Havant Academy makes strides in programme of improvement after being placed in special measures
School in special measures makes strides to improve
‘Carefully stepped plans for improvement’ are in place at a secondary school which was placed in special measures last year.
A monitoring visit from Ofsted on June 9, 2026 has found teaching at Havant Academy is “getting better” and leadership are determined to continue making strides in the right direction.
This comes after the school, in Wakefords Way, was placed in special measures after an inspection in February of last year highlighted the school was “inadequate” in three out of four key areas.
In the most recent visit, the inspector said it was clear the headteacher is passionate about making the school one “pupils are proud to attend” which is central to the positive change in culture in the school.
The published report said: “Leaders understand how their area of responsibility interlinks with others to lead to the overall improvements needed at the school. They work with determination, in a well coordinated way, for the benefit of pupils. Staff and pupils feel included in decisions about how the school operates.
“Consequently, significant improvements to safeguarding, behaviour, attendance and attitudes to learning are evident.”
An area that was previously graded inadequate was the curriculum but the “quality of teaching is improving incrementally” and the school has implemented a structured programme of development to support this.
The findings also said that Havant Academy has been utilising support from the trust and the Department of Education, both of which have provided bespoke help.
Ofsted said: “The school’s literacy strategy is well underway. Leaders now collect more accurate information about pupils’ starting points and gaps in reading, and they use this to identify the extra help that pupils need to fill those gaps.
“The impact of this is that more pupils are getting better at reading, so more are able to keep up in lessons. Leaders have noticed that classroom behaviour has improved as pupils want to stay in lessons now that they can access the learning.”
Since the school’s previous monitoring visit, there has been significant steps taken to improve the SEND provision, with staff making appropriate adaptations to ensure all students receive the same level of teaching.
The report said to further succeed in this area, leadership and teachers should “broaden the use of adaptations to include those that may help other vulnerable pupils too.”
During its full inspection last year, Ofsted inspectors noted how lessons were often disrupted and there was a lack of respect from a portion of students. Since then, leaders have introduced clear classroom routines so pupils have an understanding of what is expected of them.
As a result of this, “it was evident during this visit that these approaches have sharply improved pupils’ attitudes to learning” and lessons are rarely interrupted now.
In order to maintain its programme of improvement, Ofsted said priorities for improvement should continue to be identified.
The academy has been approached for a comment.