Havant Academy

Havant Academy is a secondary comprehensive school within The Kemnal Academies Trust. This graded inspection found serious weaknesses across several areas, with the school judged inadequate for the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management; personal development requires improvement. His Majesty’s Chief Inspector concluded that the school requires special measures because it is failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education and leaders and governors are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, the current headteacher took up post in May 2024, and the trust and governors have a clear role in addressing the weaknesses. Pupils generally feel happy and safe, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. However, pupils have significant gaps in knowledge and skills, expectations are too low, behaviour disrupts learning too often, and absence and suspension rates are too high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Pupils with SEND and those at the earlier stages of reading are not supported well enough to access the curriculum, and pupils do not achieve as well as they should by the end of key stage 4. The school prioritises personal development and offers worthwhile enrichment, and teachers have strong subject knowledge, but these strengths are not yet translating into consistently good learning and outcomes. Governance has not held the school to account well enough, and safeguarding record-keeping and implementation of audit recommendations require urgent attention. There are some notable strengths: pupils benefit from enrichment activities, the PSHE curriculum is coherently designed, SEND needs are identified accurately, and staff are positive about recent improvements. Nevertheless, the school must urgently improve behaviour management, attendance and suspensions, curriculum adaptation for SEND, reading support, checks on pupils’ learning, safeguarding practice and governance oversight.

Strengths

• Pupils generally feel happy and safe at school.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective and staff are well trained and vigilant.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and present information clearly.
• The needs of pupils with SEND are identified accurately through student profiles.
• The school prioritises pupils’ personal development.
• The PSHE curriculum is coherently designed and includes age-appropriate sex and relationships education.
• Pupils benefit from enrichment activities such as business and accounting club, animation, puzzle-solving and revision support.
• Staff are positive about recent improvements and understand the need to focus on pupils’ learning.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education is inadequate and pupils do not achieve well enough by the end of key stage 4.
• Staff expectations are too low and significant gaps in pupils’ knowledge and misconceptions remain unaddressed.
• Pupils disrupt learning too frequently and behaviour around the school is not sensible.
• Some staff do not apply the school’s behaviour management strategies consistently or effectively.
• Pupils and parents feel the school’s response to bullying is not effective enough.
• Absence rates are too high, especially for disadvantaged pupils, and persistent absence has not been reduced effectively.
• High suspension rates have not improved behaviour and mean too many disadvantaged pupils miss vital learning.
• Pupils with SEND do not have the curriculum and teaching adapted to meet their needs.
• The reading strategy is new and not effective enough overall, so many pupils struggle to access the curriculum.
• The PSHE curriculum is not delivered with enough staff support and staff do not check that pupils remember vital information.
• Governance and the trust have not held the school to account well enough, slowing critical improvements.
• Safeguarding record-keeping is sometimes poor and required improvements from the trust’s safeguarding audit have not been implemented.
• HMCI strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers at this time.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Havant Academy attended 89.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 31.8% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 18.7% of pupils at Havant Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Havant Academy had 15.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 34.7% of pupils at Havant Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 7.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Havant Academy received £10,004 and spent £10,087 for each of its 536 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £241,000 (£449 per pupil).

Across all 45 schools of The Kemnal Academies Trust, income was £8,501 and spending £8,452 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Havant · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

Havant Academy is part of The Kemnal Academies Trust, which runs 45 schools. The nearest others:

• Front Lawn Primary Academy Havant
• Miltoncross Academy Portsmouth
• Chichester High School Chichester
• Portfield Primary Academy West Sussex
• Bridgemary School Gosport
• Tangmere Primary Academy Chichester
• The Academy, Selsey Chichester
• Seal Primary Academy Selsey
• Weyfield Primary Academy Guildford
• The Bewbush Academy Crawley

What is Havant Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Havant Academy is Inadequate, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Havant Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Havant Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Havant Academy have?

Havant Academy has 505 pupils on roll.

What age range does Havant Academy cover?

Havant Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Havant Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 34.3, and 19% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Havant Academy?

Havant Academy is at Wakefords Way, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 5JD.