Koru Independent AP Academy Review 2026: Small alternative provision with a reintegration focus

A 50-place alternative provision for students aged 11 to 16, Koru Independent AP Academy is designed for young people who are not currently thriving in mainstream education. Its scale matters, it is intentionally small, and that supports a high-adult-contact model built around mentoring, behaviour coaching, and re-engagement with learning. The current head teacher is Shona Anderson, who founded the provision in March 2017 and continues to lead it as both head teacher and proprietor.

This is an independent school in regulatory terms, but it operates in an alternative provision (AP) space, and the most relevant question for families is usually not prestige or tradition. It is whether the school can stabilise attendance, rebuild trust, and move students back into sustainable education pathways, either through a return to mainstream or through completion of Key Stage 4 qualifications. The latest Ofsted standard inspection (April 2023) judged the school Good, with effective safeguarding.

Koru’s public messaging is consistent about purpose: re-engagement, strong relationships, and a determination to help students reset their school trajectory. The terminology used across the school’s materials is telling, mentoring sits alongside teaching as a core mechanism for change, and the stated intent is to help students return to mainstream better equipped to succeed.

Ofsted’s description of daily experience aligns with that positioning. Inspectors described a safe and inclusive culture, where staff know pupils well and pupils trust adults, with behaviour managed effectively through mentoring and structured support.

There is also a practical realism in how Koru frames its intake. The admissions policy describes a cohort that may include students at risk of, or returning from, exclusion; students with attendance difficulties; and students with social, emotional, or behavioural needs that have made a full-time mainstream placement unworkable. That clarity is useful for families because it sets expectations: this is a provision built for complexity, not a gentle alternative for a child who simply prefers a smaller setting.

Performance data for alternative provision settings is often volatile because cohorts are small, timetables can be highly personalised, and mid-year entry is common. The most important interpretation point is that published measures may reflect a changing cohort as much as they reflect teaching quality.

Within the FindMySchool dataset for GCSE outcomes, Koru Independent AP Academy is ranked 4,238th in England and 23rd in Havering (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This places performance below the England average overall, in line with the bottom 40% of schools in England.

The same dataset reports an Attainment 8 score of 5; EBacc participation and outcomes are extremely limited, with 0% achieving grades 5 or above in the EBacc measure. These figures are best read as context rather than a definitive judgement on the day-to-day quality of education, particularly in a school designed to support students whose prior schooling has been disrupted.

For parents comparing local options, the most practical approach is to use the FindMySchool Local Hub page and Comparison Tool to view this performance context alongside nearby mainstream schools and local authority AP alternatives, then weigh that against the school’s reintegration and pastoral offer.

Koru positions curriculum as both structured and flexible, which is typical of an AP model that needs to rebuild foundational literacy and numeracy while also keeping older students moving towards qualifications. Ofsted notes a well-sequenced curriculum that is adapted to pupils’ needs on entry, including for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with a clear Key Stage 3 emphasis on English and mathematics.

At Key Stage 4, the school’s reported offer includes GCSEs and functional skills routes. Ofsted references a broad range of subjects, with English language and mathematics as universal, and options including English literature and French for some pupils. It also points to the introduction of construction with specialist on-site teaching, and a beauty therapy pathway, both framed as routes into college progression.

The most useful “how it feels in practice” detail is the teaching pattern described in the inspection report: new information is typically presented clearly; knowledge is built logically and revisited. The improvement area is also important for families to understand, teaching strategies are not always well-matched to subject-specific content, and structured scaffolding is not always consistent, which can affect how securely some students learn and how quickly the quality of work improves.

Koru’s central promise is two-track. For some students, the goal is reintegration into mainstream, and Ofsted reports that many students do return successfully. For others, particularly those who arrive in Key Stage 4, the goal is stable completion of Year 11 with qualifications that support progression.

Careers guidance is therefore a practical necessity rather than a branding exercise. Ofsted reports that Year 11 students receive careers education and guidance, with support for college and apprenticeship applications, and that a high proportion progress to further education or training.

Because the school does not publish a quantified Russell Group or university pipeline, and it does not have sixth form provision, the parent-facing way to assess “destinations strength” is to ask for recent examples of college routes, apprenticeship pathways, and reintegration destinations, then test how those pathways are supported for students with disrupted attendance histories.

Admissions work differently here than in mainstream secondary schools. Koru’s admissions policy states that the school does not accept applications from parents or self-referrals from prospective students. Instead, students are admitted following referral from an academy, a maintained school, or a local authority route.

The same policy describes an emergency response model, including a stated aim of responding to emergency referrals within 48 hours. That is a strong indicator of the school’s operational role in a local inclusion system: it is designed to be a practical option when mainstream placement is breaking down, not simply a normal yearly admissions destination.

For local context, Havering council papers describe Koru as operating from the same site and offering 50 AP places for students aged 11 to 16, which aligns with the school’s registered capacity and its role in local AP planning.

Parents should assume admissions are primarily a professional-to-professional process, involving the placing school and local authority teams. If you are considering Koru as a potential route, the most effective first step is normally a conversation with your child’s current school and, where relevant, the local authority inclusion or alternative provision team.

Pastoral capacity is central to an AP model. In the April 2023 inspection, safeguarding was found to be effective, with a strong safeguarding culture, regular staff training, rapid reporting of concerns, and effective multi-agency working to secure support for pupils.

Behaviour systems are described as purposeful and coached rather than purely punitive. Mentoring is explicitly referenced in the inspection report as a benefit for pupils, and behaviour mentors provide extra support to minimise disruption in lessons.

Personal development content is also described as broad and relevant, including equality and diversity, citizenship, and relationships and sex education delivered in an age-appropriate way, with additional individual support where needed, sometimes linked to safeguarding needs.

In AP settings, enrichment often serves a different function than in large mainstream schools. It is not primarily about breadth for its own sake, it is about belonging, confidence, and rebuilding positive routines.

The April 2023 Ofsted report gives a clear snapshot of what that looks like at Koru: pupils reported enjoying activities including residential trips to an activity centre, ice-skating, and bowling. These are not token add-ons. For students who have had difficult experiences in education, structured off-site activities can be a practical way to rebuild trust with adults, practise social interaction, and learn to manage behaviour in wider contexts.

On the curriculum side, the school’s offer includes named, distinctive pathways that act as engagement anchors, including construction with specialist on-site teaching and a beauty therapy route, both linked to progression options at college. In practice, these pathways often matter most for students whose confidence has been damaged by repeated negative cycles in mainstream, because tangible, skill-based success can re-open the door to academic effort elsewhere.

The school also signals a focus on early intervention and re-engagement through named programmes referenced in its materials, including an Engagement Program and an early intervention strand presented in the curriculum menu. Where possible, families should ask for concrete examples of what these programmes involve week to week, and how progress is tracked beyond attendance and behaviour.

Koru Independent AP Academy is registered as an independent school, and Ofsted’s April 2023 report lists annual day fees in a range of £11,940 to £33,000.

However, the school does not publish a clear 2025 to 2026 fee schedule in its public website information, and in alternative provision settings the funding route is often driven by commissioning and placement arrangements rather than parent-paid tuition. Parents considering this option should confirm the current charging basis, what is included, and how placement funding is arranged in their specific case, through the placing school and relevant local authority teams.

For families who may need financial support, the appropriate question is not only “is there a bursary”, but also “what costs sit outside any commissioned placement”, for example transport, equipment, or external qualifications. Those details vary materially by student plan and referral route.

The school publishes a structured school day timetable including breakfast club from 08:00 to 08:30, with teaching running through to a final lesson ending at 15:00.

A published term calendar for 2025 to 2026 shows an Autumn term running from 01 September 2025 to 19 December 2025; Spring term from 05 January 2026 to 27 March 2026; and Summer term from 13 April 2026 to 20 July 2026.

Because admissions are referral-led, families should not expect the standard Year 7 open evening cycle to be the primary entry route. If the school runs open events, booking and scheduling can change quickly, so it is sensible to confirm directly via the school’s published information channels.

• Alternative provision context. This is a setting designed for students whose mainstream placement is not currently working. That can be exactly the right fit, but it also means peer needs can be complex, and day-to-day routines are built around stabilisation and re-engagement rather than a conventional secondary school experience.

• Admissions are referral-led. Parents cannot apply directly, and places depend on professional referral routes and local authority processes. This suits families already working with schools and services; it can feel opaque if you are expecting a normal admissions timetable.

• Quality is Good, but not flawless. The inspection identifies an improvement need around consistent subject-specific teaching strategies and scaffolding. Families should ask what training and quality assurance has been put in place since April 2023 to strengthen classroom consistency.

• Published performance measures may be hard to interpret. With small cohorts and variable entry points, headline metrics can move sharply year to year. For many students, the most relevant success indicators will be attendance stability, qualifications achieved, and sustained next-step destinations.

Koru Independent AP Academy is a small, regulated alternative provision that is explicitly built for re-engagement and reintegration. The strongest evidence points to a safe culture, effective safeguarding, and a curriculum model that combines core academic rebuilding with practical pathways for older students.

Who it suits: students aged 11 to 16 whose mainstream placement has broken down, and families who want a structured reset with strong adult support, clear behaviour coaching, and a realistic route either back to mainstream or through to Year 11 progression. The main constraint is not willingness, it is the referral-led nature of admissions and the availability of commissioned places.