Herne Bay High School

Herne Bay High School

Address: Bullockstone Road, Herne Bay, Kent, CT6 7NS Unique reference number (URN): 136465

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Post-16 provision Strong standard

Leaders ensure the sixth form is consistently and expertly led by experienced staff who understand the requirements of highly effective post-16 provision. Leaders have designed an inclusive programme offering academic, applied general and other pathways that reflect students’ starting points, aspirations and the local context. This enables students with very low prior attainment, including those without key stage 4 qualifications, to access ambitious routes. Adapted entry criteria and personalised guidance, involving parents where appropriate, help students select suitable courses. This contributes to a high proportion of students sustaining their post-16 and post-18 destinations

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Post-16 provision Strong standard

The curriculum is well designed and ambitious. Teachers have secure knowledge of how to support students with additional needs. They check on student progress with precision. They provide targeted study support to close gaps in learning. Consequently, students produce high-quality work across all pathways and meet the high expectations in place. The school ensures that students develop important life skills that support their transition into adulthood.

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Post-16 provision Strong standard

Inclusive support is effective, and bursary students achieve above their peers. Leaders provide bespoke adaptations for students with disabilities, enabling them to fully participate. Progress across much of the curriculum is significantly above national levels because of the highly effective education for students, including those with lower starting points. Students who need to re-sit English and mathematics pass these qualifications above the national average.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have raised expectations of pupils and staff. They have established consistent routines that promote disruption-free learning, which is evident in most classrooms. Staff mostly apply expectations well, and pupils recognise that standards have risen over time. Pupils say the school is a positive place to learn. They report that bullying occurs, but staff usually resolve incidents quickly and effectively. Leaders ensure that unkindness is addressed promptly, working with external professionals when needed. Inclusive approaches to behaviour support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including adaptations such as ‘Cabin Passes’ to help them regulate their feelings. The use of suspension has fallen as more pupils comply with the high expectations in place. Leaders use behaviour information to identify patterns and provide targeted support.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders provide strategic leadership of attendance through a coordinated safeguarding- linked approach. Staff quickly identify barriers to positive attendance and put in place effective help. As a result, attendance has improved overall and for several groups, including for pupils who face barriers to regular attendance. Leaders monitor pupils who are at risk of becoming persistently absent. They act quickly to secure improvements. Leaders work with parents and external agencies to reinforce expectations, and clear consequences support punctuality to lessons and school. However, persistent absence remains a challenge for a minority.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders know that some pupils have not achieved as well as they should over time. They have improved the curriculum to ensure it is ambitious and enables pupils to build knowledge securely. Learning develops in a logical order and increases in complexity as pupils progress. Pupils study a wide range of courses at key stages 4 and 5, and the curriculum reflects the interests of most pupils. Leaders ensure that staff know how to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils with SEND generally receive the support they need to engage fully in lessons.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have strengthened the precision with which teachers explain important concepts. Teachers break challenging ideas into clear, manageable steps and typically check how well pupils understand new learning. However, there remains some variability in how teachers use this information to adjust their teaching. At times, teachers move to new content before pupils understand securely. Occasionally, teaching does not encourage pupils to link ideas in increasingly complex ways.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders identify pupils who need help to read well. Strategies are mostly effective in closing gaps in pupils’ reading and comprehension. Leaders ensure that teachers focus on pupils' accurate use of technical vocabulary. However, there is some variability in how well teaching supports pupils to practise essential literacy skills, such as writing fluently.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The school has a secure understanding of the barriers that affect pupils’ attendance, engagement and learning, and it assesses pupils’ needs precisely. Leaders design targeted support that reduces these barriers and enables pupils to participate fully in education. The 'learning success centre' helps younger pupils close gaps in essential knowledge. 'The Bungalow' and 'The Cabin' provide structured support for pupils who need help to strengthen their social and emotional health. Leaders monitor the impact of this provision carefully and refine their approaches.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders support disadvantaged pupils effectively. They use pupil premium funding strategically and are improving the precision with which they evaluate which strategies have the greatest impact. As a result, most disadvantaged pupils receive increasingly well ‑ targeted support that improves their engagement and progress.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders identify and meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities through close work with families and external professionals. They draw on specialist advice to strengthen staff expertise and improve the support available. Staff generally use this training well, adapting their teaching to help pupils access learning.

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Needs attention

The school uses alternative provision appropriately to help a small number of pupils, including some who are known to social care, re ‑ engage with education. Leaders review the effectiveness of this provision effectively and adjust support to meet pupils’ needs.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders have designed a coherent programme that promotes pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. The curriculum is carefully ordered across key stages so that pupils revisit important ideas in increasing depth. Relationships, sex and health education is age-appropriate and teaches pupils about online and offline risks to their wellbeing. Leaders ensure that what pupils learn reflects the school's local and national safeguarding context. The curriculum helps pupils understand consent, healthy relationships and how to keep themselves safe, including, for example, learning about the dangers of ‘deepfake’ images.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pastoral support is well coordinated. Staff identify welfare concerns and monitor patterns, enabling leaders to intervene promptly. Pupils know who to speak to if they need help, and they say staff respond quickly and effectively when issues arise.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Values Week strengthens pupils’ sense of community and encourages them to act as positive citizens. They know the importance of rules that keep each other safe, for example, how to support peers with allergies. However, for some pupils, while they know that respect and tolerance are very important, they are less knowledgeable about the wider aspects of fundamental British values, such as democracy.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Pupils receive quality impartial information about the opportunities open to them both post- 16 and when they are in the sixth form. The sixth-form programme prepares students especially well for adulthood through careers guidance, leadership opportunities, volunteering and citizenship activities. Students learn how to study independently and take responsibility for their learning. Students behave with maturity and are fully prepared for independent adult life.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school offers a wide range of clubs, trips and enrichment. Vulnerable pupils benefit from enhanced opportunities. The school uses pupil premium funding to remove financial barriers to participation.

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Achievement Needs attention

Pupils at key stage 4 have not achieved well over time, and results have remained below those seen nationally. The achievement of pupils with barriers to learning has also declined, even when compared with peers in other similar schools. Previous decisions to reduce the number of English qualifications pupils sit have had a negative impact on overall attainment and on a significant minority of pupils’ personal achievement. Leaders have taken appropriate action to address these historical issues. Despite this, a significant proportion of pupils sustain education, employment and training pathways successfully. Students in the sixth form make excellent progress above the national average. This includes students who need to resit English and mathematics GCSEs. Work to improve the teaching of literacy and mathematical skills across key stages 3 and 4 helps pupils apply this learning with increasing accuracy, although too many still have gaps in these essential

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders understand the school’s strengths and priorities well. However, over time, leaders’ actions to improve achievement have lacked sufficient rigour. Leaders have not checked precisely enough whether their actions remove barriers to learning. Trustees have not provided enough challenge to ensure that resources are used with enough impact to improve educational outcomes swiftly.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The school has recently undergone significant changes in leadership and governance. Trustees have not involved themselves fully in establishing strategic plans for school improvement. At times, they have relied too heavily on what the school has told them about contextual challenges and not enough on what the school is doing to address them. Trustees are not suitably aware of the entirety of their statutory responsibilities. As a result, at times, they are at risk of not meeting these duties, for example, those linked to Trust membership. This does not place pupils at risk of harm. However, it does create weaknesses in trustees’ accountability for providing effective governance.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Despite these challenges, dedicated staff continue to make important improvements, including increasing pupils’ attendance. Leaders identify and prioritise actions that serve pupils’ best interests. They use evidence-informed approaches to strengthen provision. New accountability processes are in place. Staff value knowing what leaders expect of them and how they can contribute most effectively to raising standards. They are positive and proud to serve their community. A well-developed professional development programme strengthens teaching and curriculum expertise.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders engage purposefully with parents. Many parents praise the school’s clear communication and the way staff work in partnership with them to support their child.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

This is a school that places community at the heart of its work. Pupils feel valued and known by staff who care deeply for them. Pupils know that expectations of them have risen and most strive to meet these. Pupils build positive relationships with staff and with their peers. 'The CASS' team plays a pivotal role in helping pupils keep themselves safe in school and in the community.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils' attendance is improving. More pupils attend school on time and more often than they did in the past because they value the education that they receive. Classrooms are typically disruption ‑ free, meaning pupils can learn and focus on their work. Bullying does occur at times. Pupils generally agree that staff provide effective help to address unkindness when it happens. Pupils learn about important topics such as how to manage their mental health and wellbeing. Staff in 'The Cabin' and 'The Bungalow' provide additional help for those who need enhanced support. Pupils who use this provision speak positively about the nurturing care they receive.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Students in the sixth form are role models for their peers. They take on leadership roles in school, for example mentoring younger pupils to engage positively with education. Students in the sixth form make excellent progress from their starting points. Nearly all students go on to employment, competitive apprenticeships or university placements.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Over time, pupils have not achieved as well as they should by the end of key stage 4. A large proportion of pupils have therefore not secured the knowledge that they might need for future study. While the quality of teaching is improving, pupils who have not benefited from these improvements still have significant gaps in their learning that have not been addressed well enough. Pupils with additional needs are known very well. They typically receive the tailored help that they need to access education. For example, young carers appreciate the support groups they can access.

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Next steps

Trustees must ensure that they have a clear understanding of their role in school improvement so that they hold the school to account and drive improvements in achievement. Leaders should ensure that plans to raise standards set out precisely how they will check the quality of the school’s work so they can judge the impact of their actions with confidence and secure sustained improvement. Leaders should ensure that teachers use what they learn from checks of pupils’ understanding to adjust their teaching effectively so that pupils gain detailed and secure knowledge. Leaders should ensure that pupils achieve well in the qualifications they study, including increasing the number who reach the expected standards in English and mathematics. The school must continue to implement its attendance strategy to reduce further the number of pupils who are persistently absent.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Herne Bay High School single academy trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Christopher Simmons, who is also the principal, and the trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Philip Gallantree.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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Team inspectors:

Eliot Hodges, Ofsted Inspector Nicky Archer, Ofsted Inspector Marian Feeley, His Majesty's Inspector Clair Ellerby, Ofsted Inspector Joseph Thurston, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 15 September 2026

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1,507

Well above average Inspectors spoke with the school leadership team, members of staff, groups of pupils and representatives from the board of trustees, including the clerk to trustees.

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1,507

The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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1,507

Inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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1,507

The school makes use of one registered and one unregistered alternative provision for a small number of pupils.

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1,507

The school has undergone a recent significant change. There has been a change in principal this current school year. The current principal joined in September 2026. A significant number of trustees have changed, including the chair of trustees. The chair of trustees took on this role in April 2026. There have also been a number of changes in roles within the senior leadership team.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational needs support at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English indices of deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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English and maths GCSE

Percentage of pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Attainment 8

A measure of pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Progress 8

How much progress pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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national average

2022/23 (final) 20.3% 25.2% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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national average

2023/24 (final) 32.4 34.6 Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (final) 35.4 35.0 Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Destinations after 16

Percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4).

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A-level average point score

The average points that students achieved per A-level entry.

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A-level value added

A score showing students’ progress between the end of key stage 4 and the end of their academic qualification studies.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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national average

2024/25 (3 term) 9.7% 8.4% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (3 term) 9.7% 9.0% Close to average

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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