INSPIRE Free Special School
Churchill Avenue, Chatham, ME5 0LB
- Phase
- Free Schools
- School type
- Free schools special
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- RIVERMEAD INCLUSIVE TRUST
- Head of School
- Mr Daniel Peck (Interim Head of School)
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Rivermead Inclusive Trust
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- Chatham and Aylesford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 100
- Pupils on roll
- 98
- URN
- 141005
- Local authority
- Medway
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01634827372
About this school
INSPIRE Free Special School is a special academy in Chatham. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 98 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 14 December 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 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 11 | 13 | 17 |
| Attainment 8 score | 3.1 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -2.97 -3.89 to -2.05 | -1.96 -2.80 to -1.12 | - |
| 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 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 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 INSPIRE Free Special 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 | Medway average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 3.1 | 34 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 2.7 | 36 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 2.9 | 36.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 23.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 28.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 38.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 61 |
| 2023/24 | 68 |
| 2024/25 | 90 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 70%
- English as an additional language
- 1.1%
- Overall absence
- 38.93%
- Persistent absence
- 74.77%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Bradfields Academy0.0 miles
Academies · Chatham
-
PGW Partnership of Greenacre and Walderslade0.1 miles
Colleges · Chatham
-
The Rowans0.2 miles
Academies · Chatham
-
Blue Skies School1.5 miles
Special schools · Chatham
-
Medway Secure Training Centre1.5 miles
Other types · Rochester
Other schools in Chatham
- Blue Skies School Special schools
- Bradfields Academy Academies
- The Rowans Academies
- All Saints Church of England Primary School Primary
- Balfour Junior School Primary
- Greenvale Primary School Primary
- Horsted Infant School Primary
- Horsted Junior School Primary
- Kingfisher Community Primary School Primary
- Lordswood School Primary
- Luton Primary School Primary
- Maundene School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does INSPIRE Free Special School teach?
- INSPIRE Free Special School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a special school in Chatham.
- Who is the head of school of INSPIRE Free Special School?
- The head of school of INSPIRE Free Special School is Mr Daniel Peck (Interim Head of School), as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was INSPIRE Free Special School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected INSPIRE Free Special 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 INSPIRE Free Special School?
- INSPIRE Free Special School has 98 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is INSPIRE Free Special School full?
- INSPIRE Free Special School has capacity for 100 pupils and 98 on roll (98%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is INSPIRE Free Special School a faith school?
- No. INSPIRE Free Special School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs INSPIRE Free Special School?
- INSPIRE Free Special School is part of RIVERMEAD INCLUSIVE TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does INSPIRE Free Special School have?
- The schools register lists INSPIRE Free Special School's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have INSPIRE Free Special School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 3.1 in 2022/23 and 2.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is INSPIRE Free Special School's absence rate?
- INSPIRE Free Special School's overall absence rate is 38.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are INSPIRE Free Special School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, INSPIRE Free Special 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 1 July 2026.