Highfield Leadership Academy Review 2026: A rebuilding secondary with a clear improvement plan

Highfield Leadership Academy is an 11 to 16 secondary serving Blackpool families, with a stated emphasis on leadership roles and character development alongside mainstream GCSE study. The most recent graded inspection outcome is Requires Improvement (March 2024), with personal development judged Good.

Since then, the school has been through a leadership reset. A monitoring visit following October 2025 noted improved capacity, more stable staffing, and early signs that work on teaching and attendance is beginning to make a difference.

For parents, the key question is fit and trajectory. The current picture combines an ambitious offer and structured pastoral work, with GCSE outcomes that still need time to catch up to the school’s aspirations.

The school’s culture is built around being seen and known. Pupils are encouraged into visible responsibility roles, including Highfield helpers, eco champions, and anti bullying ambassadors. School council representation is also highlighted as a genuine route for pupil voice, rather than a token gesture.

Formal reviews describe a calm general atmosphere in lessons and at social times, supported by consistent adult presence around the building. That matters in a large secondary, because predictable routines reduce low level disruption and free up attention for learning.

The wider context is important. The school’s improvement work has taken place while it has been filling staffing gaps and rebuilding consistency. The October 2025 monitoring visit describes a period of leadership instability after the March 2024 inspection, followed by a new principal joining in June 2024 and subsequent expansion of senior and pastoral capacity.

On published GCSE indicators, the picture is currently challenging.

Rankings context (FindMySchool ranking based on official data)

Ranked 3,373rd in England and 3rd in Blackpool for GCSE outcomes. This places performance below England average, within the bottom 40% of schools in England on this measure.

Headline measures (most recently available)

• Attainment 8 score: 34.4

• Progress 8 score: -0.96 (this indicates pupils made less progress than pupils with similar starting points nationally)

• EBacc average point score: 3.11

• Percentage achieving grade 5 or above in the EBacc: 11.8

Taken together, these metrics suggest that the school is still in the phase where strengthened curriculum plans and improved staffing stability have not fully translated into outcomes. The October 2025 monitoring visit explicitly notes that the 2024 published data does not reflect the school’s current position, pointing to improved attendance, a more stable specialist teaching workforce, and better capacity for quality assurance.

The curriculum intent is described as ambitious and trust supported, with extensive staff training designed to strengthen subject knowledge and teaching approaches. The implementation challenge has been variation, both between subjects and across year groups.

The school has also moved towards a more standardised model of classroom practice. In October 2025, the monitoring visit describes “non negotiables” for teaching, weekly practice clinics, and coaching for staff who need additional support. The implication for families is that lessons should feel more consistent than they did during the period of high vacancy and supply reliance, even if there is still work to do to embed quality across all classrooms.

Reading is a notable operational priority. Earlier inspection evidence and later monitoring evidence both describe targeted support for pupils who struggle with reading, particularly in the lower years, with a push to extend that work more effectively into key stage 4. For pupils who arrive into Year 7 behind in literacy, this focus can be the difference between treading water and catching up quickly enough to access the full curriculum.

With an 11 to 16 age range, the main destination point is post 16. The school describes careers as a structured programme intended to broaden horizons and build understanding of different routes, including employment and further study pathways.

Because published leaver destination percentages are not available here, families should treat the post 16 plan as something to test directly: ask how guidance is delivered in Years 9 to 11, what employer encounters look like, and how the school supports applications to local sixth forms and colleges, apprenticeships, and training providers.

Admissions for Year 7 are managed through the local authority coordinated process for secondary transfer. For the September 2026 intake, the statutory timetable used by local authorities includes applications opening on 01 September 2025, a national closing date of 31 October 2025, and offers issued on 02 March 2026 (the next working day after the national offer date where relevant).

The school has advertised open evening information, with the most recently published open evening listed as Tuesday 23 September 2025. If you are planning ahead for later years, expect open events to typically sit in September or early October, and verify the current cycle directly with the school.

Demand signals in the available admissions return indicate more applications than offers, which is consistent with the school being oversubscribed in the recorded year. In practical terms, families should focus on the published oversubscription criteria and ensure their application is submitted on time, then use the FindMySchoolMap Search to sense check practical commuting distance and local alternatives.

Personal development is a documented strength, and the pupil leadership structure is part of that. Roles such as eco champions and anti bullying ambassadors give pupils practical ways to contribute, which can suit children who gain confidence through responsibility.

Attendance has been the critical pressure point. The March 2024 inspection highlights persistent absence as a barrier to learning, and the October 2025 monitoring visit describes strengthened systems, earlier identification of risk, and improved attendance compared with the previous year, while acknowledging that some groups still attend less than they should. The implication is straightforward: for any pupil already at risk of non attendance, families should ask what daily and weekly routines are used to re establish habits, and what escalation and support looks like when patterns slip.

The school links enrichment to leadership and resilience rather than treating it as optional add on. Examples cited in formal reviews include a cookery course delivered through a local college link, badminton, and participation in cadets.

Those specifics matter for fit. A pupil who thrives when learning is practical, such as cookery through a college partnership, may find that this kind of applied enrichment makes school feel more relevant. Equally, cadets can suit pupils who enjoy structure and teamwork, with clear progression and responsibility.

For parents shortlisting, the best due diligence is to ask for the current clubs list for this term, check how often it changes, and how the school ensures that disadvantaged pupils can participate, including transport timing and any equipment requirements.

The school publishes an “academy day” statement indicating a 32.5 hour school week, and notes that reception is open from 8am to 4pm. Families should confirm current start and finish times for pupils, and the arrangements for any breakfast or after school supervision, as these operational details can change.

Transport planning is a key practical for this area of Blackpool. When considering feasibility, map the door to door route at school start and finish time, not just the distance, and compare this option with other realistic secondary routes in your application area.

• GCSE outcomes are still catching up. Current Attainment 8 and Progress 8 indicators sit well below typical for England, and improvement work needs time to translate into results.

• Attendance has been a major constraint. The school’s improvement plan is closely tied to getting pupils into school consistently, which may require strong home school alignment for some families.

• Teaching consistency is a work in progress. Staffing stability has improved, but formal monitoring still notes unevenness in how well teaching routines and lesson design are implemented.

• Leadership changes are recent. A new principal joined in June 2024 and the senior structure expanded in 2025, so families should ask how the school will sustain improvements beyond the initial reset period.

Highfield Leadership Academy is a school in active rebuild mode, with a stronger pastoral and leadership offer than its raw GCSE indicators might suggest, and clear evidence that attendance and staffing stability have been treated as priority levers. It will suit families who want structured routines, visible pupil responsibility, and are prepared to engage closely with attendance and learning habits. The decision hinge is confidence in the improvement trajectory, and whether your child will benefit from a school that is standardising practice and expectations while outcomes work to catch up.