Holbrook Academy

Holbrook Academy is a small, friendly secondary school where pupils feel safe, behave well and attend regularly. Safeguarding standards are met. Leaders have created a warm and welcoming culture, and pupils benefit from strong pastoral care, effective inclusion support, and a broad personal development programme. Attendance and behaviour, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing are all judged to be at the expected standard, with pupils enjoying a wide range of enrichment and careers-related opportunities. However, the school's core academic provision is not yet strong enough. Achievement, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance need attention. Over time, too many pupils underperform in national tests and examinations, and pupils who join at or above the national average often make insufficient progress. Teaching is inconsistent across the curriculum: some subjects, including English and mathematics, are stronger, but elsewhere expectations are not consistently high enough, assessment is not used well to address gaps, and pupils do not always get enough opportunities to deepen their learning. Leaders understand the school's strengths and weaknesses and have made some improvements, including reduced suspensions, better attendance, and higher GCSE grade 4+ outcomes in English and mathematics. However, they have not acted with enough urgency or precision to improve teaching quality, and professional development is not well matched to subject and phase needs or evaluated rigorously. The trust has strengthened leadership capacity since taking over in 2025, but its full impact is not yet clear. Inspectors also noted that some pupils make inappropriate comments about race and gender, which make others uncomfortable.

Strengths

• Warm, welcoming school where pupils feel safe and have a secure sense of belonging.
• High expectations for attendance with prompt, effective support to remove barriers.
• Calm and orderly environment; pupils behave well and suspensions have reduced considerably.
• Strong pastoral care and inclusion support for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils.
• Effective support for pupils who join mid-year or need extra help with transition.
• Broad personal development programme with a wide range of clubs, visits and community action.
• Good careers guidance, meaningful work experience and preparation for life beyond school.
• Pupils are included well and develop confidence through leadership roles and enrichment.
• Bullying is rare and dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Safeguarding standards are met; pupils feel well cared for.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development.
• Governance fulfils statutory responsibilities, and staff value leaders' consideration of wellbeing and workload.
• Improvements in English and mathematics GCSE grade 4 or above, with strong foundational skills support.

Areas for Improvement

• Too many pupils underperform in national tests and examinations over time.
• Pupils who join at or above the national average often make insufficient progress from their starting points.
• Some pupils are not as well prepared for their next steps as they should be.
• Teaching is inconsistent across the curriculum, with expectations not consistently high enough.
• Assessment use is variable and not consistently used to address gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Insufficient opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding or practise their learning.
• Leaders do not routinely identify and prioritise the actions that will have the greatest impact on achievement.
• Leaders have not acted with sufficient urgency or precision to improve the quality of teaching.
• Professional development is not well matched to the needs of different subjects and phases.
• The impact of staff professional learning is not evaluated with sufficient rigour.
• Improvements in teaching and assessment have not led to consistent improvements in pupils' achievement.
• Some pupils make inappropriate comments about race and gender, making some pupils feel uncomfortable.
• Pupils' understanding of the protected characteristics needs strengthening.
• Parents' and carers' views of the school are more variable.

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 Holbrook Academy attended 91.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 26.6% 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, 11.5% of pupils at Holbrook Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 3 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 Holbrook Academy had 15.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.4% 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, 18.7% of pupils at Holbrook Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 7.5% 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 2022–23 Holbrook Academy received £6,852 and spent £6,701 for each of its 586 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £282,000 (£481 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of East Anglian Schools Trust Ltd, income was £6,740 and spending £6,615 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 Ipswich · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

Holbrook Academy is part of East Anglian Schools Trust Ltd, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• Kesgrave High School Ipswich
• Kyson Primary School Woodbridge
• Farlingaye High School Woodbridge
• Wickham Market Primary School Woodbridge
• Easton Primary School Woodbridge
• Saxmundham Primary School Saxmundham
• Aldeburgh Primary School Aldeburgh
• Leiston Primary School Leiston
• Bungay High School Bungay
• Castle EAST School Bungay

What is Holbrook Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Holbrook Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Holbrook Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Holbrook Academy was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Holbrook Academy have?

Holbrook Academy has 584 pupils on roll.

What age range does Holbrook Academy cover?

Holbrook Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Holbrook Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.1, and 38% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Holbrook Academy?

Holbrook Academy is at Ipswich Road, Holbrook, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2QX.