Fareham Academy Review 2026: A supportive 11 to 16 academy with a strong pastoral core

A school’s tone often shows up in the places students choose to use. At Fareham Academy, the Student Support Services base is positioned as a practical, everyday help point rather than a last resort, and external review evidence aligns with that picture, describing positive relationships and students who feel safe.

This is a mixed 11 to 16 academy in Fareham, close to capacity, with an established house system and an unusually broad list of enrichment clubs for a non-selective secondary. The headteacher, Mr Christopher Prankerd, took up post in September 2019.

For families, the key questions tend to be practical and immediate. What is the day-to-day culture like, how steady is behaviour, what does academic progress look like at GCSE, and what support exists for students who need extra help, including SEND and hearing support.

Fareham Academy presents itself as values-led, and those values are consistent across official sources: resilience, aspiration, and kindness. The language matters because it shapes the behaviour culture. A clear values set usually works best when it is tied to routines and shared reference points, not just assemblies. Here, it is reinforced through planned events linked to the values, as well as through the house structure that was created with student leadership input in 2022.

The latest Ofsted inspection (20 and 21 October 2021, published 13 December 2021) confirmed the academy continues to be Good, and described a welcoming environment where pupils feel happy and safe. The same report highlights the strength of the pastoral team and the practical accessibility of support, with students using support spaces sensibly for both academic worries and more serious concerns.

Leadership stability is also relevant to culture. Mr Christopher Prankerd has been in post since September 2019, which gives the school several years of continuity around curriculum and behaviour expectations.

In FindMySchool’s GCSE outcomes ranking, Fareham Academy is ranked 2,697th in England and 4th locally in Fareham. This places results in line with the middle 35% of secondary schools in England (25th to 60th percentile). (FindMySchool ranking based on official data.)

The underlying GCSE indicators provide a more nuanced picture than the headline band alone:

• Attainment 8 is 40.5.

• Progress 8 is -0.4, which indicates that, on average, students made less progress than pupils nationally with similar starting points.

• The average EBacc APS is 3.59.

• 13.1% achieved grade 5 or above across the EBacc measure.

Taken together, this suggests a school where the experience and support structures can be stronger than the exam profile implies, and where the priority for many families will be trajectory. In practice, that means asking specific questions about how the school identifies gaps early, how literacy intervention is organised, and how subject leaders are using assessment to tighten sequencing and retention across Key Stage 3, so that Key Stage 4 outcomes follow.

For parents comparing local options, the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool can help you view the local performance context side by side, rather than relying on a single headline grade.

Curriculum intent is described as broad and inclusive, with explicit whole-school priorities around reading, literacy, and numeracy. That emphasis is supported by inspection evidence describing an ambitious curriculum that is sequenced from Year 7 so that knowledge and skills build over time, with further refinements being made in a small number of subjects to embed learning securely and consistently.

The most credible indicator of day-to-day teaching quality is often what happens for students who find learning harder. Here, the model is to assess pupils carefully on entry and use that information to organise targeted support, including a specific focus on reading for those who need to catch up. This matters because secondary school gaps tend to widen quickly without systematic intervention, especially once GCSE content depth increases.

Personal Development Learning (PDL) is positioned as a structured programme, covering healthy relationships, democracy, law, financial literacy, and careers pathways across Years 7 to 11. The practical implication is that students are likely to get repeated, age-appropriate teaching on online safety, relationships education, and future pathways, rather than receiving it as occasional one-off sessions.

For students who are struggling in mainstream lessons, the school also operates Gateway, described as a safe and caring environment with an enriched and bespoke timetable designed to remove barriers to learning and engagement, while maintaining links to departmental curriculum content.

Because the academy is 11 to 16, families need a clear plan for post-16. The school’s careers model includes structured experiences across Key Stages 3 and 4, and every Year 10 student is offered a one-to-one careers guidance meeting with a Level 6 qualified careers practitioner.

That matters because good careers provision is not only about aspiration; it is about informed choices. A strong Year 9 options process, exposure to employers, and clear guidance on sixth form, college, and apprenticeships pathways can materially affect outcomes for students who are not naturally self-directed.

As always with 11 to 16 schools, parents should ask how the school supports applications and transitions, including whether it provides structured guidance on deadlines, subject requirements for popular Level 3 pathways, and travel planning for students commuting to a post-16 setting.

Year 7 admissions are coordinated by Hampshire County Council, rather than handled directly by the academy. For September 2026 entry, the published county timetable states that applications open on 8 September 2025, the on-time deadline is 31 October 2025, and offers are issued on 2 March 2026.

The academy’s own admissions information also highlights transition planning for Year 6 into Year 7, including an invitation for new starters to experience a week at the academy before starting in September, which can be a meaningful confidence-builder for pupils who are anxious about the move to secondary.

For in-year movement, the school signposts families to the county’s in-year admissions route and flags the practical risks of mid-year transfers, such as disruption for students with complex needs and the potential attendance impact of travelling further.

If your shortlist depends on specific travel assumptions, it is sensible to use FindMySchoolMap Search to validate your likely journey and compare realistic daily travel time across alternatives, especially where bus or rail commuting is involved.

Pastoral credibility is built from three elements: access, consistency, and specialist capacity. Fareham Academy’s model places visible emphasis on access, with a dedicated Student Support Services base that the school describes as a hub for resources and expertise, and which is located by the netball courts with access via A Block.

For SEND, the school describes an on-site support structure with trained first aiders available, intervention support for vulnerable students, mentoring, and a tiered approach to emotional wellbeing and mental health. Staff capability is also described in concrete terms, including learning support assistants with training across areas such as speech and language, autism awareness, British Sign Language, deaf awareness, ELSA, and mental health.

A distinctive part of the offer is the Link Centre, a resourced provision supporting students with hearing loss, and the wider total communication approach described by the school (including visual support and opportunities for staff and students to learn everyday signs). This is important for families because it signals specialist infrastructure within a mainstream setting, which can be a good fit for students who benefit from inclusion but still need structured specialist input.

The second key safeguarding indicator is formal assurance. The inspection also confirmed that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

The extracurricular offer is unusually specific and varied for a mainstream 11 to 16 school, and the detail is not generic. Alongside sports provision, the published club list includes Coding Club, Chess and Board Games Club, DofE Club, Creative Writing Club, Dungeon and Dragons Club, E-sports Club, Eco Club, BSL Club, and structured student support groups such as Young Carers Group and a bereavement drop-in.

The educational implication is twofold. First, breadth increases the chance that students find at least one anchor activity where they feel competent and known, which is often linked to better attendance and engagement. Second, the club list includes both skills-based options (coding, creative writing) and community or wellbeing supports (young carers, bereavement), which aligns with the pastoral emphasis in the inspection narrative.

The house system adds another layer of belonging and participation. Houses were created in 2022 by the student leadership team, with themes drawn from mythology, and the page describes cross-house competitions such as a Christmas quiz, debate, and Sports Day. For some students, that structured competition provides a low-stakes way to contribute beyond academic work, especially in Year 7 and Year 8 when confidence is still forming.

The school day runs from registration at 8:30 to the end of Period 5 at 14:40, with enrichment clubs running 14:40 to 15:40 and a homework club running to 16:00.

For transport, the school’s guidance references bus routes used by students and notes that the academy is a 10 to 15 minute walk from Fareham railway station; a minibus option is described as being reviewed annually, so families should avoid relying on it as a guaranteed long-term arrangement.

• GCSE progress measure. Progress 8 of -0.4 suggests outcomes have not matched the progress seen nationally for pupils with similar starting points. Families should ask how the school is improving subject sequencing, literacy catch-up, and Key Stage 4 intervention.

• EBacc profile. With 13.1% achieving grade 5 or above across the EBacc measure, it is worth checking which pathways are most common at Key Stage 4 and how languages are promoted and supported.

• No sixth form. Planning for post-16 is unavoidable. Ask how the school supports applications, travel planning, and subject choices that keep options open for sixth form, college, or apprenticeships.

• Specialist support is a strength, but it needs fit. The Link Centre and wider SEND model can be a strong match for some learners; parents should still explore how support looks in mainstream classrooms, not only in specialist bases.

Fareham Academy’s clearest strengths are relational and structural: accessible pastoral support, a detailed personal development programme, and an extracurricular offer with enough variety to suit many different personalities. Academic outcomes sit broadly in line with the middle of English secondaries overall, with progress measures indicating room for improvement, so families should focus on the school’s current improvement story and how it supports learning day to day.

Who it suits: families seeking a mainstream 11 to 16 school with visible wellbeing support, a broad club programme, and specialist capacity for students who need additional structure, including hearing support, and who are willing to engage actively with post-16 planning.