Awards

THE HIGHCREST ACADEMY AWARDS

All at The Highcrest Academy are extremely proud of the number of prestigious external agencies who visit us and recognise our excellence in a number of different areas of school life.

Achieving these awards is wonderful, but what always gives us most pride, is seeing our visitors leave with smiles on their faces, having found out for themselves what makes our Academy so special. 

Flagship Inclusion Quality Mark

The school prides itself on developing strong, positive relationships between adults and students. This is credited to the school’s inclusive ethos and shared belief that the school’s virtues are there to influence everyday practice and behaviour hence the culture of mutual respect of people and property. At The Highcrest Academy, the leaders make sure that inclusion pervades every aspect of school strategic planning …” IQM Flagship Assessor

The Flagship Inclusion Quality Mark, is only achieved, if all students, of all abilities, are stretched to perform to their maximum. Schools who achieve this award are inclusive schools that monitor, develop and devise strategies to improve the effectiveness of their provision to meet the needs of all students. You can only imagine how proud this award we are! 

We received our most recent reaccreditation of this award in November 2025 and have now held flagship status for an incredible 12 years! The external assessor examined the school as an inclusive environment, meeting with students, teaching staff and keystakeholders. The Inclusion Quality Mark covers absolutely everything in school, from students with special learning needs to the most able and those needing more help with literacy and numeracy. The IQM award certifies that both the curriculum and extra-curricular activities are accessible to all at The Highcrest Academy.  

The assessor's key findings were as follows: 

• 'The Academy prides itself on its community ethos and positive relationships between staff and students that underpins everything they do'. Highcrest Academy sees itself as an educational establishment to serve its community by providing the best possible education for all, 'Inclusive practice is at the very heart of teaching and learning at the school'. The Highcrest Academy achieves these goals by constantly reviewing and improving on its offer.
• The school prides itself on developing strong, positive relationships between adults and students, 'staff pride themselves on knowing their students, and families very well not just from an academic stance'. Where it has been noted that there is some passivity towards learning leaders have responded swiftly. 'The adapted curriculum for different groups means that a lot of very vulnerable students are in school rather than being sat at home' . This is credited to the school’s inclusive ethos with robust monitoring systems in palce to ensure student needs are quickly identified and the correct support is swiftly in place. 
• At The Highcrest Academy, 'students are very proud of their school'  the leaders make sure that inclusion pervades every aspect of school strategic planning, e.g., School Development Plan (SDP) and operational practice. This attitude translates to the school  creating a physical environment and atmosphere where staff and pupils feel valued and want to do their best. It is noted that staff well-bing also sits highly on the agengda of Senior Leaders. 
• In line with the national trend, the school is obliged to admit each year more students with complex needs, consequently, they must expand their current Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision. To address these demands and cope with pressure in the right way, the school uses IQM projects as an opportunity to marry the emerging needs with the established good educational practice. 
• The Highcrest Academy has been creative, e.g., to set up a new provision for an identified group with an alternative curriculum that follows a primary model of teaching the core subjects by one teacher. This experiment has been successful and increased the students’ motivation and attendance because they felt safe in a small space and were able to access the curriculum at their pace and level. This model has been created on the advice of a local special school enabling the students to continue education without the need to be moved to an  alternative provision. The parents of those students are delighted with the service and are supportive of their children's education and their personal social and emotional development. The SENCo and leaders of the Academy have professional knowledge and experience to know what the students need to succeed and they have the courage to take risks and implement drastic changes like the one described above; this makes the school effective. The assessor noted, 'The alternative provision areas are incredibly well resourced and overseen by passionate highly trained staff'.
• During the visit, an IQM Assessor was presented with tangible evidence of the school making life-changing differences to its student such as; monitoring systems and an expanding  team of staff with direct responsibilities for attendance, Inclusion, Challenge for all and SEND. On a tour of the inclusion provision, the assessor noted 'attitudes to learning are good and the support to different groups of students is outstanding'. A lot of work has been done already (workshops for parents, intense communication, making students aware of the impact on their learning) to change the culture of acceptance of minor illnesses as reasons for missing school. The school has identified small groups of students (evidenced by data) as vulnerable and has planned relevant action to combat this weakness.
• Students of The Highcrest Academy are the best ambassadors for the schoo. In a conversation with the IQM Assessor, they felt free to speak their mind with the assessor noting 'Students are very proud of their school and feel their voice is both heard and valued'. They echoed a central message related to attendance noting their efforts are recognised and rewarded. Students displayed mature attitudes and a good understanding of rules and procedures with which they are comfortable. They acknoweldge that others need different levels of support and focus on their learning allowing interventions to seamlessly take place. 

We are delighted to have maintained our Flagship status. The IQM assessor concluded his visit stating, 'The school continues to move from strength to strength in terms of its superb inclusive practice and I am firmly of the opinion that the school fully meets the standard required by the Inclusion Quality Mark to maintain its status as a Flagship School. ' 

Click here for the full Assessor’s Evaluation for the IQM Flagship Project - November 2025. 

https://iqmaward.com/iqm-awards/flagship-school-award/ 

The NACE Challenge Award

“The many strengths of the school’s provision are clearly demonstrated within the self-evaluation which shows continued evidence of a commitment to improve both provision and outcomes for more able learners, and to embed high quality teaching and learning.” – NACE, 2026

We are proud to announce that we have successfully maintained our NACE Challenge Award re-accreditation, continuing our long-standing commitment to high-quality teaching and learning for more able learners within a culture of challenge for all.

The NACE Challenge Award recognises schools that provide outstanding provision for more able pupils, ensuring that every learner is appropriately stretched, supported and inspired to achieve their full potential. It celebrates a whole-school commitment to excellence, ambition and inclusive challenge across the curriculum.

We have proudly held this prestigious award since 2013, successfully sustaining it through re-accreditation every three years. We are also proud to be the only school in the local area to hold this accreditation, reflecting our exceptional and sustained commitment to excellence for more able learners.

The assessor's key findings were as follows: 

• Challenge for all is an intrinsic part of the whole school culture.
• Careers education is strong at the academy. Pupils spoke confidently about how well they feel supported for the next phase of their learning.
• Governors have a strong understanding of the school’s ‘Excelling Students’ provision and are able to articulate the school vision. 
• Ambitious targets for ‘Excelling Students’ are embedded and used to drive high standards of progress and achievement.
• The school offers an impressive range of clubs before school, during lunchtime and after school.
• There is a forensic approach to data analysis. The school’s robust monitoring of standards ensures that all more able learners are scrutinised, and underachievement is tackled promptly.
• Pastoral support is strong. The mental health and safeguarding lead, school counsellor, inclusion team and Assistant Heads of Learning in each year group coordinate a planned programme of mentoring and support for learners, including individualised support for the most vulnerable students.
• The curriculum is well sequenced, progressive and aspirational, including intentionally planned challenge opportunities.
• Staff commented that they enjoy working at The Highcrest Academy because of the ‘willingness of students to give something a go and in lessons they are not afraid to get it wrong.’
• Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and a clear passion for their disciplines.
• Students have an excellent rapport with their teachers – they trust and respect them and feel confident to ask for advice and support (even outside of the classroom timetable).
• Student voice commented that ‘teachers are passionate and go out of their way to help and support: ‘We like that the teachers want to get to know us and our personalities.’
• There are opportunities in lessons for all learners to develop creativity, critical thinking and leadership skills.
• Students’ behaviour for learning is excellent. In the lessons observed, students were positively engaged with and enjoying their learning with a mature approach to their studies.

Click here to view the full report from our most recent NACE visit. 

For more information about NACE and the Challenge Award, click here: https://www.nace.co.uk/page/challenge-award 

Eco-Schools Green Flag Award

“Earning an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award takes passion, commitment and a desire.”

Pupils at The Highcrest Academy have earned an international accreditation this academic year, recognising their amazing work in making their school more environmentally friendly and raising eco-awareness in fellow pupils.  Eco-Schools is an international education programme that prompts young people to explore sustainability and climate change and take action.  

Eco-Schools England Manager, Adam Flint, said: “Earning an Eco-Schools Green Flag Award takes passion, commitment and a desire to make a difference. Pupils should be proud of their great work. They’re an inspiration and it makes us feel heartened and positive about the future of our planet.” For more information click here.

https://www.eco-schools.org.uk/about/what-is-eco-schools/

Rights Respecting School Award

Highcrest became a Rights Respecting School in 2014 and achieved the Level 1 award in 2015. UNICEF moderators upgraded us to a Gold Award school after an inspection in 2018. Indeed, we were the first secondary school in Buckinghamshire, and only the fifteenth secondary school nationally, to be accredited as a Gold Award UNICEF Rights Respecting School; you can imagine how proud our community is of this award. The UNICEF articles continue to be at the heart of everything that we do at Highcrest.

The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning, policies, practice and ethos. As a rights-respecting school, we teach our students about their rights and model respectful relationships.

We look forward to our next reaccreditation visit. For more information click here.

https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/

BucksFreePress Article: Highcrest First in Bucks to Receive Gold RRSA Award

The EQualities Award 

"Underpinned by its strong pastoral practice and reflective inclusive culture, the school has established its identity as a caring, versatile and safe educational establishment, serving the local community the best that the school can achieve in such a diverse residential community." IQM Flagship Assessor: November 2022 

Although we currently hold the EQualities Award which recognises the academy’s commitment to treating everyone equally, we are currently working towards achieving the new Equality Quality Mark, awarded by EqualiTeach. This award provides us with support and guidance so that we can effectively promote equality, diversity and inclusion within Highcrest, and provides us with an opportunity to showcase our commitment to equality. As a richly diverse academy, we have always worked hard to meet our statutory duties, but we would like to go further and really ensure that our students receive the very best education in this important area.

The Award has been designed by a team of equality and education experts to allow the development of best practice around four main themes: Leadership and Management, Behaviour and Welfare, Teaching and Learning and Personal Development of Pupils. There are three levels of award: bronze, silver and gold. We are working towards the silver level, and we expect it will take approximately 12 months to achieve this award.

To support us on our work towards this prestigious award, we have begun to work on a programme to reduce identity-based bullying called Equally Safe. This programme is funded by the Department for Education and will help schools develop best practice in preventing and tackling identity-based bullying, and in developing tailored, whole-school approaches. For more information click here.

Equality Objectives

Buckinghamshire Careers Hub

At Highcrest, we believe Careers Education Advice Information and Guidance (usually abbreviated to CEIAG) should equip young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to plan and manage their individual pathways through learning and work on a lifelong basis.

Highcrest is a proud member of the Bucks Careers Hub. This is an association of selected schools in Buckinghamshire who have a strong commitment to careers education and support. Careers Leaders from these schools meet regularly to share best practice, develop shared projects and resources to support students and build links with employers. For more information click here.

Rail Safe Friendly Bronze Award

Highcrest receives the Rail Safe Friendly Bronze Award in January 2025 - click here.