The Dean Academy is a mixed school in a rural area. Until a few years ago there was a lot of local manufacturing industry and the unemployment rate was low. This has changed in recent years and the unemployment rate is higher following the closure of the main factories in the local towns, resulting in less available money in the local area. There are some refugee children in school and some children of migrant families, mainly Turkish. Few students have travelled abroad, most of those who have are the children of parents who have moved into the area and who commute to work in Cardiff, Bristol or Gloucester. The ethnic groups within the school are mainly white British and our students can develop a very insular outlook because we are in such a rural location.