The Dean Academy
Church Road, Lydney, GL15 5DZ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- THE ATHELSTAN TRUST
- Headteacher
- Hannah Rowlands
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- The Athelstan Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Forest of Dean
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,095
- Pupils on roll
- 816
- URN
- 138421
- Local authority
- Gloucestershire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01594843202
About this school
The Dean Academy is a secondary academy in Lydney. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 816 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
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
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 108 | 123 | 90 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.9 | 39.3 | 43.1 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.10 -0.17 to +0.37 | +0.02 -0.24 to +0.28 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 34% | 29.3% | 32.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% | 55.3% | 57.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 26% | 26% | 37.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
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 The Dean Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Gloucestershire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.9 | 43.3 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.3 | 44.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.1 | 44.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 604 |
| 2023/24 | 690 |
| 2024/25 | 734 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Dean Academy compares
The Dean Academy ranked 32nd of 39 secondary schools in Gloucestershire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 15% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.1 | 8.3% | 32.3% | 816 | — |
| SGS Berkeley Green UTC | 41.2 | 10.2% | 22% | 391 | 2.7 miles |
| Five Acres High School | 51.8 | 7.8% | 27.5% | 786 | 6.8 miles |
| The Castle School | 52.4 | 7.8% | 15% | 1,416 | 7.4 miles |
| SGS Forest High School | 35.6 | 8.2% | 35.4% | 255 | 7.6 miles |
| Wyedean School and Sixth Form Centre | 45.8 | 9.7% | 17.7% | 1,024 | 7.7 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report27 January 2026
- 22 September 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 32.29%
- English as an additional language
- 4.2%
- Overall absence
- 8.3%
- Persistent absence
- 24.9%
Location
Nearby schools
-
SGS Berkeley Green UTC2.7 miles
Secondary · Berkeley
-
Five Acres High School6.8 miles
Secondary · Coleford
-
The Castle School7.4 miles
Secondary · Bristol
-
SGS Forest High School7.6 miles
Secondary · Cinderford
-
Wyedean School and Sixth Form Centre7.7 miles
Secondary · Chepstow
Other schools in Lydney
- Aylburton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Bream Church of England Primary School Primary
- Lydney Church of England Community School Primary
- Parkend Primary School Primary
- Pillowell Community Primary School Primary
- Primrose Hill Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- Severnbanks Primary School Primary
- St Briavels Parochial Church of England Primary School Primary
- Woolaston Primary School Primary
- Yorkley Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Dean Academy teach?
- The Dean Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Lydney.
- Who is the headteacher of The Dean Academy?
- The headteacher of The Dean Academy is Hannah Rowlands, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Dean Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Dean Academy, 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 The Dean Academy?
- The Dean Academy has 816 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Dean Academy full?
- The Dean Academy has capacity for 1,095 pupils and 816 on roll (75%), 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 The Dean Academy a faith school?
- No. The Dean Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Dean Academy a selective school?
- No. The Dean Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Dean Academy?
- The Dean Academy is part of THE ATHELSTAN TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Dean Academy have?
- The schools register lists The Dean Academy's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Dean Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.9 in 2022/23 and 43.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Dean Academy rank locally?
- The Dean Academy ranked 32nd of 39 secondary schools in Gloucestershire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 15% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Dean Academy's absence rate?
- The Dean Academy's overall absence rate is 8.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Dean Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Dean Academy'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 1 July 2026.