Malet Lambert Review 2026: Big-school opportunities, structured support, clear expectations

A large, busy secondary in east Hull, Malet Lambert leans into breadth, there is the scale to offer specialist rooms, a serious sports footprint, and a long list of lunchtime and after-school options. The school is part of The Education Alliance multi-academy trust, and leadership has been stable for several years, which matters in a school of this size.

The overall picture is of a comprehensive that wants pupils to feel safe, to behave well, and to take part, while keeping academic expectations clear. It is not a selective setting, so outcomes reflect a mixed intake, and the current data indicates some work still needed on progress and on making learning consistently demanding across subjects.

For families, the central question is fit. If your child will thrive with structure, plenty going on beyond lessons, and a defined pastoral framework (including houses and a formal character programme), this is a strong local contender. If you want a smaller setting, or you are looking for a school where academic progress is consistently above average, you will want to probe carefully at open events and in conversations with staff.

Malet Lambert’s identity is closely tied to its size and its routines. Days start with tutor time and move through long, hour blocks, which tends to suit pupils who benefit from fewer transitions and a predictable rhythm.

A notable feature is the reintroduced House System, brought back in 2017, with house-coloured ties and a steady drumbeat of inter-house competition. The detail here is telling, it is not only sport. Competitions run across departments, from baking and spelling to entrepreneurship, and points accrue weekly before an annual culmination. In practice, this is a simple mechanism with a clear implication, it gives pupils multiple ways to belong and be recognised, not only through academic attainment.

Pastoral reporting is also structured. The school describes an online route for raising worries and concerns, monitored during school hours, positioned as an additional channel alongside traditional staff contacts. For many families, the value is not the form itself but the clarity, pupils and parents know where to go when something feels wrong or uncertain, and issues can be triaged quickly.

The school’s public messaging also leans into “values” language, expressed as three strands and three values. You do not need to buy into the branding to see the practical intent, a common vocabulary for effort, conduct, and participation, reinforced through rewards and celebration events across the year.

Malet Lambert’s most recent headline performance indicators sit broadly in line with the middle tier of schools in England, rather than at either extreme. Ranked 2,350th in England and 8th in Hull for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), performance sits in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

On GCSE measures, Attainment 8 is 42.6. Progress 8 is -0.57, which indicates that, on average, pupils make less progress than pupils nationally with similar starting points. EBacc outcomes are a particular pressure point in the published dataset, with 14.7% achieving grade 5 or above across the EBacc suite, and an average EBacc APS of 3.9 (England average 4.08). These figures point to a school that has room to tighten consistency and raise outcomes, especially for pupils following the EBacc pathway.

The most useful way to read these numbers as a parent is through the “consistency” lens. A school can have strong pockets of practice while still producing middling whole-school averages. The question to test at open evening is where the strongest teaching sits, how it is being spread across departments, and what the school does for pupils who start to drift, particularly around attendance and engagement.

Families comparing several Hull secondaries should use the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool to line up attainment, progress and EBacc measures in one place, it helps avoid making decisions on reputation alone.

The school describes an intent-led curriculum model, framed around knowledge, aspirations, and a broad subject menu across Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. It also emphasises sequenced learning and recall, which usually translates into explicit teaching, regular retrieval, and clear routines around key vocabulary.

There are also signs of practical curriculum breadth in the subject offer and the way enrichment connects back to learning. For example, the extracurricular programme includes subject-linked sessions such as sociology revision, separate science revision, and a Level 2 Further Maths qualification drop-in. The implication is straightforward, pupils who want additional support, or who are aiming high, have visible routes to get extra time with staff beyond the main timetable.

Reading is also positioned as a priority in the school’s external evaluation, with explicit mention of school-wide approaches designed to build vocabulary and confidence for weaker readers. The important parent-facing question is how these approaches are implemented day to day, for example, whether subject teachers consistently teach specialist language, and whether weaker readers get timely assessment and intervention rather than being left to cope.

A distinctive element sits within humanities and personal development, Malet Lambert is a Holocaust Beacon School, part of a small national group selected for this work (22 as of September 2021), and the school describes working with University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education. In practical terms, this tends to drive higher-quality curriculum planning, careful staff training, and better discussion culture around discrimination and civic responsibility.

Malet Lambert is a 11 to 16 school, so the main transition point is post-16. The school publishes destination-style information on its website, but for this review we focus on what can be verified as durable and comparable.

What parents should prioritise is the quality of guidance and the realism of pathways. External evaluation highlights a comprehensive careers programme and explicit work to prepare pupils for next steps, including engagement with technical routes and apprenticeships information. The implication is that the school is not only pushing a single academic route, it is trying to help pupils make informed choices, which matters in a mixed-intake comprehensive.

In practical conversations with the school, ask for three things:

• How the school supports pupils aiming for academic sixth form routes, including higher grades in English and maths.

• How it supports pupils targeting college courses and technical pathways, including employer encounters and work-related learning.

• What happens for pupils who are undecided late in Year 10 or early Year 11, and how the school prevents “drift” into unsuitable post-16 options.

Admissions are coordinated through Hull’s local authority process for Year 7 entry, with the standard secondary timetable. For September 2026 entry, the published local authority deadline is Friday 31 October 2025, with offers issued on Monday 2 March 2026.

Demand is a meaningful factor. In the most recently published Hull data for national offer day 2025/26, Malet Lambert had a published admission number of 350, with 405 first preferences listed, plus additional second and third preferences. That level of demand suggests it is frequently oversubscribed, and that criteria order matters.

(Parents should treat preference patterns as a guide rather than a guarantee, demand and allocation patterns can shift year to year.)

The published admissions criteria (2025/26 arrangements) follow a conventional priority order: looked-after and previously looked-after children, children of staff in defined circumstances, catchment-area children, siblings, then distance.

Two local details are worth knowing because they affect how “distance” is interpreted in practice. First, Hull’s measurement approach uses a shortest available safe pedestrian route and a mapping system. Second, for Malet Lambert there is an explicit exception referencing the maintained footpath across East Park as part of the route network used for measurement. In other words, if you live on the far side of East Park, your practical walking route can materially shape your measured distance.

Appeals timings are also published by the school for the normal round. For September 2026 entry, the school states an appeal form submission deadline of 17 April 2026, with appeal hearings planned between May and June 2026.

Parents mapping realistic options should use FindMySchoolMap Search to sense-check travel times and likely distance dynamics, especially if you are close to catchment edges or relying on walking-route quirks.

Pastoral care in a large secondary is only as good as its systems. Malet Lambert’s pastoral structure is intentionally formalised, with houses, clear reporting routes, and a defined approach to building character through “strands” and recognition. The Malet Citizen programme sets out Scholarship, Community, and Participation, with pupils collecting evidence and being recognised at bronze, silver, and gold levels, including pin badges and celebration events. For pupils who respond to visible milestones, this can be motivating and can help adults identify early disengagement.

The school also describes easy reporting routes for concerns, and external evaluation indicates that pupils generally feel safe, with bullying dealt with quickly when it occurs. The implication for parents is not that problems never arise, but that there is a clear expectation that problems are surfaced early and handled consistently.

There are also some clear areas to keep on your radar. Attendance is flagged as an ongoing challenge for some pupils, and this matters because in any curriculum model built on sequence and recall, gaps compound quickly. Families should ask how attendance is tracked at house level, what early intervention looks like, and how the school supports disadvantaged pupils where persistent absence can be higher.

The October 2023 Ofsted inspection judged the school Good across all areas, and stated that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

This is an area where Malet Lambert’s scale becomes a genuine advantage. The school publishes a termly timetable of clubs and activities that runs across lunch and after school, and it is specific enough to show that participation is not left to chance.

A snapshot of the programme includes academic and creative options such as Book Club, Creative Writing, Games Club, Musical Theatre Club, and targeted revision sessions in subjects such as sociology, history and science. There are also structured opportunities like Young Enterprise. This range matters because it gives different pupil types a route in, readers, performers, gamers, and pupils who simply need a quiet, supervised place to work can all find something that fits.

Sport is also clearly resourced. Facilities referenced by the school include multiple 3G pitches, grass pitches, two large sports halls, an activity studio, a multi-use games area, and a fitness suite. The point is not simply “sport exists”, it is that the physical plant can support mass participation as well as teams and structured clubs.

Some of the extracurricular programme also links back to wider personal development themes. The Holocaust Beacon School work explicitly connects curriculum to contemporary issues such as discrimination and online spaces, and the Malet Citizen strands aim to reward helpful contribution and sustained participation, not only high grades. For families who value civic literacy alongside qualifications, those are meaningful signals.

The school day runs from 8.40am to 3.10pm, with tutor time at the start of the day and five hour-long lessons.

For travel, many families will think in terms of walking and local bus routes. One admissions-policy detail is unusually concrete for a city school, the maintained footpath across East Park is treated as part of the walking-route network used for distance measurement. That gives a helpful hint about common approaches, many pupils will be travelling across or around the park.

Wraparound care is not generally a defining feature at secondary, and the school does not present a standard breakfast and after-school childcare offer in the way a primary would. Families who need supervised early drop-off or late collection should ask directly what is currently available and whether provision is targeted to specific year groups or needs.

• Progress and consistency. Current progress measures indicate that, on average, pupils are making less progress than peers nationally with similar starting points. Families should ask how teaching quality is being made consistent across departments, and what targeted support looks like for pupils who fall behind.

• Attendance matters here. Attendance is highlighted as a challenge for some pupils, and the school’s own evaluation points to ongoing work in this area. If your child has a history of absence or anxiety-based non-attendance, probe how the pastoral team intervenes early and what reintegration looks like.

• A very large school experience. Scale brings opportunity, but it can feel impersonal for some pupils. The house structure and formal character programme are designed to counter this. Ask how tutor groups, heads of house, and safeguarding leads coordinate when a pupil needs close monitoring.

• Competition for places. Local authority preference data shows strong demand. Read the oversubscription criteria carefully, and do not rely on general reputation or informal “catchment” assumptions, especially if you are near boundaries or relying on walking routes.

Malet Lambert is a high-capacity comprehensive with the resources and breadth that size can bring, strong sport facilities, a detailed extracurricular timetable, and clearly described pastoral structures. Academic outcomes in the published dataset are broadly mid-range for England, with some indicators that improvement work is still needed to raise progress and embed consistent high-quality teaching.

Who it suits: families wanting a structured, opportunity-rich mainstream secondary in east Hull, where pupils can plug into houses, clubs, and a formal personal development framework. The main challenge is fit for pupils who need a smaller setting or who require consistently above-average academic progress across all subjects.