The Victory Academy Review 2026: Large Medway secondary with a clear values framework and a growing post-16 offer

A big 11 to 18 school with the feel of a modern academy, structured routines, clear behavioural expectations, and a strong emphasis on belonging. The school’s stated framework is distinctive and consistent across pages and policies, with “Victory Values” and “Victory Virtues” forming the shared language for conduct, rewards and character education.

Leadership has been recently refreshed. Mr Oliver Owen is the current headteacher, with a change formally communicated to families in 2024.

On the accountability side, the most recent graded Ofsted inspection (2 February 2023) judged the school Good overall, with Good also recorded across Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management, and Sixth Form Provision.

The school’s character is anchored in a values vocabulary that is unusually explicit. It presents three core values as Be kind (Respect), Work Hard (Belief), and Celebrate All (Pride), and then extends this into day-to-day routines through its behaviour systems and pastoral messaging. This matters because it reduces ambiguity for students. Expectations are not left to individual classrooms; they are framed as shared habits and consistent language.

There is also a “thinking” identity that goes beyond branding. The school states that it is accredited as an Advanced “Thinking School” by the University of Exeter, and its admissions and prospectus materials reference “Victory Virtues” derived from Costa and Kallick’s Habits of Mind. For families, this signals a preference for metacognition and reflective learning habits, rather than purely compliance-led behaviour management.

The physical setting supports the sense of a contemporary academy. The building was designed by Nicholas Hare Architects and is described as organised around a central courtyard, with outdoor spaces intended for performance and teaching. That design choice tends to help large schools feel more legible and calmer at social times, because movement can be distributed and outdoor space becomes part of the day rather than an occasional add-on.

Outcomes sit below many schools across England on the available measures, with clearer strength in setting expectations and routines than in raw exam indicators.

At GCSE, Attainment 8 is 40.1 and Progress 8 is -0.34. A negative Progress 8 indicates that, on average, students’ progress from the end of primary school is below the national benchmark. EBacc average points score (APS) is 3.49. (Not applicable; metrics stated from provided dataset.)

The school’s GCSE ranking position is 2,958th in England and 4th in Chatham for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), which places performance below the England average in the bottom 40% of ranked schools.

In the sixth form, A-level grades are more mixed. A* is recorded as 0%, A as 10.47%, B as 23.26%, and A* to B as 33.72%. Compared with the England average for A* to B (47.2%), this indicates the post-16 outcomes are also currently below the typical England picture.

For A-level outcomes, the school is ranked 2,094th in England and 4th in Chatham (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), again sitting below the England average.

What to take from this, as a parent: the data points to a school where teaching structures and routines are likely clearer than the end-results suggest, and where the improvement question is about consistency and impact across subjects, rather than a lack of intent.

The academic offer is framed around breadth and cultural capital, with a strong emphasis on common standards. The curriculum pages present the three core values as the guiding logic for learning: Pride (Celebrate All), Respect (Be Kind), and Belief (Work Hard).

A useful, concrete indicator of how the school tries to make learning habits “stick” is the repeated reference to reflection and ownership. One example is the “Be Your Best Self” logbook described in policy documentation, positioned as part of tutor time to build reflective thinking and student ownership. The implication is that the school is deliberately trying to build self-regulation and planning behaviours, not just content coverage.

At a school of this size, families often ask whether expectations feel consistent between classrooms. The most recent Ofsted inspection highlights a largely positive picture of learning and wellbeing culture, while also indicating that a small number of staff did not always reinforce expectations consistently. This is a typical “big school” challenge, and it is also one of the most practical things to probe on a visit: consistency of routines across departments and corridors, not just in the best-run classrooms.

The sixth form exists as a meaningful option rather than a token add-on. For the most recent published 2023/24 leavers cohort (59 students), 51% progressed to university. The same cohort shows 20% moving into employment, 5% starting apprenticeships, and 2% progressing to further education.

The school also places heavy emphasis on employability exposure earlier than Year 13. Policy documentation describes careers education as embedded, with meaningful encounters with employers across year groups and careers fairs. For students who are not fixed on a traditional university route, that kind of structured, repeated exposure can be more valuable than one-off assemblies.

Year 7 admissions are coordinated by Medway Council. For September 2026 entry, Medway’s published key dates set out the standard timeline: applications opened on 1 September 2025 and closed on 31 October 2025, with offers sent on 2 March 2026.

Local demand is real. Medway’s directory entry for the school reports 579 applications and 240 offers for September 2025. That is roughly 2.4 applications per place, which fits the pattern of an oversubscribed local secondary. The same entry reports the furthest offered distance as 4,782.40 metres for September 2025. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

The school’s own admissions page confirms the Medway route for Year 7 and states that it no longer uses a Fair Banding Test. For parents, that simplifies decision-making. Your priorities become preference order, your address, and a careful read of the published oversubscription criteria.

For families shortlisting locally, it is sensible to use the FindMySchool Map Search to check how your home location compares with recent offer distances, then cross-check the council’s latest admissions guidance before relying on any single year’s pattern.

Open events: Medway’s directory listing shows open evening and tour activity concentrated in late September in the most recently published cycle. If you are applying for a future year, expect open events to be broadly in that early autumn window, but confirm dates directly with the school.

Pastoral messaging is values-led and repeated. Behaviour expectations, rewards and recognition systems are explicitly linked to the Victory Values, and policies emphasise consistency and common language across staff and students.

A second pastoral strand is inclusion and belonging. Trust communications from 2025 reference new Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) and sixth form facilities, framed as part of inclusive education. For families with additional needs, the key is to understand what the SRP is designed to support, how referral works, and how it integrates with mainstream timetables, as SRP models vary significantly between schools.

The latest Ofsted inspection provides external corroboration for the school’s wellbeing emphasis alongside its academic work.

The school has a clear creative-arts identity and backs it with recognised accreditation. It describes itself as a two-time Platinum Artsmark school, and in November 2025 it reported 176 Year 8 students achieving the Bronze Arts Award (a Level 1 qualification) via Trinity College London in association with Arts Council England. The practical implication is that arts participation is not confined to a small group. It is engineered as a whole-year experience with a qualification outcome that some students can use as evidence of commitment in later options or applications.

For families who want named clubs rather than generic lists, the school’s published materials include several concrete examples:

• Year 8 Art Club, described as running weekly after school in a past newsletter.

• Band Club, described in the music development plan as open to all year groups and focused on instrumental technique, sight reading and performance.

• Singing clubs and choir opportunities, with performances linked to school events and seasonal showcases.

House competition is another structured strand. Students are organised into four houses named after historic ships: Cavalier, Ocelot, Gannet and Leviathan. House points and termly rewards create an additional motivation layer that can work well in large schools, especially for students who thrive on belonging and visible recognition.

The published timetable sets a clear day structure. Students are expected on site by 8:30am; the school day ends at 3:05pm, with a Breakfast Club listed from 8:00am. The timetable also states a 32.5-hour school week.

For travel and drop-off, school communications reference using the school car park for drop-off and pick-up and a designated pedestrian entry point. Families should factor this into morning logistics, particularly if siblings attend other Medway schools with different start times.

• Progress measures are currently below benchmark. A Progress 8 score of -0.34 indicates that, on average, GCSE progress is below the national reference point. For some families, this will be a prompt to ask what is changing at subject level, not just at whole-school level.

• Competition for places is meaningful. Medway reported 579 applications for 240 offers for September 2025. The furthest offered distance was 4,782.40 metres. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

• Leadership change is recent. A new headteacher took up the role in 2024. Culture and consistency can improve quickly after leadership changes, but exam outcomes often lag behind, so it is worth asking how staff development and curriculum implementation are being monitored year by year.

The Victory Academy suits families who want a large, structured Medway secondary with a clearly articulated values framework, a strong creative-arts identity, and a sixth form that provides a viable local pathway. Students who benefit from routines, house identity, and visible recognition systems are likely to find the environment easier to read and manage.

The main question for many parents will be academic trajectory. With outcomes currently below England benchmarks on several measures, the key is to satisfy yourself about subject-level consistency, teaching quality in the areas your child will rely on most, and how the school is turning its behavioural and cultural clarity into sustained academic gains.