Outwood Academy Acklam Review 2026: A structured, phone-free academy with a strong reading focus

A large, mixed secondary serving the Acklam area of Middlesbrough, Outwood Academy Acklam combines clear routines with a strong emphasis on literacy and personal development. The school day is built around a daily Personal Development session and a five-period timetable, with lunch staggered by year group to keep movement calm and organised. Academically, outcomes sit below England average overall, but the school’s published approach puts real weight behind reading support, targeted intervention, and consistent curriculum planning.

Leadership sits within Outwood Grange Academies Trust, and the current principal is Graham Skidmore. The academy joined the trust in 2013, a detail that matters because it frames how admissions, curriculum design, and staff development are managed.

This is a school that leans into structure. The timetable makes that obvious, with a set daily rhythm and a defined Personal Development slot before lessons. The academy also aligns strongly with wider Outwood programmes that are designed to standardise expectations, celebrate participation, and build habits that help students manage secondary school demands. The Honours platform is a good example of that approach, using a badge system so that students can evidence and be recognised for activities, character development and wider achievements, not just test results. The academy states that students can work towards up to 100 badges, which gives this recognition system some breadth rather than feeling tokenistic.

Pastoral messaging is similarly consistent, with personal development framed around inclusion, British values, and wellbeing support that links to trust-wide resources. The tone is practical rather than sentimental. Another feature shaping daily culture is the trust’s long-running “phone free schools” stance, which sets clear expectations about mobile phone use for Year 11 and below and supports a more focused classroom climate.

Externally-verified evidence largely matches the picture of high expectations with a few stubborn barriers. Attendance and repeated suspensions are flagged as ongoing issues for a minority of pupils, even while the broader behaviour climate is described as meeting expectations for most. That combination usually indicates a school that is working hard on consistency, where routines support the majority, but a smaller cohort needs more effective, better-tailored engagement strategies.

Ranked 2,799th in England and 6th in Middlesbrough for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking, based on official data)

On headline measures, the numbers point to below-average performance overall. The Attainment 8 score is 41.3 and Progress 8 is -0.23, suggesting that, on average, pupils make slightly less progress than pupils with similar starting points across England. Entry to the English Baccalaureate is low, and the percentage achieving grade 5 or above in EBacc subjects is 8.8, indicating that the EBacc route may not be the dominant curriculum pathway for many pupils.

The most promising academic thread is the academy’s stated focus on literacy as a gateway to wider success. Reading is presented as a “golden thread” running through the curriculum from Year 7, with regular reading age checks in Key Stage 3 and a clear intervention offer for students who are behind, including phonics support, Lexia, and structured approaches to reading for pleasure and comprehension.

It is worth being explicit about what this means for families. A school can sit below England averages on GCSE outcomes and still be improving meaningfully for many pupils, particularly where literacy barriers and attendance patterns are a significant part of the story. For parents, the best way to judge this locally is to look at outcomes and progress trends over time and to ask how interventions are targeted and measured, especially for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language.

Curriculum planning is presented as deliberate rather than ad hoc. The academy expects all students to study a modern foreign language through Years 7 to 9 and requires GCSE study of either history or geography in Years 10 and 11. That choice is important: it signals an intention to maintain breadth for longer than the minimum and to avoid narrowing too early.

Classroom practice, as described in official reporting, emphasises revisiting prior learning and tackling common misconceptions before moving on. The same source points to a clear sense of what pupils can and cannot yet do, using that information to direct extra help. The limiting factor is that the impact of this support is not fully reflected in published outcomes yet, so families should expect the school to talk about improvement trajectories and how these are tracked, not just about current grades.

Literacy is positioned as everyone’s responsibility rather than an English-only priority. The reading programme description is unusually specific for a mainstream secondary, including phonics intervention for those who need it and the use of Accelerated Reader to build independent reading habits and comprehension checks. That detail suggests consistency, which matters in large schools where uneven implementation can undermine good intentions.

Outwood Academy Acklam educates students to Year 11, so progression planning is centred on post-16 routes rather than sixth form outcomes. The careers programme describes structured support through advisers on site, careers drop-ins, and a pattern of provider encounters that help students understand the full menu of options, including A-levels, technical routes and apprenticeships.

A useful, locally grounded detail is the list of further education providers the academy states it engages with regularly, including Middlesbrough College, Prior Pursglove College, Redcar and Cleveland College, the Northern School of Art, and Stockton Riverside College. This does not tell you how many students go to each option, but it does show that post-16 planning is connected to real, accessible local routes rather than generic guidance.

For families, the practical implication is that support should be evaluated through how early students start structured careers learning, how Year 11 is supported through results day and enrolment, and whether guidance is tailored to different profiles, for example students aiming for A-levels versus those who would thrive in a technical or apprenticeship pathway.

Admissions are coordinated through Middlesbrough’s local authority process, using the Common Application Form. Outwood Grange Academies Trust is the admission authority, but the day-to-day application route remains the standard local authority coordinated system.

For September 2026 entry to Year 7, Middlesbrough Council publishes a clear timetable: applications open on 8 September 2025 and close on 31 October 2025, with offers issued on 2 March 2026.

Where the academy is oversubscribed, the published over-subscription criteria follow the usual priority pattern: looked-after and previously looked-after children first, then siblings, then exceptional social or medical reasons (with evidence), then distance measured in a straight line to the main gate. The published admission number for Outwood Academy Acklam for 2026 to 2027 is 240, which provides a concrete sense of the Year 7 cohort size.

Open events are typically part of the autumn decision-making window. For the September 2026 intake, Middlesbrough Council listed an open event for Outwood Academy Acklam on 23 September 2025. Parents considering later intakes should expect a similar September pattern and should check the council listings or the academy’s events information for the most current dates.

Parents comparing schools should use the FindMySchool Map Search to understand how home-to-school distance works in practice, especially where distance becomes the deciding factor for the final places offered.

The academy frames wellbeing support through trust-wide strategy and local practice, with a stated intention to provide a supportive environment and clear signposting to wellbeing resources.

In March 2025, Ofsted graded the academy as Good across quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. The same inspection confirmed safeguarding arrangements are effective.

The inspection evidence also highlights a realistic local context. Personal, social and health education is described as adapted to community risks, with pupils taught about staying safe online and in person. The sharper pastoral challenge is attendance and repeat suspension for a small group, which the school is expected to tackle through more effective refinement of its strategies. For parents, that translates into a useful set of visit questions: what early help looks like for students who start to disengage, how reintegration after suspension is managed, and what the school’s attendance work actually involves week to week.

SEND support is clearly signposted, including a named SENDCo and published policy documents. The inspection evidence also notes a specifically resourced provision for pupils with moderate learning difficulties and autism spectrum disorder, which can be a significant factor for families weighing mainstream with additional support versus specialist settings.

The academy describes enrichment as part of a broader “extended learning” approach, including academic support sessions and trips alongside elective clubs. What makes this section more useful than many school summaries is that it points to specific student leadership and participation routes, including Student Voice and ambassador roles linked to anti-bullying and mental wellbeing, plus the Honours programme as a recognition framework.

For parents, the practical question is whether extracurricular life is accessible to the full student body, not just the most confident. The published club list for Term 1 (2025 to 2026) suggests variety across interests and year groups, with options including Newspaper Club, Linguistics Club, Creative Writing Club, Debate Club, and Science Club, alongside performing arts and music options such as Singing Club and Keyboard Club. Sport is also present through football, netball, basketball and badminton sessions.

This matters because structured clubs are often where secondary schools build belonging for students who do not define themselves through academic success alone. For schools managing attendance challenges, clubs and student leadership roles can be an important part of re-engagement, provided access and staff follow-up are consistent.

The school day runs on a five-period model with a daily Personal Development slot. Published timings indicate Personal Development from 08:35 to 09:05 and the final period ending at 15:00, with lunches staggered by year group. The academy states this equates to 32.5 hours in a typical week.

After-school enrichment is positioned as part of the weekly rhythm, and the published club programme suggests many activities run immediately after the end of the school day, typically finishing by around 15:45.

Families should plan transport around a 15:00 finish and a range of after-school opportunities. The site sits within Acklam and serves a broad local area, so the practical balance is usually between local bus routes, car drop-off, and walking, depending on distance and student independence.

• Outcomes sit below England average overall. The GCSE ranking and Progress 8 measure suggest that results are an improvement priority. Families should ask how progress is tracked by subject and how intervention impact is measured, not just what support exists.

• Attendance and repeated suspensions remain a challenge for a minority. Official evidence points to improving work in this area, but it is not yet consistently effective for all pupils. This is most relevant for students who have previously struggled with attendance, behaviour, or engagement.

• A strong literacy focus helps, but it also signals the scale of need. The reading model is detailed and multi-layered, which is positive; it also implies that a significant number of students require structured literacy catch-up to access the full curriculum.

• Expect a structured culture. The timetable, recognition systems and phone-free stance suit students who benefit from clear boundaries and predictable routines. Students who prefer looser autonomy may take longer to settle.

Outwood Academy Acklam is a large, structured Middlesbrough secondary that places literacy, routine and personal development at the centre of its model. The school’s academic outcomes currently sit below England average overall, but the published approach to reading intervention, careers guidance and participation is detailed and purposeful. Best suited to families who value clear boundaries, a phone-free stance, and a school that is candid about improvement priorities while building consistent systems to address them.

Families considering this option should use the FindMySchool Local Hub comparison tools to benchmark results against nearby alternatives and to understand how outcomes vary across the local area.