Fir Vale School
Owler Lane, Sheffield, S4 8GB
This school is closed (it closed in June 2025).
It was replaced by Fir Vale Academy. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Rachel Smith
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,050
- Pupils on roll
- 984
- URN
- 138925
- Local authority
- Sheffield
About this school
Fir Vale School was a secondary academy in Sheffield. It taught children aged 11 to 16 and had 984 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
Fir Vale School has not been inspected by Ofsted yet. It opened in its current form in November 2012, and new or converted schools usually wait a few years for their first inspection.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 180 | 182 | 189 |
| Attainment 8 score | 26.8 | 25.5 | 25.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.09 -1.32 to -0.87 | -1.09 -1.31 to -0.86 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 17% | 11% | 19% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 28% | 26.9% | 33.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 13% | 15.4% | 7.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
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 Fir Vale 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 | Sheffield average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 26.8 | 40.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 25.5 | 39.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 25.7 | 40 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 13.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 14.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 17.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,022 |
| 2023/24 | 981 |
| 2024/25 | 984 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Fir Vale School compares
Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 20% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 1% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 25.7 | 17.3% | 72.2% | 984 | — |
| Fir Vale Academy | — | 23% | — | 931 | 0.0 miles |
| UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park | 44 | 10.5% | 31.3% | 445 | 1.1 miles |
| Lift Firth Park | 32.7 | 13.5% | 54.3% | 1,115 | 1.3 miles |
| E-Act Parkwood Academy | 36.5 | 8.7% | 52.3% | 886 | 1.6 miles |
| UTC Sheffield City Centre | 39 | 9.6% | 29.6% | 543 | 2.3 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 72.15%
- English as an additional language
- 83.4%
- Overall absence
- 17.33%
- Persistent absence
- 52.39%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Fir Vale Academy0.0 miles
Secondary · Sheffield
-
UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park1.1 miles
Secondary · Sheffield
-
Lift Firth Park1.3 miles
Secondary · Sheffield
-
E-Act Parkwood Academy1.6 miles
Secondary · Sheffield
-
UTC Sheffield City Centre2.3 miles
Secondary · Sheffield
Other schools in Sheffield
- All Saints' Catholic High School Secondary
- Aston Academy Secondary
- Bradfield Secondary School Secondary
- Chaucer School Secondary
- Dinnington High School Secondary
- E-Act Parkwood Academy Secondary
- Ecclesfield School Secondary
- Eckington School Secondary
- Fir Vale Academy Secondary
- Forge Valley School & Sixth Form Secondary
- Handsworth Grange Community Sports College Secondary
- High Storrs School Secondary
Common questions
- What ages does Fir Vale School teach?
- Fir Vale School taught children aged 11 to 16. It was a secondary school in Sheffield.
- Has Fir Vale School been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected Fir Vale School under its current framework, so no current judgement is shown. That is common for newer schools and is not a mark against a school.
- How many pupils are at Fir Vale School?
- Fir Vale School had 984 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- How have Fir Vale School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 26.8 in 2022/23 and 25.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What are Fir Vale School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Fir Vale 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 9 July 2025.