Avon Valley Academy
Recreation Road, Durrington, Salisbury, SP4 8HH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- ACORN EDUCATION TRUST
- Principal
- Mrs Shelly Tuke
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Acorn Education Trust
- SEN provision
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty, HI - Hearing Impairment, SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, PD - Physical Disability, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- East Wiltshire
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 925
- Pupils on roll
- 517
- URN
- 143005
- Local authority
- Wiltshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01980652467
About this school
Avon Valley Academy is a secondary academy in Salisbury. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 517 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Avon Valley Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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 did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 66 | 73 | 77 |
| Attainment 8 score | 34.1 | 40.4 | 34.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.29 -0.64 to +0.07 | -0.18 -0.51 to +0.14 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 14% | 24.7% | 18.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 41% | 49.3% | 45.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 14% | 23.3% | 13% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.8 | 3.6 | 2.9 |
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 Avon Valley 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 | Wiltshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 34.1 | 38.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 40.4 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 34.8 | 36.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 441 |
| 2023/24 | 503 |
| 2024/25 | 517 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Avon Valley Academy compares
Avon Valley Academy ranked 25th of 26 secondary schools in Wiltshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 27% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 7% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 34.8 | 10.3% | 28.1% | 517 | — |
| The Stonehenge School | 37.4 | 9.2% | 17.2% | 1,072 | 1.8 miles |
| The Wellington Academy | 42.1 | 8.2% | 22.1% | 1,121 | 6.7 miles |
| St Joseph's Catholic School | 40.4 | 7.3% | 25.1% | 565 | 8.2 miles |
| Wyvern St Edmund's Academy | 42.2 | 9.8% | 21.9% | 1,337 | 8.4 miles |
| Sarum Academy | 33.7 | 14% | 40.1% | 747 | 8.4 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)
- 28.05%
- English as an additional language
- 15.1%
- Overall absence
- 10.31%
- Persistent absence
- 29.61%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Stonehenge School1.8 miles
Secondary · Amesbury
-
The Wellington Academy6.7 miles
Secondary · Ludgershall
-
St Joseph's Catholic School8.2 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
-
Wyvern St Edmund's Academy8.4 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
-
Sarum Academy8.4 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
Other schools in Salisbury
Avon Valley Academy ranks 6th of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Salisbury.
- Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School Secondary
- Sarum Academy Secondary
- South Wilts Grammar School Secondary
- St Joseph's Catholic School Secondary
- The Trafalgar School at Downton Secondary
- Wyvern St Edmund's Academy Secondary
- Alderbury and West Grimstead Church of England Primary School Primary
- Amesbury Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Bemerton St John Church of England Primary Primary
- Broad Chalke CofE Primary School Primary
- Bulford St Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School Primary
- Chilmark and Fonthill Bishop Church of England Aided Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Avon Valley Academy teach?
- Avon Valley Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Salisbury.
- Who is the principal of Avon Valley Academy?
- The principal of Avon Valley Academy is Mrs Shelly Tuke, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Avon Valley Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Avon Valley 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 many pupils are at Avon Valley Academy?
- Avon Valley Academy has 517 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Avon Valley Academy full?
- Avon Valley Academy has capacity for 925 pupils and 517 on roll (56%), 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 Avon Valley Academy a faith school?
- No. Avon Valley Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Avon Valley Academy a selective school?
- No. Avon Valley Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Avon Valley Academy part of an academy trust?
- Avon Valley Academy is part of ACORN EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Avon Valley Academy have?
- The schools register lists Avon Valley Academy's special educational needs provision as: SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty; HI - Hearing Impairment; SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health; PD - Physical Disability; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Avon Valley Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 34.1 in 2022/23 and 34.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Avon Valley Academy compare with other schools in Wiltshire?
- Avon Valley Academy ranked 25th of 26 secondary schools in Wiltshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 27% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 7% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Avon Valley Academy's absence rate?
- Avon Valley Academy's overall absence rate is 10.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Avon Valley Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Avon Valley 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 2 July 2026.