Children's Support Service
Alderney Gardens, Wickford, SS11 7JZ
- Phase
- Local authority maintained schools
- School type
- Pupil referral unit
- Ages
- 5 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Head Teacher
- Mrs Michelle Steadman
- Constituency
- Rayleigh and Wickford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 198
- Pupils on roll
- 102
- URN
- 136035
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01268552482
About this school
Children's Support Service is a special school in Wickford. It teaches children aged 5 to 16 and has 102 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 11 May 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.
Trends over time
How Children's Support Service has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 58 |
| 2023/24 | 92 |
| 2024/25 | 91 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 64.84%
- English as an additional language
- 1.1%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Castledon School1.4 miles
Academies · Wickford
-
Ramsden Hall Academy3.0 miles
Academies · Billericay
-
Omnia Foundation3.4 miles
Special schools
-
Glenwood School3.5 miles
Special schools · Benfleet
-
Lift Pioneer3.6 miles
Academies · Basildon
Other schools in Wickford
- Castledon School Academies
- Abacus Primary School Primary
- Grange Primary School Primary
- Hilltop Infant School Primary
- Hilltop Junior School Primary
- North Crescent Primary School Primary
- Oakfield Primary School Primary
- Runwell Community Primary School Primary
- St Luke's Park Primary School Primary
- The Wickford Church of England School Primary
- Wickford Primary School Primary
- Beauchamps High School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Children's Support Service teach?
- Children's Support Service teaches children aged 5 to 16. It is a special school in Wickford.
- Who is the head teacher of Children's Support Service?
- The head teacher of Children's Support Service is Mrs Michelle Steadman, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Children's Support Service last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Children's Support Service, 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 Children's Support Service?
- Children's Support Service has 102 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 16.
- Is Children's Support Service full?
- Children's Support Service has capacity for 198 pupils and 102 on roll (52%), so it has space against 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 Children's Support Service a faith school?
- No. Children's Support Service has no designated religious character.
- Does Children's Support Service publish exam results?
- OfferDay shows exam results for a school only where the Department for Education has published them, and none are shown for Children's Support Service. That is usual for infant, nursery, special and independent schools, and for schools without recent published results.
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 1 July 2026.