What schools ask us most at events: Answering the key questions about our secondary offering
Over the past year, the Academy21 team has attended events and conferences across the country, speaking with multiple senior school leaders, SEND specialists, and local authority colleagues.
These conversations have been wide-ranging, but they share a common thread. Whether in primary or secondary settings, leaders are navigating increasingly complex challenges around attendance, inclusion, SEND, and capacity – and actively seeking solutions that are both practical and sustainable.
While each school context is different, the same themes recur: how to maintain continuity of education, how to support pupils who cannot attend full-time, how to fund provision, and how to ensure that any intervention genuinely works in practice.
Based on these conversations, we’ve brought together the questions we are asked most often and answered them in detail, drawing on how Academy21 is being used by schools and local authorities across England and Wales, as well as our direct experience supporting thousands of children.
Secondary schools: maintaining continuity in a more complex system
In secondary settings, there is usually an existing understanding of alternative provision, but a sharper focus on how it works within the realities of accountability, outcomes, and capacity. Leaders are balancing attendance targets, GCSE outcomes, continuous SEND demand, and resource constraints. The questions we receive are often around where online AP can be relied upon as part of a wider system.
What role does Academy21 play within a secondary school?
Academy21 offers a comprehensive Key Stage 3 and 4 curriculum that mimics that of mainstream schools. As with Key Stage 2, schools can use us to continue education for pupils who are unable to access mainstream lessons full-time.
This includes pupils at risk of exclusion, those with persistent absences, pupils on reduced timetables, and those awaiting specialist placements. It is also used in exam years to ensure that pupils who are not attending school still have access to subject teaching and revision support.
The core goal is to provide continuity in education and ensure pupils are working toward their GCSE goals and can sit their exams confidently at the end of Year 11.
Academy21 keeps secondary students engaged in learning within a structured framework. Aside from our core provision, we also offer a range of GCSE support courses, which can be ideal for targeted needs as exam season approaches.
How is this different from other forms of alternative provision?
The key difference is that our learning environment is fully online, and with that come a series of unique benefits that are critical to addressing the school’s current challenges, particularly regarding reduced capacity and wider, more pressing SEND needs. We offer the same DfE-accredited, high-quality provision, mimicking the national curriculum delivered in mainstream schools. However, unlike other AP solutions, we are online and can support students instantly. Our onboarding process takes only 48h hours, and we can scale up or down as needs change. This high adaptability is crucial to support pupils’ progress.
How is Academy21 used in real school scenarios?
Academy21 can be used to meet 6th-day provision requirements following an exclusion, ensuring that pupils continue to receive education during this period. It is used to support pupils with persistent absence, where engagement needs to be rebuilt in a different environment. It is used to maintain learning for pupils awaiting specialist placements, preventing gaps from widening during transition periods.
In exam years, it is often used to ensure that pupils who are not attending school still have access to subject teaching, which can be the difference between completing qualifications or not. Across these scenarios, the common objective is to prevent disengagement from becoming permanent.
How does this support attendance, safeguarding, and accountability?
One of the central concerns for secondary leaders is maintaining visibility of pupils who are not physically present on site. Academy21 provides schools with clear information on pupil engagement and participation in lessons, delivered in real time and easily accessible via a Mentor Portal. This allows provision to be incorporated into attendance monitoring and safeguarding processes, ensuring that pupils remain visible within the system.
How does Academy21 work alongside internal alternative provision?
Many secondary schools are investing in inclusion bases, but capacity is often limited by staffing, space, and resources. Academy21 can extend that capacity. It allows schools to provide structured learning without needing additional physical infrastructure and can support pupils who are not yet ready to access in-school provision. It complements internal AP, giving schools greater flexibility in how they respond to need.
What outcomes should schools expect?
For students who have faced prolonged absence, the most immediate impact is the restoration of a consistent daily routine, which serves as a vital bridge toward reintegration. 85% of pupils who joined Academy21 with zero attendance at their previous setting are now attending live classes. Beyond simple attendance, 93% of students report a significant boost in learning confidence, which is essential for those who have previously struggled in traditional classrooms.
This engagement translates directly into academic results; even though many students arrive below age-related expectations, the vast majority make sustained progress over two terms, with particularly high success rates in core subjects like English and Maths.
95% of our current partners confirm that the provision fulfils its intended purpose, whether that is stabilising a pupil in crisis or facilitating a successful return to a mainstream or specialist setting.
How does this fit within SEND pressures and wider system change?
The increasing complexity of SEND needs, combined with ongoing reform, is placing significant pressure on schools to provide support that is both flexible and accountable. Academy21 functions as a high-quality “pressure valve” for a system currently struggling with the increasing complexity of pupil needs and a shortage of specialist places. As the Department for Education moves toward more rigorous standards for SEND support and inclusion, Academy21’s status as a DfE-accredited provider under OEAS offers schools the accountability and safety they need. It provides a way for schools to meet their statutory duties without losing the structure of a formal education. Our consistent, high-quality education and support have proven to be a robust and effective alternative that keeps vulnerable learners from being left behind during periods of reform and transition.
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Across both primary and secondary settings, the questions schools ask are rooted in the same underlying concern: what happens to a pupil’s education when they cannot be in school? The answer cannot be to pause learning or to accept disconnection as inevitable.
If you have students who are struggling to engage with their learning or to attend classes and need further support or have any other questions about the role of online AP within the ongoing SEND reform, please reach out to our team. We would be happy to have a conversation and see how we can best support you.
