Five Acre Wood School
Boughton Lane, Maidstone, ME15 9QF
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Foundation special school
- Ages
- 4 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KSENT)
- Principal
- Mrs Peggy Murphy
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment, PD - Physical Disability, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty, PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Maidstone and Malling
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 680
- Pupils on roll
- 871
- URN
- 119055
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01622743925
About this school
Five Acre Wood School is a foundation special school in Maidstone. It teaches children aged 4 to 19 and has 871 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Early years
- Outstanding
- Sixth form
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 58 | 65 | 70 |
| 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 | -12.90 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -11.60 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -12.90 | - | - |
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 | 45 | 33 | 53 |
| Attainment 8 score | 0.4 | - | - |
| Progress 8 score | -1.67 -2.10 to -1.24 | - | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | - | - |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% | - | - |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | - | - |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.0 | - | - |
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 Five Acre Wood 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 | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 793 |
| 2023/24 | 845 |
| 2024/25 | 854 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 40.03%
- English as an additional language
- 8.3%
- Overall absence
- 11.35%
- Persistent absence
- 33.52%
Location
Nearby schools
-
King's Reach Education1.1 miles
Special schools · Maidstone
-
OneSchool Global UK - Maidstone Campus1.5 miles
Independent schools · Maidstone
-
MEPA ACADEMY1.8 miles
Independent schools
-
Maidstone and Malling Alternative Provision2.1 miles
Local authority maintained schools · Maidstone
-
Bower Grove School2.3 miles
Special schools · Maidstone
Other schools in Maidstone
- Bower Grove School Special schools
- Earley Springs Special schools
- King's Reach Education Special schools
- Leigh Academy Snowfields Free Schools
- Maidstone and Malling Alternative Provision Local authority maintained schools
- Serenity School Maidstone Special schools
- Allington Primary School Primary
- Archbishop Courtenay Primary School Primary
- Barming Primary School Primary
- Boughton Monchelsea Primary School Primary
- Brunswick House Primary School Primary
- Coxheath Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Five Acre Wood School teach?
- Five Acre Wood School teaches children aged 4 to 19. It is a special school in Maidstone.
- Who is the principal of Five Acre Wood School?
- The principal of Five Acre Wood School is Mrs Peggy Murphy, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Five Acre Wood School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Five Acre Wood 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 Five Acre Wood School?
- Five Acre Wood School has 871 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 19.
- Is Five Acre Wood School full?
- Five Acre Wood School has capacity for 680 pupils and 871 on roll (128%), 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 Five Acre Wood School a faith school?
- No. Five Acre Wood School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs Five Acre Wood School?
- Five Acre Wood 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 Five Acre Wood School have?
- The schools register lists Five Acre Wood School's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment; PD - Physical Disability; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty; PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Five Acre Wood 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 Five Acre Wood School's absence rate?
- Five Acre Wood School's overall absence rate is 11.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Five Acre Wood School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Five Acre Wood 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.