Academy@Worden Review 2026: Reading-first culture, clear routines, and competitive local demand

Academy@Worden is a mixed 11–16 secondary in Leyland, with a deliberately practical focus on routine, reading, and preparing students for the next stage at 16. The day is structured and predictable, with registration at 8:35am and lessons finishing at 3:05pm, backed by a free Breakfast Club before school and supervised spaces after school for homework and quiet study.

The January 2025 Ofsted inspection judged all four key areas as Good and confirmed safeguarding arrangements as effective.

For families in and around Leyland who want a straightforward, ordered school day with clear expectations, this is a purposeful local option, with admission pressure shaped by a defined priority area and oversubscription criteria.

The school’s public-facing language centres on aspiration, integrity, respect, and commitment, with a clear emphasis on doing the right thing and taking responsibility seriously. That tone comes through in how the school describes behaviour expectations and how pastoral teams are positioned, as accessible first points of contact rather than remote offices.

Pastoral support is organised through three hubs across the site, each linked to specific year groups. The practical detail matters because it signals availability, students know where to go and who to speak to, and the hubs handle everything from worries and attendance support to day-to-day issues such as lost property.

Academy@Worden is also candid about the constraints of a building that originated in 1955, and how accessibility has been improved over time. The SEND information describes adjustments including designated disabled parking, two lifts providing access between floors, and ramped access to key areas. For some families, especially where mobility needs are part of daily planning, this kind of clarity is more valuable than broad statements about inclusion.

Leadership is headed by Alan Hammersley, who is also the trust’s CEO, with governance led by a board chaired by Maureen Woodall. His headship began after the January 2020 inspection, so the current operating model has been shaped under relatively recent leadership in inspection terms.

On FindMySchool’s GCSE outcomes ranking (based on official data), Academy@Worden is ranked 2,554th in England and 3rd in Leyland. This reflects solid performance in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

The headline attainment data shows an Attainment 8 score of 41.6. Progress 8 is -0.25, indicating that, on average, students make slightly below-average progress from their starting points across eight subjects.

The EBacc picture is an area to watch. The proportion of pupils achieving grade 5 or above across the EBacc is 13.3, and the average EBacc APS is 3.7. In practical terms, this suggests the strongest outcomes may be concentrated in particular subject areas rather than evenly distributed across the full EBacc suite.

For parents comparing options locally, the FindMySchool Local Hub pages and Comparison Tool can help you benchmark these outcomes alongside other nearby secondaries, especially when weighing Progress 8 against practical factors such as travel time and pastoral fit.

Academy@Worden presents itself as a curriculum-led school, with attention on sequencing knowledge and checking what students know before moving on. In the most recent inspection evidence, teaching is described as clear and supported by secure subject knowledge, with staff using a range of strategies to check learning and build retention.

Reading is treated as a cross-school priority rather than an English-only issue. Every subject is expected to include meaningful reading opportunities, and Years 7 and 8 have a dedicated one-hour reading lesson in the library each week with their English teacher and the librarian. Students use Sparx Reader for weekly home reading, supported by a Sparx Reader club in the library two evenings each week for those who prefer to complete it in school.

There is also a defined intervention ladder for students who need targeted support. The school uses NGRT (New Group Reading Test) screening, and sets out named interventions including Thinking Reading (delivered three times per week by trained practitioners), Corrective Reading for comprehension, and the Coram Beanstalk programme using trained Year 9 reading leaders to support Year 7 pupils through weekly one-to-one sessions.

At Key Stage 4, the curriculum overview indicates a strong core, with a structured hour allocation across English, mathematics, science, option blocks, and PE plus RE or PSHE. For families, the implication is a fairly standard GCSE pathway with clear timetabling, and an emphasis on maintaining breadth through language and humanities where appropriate.

With an 11–16 age range and no sixth form, the main transition point is post-16. The school’s stated approach is to prepare students for the next stage of education, employment, or training, with a careers and personal development structure sitting alongside the academic programme.

The website also signposts structured revision support for Year 11, including weekly revision tasks and guidance for families on how to support students during the exam period. That matters because for many students, the quality of Key Stage 4 preparation is felt most strongly in confidence, attendance, and sustained routines from January onwards.

For parents, the practical question is local post-16 provision. Most students in this area typically move to further education colleges, sixth forms at neighbouring schools, or apprenticeships depending on GCSE outcomes and interests. Academy@Worden’s approach to careers guidance, employer encounters, and post-16 planning is therefore a core part of the offer, even though the destination figures themselves are not published in the available official datasets provided here.

Admissions for Year 7 are coordinated through Lancashire’s secondary admissions process, with the statutory closing date for September 2026 entry set as Friday 31 October 2025. Offers are issued on Monday 2 March 2026, with a published timetable that also includes waiting list and appeal deadlines.

Academy@Worden is an oversubscribed academy and uses defined oversubscription criteria. After children with Education, Health and Care Plans naming the school, priority includes looked-after and previously looked-after children, exceptional medical or social reasons, children of staff, and then children living within the school’s geographical priority area (with and without siblings), followed by children outside the priority area (with and without siblings). Distance is used as the tie-breaker, measured as a straight-line radial distance, with random allocation used where applicants cannot be separated fairly by distance.

The geographical priority area is defined in detail, covering the parish of Ulnes Walton and part of the Leyland area, plus part of South East Farington, with boundary descriptions set out by road references. For families, this means admission is shaped by both location and category, so it is worth checking how your home address sits against the priority area definition before assuming proximity alone will secure a place. FindMySchoolMap Search is useful here because small differences in start points can matter when places are allocated by distance tie-break.

Demand data in Lancashire’s published booklet for Autumn Term 2025 Year 7 admissions indicates 381 total parental preferences (across 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preferences) against an admission number of 180. That does not translate directly into a simple applications-per-place ratio, but it does signal sustained local interest.

Open evening information for the September 2026 intake shows an open evening listed for Thursday 25 September 2025. As these events are time-specific and often repeat annually, families looking ahead should expect open events in early autumn and check the school’s current calendar for the live schedule.

Pastoral structures are explicit and practical. The three hub model is designed so that students can access support in predictable places, with named pastoral leads by year group and a clear set of issues the hubs can help with, including attendance and day-to-day barriers to getting through the school day well.

There is also a quieter supervised lunchtime option in The Zone, a lunchtime club running every day from 1:20pm to 1:50pm for pupils who prefer calmer surroundings to eat lunch. It uses board games and supervised computer access, and the same space becomes Homework Club after school, which matters for students who need quiet structure or do not have reliable access to a device at home.

Mental health support is also signposted through Compass Bloom, described as part of the Mental Health Support Teams programme, offering one-to-one and group interventions and staff guidance as part of a whole-school approach. For families, the implication is that support is layered: quick access through hubs for immediate issues, structured spaces like The Zone for daily routines, and targeted support where a student’s needs are more complex.

SEND support is described through personalised Student Passports, One Page Profiles, provision mapping, and access to external agencies such as educational psychology and speech and language therapy where appropriate. This complements the school’s wider emphasis on identifying gaps early, especially around reading.

Extracurricular provision at Academy@Worden is closely tied to practical routines that remove barriers. The free Breakfast Club runs from 7:45am to 8:15am, and Homework Club runs daily after school from 3:05pm to 4:00pm, providing supervised time and access to computers. For families managing work patterns or students who struggle to settle immediately after school, these predictable slots can be as important as headline enrichment.

The library is positioned as a centre of school life. It supports quiet study after school, but it is also embedded into the curriculum, including weekly reading lessons for Years 7 and 8 and structured programmes such as Sparx Reader club, Bedrock Learning vocabulary work, and the Year 9-led Coram Beanstalk scheme supporting Year 7 reading fluency. The implication is that literacy support is both academic and social, with older students taking responsibility for younger ones, and reading treated as a whole-school habit.

Performance and participation also feature in whole-school moments. The recent inspection evidence highlights students preparing to showcase their talents in the school show Shrek, alongside volunteering as peer readers and participation in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. These examples matter because they show a model where enrichment is not only for the most confident students; it includes structured roles and supported entry points.

The school day runs from 8:35am registration to a 3:05pm finish, with five periods and timetabled breaks and lunch. Free Breakfast Club operates before school, and Homework Club provides supervised study time after school.

For travel planning, Leyland is the nearest rail station for many families, and local bus services connect Leyland and Preston, which can be relevant for students travelling from across the defined priority area. Lancashire also publishes school bus timetable guidance and transport information for families who may qualify for supported travel.

• Progress measures. Progress 8 is -0.25, which suggests some cohorts have not consistently made the progress families may hope for. This is worth probing in conversation, especially around how support is targeted for students who are behind at the start of Year 7.

• EBacc outcomes. The EBacc grade 5+ figure is low, and the average EBacc APS sits below the England benchmark. For families who want a strongly academic EBacc pathway for most students, it is sensible to ask how the school supports language and humanities uptake and performance.

• SEND identification and targeting. External review evidence points to generally effective SEND support, but also indicates that a small number of needs can be identified later than ideal, and that some data use is not always as strategically targeted as it could be. Families of children with emerging needs may want a clear plan for screening, referral, and early intervention.

• Admissions complexity. Entry is shaped by a defined geographical priority area plus oversubscription criteria, then a distance tie-break. This is not a simple nearest-school model. Families should read the priority area definition carefully and sanity-check their address early.

Academy@Worden is an organised, reading-centred 11–16 school with clear routines, practical support structures, and a local admissions model that can be competitive. It will suit families who want a predictable school day, accessible pastoral hubs, and structured literacy support that runs across subjects, especially for students who benefit from routine and visible adult support. The main challenge is aligning expectations, both around outcomes such as Progress 8 and EBacc patterns, and around how admissions priorities work in practice.