Leigh Academy Halley

Leigh Academy Halley is an exceptionally inclusive and high-performing school where pupils feel safe, belong, and achieve well. Inspectors found the school's work in attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, personal development and well-being, and post-16 provision to be exceptional. Pupils attend well, behave maturely, and benefit from strong pastoral care, a 'small school' system and a well-designed values curriculum. Safeguarding standards are met. The curriculum and teaching are strong and pupils make secure progress from their starting points, including disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND, and pupils new to English. Published outcomes are close to national averages overall and do not fully capture the school's inclusive intake and the progress pupils make; disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are notably stronger than national averages in some measures. Post-16 students follow tailored academic, vocational and technical pathways and nearly all move on to education, training or employment. The main development point is to extend the school's transformational practice in inclusion, attendance, behaviour, personal development and post-16 into curriculum, teaching and achievement so that those areas have the same exceptional impact for all pupils. There are no serious weaknesses identified; the school is part of Leigh Academies Trust and includes a specialist resourced provision for pupils with autism.

Strengths

• Attendance is exceptionally well led and rising, with persistent absence falling considerably.
• Behaviour and self-discipline are exceptionally strong, with clear expectations and a fair, consistent rewards system.
• Inclusion is exceptional, with tailored support for disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEND, EAL learners and late joiners.
• Leadership and governance are highly effective, pupil-focused and committed to continuous improvement.
• Personal development and pastoral care are exceptional, built around the 'small school' system and values curriculum.
• Post-16 provision offers a broad, tailored range of academic, vocational and technical pathways.
• Curriculum and teaching are broad, ambitious and effective, with subject experts and strong support for reading, vocabulary and EAL.
• Pupils make secure progress from their starting points and are well prepared for their next steps.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open and positive safeguarding culture.
• The school uses pupil premium funding thoughtfully to remove barriers for disadvantaged pupils.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum, teaching and achievement are strong rather than exceptional, and leaders should extend the school's transformational practice to these areas.
• Published outcomes, including some GCSE and A-level measures, do not yet fully reflect the school's inclusive intake and remain an area to strengthen.

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 Leigh Academy Halley attended 93.4% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 20.8% 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, 4.9% of pupils at Leigh Academy Halley were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was 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 Leigh Academy Halley had 19.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.4% 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, 12.9% of pupils at Leigh Academy Halley were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 24 pupils.

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 Leigh Academy Halley received £11,134 and spent £10,611 for each of its 954 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £483,000 (£506 per pupil).

Across all 33 schools of Leigh Academies Trust, income was £8,972 and spending £8,821 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 Greenwich · Greenwich local authority: places and applications

Leigh Academy Halley is part of Leigh Academies Trust, which runs 33 schools. The nearest others:

• Leigh Academy Blackheath London
• Leigh Stationers' Primary Academy Welling
• Leigh Stationers' Academy London
• Leigh Academy Bexley Erith
• Leigh Academy Wilmington Wilmington
• Leigh UTC Dartford Dartford
• Leigh Academy Dartford Dartford
• Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy Dartford
• Leigh Academy Cherry Orchard Ebbsfleet
• Leigh Academy Ebbsfleet Swanscombe

What is Leigh Academy Halley's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Leigh Academy Halley is Strong standard, from an inspection in January 2026.

When was Leigh Academy Halley last inspected by Ofsted?

Leigh Academy Halley was last inspected in January 2026.

How many pupils does Leigh Academy Halley have?

Leigh Academy Halley has 987 pupils on roll.

What age range does Leigh Academy Halley cover?

Leigh Academy Halley for pupils aged 11 to 19.

What are Leigh Academy Halley's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 44.3, and 36% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Leigh Academy Halley?

Leigh Academy Halley is at Corelli Road, London, SE3 8EP.