“More work necessary” to get Havant Academy out of special measures, a monitoring inspection has found
“More work is necessary” for a secondary school to no longer need special measures, a monitoring inspection has found.
Havant Academy, located in Wakefords Way, was inspected by Ofsted back in February of this year, with a report outlining ‘significant gaps’ in learning , disruption and high absence rates.
As a result, the school received inadequate and requires improvement ratings across the judging criteria, indicating that special measures need to be taken to improve.
The published inspection report said: “Pupils do not have a strong enough understanding of the subjects they study because the school does not address gaps in their knowledge or skills effectively.
“Teachers have strong subject knowledge and present information clearly. However, the school does not check that pupils remember crucial information effectively. Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they should.”
Schools that receive an inadequate or requires improvement grading at an inspection will generally have monitoring visits more frequently than others. The frequency of these progress checks can vary from every few months to every 2 and a half years, depending on the improvements required.
A monitoring visit took place on September 16 and 17 to check the progress being made at the school.
The latest published report said: “Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is necessary for the school to no longer be judged as requiring special measures.
“Since the previous inspection in February 2025, seven new members of staff, across a range of roles, have joined the school. You have strengthened the capacity in the senior leadership team with support and guidance from the trust.
“You have ensured that leaders continue to raise expectations for pupils’ learning and achievement. The curriculum is designed to support pupils to develop stronger foundational knowledge and raise achievement. Since the last inspection the school has trained staff to consistently deliver lessons that revisit prior learning.”
The monitoring visit found Havant Academy has ‘reset behaviour expectations of pupils’, and new school values are being embedded to create much calmer lessons.
The amount of suspensions is declining gradually, including for pupils with SEND, but this remains a key area that needs to be addressed and positive relationships are being built between staff and pupils.
Attendance is starting to improve, with the inspection saying: “The school continues to focus on engaging families and pupils and building a sense of belonging at the school.
“You and your team have introduced some new approaches to address low attendance, which are showing signs of impact. The proportion of pupils who are persistently or severely absent is falling.
“There is still more to do, however, to ensure that pupils attend well.”