Norton Canes High School Review 2026: Small community secondary with a clear improvement focus

A small secondary and sixth form serving Norton Canes and the wider Cannock area, this is a school where relationships matter. Staff are described as knowing pupils well, and the ethos is firmly community-facing, with an all-ability intake and a strong emphasis on inclusion. Mrs Sarah Diggory has been the permanent headteacher since January 2022, bringing continuity of leadership during a period of curriculum and behaviour work.

The latest Ofsted inspection, published on 13 June 2024 after an inspection in late April and early May 2024, judged the school Requires Improvement across all areas, including sixth form provision. In practice, that combination, stable leadership plus an external judgement that progress is still required, is the defining context for families: a school working to tighten consistency, while protecting the positives of care, safety, and integration for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Smaller schools can feel very different to large secondaries, and that scale is central here. Pupils are more likely to be known by name, and the school’s own materials stress the importance of belonging and personal support. That is reinforced by the way the pastoral structure is presented, with clear roles and a focus on guiding pupils through secondary school rather than leaving them to blend into the background.

Values are unusually explicit and practical. Pride, Achievement, Respect, Kindness, and Teamwork are set out as behavioural expectations rather than abstract words, and they are linked to recognition and rewards. For families, the implication is straightforward: routines and consistency are meant to be taught and reinforced daily, not assumed.

There is also a purposeful strand running through personal development. The school’s PATH programme, short for Personal, Aspirations, Teamwork and Health, is positioned as a taught curriculum that covers topics such as healthy relationships and online safety. The benefit for pupils is that personal development is timetabled rather than occasional, which can matter in a school where attendance, routines, and readiness to learn are part of the improvement agenda.

The headline performance picture is mixed and, in places, challenging. At GCSE level, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 36.9, and the Progress 8 score is -0.49, indicating that pupils, on average, made less progress than pupils nationally with similar starting points across the Progress 8 subjects. The proportion achieving grade 5 or above in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is 2.6%, and the EBacc average point score is 3.05.

In the FindMySchool rankings for GCSE outcomes, Norton Canes High School is ranked 3,479th in England and 4th in Cannock. That placement sits below England average, within the lower-performing 40% of schools nationally on this measure. These rankings are FindMySchool proprietary rankings based on official performance data, and they can be useful for parents comparing local options on a like-for-like basis.

Post-16 outcomes also sit below typical national patterns in the FindMySchool A-level metrics provided. The school’s A-level profile shows 2.5% of grades at A*, 17.5% at B, and 20% at A* to B combined, against England averages of 23.6% for A* to A and 47.2% for A* to B. The FindMySchool ranking for A-level outcomes places the school 2,418th in England and 5th in Cannock, again reflecting performance below England average.

The practical implication is that families should read the outcomes alongside the school’s improvement narrative. Where the school is strongest is in clarity about what it is trying to fix, curriculum consistency, attendance, and sixth form matching, and in the fact that improvement work is already underway.

Parents comparing local performance may find it helpful to use the FindMySchool Local Hub pages and the Comparison Tool to view GCSE and sixth form outcomes side by side with nearby schools, using the same metrics and ranking approach.

Curriculum intent is clearly set out, and recent development work has focused on sequencing and coherence. The 2024 inspection record describes a curriculum that is now structured and sequenced with careful thought to how knowledge builds, and it notes changes at key stage 4 that include separate sciences, biology, chemistry, and physics, rather than a single combined route. The implication for pupils is greater subject clarity and a stronger pathway for those who benefit from discrete science teaching.

The main challenge is consistency of classroom practice. Teaching is described as uneven, with stronger examples including effective modelling and well-targeted questioning, but weaker moments where checking for understanding is not routine and tasks are not well matched. That matters because in a mixed-ability comprehensive, mismatch tends to widen gaps quickly. For a pupil who needs stretch or scaffolding, inconsistency can feel like stop-start progress rather than steady momentum.

Literacy support is a clear practical strength. Reading is described as being regularly assessed to identify gaps, with targeted intervention including phonics catch-up for pupils who still need that foundation. The benefit is that pupils who arrive behind in reading are more likely to receive structured support rather than being left to cope through secondary texts without the right tools.

Norton Canes High School offers a sixth form, and its size is part of the story. The 2024 inspection document records 49 students in the sixth form at the time of inspection, and school materials position post-16 as a continuation within a familiar community, supported by staff who already know the student well.

For post-18 destinations, the available 2023 to 2024 leavers data shows a mixed picture for a cohort of 25. Of those leavers, 28% progressed to university, 4% entered apprenticeships, and 40% entered employment. The implication is that this is a sixth form serving a broad range of next steps, with a significant proportion moving directly into work, alongside a university route for others.

The school also highlights its careers programme and employer encounters, with work experience positioned as an expected part of the journey, particularly in Year 10 and Year 12. Taken together, the picture is a post-16 offer that needs to be very clear about matching students to the right courses early, while supporting multiple pathways, university, training, apprenticeships, and employment, with equal seriousness.

Year 7 entry is coordinated through Staffordshire, using the normal secondary admissions route for families living in the county. For September 2026 entry, Staffordshire’s published timeline shows the application closing date as 31 October 2025, with offers released on 02 March 2026. The school’s published admission number (PAN) is 120.

As a community school, oversubscription is handled through published criteria, and the admissions policy sets out that places are allocated by priority groups if applications exceed the PAN. It also clarifies that children with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school must be admitted, which can reduce the number of remaining places available in an oversubscribed year.

For sixth form entry, the admissions policy states that internal students do not need to apply formally for Year 12, but they do need to meet minimum entry requirements for the chosen courses. External applicants can apply, and the school provides an application process via its post-16 pages.

If you are shortlisting, the FindMySchool Map Search can help you sense-check travel time and practical logistics, particularly if you are comparing multiple Cannock and Burntwood area options and want a realistic daily routine.

Pastoral support is presented as a priority, with multiple layers, heads of year, pastoral support staff, and access to external agencies where needed. The school’s PATH programme adds a structured personal development layer, with content that includes online safety and relationships, making wellbeing part of the taught experience rather than just an add-on.

Inclusion is a defining feature. The school hosts an Autism Specialist Resource Base on site, and SEND work is described as having improved through better identification, regular review of learning plans, and practical classroom tools such as pupil passports to guide support. For families of pupils with SEND, the implication is that the school expects mainstream integration, with support designed to help the pupil access the same ambitious curriculum.

The 2024 inspection record also confirms safeguarding arrangements are effective. For parents, that is a baseline reassurance, particularly in a school where attendance and routines are being targeted for improvement.

The extracurricular offer is unusually easy to pin down because the school publishes a termly schedule with named clubs. Activities include Table top role play, PRIDE club, Gaming club, Drama, Chess Club, Rock orchestra, Athletics club, Cricket, and sport on the tennis courts. There is also academic support in the form of Y11 maths revision sessions and Further Maths for Year 10.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a visible strand, with Bronze level activity promoted through school communications. That matters because it is one of the few programmes that blends physical challenge, teamwork, planning, and independence, which aligns well with the school’s stated values and personal development aims.

Sport is present without pretending to be the sole identity. News items highlight team successes and clubs such as badminton, which suggests a participation-based offer rather than a narrow focus on elite performance. For pupils, the benefit is that enrichment does not rely on one or two headline teams, it is a menu of options that can suit different personalities, from performance and music through to strategy games and wellbeing-focused spaces.

The published school day begins with breakfast club from 8:20am to 8:35am, followed by morning line-up at 8:35am, registration from 8:40am, and five periods with the final lesson ending at 3:10pm. Families will want to factor in travel routes, particularly for winter mornings; the school’s own information describes good access via public transport and nearby motorway links.

Details on wraparound beyond breakfast provision are not presented as a standard offer for older pupils in the same way as primary schools, so families who need regular after-school supervision should ask directly what is available by year group and day.

• Requires Improvement judgement: The latest inspection outcome remains Requires Improvement, including for sixth form provision. Families should look for evidence of tightening consistency, particularly around lesson routines and follow-up on learning gaps.

• GCSE and sixth form outcomes: Current outcome measures and rankings sit below England average. If your child is academically ambitious and needs a high-performing peer group to drive them, it is sensible to compare local alternatives carefully using the same metrics.

• Attendance and routines: Persistent absence is identified as a material issue. The school’s improvement work places attendance high on the agenda, so families should expect a strong focus on routines and punctuality.

• Sixth form course fit: The sixth form is described as supportive, but ensuring students are placed on the right courses early is a stated improvement need. This is especially important for students who are undecided or who have uneven GCSE profiles.

Norton Canes High School is best understood as a small community secondary with a clear improvement programme in motion. Strengths sit in relationships, inclusion, literacy support, and a structured personal development curriculum, backed by a broad enrichment menu and practical SEND systems. The challenge is outcomes and consistency, particularly across teaching and sixth form matching. It suits families who value a smaller setting, want strong pastoral attention, and are comfortable engaging proactively with the school’s improvement journey.