Elms School
Elms Vale Road, Dover, CT17 9PS
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Foundation special school
- Ages
- 5 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KSENT)
- Head Teacher
- Mr John Dexter
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Dover and Deal
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Pupils on roll
- 131
- URN
- 119046
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01304201964
About this school
Elms School is a foundation special school in Dover. It teaches children aged 5 to 16 and has 131 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 14 March 2023, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 22 | 15 | 12 |
| 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% | 13% | 8% |
| Expected standard in maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 90.0 | 94.0 | 93.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 88.0 | 88.0 | 85.0 |
| Reading progress | - | - | - |
| Writing progress | -9.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | - | - | - |
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 | 19 | 17 | 21 |
| Attainment 8 score | 3.7 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.89 -2.54 to -1.23 | -1.41 -2.16 to -0.67 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
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 Elms 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 | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 0% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 0% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 0% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 3.7 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 4.8 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 4.8 | 37.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 24.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 20.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 22.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 150 |
| 2023/24 | 133 |
| 2024/25 | 138 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 87.68%
- English as an additional language
- 1.4%
- Overall absence
- 22.47%
- Persistent absence
- 66.22%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Dover College1.4 miles
Independent schools · Dover
-
The Sallygate School1.7 miles
Special schools · Temple Ewell
-
Portal House School4.6 miles
Special schools · Dover
-
The Beacon Folkestone5.1 miles
Special schools · Folkestone
-
Compass Community School Coastal Park5.3 miles
Special schools · Folkestone
Other schools in Dover
- Portal House School Special schools
- Woodpecker Court Other types
- Aycliffe Community Primary School Primary
- Barton Junior School Primary
- Charlton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Dover, St Mary's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School Primary
- Green Park Community Primary School Primary
- Guston Church of England Primary School Primary
- Langdon Primary School Primary
- Lydden Primary School Primary
- Nonington Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Elms School teach?
- Elms School teaches children aged 5 to 16. It is a special school in Dover.
- Who is the head teacher of Elms School?
- The head teacher of Elms School is Mr John Dexter, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Elms School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Elms 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 big is Elms School?
- Elms School has 131 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 16.
- Is Elms School a faith school?
- No. Elms School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs Elms School?
- Elms School is part of Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KSENT). Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Elms School have?
- The schools register lists Elms School's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Elms 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 Elms School's absence rate?
- Elms School's overall absence rate is 22.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Elms School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Elms 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 30 June 2026.