Strood Academy Review 2026: IB pathways, a structured culture, and a growing inclusion offer

Strood Academy is a large 11 to 19 state secondary in the Medway area, with a sixth form and a distinctive curriculum position: International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes sit alongside GCSE and post-16 pathways, aiming to give students an outward-looking frame for learning.

Leadership has been stable since spring 2023, when Mr Jon Richardson was appointed Principal. The school is part of Leigh Academies Trust and has been inspected as a school that “continues to be good”, with safeguarding confirmed as effective.

Results, as captured in the FindMySchool rankings for GCSE and A-level outcomes, place the school below England average compared with other schools nationally. This review is therefore best read as a balanced picture: strong structures and an ambitious curriculum offer, combined with clear reasons for families to interrogate attainment, progress, and subject-level consistency before committing.

Strood Academy presents itself as a structured, high-expectations environment, with an emphasis on appearance, attendance, behaviour and learning as a set of non-negotiables. This style is not universally popular, but it is intentional, and it connects to the school’s broader message that routines and standards are central to improvement.

The atmosphere described in formal external evidence is generally positive. Pupils are characterised as friendly and courteous, relationships are described as supportive, and most pupils report feeling safe, with staff intervention when bullying occurs. Sixth form students are used as mentors for Year 7 pupils, which signals an approach that expects older students to contribute to the tone and culture of the main school, not only to focus on their own courses.

A notable feature in the school’s inclusion offer is The Endeavour Centre, a specialist resource provision for students aged 11 to 19 with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where autism is the primary need. The centre is designed to sit inside the mainstream college structure, so that students are attached to one of the academy’s three colleges while receiving targeted support. For families of children with autism and an EHCP, this matters because it indicates a model built around supported inclusion rather than separation.

GCSE performance and ranking context

In the FindMySchool GCSE outcomes ranking (based on official performance data), Strood Academy is ranked 3,179th in England and 7th in Rochester. This places it below England average compared with other schools nationally, and the percentile band aligns with the lower-performing group in England overall.

At GCSE level, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 41.2 and its Progress 8 score is -0.17. In plain terms, that Progress 8 figure indicates students, on average, made slightly less progress than peers nationally with similar starting points. The EBacc indicators also suggest a weaker EBacc profile, with an average EBacc APS of 3.38 and 2.3% achieving grades 5 or above in the EBacc.

What this means for parents is that the school’s culture and curriculum ambition should be tested against outcomes at subject level. A structured environment can be a strong platform, but families should look carefully at whether consistency is high across departments, and whether improvements are translating into results for the full ability range.

To compare these figures with nearby alternatives, parents can use the FindMySchool Local Hub comparison tools to view GCSE measures side by side for the local area.

Post-16 performance and ranking context

For A-level outcomes, the FindMySchool ranking places the sixth form 2,174th in England and 5th in Rochester, again indicating results below England average relative to other providers nationally.

The A-level grade distribution shows 0% A*, 9.88% A, 20.99% B, and 30.86% A* to B. Taken at face value, this is a profile that may suit students who value a broad local sixth form offer and strong support structures, but it is unlikely to satisfy families seeking a consistently high A-level grade pipeline across the cohort.

Where the school becomes more distinctive is its IB positioning. The academy has been registered for the IB Middle Years Programme and the IB Career-related Programme, and it frames those programmes as a route to global perspective, critical thinking, and connection between subjects and real-world contexts.

The curriculum story at Strood Academy is more differentiated than many mainstream secondaries, largely because the school deliberately uses IB frameworks. At Key Stage 3, the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) is presented as a structured set of subject areas designed to connect learning across disciplines, spanning languages, humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education, and design.

For parents, the practical implication is that the early secondary years are intended to feel coherent and concept-led rather than a simple run-through of separate subjects. If your child responds well to big themes and explicit links between learning areas, the MYP framing can be a genuine advantage. If they prefer highly traditional, subject-silo teaching from day one, it is worth asking how MYP is delivered in practice and how it transitions into GCSE options.

The sixth form’s IB Career-related Programme (CP) is framed as a blend of academic study and career-related education, with the school explicitly positioning it as attractive to both university and apprenticeship pathways. For families, this is most relevant for students who want a clear applied direction while retaining academic stretch and a recognisable post-16 brand.

Subject-level consistency is an area to scrutinise. Formal reporting identifies modern foreign languages as a developing area, with clear curriculum intent but implementation not yet fully embedded and take-up still growing. For parents of linguistically able students, this is a prompt to ask direct questions about language pathways at GCSE and post-16 and how uptake is being strengthened.

Strood Academy has a sixth form, so the most meaningful destination picture is what happens at the end of Year 13. For the 2023/24 cohort of 77 leavers, 39% progressed to university, 32% entered employment, 3% moved to further education, and 1% started apprenticeships. (These destination categories do not need to sum to 100%, and in practice a remainder can sit in other routes.)

This is a mixed pathway profile rather than a single-track university pipeline. For many families, that is a positive, particularly where students want a school that takes employment and apprenticeships seriously rather than treating them as second best. The school’s careers education is explicitly oriented to helping pupils understand different routes, including apprenticeships and universities, and this is reinforced through structured personal development content.

Oxbridge progression figures are not available in the provided outcomes dataset for this school, so families who care about highly selective university pipelines should ask the sixth form directly what recent application and offer patterns look like, and how competitive applications are supported.

Year 7 entry

Admissions for Year 7 are coordinated through Medway’s secondary admissions process, using the Common Application Form via your home local authority.

For September 2026 entry, Medway’s published timetable sets out the key dates clearly:

• Applications open: Monday 1 September 2025

• Applications close: Friday 31 October 2025

• Offers sent: Monday 2 March 2026

• Deadline for accepting or refusing offers, plus waiting and appeal requests: Friday 27 March 2026

Strood Academy’s published admissions arrangements state a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 240 for Year 7. If oversubscribed, priority is applied first to children with an EHCP naming the academy, then looked-after and previously looked-after children, then sibling links, then children of staff, then distance from home to the school, with random allocation used as a tie-break where distances are identical.

If you are trying to assess realistic chances based on proximity, use FindMySchool’s Map Search to check distance accurately, but treat any historic distance pattern as variable year to year.

Open events are worth taking seriously here, because the school’s culture is quite specific. In 2025, the school ran a series of Year 6 open mornings across late June and early July, with booking required. Even though exact dates move year to year, the timing gives a useful steer on when to look for the next cycle.

Sixth form entry (Year 12)

The admissions arrangements for 2026/27 state a Year 12 capacity of 150 and set out minimum entry for A-level or IBCP pathways as 5 GCSEs including English and Maths at grade 5 or above, with additional course requirements applying.

A key point for families is that if 150 or more internal students meet the entry criteria and wish to stay, external applicants may not be considered in that cycle. In other words, external entry can be viable, but it is sensitive to internal retention.

Pastoral support appears to be built around clear reporting lines and a safeguarding team that is visible to students. The latest Ofsted inspection confirmed the academy continues to be Good and that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

A strong practical feature is the use of older students as mentors for Year 7 pupils, which often helps transition, especially in a large secondary where pupils can otherwise feel anonymous. The personal, social, health and economic programme explicitly covers topics such as online safety, consent, relationships, and harassment, which matters because it signals that safeguarding is treated as curriculum content, not only as policy.

For students with additional needs, The Endeavour Centre provides a structured inclusion route for students with an EHCP and autism as a primary need, connecting them into one of the main colleges while maintaining specialist support.

Extracurricular life is presented as an extension of the school’s personal development model, with lunchtime and after-school options intended to pull students into routines, interests, and positive peer groups.

The most useful detail for families is the specificity of the club offer. Recent examples published by the academy include Warhammer, eSports, Young Enterprise, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, choir, musical theatre club, table tennis club, and subject drop-in support such as maths and GCSE music sessions. This mix matters because it indicates the school is trying to cover three different needs at once: identity-based clubs (for belonging), performance groups (for confidence and representation), and academic clinics (for catch-up and exam readiness).

The personal development programme also references structured enrichment strands for older students, including debate work framed as “Understanding the Power of the Argument” and pathways such as a football academy and creative skills options. For sixth formers, there is also a Citizen Service model encouraging volunteering inside the school community through mentoring and reading-buddy roles.

If your child is motivated by structured activities, this kind of menu can be helpful. If they are more self-directed and less keen on scheduled enrichment, it is worth asking how strongly participation is expected.

The published academy day runs 8.30am to 3.20pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with students arriving from 8.00am and breakfast available, and a post-school slot 3.20pm to 4.20pm used for intervention, enrichment, and clubs.

For transport, the academy publishes information about school bus services, including the 652 route connecting areas such as St Mary’s Island, Wainscott, Cuxton and Strood. Medway also publishes a wider list of school bus services that include routes serving Strood Academy.

• Outcomes are below England average in the FindMySchool rankings. GCSE and A-level ranks sit in the lower national band, and Progress 8 is negative. Families should review subject-level patterns and ask what has changed most recently to shift outcomes.

• Modern foreign languages is still embedding. Curriculum intent is clear, but delivery consistency and uptake are a stated development area, which is relevant for academically able linguists and families who want strong EBacc breadth.

• The culture is deliberately strict. The school has leaned into standards around appearance, attendance, behaviour and learning. That structure suits some students well, but others may find it feels heavy if they respond better to a looser environment.

• Year 12 external entry can depend on internal retention. If internal demand fills capacity, external applications may not be considered, so prospective external sixth formers should apply early and keep parallel options open.

Strood Academy offers a more distinctive curriculum narrative than many local state secondaries, using IB frameworks and a strong emphasis on standards to shape culture and learning. The inclusion offer is also stronger than a simple mainstream model, with The Endeavour Centre providing a clear route for supported inclusion for students with autism and an EHCP.

Best suited to families who want structure, clear routines, and a school that treats apprenticeships, employment, and university as credible outcomes. The key decision point is whether the school’s improving systems are translating into the academic outcomes your child needs, particularly at GCSE and post-16, and whether the cultural tone feels like the right fit.