Leigh Academies Trust is delighted to announce that Leigh Academy Strood has been judged to be working at a Strong standard across five areas in its recent Ofsted inspection. The inspection, which took place on 9 June 2026, recognised the academy’s Strong standard in Attendance and Behaviour, Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, Leadership and Governance, and Personal Development and Wellbeing. Inspectors also confirmed that the academy’s safeguarding standards are met. These are the strongest judgements in the academy’s history.
Commenting on the inspection, Principal Jon Richardson said, “I am immensely proud of what this report says about our community. To be judged Strong in five areas reflects years of dedication from our staff and the determination of our pupils. I am especially proud that inspectors found our parents to be “effusive in their praise for the academy”. That partnership between home and school sits at the heart of everything we do, and I want to thank our parents and carers for the trust they place in us every day.”
The Ofsted report placed leadership and the academy’s relationship with families at the centre of its findings. Inspectors reported that parents are effusive in their praise for the school. They described leaders who put pupils’ best interests at the centre of their decision-making and who are determined to improve the life chances of all in the community they serve. The report also noted that those responsible for governance act as proactive advocates for pupils and hold leaders robustly to account.
Inspectors recognised the academy’s high expectations for attendance and behaviour. Many pupils join the academy having had weak attendance in the past. The report found that leaders take decisive action to tackle low attendance and engage positively with families and external agencies. As a result, overall attendance has continued to improve and persistent absence has reduced sharply, including for disadvantaged pupils. Pupils were described as polite, well mannered and proud to wear the Strood Academy badge, learning in harmonious, disruption-free classrooms.
The quality of curriculum and teaching was also commended. The report described a curriculum that is highly ambitious, broad and well-sequenced, delivered by teachers who are subject experts. Inspectors praised the academy’s approach to inclusion, noting that leaders are highly ambitious for the most vulnerable pupils and forensic in their analysis of the support those pupils receive. Pupils in the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND learn the same ambitious curriculum as their peers and are fully included in all aspects of academy life.
Personal development was a further area of strength. Inspectors highlighted a coherent and highly effective programme that prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain, supported by extensive extracurricular activities and effective careers education. Pupils told inspectors they are proud to attend, with one commenting that they “love everything about this school”, a view inspectors found to be typical of many.
Commenting on the inspection, Simon Beamish, Chief Executive of Leigh Academies Trust, said, “This is a tremendous result for Leigh Academy Strood. Achieving a Strong standard across five areas positions it as one of the leading non-selective schools in Kent and Medway. This significant achievement reflects years of patient, determined work by the whole academy community and everyone should be very proud of this achievement.”
The full Ofsted report can be found here and will be published on the official Ofsted report website in the coming days.
For more information about Leigh Academy Strood, please visit https://leighacademystrood.org.uk/
Education for a better world
About us
Leigh Academies Trust is a non-profit making charitable company, based in Strood, Medway. The Trust exists to support and assist academies to build upon their existing strengths and to help them achieve improvements in order to deliver education for a better world. We operate 33 academies along the South Thames Corridor, structured into 3 clusters: LAT West, LAT Central and LAT North. Our clusters contain all phases of education, from nursery to post-16. Each one has a passionate commitment to inclusion. The Trust was formed in 2008 with the linking of the Leigh Technology Academy and Longfield Academy under one governing body. It now encompasses over 20,000 students between the ages of 2 and 19 and we employ over 3,000 staff across the South East. For more information go to, http://www.leighacademiestrust.org.uk/
