Halyard High School converted to academy status on 1 September 2007 and became part of the Barnfield Federation[1][2].

[3] From 2006 until 2010 Rachel de Souza (now Children's Commissioner for England) was the headteacher at Barnfield West Academy and received recognistion for significantly improving the overall performance of the school since it became an academy, as significantly noted in its ofsted reports.

[6] In 2012 Barnfield West Academy achieved excellent value for money status from Ofsted as being run by a federation and was shown as good practice example in the governments drive to increase the number of academies.

[7] In 2015 the school split with the Barnfield Federation and became part of The Shared Learning Trust.

[8] This was due to an investigation into the Barnfield Federation by the Skills Funding Agency & the Education Funding Agency into financial mishandling, claiming for students incorrectly and grade issues.