Holbrook Academy Review 2026: Peninsula secondary with strong community pull, and clear improvement priorities

Holbrook Academy sits in a distinctive position for Suffolk families, a non selective 11 to 16 school serving the Shotley Peninsula while also drawing students from Ipswich and surrounding villages. That geography shapes daily life, with buses and a late bus offer forming part of the practical picture, and with curriculum links that reflect local industry.

Leadership stability has been a headline theme recently. A new substantive headteacher joined in September 2024, following a period of turnover, and the academy joined the East Anglian Schools Trust on 01 April 2025. For parents, that combination often signals a reset point, with clearer structures, more consistent expectations, and closer trust level support.

Results and inspection evidence point to a school with strengths worth noticing, alongside some non negotiable improvement areas. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. Behaviour and consistency of curriculum delivery, particularly where staffing churn has led to reliance on cover, remain the areas parents should interrogate most closely when deciding fit.

Holbrook’s small school feel is central to its identity. The academy describes itself as a place that knows its students well, which usually matters most to families balancing adolescent independence with the need for close pastoral oversight.

The language used by students in official reporting is telling. Pupils describe social times positively, and the wider culture includes clubs, trips, and leadership opportunities such as fundraising for an orphanage in Uganda. At the same time, they report that some lessons can feel stressful when low level disruption is not contained and too much time is lost to talk rather than learning. That mix suggests a school where many students feel comfortable in the community spaces, while classroom experience can vary depending on the subject area, staffing continuity, and behaviour norms within the group.

The academy’s own stated motto, Ad Infinitum Et Ultra (To infinity and beyond), captures the aspiration well. The practical question for families is how consistently that aspiration translates into orderly classrooms, strong reading habits, and stable teaching teams across the timetable.

Holbrook Academy is ranked 3167th in England for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), and 13th in the Ipswich area on the same measure. This places overall outcomes below England average, within the bottom 40% of schools in England on this ranking banding.

Looking at the underlying measures provided, the academy’s Attainment 8 score is 38.4. The Progress 8 score is -0.61, which indicates that, on average, students made less progress than pupils with similar starting points nationally. In EBacc subjects, the average point score is 3.35, and 7.8% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above across the EBacc measure reported here.

What those figures mean day to day is less about any single headline and more about consistency. Where staffing is stable and subject planning is well embedded, pupils typically learn well because teachers teach a carefully considered curriculum, check understanding, and build in opportunities to revisit prior learning. Where staffing has been less stable, the evidence points to disconnected learning episodes, sometimes driven by cover teaching, sometimes by misbehaviour that interrupts instruction.

For parents comparing local options, the most useful approach is to look at Holbrook’s outcomes alongside nearby alternatives using FindMySchool’s Local Hub comparison tools, then test the on paper picture against what you hear about behaviour, curriculum sequencing, and reading support during visits and conversations.

The academy sets out a curriculum intent that emphasises an academic core, clear progression, and literacy and numeracy across subjects. Key Stage 3 is structured around a two week timetable, with long lesson blocks of 100 minutes, which can work well when routines are clear because it allows deeper practice and extended discussion. The same model can feel slow if behaviour is not tight, because lost minutes are harder to recover in a long session.

A notable feature in the official evidence is the way the curriculum connects to local context. Pupils benefit from curriculum and careers activity that celebrates the local maritime industry, including work experience, employer talks, and opportunities to go sailing. That kind of contextual learning tends to land best for students who learn through doing, and it can also broaden horizons for families who want strong employer links alongside academic study.

Reading is an explicit improvement priority. The evidence indicates that the reading culture has waned, with pupils less in the habit of reading for pleasure. There is targeted support for comprehension through the Student Success Centre, and pupils gain confidence through that work, but a phonics programme is not yet in place for those still learning to read. For parents of children with weaker literacy, this is an area to explore carefully: ask how assessment identifies gaps, what intervention looks like in practice, and how quickly pupils are moved on once they catch up.

As an 11 to 16 academy, Holbrook’s main transition point is post 16. This can be a positive for some teenagers, as it offers a natural reset into sixth form or college with a broader course menu. It can be less appealing for families who want a single school journey through to 18 with an established internal sixth form.

Careers and life skills are built into the school experience, supported by curriculum linked trips and guest speakers, and the evidence notes an activities week designed to broaden experience. At the time of inspection, Year 10 students were visiting post 16 providers, which aligns with a model that takes the 16 plus decision seriously rather than leaving it to the final term of Year 11.

Parents should ask two practical questions early. First, which post 16 routes are most common for Holbrook leavers, including local sixth forms and colleges. Second, what the school does to support students whose first choice post 16 route is competitive, whether that is a particular sixth form, a technical pathway, or an apprenticeship.

Holbrook is a Suffolk state school with no tuition fees. The barrier is not cost, it is demand and the admissions process.

For Year 7 entry, admissions are coordinated through Suffolk County Council. For September 2026 entry, the published closing date is 31 October 2025. Suffolk’s published timeline confirms National Offer Day as 02 March 2026 for on time applicants.

Demand data in the provided admissions dataset shows 151 applications for 108 offers for the relevant entry route, with an oversubscribed status and a subscription proportion of 1.4 applications per place offered. That is meaningful pressure. It suggests that families should treat Holbrook as a school where putting it as a realistic preference requires a sober view of oversubscription criteria and the strength of alternative choices.

Because the last offered distance is not available here, distance based guidance should come directly from Suffolk’s published admissions information and the school’s policy. Families who care about proximity should use FindMySchoolMap Search to check their home to school distance accurately, then validate how the local authority measures distance in the current year’s coordinated scheme.

Pastoral capacity has been strengthened, with a new leadership structure that includes heads of year, and the evidence points to behaviour improving, with reduced use of suspensions and isolation. Movement around the site is described as calm, which usually indicates that corridors and social time are being managed more consistently than they were.

Safeguarding is a clear strength. The arrangements are effective, staff are trained and alert to concerns, and there is evidence of external checking and auditing through the trust. The practical caveat is around record keeping detail and consistency of where information is logged, which the school is expected to tighten so that vulnerable pupils are supported with the strongest possible information trail.

Holbrook publishes detailed SEND information that helps parents understand the support model. As of September 2025, 17.87% of students were identified as requiring SEND support and 6.57% had an Education, Health and Care Plan, with autistic spectrum disorder a significant area of need within the EHCP cohort. Provision includes a universal adaptive teaching offer, additional adult support where needed, time limited interventions, and specialist spaces and approaches including ELSA, Thrive, the Student Success Centre, the Hub, and an Enhanced Learning Curriculum at Key Stage 4 for some pupils.

For families of children with SEND, the key question is classroom consistency. The evidence is clear that support strategies are harder to deliver when lessons are disrupted, so the behaviour improvement work is not separate from inclusion. It is the foundation that allows adapted teaching, scaffolding, and assistive technology to land properly for the students who need it most.

Holbrook’s enrichment offer includes both distinctive and familiar elements, and it is strongest where it reflects local identity. Opportunities linked to the maritime environment include sailing, positioned as part of curriculum and employer engagement rather than a bolt on activity. That is a genuine differentiator for a Suffolk peninsula school.

Clubs are not limited to sport. The academy explicitly references lunchtime and after school opportunities ranging from Dungeons and Dragons to Mahjong, and official evidence also notes that pupils enjoy competing over Mahjong at social times. For some students, especially those who do not define themselves through sport, these lower barrier clubs can be where belonging is built.

Sport is organised with a clear structure. The published offer covers seasonal programmes and competitions including cross country, football, badminton, rugby, netball, swimming, trampolining, indoor cricket, indoor athletics, handball, futsal, and summer sports such as athletics, cricket, tennis, rounders, and volleyball. The implication for families is straightforward: there is enough breadth for students to find a sport that fits, and enough competitive pathway to suit those who enjoy fixtures and tournaments.

Wider experience includes an activities week and curriculum linked trips and speakers. There is also evidence of international minded service activity, with pupils fundraising for an orphanage in Uganda and preparing for a voluntary work trip to Tanzania noted in official reporting. For teenagers, that kind of project can be transformational, it develops leadership, teamwork, and a sense that school life connects to the world beyond the peninsula.

The school day runs from 08:40 to 15:15, with form time followed by three 100 minute lessons and a longer lunch. Total weekly time is stated as 33 hours.

Transport is a core consideration because many students travel in from multiple villages and from Ipswich. The academy lists several bus services serving the school and also describes a weekly late bus with multiple peninsula and Ipswich stops, plus additional late buses during the examination season to support revision sessions. Walking and cycling are encouraged where safe, with support for cycle safety classes.

• Lesson consistency. The official evidence points to variation across subjects, with some areas well established and others affected by staffing churn and cover. This matters most for students who need predictable routines to concentrate and make progress.

• Behaviour remains a live issue. Improvement is underway and suspensions are reducing, but too many pupils still disrupt learning, particularly in Key Stage 3. Parents should ask what behaviour looks like now, not what it used to be, and how consistently staff apply the policy.

• Reading culture and literacy support. Targeted comprehension support exists, but reading for pleasure has weakened and phonics support is not yet in place for those still learning to read. This is an important question for families with weaker literacy starting points.

• No sixth form. At 16, every student transitions to post 16 elsewhere. For some, that is a positive fresh start. For others, it is an extra disruption to plan for.

Holbrook Academy offers a community grounded 11 to 16 education with distinctive local curriculum links, a broad clubs programme, and practical transport support for a wide catchment. The core challenge is consistency: behaviour and staffing stability have had a measurable impact on classroom experience, and reading culture is still being rebuilt. Best suited to families who value a smaller school feel, want strong local identity and enrichment, and are prepared to test behaviour and curriculum delivery carefully during the admissions process.