The Vale Academy
Luton, LU5 4QP · Central Bedfordshire local authority
Luton’s School Grade B better than 60% of towns in England
What stands out about The Vale Academy
- Its own letter, B+: Key Stage 2 results better than 72% of England’s primary schools
- 70% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 8 points above England’s schools
- Over capacity: 601 pupils for 563 places
- 13% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (fewer than England’s 25%)
- Ofsted: Inspected, June 2025 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (51 of 51)
- Homes in its postcode sector (LU5 4) sold for a median £325,000; Luton’s is £315,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 70%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 72% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Central Bedfordshire avg 52%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 106, maths 107 (100 = the expected standard)
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025
Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths: the 11 disadvantaged pupils and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at The Vale Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2022 (3), 2025 (1). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Advantage Schools sets the admissions rules. Apply through Central Bedfordshire council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand
100% got their first choice
Luton and Central Bedfordshire, side by side
2023–2025All 47 graded primaries in Central Bedfordshire. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Luton’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lark Rise Academy | A | 8% | 81% |
| Leighton Middle School | A | 11% | 77% |
| Raynsford Church of England Academy | A− | 10% | 75% |
| Thornhill Primary School | B+ | 17% | 70% |
| The Vale Academy | B+ | 13% | 70% |
| Derwent Primary School | B+ | 15% | 69% |
| Linslade School | B+ | 9% | 69% |
| Priory Academy | B | 15% | 67% |
| Biggleswade Academy | B | 14% | 66% |
| Caddington Village School | B | 16% | 65% |
| Pix Brook Academy | B | 13% | 65% |
| St Vincent's Catholic Primary School | B− | 13% | 63% |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School | B− | 23% | 62% |
| Robert Peel Primary School | B− | 27% | 61% |
| Lancot School | B− | 13% | 61% |
| Slip End Village School | C+ | 20% | 59% |
| Maple Tree Primary School | C+ | 12% | 59% |
| Hadrian Academy | C+ | 10% | 58% |
| Ashton St Peter's VA C of E School | C | 15% | 56% |
| Etonbury Academy | C | 15% | 56% |
| Ardley Hill Academy | C | 13% | 55% |
| St Christophers Academy | C | 9% | 54% |
| Alameda Middle School | C− | 11% | 52% |
| Fulbrook School | C− | 17% | 51% |
| Langford Village Academy | C− | 18% | 50% |
| Houghton Regis Primary School | C− | 18% | 49% |
| Robert Bloomfield Academy | C− | 13% | 49% |
| Lime Tree Primary Academy | C− | 31% | 49% |
| Moggerhanger Primary School | D | 14% | 47% |
| Eaton Bray Academy | D | 25% | 47% |
| Arnold Academy | D | 14% | 47% |
| Brooklands Middle School | D | 16% | 46% |
| Holywell School | D | 17% | 46% |
| Clifton All Saints Academy | D | 10% | 46% |
| Parkfields Middle School | D | 11% | 46% |
| Tithe Farm Primary School | D | 22% | 45% |
| St Swithun's Church of England VC Primary School | D | 17% | 42% |
| St. Augustine's Academy | D | 40% | 42% |
| Meppershall Church of England Academy | D | 17% | 40% |
| John Donne Church of England Primary School | D | 17% | 39% |
| Kensworth Church of England Academy | D− | 28% | 38% |
| Everton Heath Primary School | D− | 23% | 37% |
| Thomas Whitehead Church of England Academy | D− | 38% | 36% |
| Woodland Middle School Academy | D− | 18% | 34% |
| Edward Peake CofE VC School | D− | 28% | 33% |
| Beecroft Academy | D− | 19% | 30% |
| Totternhoe Church of England Academy | D− | 18% | 30% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025602 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
The Vale Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection (no overall grade since September 2024), June 2025.
Living near The Vale Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in LU5 4, the school’s postcode sector
Luton property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in LU5 4 sell for a little over Luton’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
29 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗
Luton, LU5 4QP
The Vale Academy: common questions
Is The Vale Academy a good school?
By its published results, above average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 72% of England’s primary schools (its letter is B+), with 70% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, June 2025.
How hard is it to get into The Vale Academy?
For September 2026, 51 families put The Vale Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 56 places were offered in all.
What is The Vale Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (June 2025).
How much do houses cost near The Vale Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, LU5 4, sold for a median £325,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (502 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Luton’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.