Morecambe Bay Academy Review 2026: A community secondary with a clear improvement story and a growing sixth form

Morecambe Bay Academy is a large, mixed, state secondary in Morecambe serving students aged 11 to 18. It sits within The Bay Learning Trust, and has operated in its current form since 2019, following the academy conversion from the predecessor school.

Leadership and pastoral structures are prominent in how the school presents itself. Ms Jen Pardoe is the Headteacher; governance records indicate she has been in senior leadership as Acting Headteacher since 16 September 2024, before being listed as Headteacher across current school communications.

Parents should read this as a school with momentum rather than a finished product. The most recent full inspection judged the school as Good across all areas, including sixth form; that provides reassurance on baseline quality and systems.

The school positions itself strongly around belonging and support, and that is reflected in the way responsibilities are structured. Heads of Year are clearly identified, and the student support team is presented as a coordinated group spanning safeguarding, attendance, and targeted intervention, rather than a set of separate offices. The aim is practical, to reduce barriers to learning quickly and keep families informed through familiar points of contact.

The tone from external review aligns with this. Pupils are described as happy, polite and respectful; relationships with staff and across year groups are framed as a key contributor to students feeling safe and supported. This matters because it is difficult to shift outcomes without first getting daily routines, behaviour and trust right.

A second strand is the academy’s effort to widen participation in enrichment and leadership roles. The inspection narrative points to students taking on responsibilities such as reading partners and anti-bullying ambassadors, and to the sixth form being nudged towards charity and community involvement. The implication for families is that the school is trying to build a culture where older students model expectations, rather than relying only on staff direction.

At GCSE level, outcomes sit in the lower-performing segment of schools in England on the FindMySchool ranking. Ranked 3,639th in England and 2nd in the Morecambe local area for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), the school falls below England average on this comparative measure, placing it in the lower band nationally.

The underlying indicators help explain why this is best read as an improvement journey. The school’s Attainment 8 score is 35.2 and Progress 8 is -0.77, suggesting that, for the cohort reflected in these figures, students made less progress than similar students nationally from their starting points. EBacc indicators are also low in the same snapshot, with 1.1% achieving grade 5 or above in the EBacc measure and an EBacc average point score of 2.8.

In sixth form, the FindMySchool A-level ranking is also in the lower band nationally. Ranked 2,322nd in England and 1st in the Morecambe local area for A-level outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), results remain a key area for improvement as the post-16 offer matures. Grade distribution data shows 24.77% of entries at A* to B, compared with an England average of 47.2% for A* to B, and 6.42% at A* or A, compared with an England average of 23.6% for A* or A.

How should parents interpret this? The school is not currently a results-led destination in the way a high-attaining selective or top-quartile comprehensive would be. The more relevant question is whether the school’s day-to-day quality, curriculum, behaviour and attendance strategies are strong enough to lift outcomes over time, and whether your child will benefit from the support structures already in place.

A sensible next step for families is to use the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool to benchmark these figures against nearby alternatives, then focus visits and conversations on how the school is closing gaps in literacy, attendance and curriculum access.

The strongest evidence of a coherent approach sits in curriculum design and delivery. The inspection report describes an increasingly ambitious curriculum, broken down into clear components taught in a logical order so that students build knowledge over time. The practical implication is that learning should feel more structured and cumulative than in a school where departments operate as separate islands.

Teaching quality, as described in the same source, rests on clarity of explanation and purposeful checking of understanding. When this is done well, it tends to benefit students who need lessons to be explicit and carefully sequenced, not only those who can fill in gaps independently.

Reading is a visible priority. The school highlights a named library, The Lawther Library, and publishes opening hours that extend beyond the formal timetable, supporting private study and reading for pleasure. That matters because literacy improvement requires both targeted intervention and time spent reading widely, especially for students who have fallen behind earlier in their school career.

Where Students Go Next

The school has a sixth form, and published destination data for the 2023/2024 cohort shows a mixed set of pathways. 32% progressed to university, 7% to further education, 5% to apprenticeships, and 32% moved into employment.

The implication for families is that the post-16 culture is not narrowly academic. A student who is set on higher education can follow that route, but the school also appears to serve students who want a direct bridge into work, or who need a more applied next step. In visits and sixth form meetings, parents should ask how the school supports university applicants (personal statements, subject extension, predicted grades governance) alongside the practical support for apprenticeships and employment routes (employer engagement, interview preparation, sustained careers guidance).

For students staying on, it is also worth looking closely at the careers programme that runs earlier in the school. Work experience for Year 10 is scheduled from Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July 2026, supported through Unifrog, with a sequence of employability days and assemblies through 2025 and 2026. This is a concrete example of a school trying to make next steps real, not abstract.

Year 7 entry is coordinated by Lancashire County Council. For September 2026 entry, applications open on Monday 1 September 2025 and the national closing date is Friday 31 October 2025; offers are issued on Monday 2 March 2026 because 1 March falls on a weekend.

As an academy, the school publishes its own admissions policy and oversubscription criteria. Where the school is oversubscribed, the policy sets out a priority order including looked-after and previously looked-after children, then other criteria, with a defined Geographical Priority Area and a straight-line distance tie-break from Ordnance Survey address points. The Geographical Priority Area includes the parishes of Slyne with Hest; Morecambe and Heysham; Heaton with Oxcliffe; Middleton; Overton (shared with Bay Leadership Academy); Skerton; and part of Lancaster parish as specified in the policy.

Demand is a material factor. The latest published entry-route figures show 420 applications for 194 places, which is roughly 2.16 applications per place. In practice, that means some families will not receive an offer for this school if it is not a realistic match to their location and criteria.

Open events follow a familiar annual pattern. The council’s North Lancashire admissions booklet listed the school’s open evening for the September 2026 intake as Thursday 18 September 2025 (5.00pm to 8.00pm). If you are applying for a later year, expect open evenings to typically sit in September, but confirm dates directly with the school each year.

Sixth form admissions are separate from the Year 7 process. The school states that applications for September 2026 are open, with a sixth form open evening on Thursday 16 October 2025 and a closing date for applications of 10 December 2025.

Pastoral support is not presented as a single intervention, but as a layered structure. Heads of Year work closely with subject staff and are described as monitoring targeted interventions, with an emphasis on resilience, empathy and removing barriers to learning. This is the sort of model that can suit students who need adults to notice patterns early, whether that is attendance drift, friendship issues, or emerging anxiety.

There is also a clear wellbeing signposting approach. The school publishes guidance on wellbeing and mental health support, and references both internal pastoral availability during the school week and links to external support pathways. Parents should treat this as a baseline expectation, then use visits to understand what happens in practice when a student is struggling, including escalation routes, review frequency and how family communication works.

Safeguarding is framed as core business rather than an appendix. Ofsted confirmed that safeguarding arrangements are effective, which supports confidence in systems, training and record-keeping.

The school’s enrichment offer is described as growing, with clubs and trips expanding over time. That is a helpful direction of travel, but parents should be aware that the website’s extracurricular page does not currently publish a detailed list in text form, instead referencing access through the student platform. The practical implication is that the offer may be broader than what is visible publicly, but you will need to ask for examples by year group and term.

There are, however, several concrete enrichment elements evidenced in official sources. Student leadership roles are specifically referenced, including reading partners and anti-bullying ambassadors. These are not just badges; they are mechanisms for building responsibility, strengthening reading culture, and making corridors and social spaces calmer for younger students.

The sixth form is also pointed towards structured enrichment with a civic angle, including charity and community support. For students who are not motivated purely by grades, this kind of participation can be a meaningful reason to stay engaged with school life, and it can strengthen references and applications for both work and further study.

For students with additional needs, extracurricular participation is often limited by confidence and social access rather than by interest. The school’s learning support information describes a Safespace base for students with autism spectrum condition or social skills difficulties, using lego therapy and social stories. Where this works well, it can become the bridge that enables students to join clubs, take on responsibilities and stay in school comfortably for longer parts of the day.

The school day runs from 8.45am to 3.15pm, with tutor time beginning at 8.45am. The school also states that free breakfast is available from 8.00am for all students, which is a practical benefit for families managing early starts and for students who concentrate better with a settled morning routine.

The Lawther Library is open from 8.30am to 4.00pm each day, supporting private study beyond lesson time.

Travel planning matters. A school travel document linked to the Lancashire Safer Schools programme notes that parking is restricted around the school gates and encourages the use of bus or rail where possible. Families should check realistic travel time at the hours your child will actually commute, not only at weekends.

• Outcomes remain a key development area. GCSE and A-level rankings sit in the lower band nationally on the FindMySchool measure, and Progress 8 is negative. Families should ask what has changed since those cohorts, and how the school is measuring improvement in literacy, attendance and subject access.

• Attendance is an explicit improvement focus. The inspection narrative highlights that a minority of pupils do not attend as regularly as they should, and that this leads to missed learning and opportunities. If your child is prone to anxiety or persistent absence, explore the school’s day-to-day attendance response and pastoral escalation routes in detail.

• Oversubscription is real for Year 7. The published application-to-place ratio indicates more applicants than places. Do not assume that naming the school guarantees an offer, especially if you sit outside the priority area or are relying on distance as the deciding factor.

• Extracurricular detail is not fully visible online. The school references timetables through the student system rather than publishing a detailed public list. If clubs are important for your child, request examples and participation levels for your child’s likely year group.

Morecambe Bay Academy is best understood as a community secondary that has stabilised key systems and is working to lift outcomes over time. The current picture, supported by the latest inspection, suggests orderly behaviour, a structured curriculum and a strong emphasis on pastoral support.

Who it suits: students who benefit from clear routines, visible pastoral structures and a school that is actively building culture, including leadership roles and a growing enrichment offer. The limiting factor for some families will be admissions criteria and oversubscription, and for others it will be whether the pace of academic improvement matches their child’s needs and aspirations.