Plympton Academy Review 2026: A large, mixed secondary with a clear improvement journey and strong sporting infrastructure

Plympton Academy is a sizeable 11 to 18 secondary in Plympton, with sixth form provision and a broad local remit. It operates within The Thinking Schools Academy Trust and sits in the mainstream, non-faith state sector.

The current headteacher is Mr Shaun Willis, appointed in November 2024 after previously serving as deputy headteacher. This matters because the most recent graded inspection (March 2024) predates that appointment, while a later monitoring inspection in February 2025 comments on progress since March 2024.

For parents, the headline is straightforward. The school is not where it wants to be yet, but there is evidence of direction and tightening practice, alongside a culture that values calm routines, equality, and practical opportunities such as sport pathways and a large clubs programme.

The school’s public language centres on four values, Community, Courage, Compassion, and Curiosity, which appear repeatedly across its communications and are used to frame student experience. That value set connects with formal observations of culture. The March 2024 inspection describes a calm and orderly atmosphere in lessons, with routines followed and low-level disruption not tolerated.

A useful lens for families is the school’s explicit focus on community, both as a value and as a practical organising principle. The school has relaunched a five-house system, built around student voice and house competitions that include subject events (for example a maths quiz and spelling bee) plus larger communal moments such as a dance festival, music festival, and sports day. In a large secondary, that kind of structure can help pupils feel known, because house events create repeated contact points beyond timetabled lessons.

Leadership has been in flux over the last two years, and the monitoring inspection letter explicitly frames 2024 to 2025 as a transition period supported by the trust. For parents, that is usually felt in changing routines, sharper expectations, and staff training cycles. The same letter indicates that leaders have clarified pedagogical approaches and refined professional development so that staff have a better grasp of what to teach and how to teach it, including the use of assessment. It also makes clear that this is not yet consistent across the school.

This is a state school, so performance needs to be read alongside the school’s local context and improvement trajectory rather than compared to an independent benchmark.

GCSE outcomes and ranking context (FindMySchool ranking based on official data)

Plympton Academy is ranked 3014th in England for GCSE outcomes and 16th in Plymouth, placing it below England average and within the lower performance band for England overall (bottom 40%). Its Attainment 8 score is 41.6, and Progress 8 is -0.39.

Those figures imply a cohort that, on average, makes less progress than pupils with similar starting points nationally, and that a meaningful proportion of pupils are leaving Key Stage 4 without secure attainment across the full suite of subjects. The school’s improvement challenge is therefore not marginal gains, it is consistency of curriculum delivery and day-to-day learning checks, so that misconceptions are caught quickly and gaps do not persist across terms. That diagnosis aligns with formal findings that teaching does not consistently check understanding well enough or address gaps in learning in a timely way.

Sixth form outcomes and ranking context (FindMySchool ranking based on official data)

For A-levels, the school is ranked 2457th in England and 15th in Plymouth, again placing it within the lower performance band for England overall.

In the most recent published A-level outcomes snapshot available here, 17% of entries achieved A* to B, with 1% at A* and 4% at A. The implication is that sixth form students who are aiming for highly competitive university courses should be looking carefully at subject-level support, teaching stability, and the school’s guidance on study habits and independent learning.

A final point parents often overlook is that the sixth form is relatively small compared with the whole school roll (125 sixth form students within a roll of 1,152 in the March 2024 inspection record). Smaller sixth forms can be positive for pastoral visibility, but they also mean subject choice has to be managed carefully year to year.

Plympton Academy describes itself as a “Thinking School” and links that approach to metacognitive strategies, which is consistent with its trust identity and wider emphasis on structured learning habits.

The core teaching issue identified in formal evaluation is implementation consistency. In practice, that tends to show up in predictable ways across a large secondary. Pupils experience variable lesson routines between departments, assessment checks are uneven, and some pupils carry misconceptions across topics because feedback is not acted on quickly enough. The March 2024 inspection flags exactly those risks, with assessment not being used effectively in many subjects and teaching not consolidating depth of understanding sufficiently.

The monitoring inspection letter (February 2025 visit, published March 2025) indicates that leaders have tightened pedagogical expectations, refined professional development, and increased clarity about approaches that help pupils know and remember more. The implication for families is that improvement is increasingly likely to be driven by staff training and common routines, rather than by isolated departmental initiatives. That approach often takes time to embed, and the letter is explicit that further work is needed for consistency.

At sixth form level, the school presents a clear pathways model, with a combination of A-level and Level 3 vocational routes and options such as Extended Project Qualification, Core Maths, and additional maths for A-level mathematicians. This breadth can suit students who want a mixed programme, particularly where a vocational route (for example sport, performing arts, health and social care, criminology, or applied medical science) is a better fit than a purely academic package.

Plympton Academy’s published leaver destinations data for the 2023 to 2024 cohort (68 students) shows multiple routes. 38% progressed to university, 18% to apprenticeships, 31% to employment, and 1% to further education.

That profile suggests a sixth form where “next step” planning needs to cover two realities at once. One group will require structured academic guidance, personal statement support, and subject level preparation for higher education. Another group will benefit from early apprenticeship navigation, employer engagement, and practical employability projects, including references, interview practice, and sustained attendance and punctuality.

The school’s sixth form pages describe enrichment that explicitly includes community voluntary work and work experience, and note support for students who want to access Sutton Trust summer school programmes. The implication is that the sixth form is trying to build credible “pathway capital”, not only academic teaching.

Year 7 entry (Plymouth coordinated admissions)

Plympton Academy is part of Plymouth’s coordinated admissions system for Year 7. For September 2026 entry (the 2026 to 2027 academic year), Plymouth’s published timetable states that applications opened Wednesday 03 September 2025 and closed Friday 31 October 2025, with offers released on Monday 02 March 2026 and a response deadline of Monday 09 March 2026.

The school’s admissions arrangements (published for the 2025 to 2026 cycle) explain that, where applications exceed places, allocation uses oversubscription criteria and a distance tie-break measured as a straight line using the local authority mapping system.

Where families want a concrete sense of distance pressure, Plymouth’s admissions guide includes the first-round allocation position for 01 March 2025, listing a last distance allocated of 4.75 miles for the relevant allocation line. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

A practical step is to use FindMySchool’s Map Search to measure your home-to-school distance and sanity check it against recent allocation distances before relying on a single preference.

Sixth form entry (Year 12)

The sixth form is open to internal and external students. The published baseline entry requirement stated on the sixth form admissions page is five GCSEs at grade 4, including at least a grade 4 in either GCSE English or mathematics, alongside course-specific requirements. The pathways page adds that some Level 3 routes may expect stronger GCSE profiles (and specific subjects can carry higher thresholds), so families should read subject requirements carefully.

Open events are part of the approach. The school advertises an annual main school open evening in early October (for example Thursday 02 October 2025), and a sixth form open event in late November (for example Thursday 20 November, 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm). Since specific dates move each year, treat those as typical timings and check the school’s latest calendar when planning.

Pastoral effectiveness is best assessed through behaviour culture, safeguarding practice, attendance expectations, and how confidently pupils raise concerns.

The March 2024 inspection describes a calm learning environment, improved conduct expectations, and routines that reduce disruption in lessons. It also indicates that the school promotes equality and diversity through recognisable events and student leadership contribution.

Safeguarding is treated as a core operational requirement. The graded inspection states that safeguarding arrangements are effective. For families, the more practical implication is that safeguarding is embedded into daily systems such as staff training, reporting routes, and pastoral escalation.

Attendance remains a strategic pressure point. The graded inspection notes that some pupils, including sixth form students, do not attend regularly enough and that the school is working to understand causes and provide support, but that more work is required. This matters because attendance gaps quickly become achievement gaps, especially where curriculum sequencing assumes mastery of prior content.

A strong extracurricular offer can make a noticeable difference in a large secondary, particularly for pupils who gain confidence through practical performance, sport, or leadership roles.

Clubs and activities

The school advertises a clubs and activities programme with over 60 activities, explicitly naming British Sign Language, Board Games, and Japanese alongside homework support and performing arts and sport options. The point for parents is not the headline number, it is the opportunity for pupils to attach to a specific interest and build friendships outside tutor group boundaries.

Sport pathways and facilities

Sport is clearly resourced. The physical education department describes significant investment over recent years, including a 3G all-weather pitch, a sprung-floor activity studio, and a refurbished fitness suite. It also outlines structured enrichment pathways, notably a Football Academy running from Year 7 to Year 13, a rugby partnership framed around the Rugby Football Union’s All Schools project and an Exeter Chiefs Project Rugby link, plus a Table Tennis Hub with JOOLA and Table Tennis England, including hosting county-wide tournaments on site.

The implication is that sport here can operate on two tracks at once. One track is broad participation and physical literacy, which benefits almost all pupils. The second is a pathway model where identified pupils can access higher-level coaching and competition, which can suit students who are motivated by structured performance goals.

Arts and enrichment moments

The school’s wider programme includes large-scale events and external inputs, such as performance-based opportunities (musicals, dance, choir) referenced in formal evaluation, plus cultural and enrichment activities visible through its communications.

Personal Development structure

The school describes an annual Personal Development week, with a collapsed timetable and year-group themes including a Year 7 residential and Year 8 arts week, which provides a planned spine for wider learning beyond GCSE and A-level specifications.

The school day timetable published by the academy sets line up at 8:40, with the school day ending at 3:15.

As a secondary, wraparound care is not typically structured in the same way as a primary breakfast or after-school club. Families who need supervised before-school or late pickup arrangements should check the current offer directly, and consider whether clubs, homework sessions, or sport practices provide a practical solution on specific days.

Travel planning matters in a large catchment. Plymouth’s admissions materials and the school’s distance tie-break approach indicate that straight-line measurement is central to allocation when criteria are otherwise equal, so families should check both practical travel time and admissions measurement distance before relying on a place.

• Results are below England average. GCSE and A-level rankings place the school in the lower performance band in England. For students with highly academic goals, the key question is whether subject teaching consistency and independent study habits are strong enough for the route your child wants.

• Attendance and learning gaps. Formal findings highlight that some pupils do not attend regularly enough, which can quickly undermine progress, especially in subjects where knowledge builds week by week. Families should ask how attendance concerns are identified early and what support is offered before patterns become entrenched.

• Consistency of teaching is still bedding in. Leaders have tightened pedagogical expectations and staff development, but the monitoring inspection makes clear that delivery is not yet consistently strong across the school. This can mean different classroom experiences between departments.

• Distance can matter, but it moves year to year. The local authority’s published 01 March 2025 allocation information lists a last distance allocated of 4.75 miles for the relevant allocation line. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

Plympton Academy is a large, mixed community secondary with a clearly articulated values framework and a substantial enrichment ecosystem, particularly in sport. Leadership has stabilised under Mr Shaun Willis since November 2024, and there is credible evidence of a structured improvement drive, even if consistency remains the central challenge.

This school is most likely to suit families who want a broad local option with strong extracurricular identity, especially for students who engage through sport, arts, or organised house competition, and who will benefit from clear routines and expectations. Families whose children are aiming for the most competitive academic routes should interrogate subject-level teaching stability and the sixth form support model carefully, and prioritise open events and conversations with curriculum leaders.