Kilpatrick received an OBE from HM The Queen for services to education[5] after an incident in which he was attacked at knifepoint by a Year 10 pupil in 2008.
The school suffered many years of poor examination results and was frequently in Ofsted special measures.
[6] The proportion eligible for free school meals is 81%, which is well above the national average and the highest in the London Borough of Haringey.
Numbers of Eastern European pupils are increasing, particularly those of Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish ethnicity, reflecting population change in the local area.
Staff turnover is high, but the school has made efforts to improve retention of staff, including health and wellbeing programmes, free on-site secure parking, and provision of discrete stab vests which can be worn under clothes to protect from pupil or intruder knife attacks.
The school suffered many years of poor examination results and was frequently in Ofsted special measures.
[11] According to a local authority report, several leading criminal figures were "cultivated" in the school, including Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali,[12] the Whitehall terror suspect, and Reece Dempster, the murderer and rapist who received a life sentence, a rarity in the UK.
To further help combat the prevalence of violence on school premises, knife arch metal detectors were installed at all pupil entrances, and the Metropolitan Police began to maintain a permanent presence on site.
A knife drop bin was installed in the boys toilets out of the view of CCTV in 2017, to allow pupils to safely dispose of knives without fear of punishment.
Improvements were made to the playground surface, with new Astroturf laid on the football pitch, and a repainting of the school's locally-infamous 16 ft wall from purple to dark blue.
', however, this has since been changed to 'Inspire to Excel' as part of the transition to academy status and to bring the school further in line with Aldridge branding.
However, NPCS News did not have pupil involvement as before, and was instead produced by the school's Marketing Officer and administrative staff.
In line with this subject specialism, pupils take part in a range of activities organised by the Music and Drama departments.
Highlights include the annual Jamaican Independence Day assembly which features singing and steel pans.
Pupils at the school are able to learn to play instruments, including the Turkish Bağlama, Trinidadian and Tobagonian steel pans, and the recorder.
The school subsidises some of the cost for pupils to learn to play these instruments as a result of its expressive arts subject specialism.
The school has been accused of off-rolling and permanently excluding pupils with SEN several times, most recently in the 2017/18 academic year.
In 2013, The Vale School received a royal visit from HRH The Countess of Wessex to open a new outdoor garden designed to support pupils' physical development.
[19] The royal visit was attended by staff and pupils from the school, and the ceremonial Mayor of the London Borough of Haringey.