | - | - |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | - | - | - |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | - | - | - |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Fox Wood Special School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Warrington average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 0% | 66% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 0% | 65% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 0% | 66.6% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 124 |
| 2023/24 | 133 |
| 2024/25 | 138 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report19 May 2026
- 19 October 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 50.42%
- English as an additional language
- 14.5%
- Overall absence
- 9.58%
- Persistent absence
- 25.44%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Woolston Brook School0.1 miles
Special schools · Warrington
-
Green Lane Community Special School0.1 miles
Special schools · Warrington
-
Kassia Academy and Support Services0.6 miles
Academies · Warrington
-
Birchwood School1.4 miles
Special schools
-
Chaigeley School1.6 miles
Special schools · Warrington
Other schools in Warrington
- Chaigeley School Special schools
- Green Lane Community Special School Special schools
- Infinite Schools - Warrington Special schools
- Kassia Academy and Support Services Academies
- Willow Green CIO Other types
- Woolston Brook School Special schools
- Sandy Lane Nursery and Forest School Nursery
- Alderman Bolton Primary School Primary
- All Saints Catholic Primary School, Golborne, Wigan Primary
- Appleton Thorn Primary School Primary
- Barrow Hall Community Primary School Primary
- Beamont Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Fox Wood Special School teach?
- Fox Wood Special School teaches children aged 4 to 19. It is a special school in Warrington.
- Who is the headteacher of Fox Wood Special School?
- The headteacher of Fox Wood Special School is Miss Lucinda Duffy, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Fox Wood Special School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Fox Wood Special School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Fox Wood Special School?
- Fox Wood Special School has 174 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 19.
- Is Fox Wood Special School full?
- Fox Wood Special School has capacity for 78 pupils and 174 on roll (223%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Fox Wood Special School a faith school?
- No. Fox Wood Special School has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does Fox Wood Special School have?
- The schools register lists Fox Wood Special School's special educational needs provision as: SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Fox Wood Special School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 0% in 2022/23 and 0% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is Fox Wood Special School's absence rate?
- Fox Wood Special School's overall absence rate is 9.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Fox Wood Special School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Fox Wood Special School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 13 August 2026.