Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for a place at HLNA?

The school’s admission arrangements are part of the Warwickshire County Council’s co-ordinated scheme. Please apply directly to Warwickshire County Council. Please put Higham Lane North Academy as your first choice. If you are also considering Higham Lane School for your child, you will need to also put this school down as a second choice. The two schools must be put down as separate choices. There are six options. Please also consider your third, and fourth choice and so on. It may be helpful to watch the video from the WCC about the process.

If we are over-subscribed, the criteria are as follows in terms of priority children: EHCPs, looked after children, siblings, catchment area residents, distance, staff children, others. Admissions is not based on first-come, first-served, but please ensure that you complete your application for a secondary school place by the deadline of 31st October 2024.

Visit our Admissions page for further information, including how Leicestershire residents should apply.

Why choose HLNA over an established school?

Selecting the right school for your child’s secondary education is an important decision and it’s only natural that choosing an established school may feel like the ‘safer’ option.

Higham Lane North Academy is indeed a new school but, beyond its shiny new façade and state-of-the-art facilities, it has the huge advantage of being modelled on the long-established ‘Outstanding’ Higham Lane School and run by the Central England Academy Trust with a proven record and commitment to constantly raising standards across its family of schools.

HLNA’s Headteacher will be Mrs Kirstie Robinson, currently Deputy Headteacher at Higham Lane School and responsible for the curriculum and delivering progress and attainment. With achievements including securing the school’s highest-ever progress scores for the past two years placing HLS within the top 6% of all state-funded schools in the country, her lead areas of teaching and learning being rated ‘Outstanding' by Ofsted in 2019, spearheading the successful bid in 2021 for the school to secure World Class status and being part of the initial team that delivered the successful application for Higham Lane North Academy, HLNA couldn’t be in a safer pair of hands for ensuring the effective implementation of our partner school’s highly successful model.

In addition to the same proven, broad and balanced knowledge curriculum and extended school day with a wide choice of enrichment activities that are offered at Higham Lane School, thanks to our cutting-edge facilities, HLNA pupils will also access an innovative education that will encompass digital media, computing, engineering, drama, music and art, with ample opportunity for sports recreation and education.

We have already received an enormous amount of interest from prospective teaching and support staff who are keen to join Mrs Robinson’s team and benefit from her many years of experience in developing the knowledge curriculum and the teaching and learning strategy for all teachers, in all classrooms at Higham Lane School, recognised by Ofsted as 'Outstanding' and leading to the incredible progress of the children. They are as excited as we are to have this golden opportunity to establish an exceptional new school for our community and we are sure that we will be spoilt for choice once recruitment starts in January. There will be many opportunities for families to meet the teaching team ahead of September.

Being the founding cohort of just 150 pupils at a new school also brings many unique opportunities: as we will be recruiting senior staff from the outset to build the strongest team, pupils will benefit from the highest levels of teaching experience and support from day one; being part of this small community will ensure the highest levels of participation in sports teams and extra-curricular opportunities beyond the classroom and will help children to settle in and make friends exceptionally quickly; our Year 7s will always be at the top of the school and as such have earlier leadership opportunities and, of course, will also be the first to use all the brand-new facilities and equipment!

As we are located just a mile or so from our partner school, our first Year 7s will have the additional benefit of being alongside older HLS pupils in our annual drama production, sports training sessions and a wealth of school trips, so they will have the best of both worlds!

Will the school be built on time?

We have very regular, formal meetings with both the Department of Education and the site team. In addition to the formal meetings, we are in touch with the site team on a daily/weekly basis with some of our colleagues visiting on a very regular basis to check on progress being made. So far, we are ahead of schedule, and the school will be ready by June 2025 so we have some flexibility until September. Furthermore, as we will only have one year group of 150 children attending initially, and the building will be ready to use for 900 pupils, we will have a greater capacity around the school if required.

How busy will the roads be accessing Higham Lane North Academy?

Please remember that HLNA is a much smaller school compared to other secondary schools, so the amount of children arriving at school will be far fewer, particularly in the first couple of years where we will only have 150 pupils in each year group, compared to many schools that have between 1000 –1500 children arriving every day! The school building will be accessible from roads coming off the main road of Higham Lane, so this is potentially a lot less busy than schools that feed from main roads. The school will be fully accessible, for instance, there will be direct access from the school to the housing estates that lead from the Weddington Road/Lower Farm area.

What is the size of the year group compared to Higham Lane School?

At Higham Lane North Academy, there will be 150 students in Year 7. At Higham Lane School, there will be 247 students. In five years time, with five year groups, Higham Lane North Academy will hold 900 students. Higham Lane School and Sixth Form is approximately 1400 students.

What will class sizes be?

Class sizes will be between approximately 25 – 30, the same as for Higham Lane School, and for most state secondary schools.

How will recruitment of staffing work?

We have already recruited the Headteacher, ahead of schedule. In January 2025 all of our posts will be advertised at the same time to both our colleagues within our Trust, including staff from Higham Lane School, and externally via our website and other advertising sites. We have a clear staffing model in place that has been agreed by the Department for Education. Already we have had much interest in the potential vacancies at HLNA – people are clearly very excited to be working at the brand-new school!

Will you share staff between HLS and HLNA?

All the children at HLNA will have their main form tutor based at HLNA and this person will be their key contact each day. There will also be a number of support staff, such as Teaching Assistants, who will provide care and support for children. Our vision is that ‘every child is included, and every child belongs.’ Pastoral care and support is our priority to ensure that your children feel settled and happy, and initially enjoy the transition between primary and secondary school so that they thrive in Year 7 and beyond. The majority of staff will be based at HLNA, but there will be some occasions, where for both schools, a small number of staff will work between both sites and this is based on a staffing model that works in many secondary school multi-academy trusts.

Why doesn’t HLNA have a sixth form?

Free schools are granted, dependent upon numbers of school places required in local areas. This is determined by local councils and national Government. At the time of the free school application, the demand in the area was for an 11-16 school. All HLNA children will have many opportunities to visit the sixth form centre, based on the site of Higham Lane School. As the HLNA children become older, there will be further opportunities to work with the sixth form in exactly the same way that Higham Lane School children will experience. There will be a smooth transition process in place for HLNA children, should they wish to attend the sixth form based at Higham Lane. HLNA and HLS are part of the same trust and will continue to collaborate and work together for the benefit of all the children that attend our schools.

How will transition between Year 6 and students arriving at HLNA work?

From January we will provide lots of exciting, engaging opportunities on the website for children to engage with. Key staff will visit each child in their primary school to find out more about them. There will be many opportunities for the children to visit the school and enjoy taster activities using the brand-new facilities, and for children to meet their new teachers and form tutor. As parents you will have a further chance to meet your child’s form tutor along with your child in our July induction days. This will enable you to share key information about your child with us so that we can get to know them better and find out how we can support them to be happy and successful at HLNA. There will be further opportunities for the children to use the facilities and on the day before we begin Secondary school in September, we will have a lunchtime picnic with the children to ensure that they are ‘HLNA Year 7 Ready!’ Whilst the children are enjoying their picnic, there will be an opportunity for families to meet the HLNA team and discuss any questions you may have. This is just a flavour of what we will do to ensure that the transition between Year 6 and Year 7 is as smooth as possible! We know that this can be an anxious time, but we are also confident that if we all work together between school and home, the children will feel reassured and secure about their move into secondary school.

What extra-curricular opportunities will there be at Higham Lane North Academy?

The facilities are state-of-the-art and obviously brand new so we want to maximise the use of them! We will have amazing indoor and outdoor sports facilities, a Drama Amphitheatre, drama and dance studios, and fully equipped IT, Science, Art, Music, Design Technology classrooms! There will be opportunities for children at Higham Lane North Academy to be alongside Higham Lane School children. For example, in our annual drama production, sports training sessions, and so on. Children at Higham Lane North Academy will also have the opportunity to attend any trips that Higham Lane School lead on, for example, the Year 7 Jurassic Coast Geography trip, our theatre trips to the Royal Shakespeare Company, or the Ski trip (Year 8 onwards), or to take part in our Duke of Edinburgh scheme (Year 9 onwards). Primarily, Higham Lane North Academy have a strong extra-curriculum offer, as we know that the more opportunities that children have to learn and participate in beyond the traditional classroom, the stronger their fulfilment and wellbeing. We will use the County Music service for music tuition. Our aim is for every child in Year 7 to take part in at least one extra-curricular activity each week, and this will encompass as wide a variety of options as possible! We also have a number of external clubs who are already interested in using HLNA’s facilities at the evenings/weekends for their groups.

Find out more at our Open Events