Millbay Academy

About Millbay Academy

Millbay Academy is a mixed state secondary school in Plymouth, serving 549 pupils aged 11 to 16. It sits within a local authority that has no secondary schools rated Outstanding by Ofsted, and its own Progress 8 score of -0.51 places it 17th out of 18 schools in the Plymouth local authority, putting it in the bottom 94th percentile locally. The top-performing peers in the area are Devonport High School for Girls, Scott Medical and Healthcare College, and Lipson Co-operative Academy, all of which post significantly higher Progress 8 scores. Millbay Academy is led by headteacher Jo Ware and has no religious character. The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, receiving 197 applications for 85 places, with 107 of those as first preferences and 82 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.32. This level of demand suggests a strong local reputation despite its ranking position.

Academically, Millbay Academy’s most recent Ofsted inspection in February 2024 rated the school Good overall, with Good marks across all five categories including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This is a notable improvement from its previous inspection in January 2019, when the school was rated Inadequate overall. In the 2023/24 exam results, pupils achieved an Attainment 8 score of 32.7 and a Progress 8 score of -0.51, which is well below the local authority average of -0.04. The school’s Progress 8 banding is classified as ‘Well below average’ nationally. Only 2.6% of pupils entered the English Baccalaureate, and 32.1% achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths. The EBacc average point score was 2.66. These figures indicate that the school serves a cohort with significant challenges, reflected in the high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 56.6%.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, art studios, playing fields, an ICT suite, astro turf, a gymnasium, music rooms, a sports hall, tennis courts, and a library. Sports on offer include cricket, swimming, martial arts, hockey, gymnastics, rugby, rowing, badminton, cross country, and rounders, while clubs range from gardening and chess to orchestra, science club, debate, drama, Model UN, choir, Young Enterprise, and film club. Millbay Academy has a comprehensive set of SEND provisions, supporting pupils with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, and autistic spectrum disorder. The school has no sixth form or nursery provision. Given its high FSM rate and SEND support, Millbay Academy is likely to suit families who value a well-resourced school that is actively working to improve outcomes for a diverse and disadvantaged intake.

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