Outwood Academy Kirkby

About Outwood Academy Kirkby

Outwood Academy Kirkby is a secondary school in Ashfield that parents are clearly watching closely. The school received 156 applications for its 90 Year 7 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, making it oversubscribed with a ratio of 1.73 applicants per place. However, the parent experience on the ground is more mixed than those numbers might suggest. In the Parent View survey covering September 2024 to September 2025, only 43% of the 95 respondents said they would recommend the school to another parent. When asked about specific areas, 57% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy at the school, and 59% felt their child does well there. But concerns are evident too: just 43% felt the school makes them aware of what their child will learn, and only 33% agreed that concerns are dealt with properly. The school has a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 48%, and its current roll of 546 is well below its capacity of 692.

Academically, Outwood Academy Kirkby sits in a challenging position within Nottinghamshire. Its Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 academic year was -0.22, which is below the local authority average of -0.11 and places it 27th out of 46 similar schools in the county. The Attainment 8 score was 35.5, and 50% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, dropping to 36.1% for a grade 5 or above. The school's EBacc average point score was 3.15, with 26.4% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. Ofsted visited in May 2025 and judged the school Good overall, a significant improvement from its previous Inadequate rating in 2021. The inspection noted that leadership and management, quality of education, and personal development are all Good, but behaviour and attitudes were rated as Requires Improvement. The school ranks 3rd out of 7 schools in Ashfield by Progress 8, and 165th out of 273 in the East Midlands region.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, theatre, sports hall, astro turf, and science labs, plus clubs such as Chess, Drama, Duke of Edinburgh, Young Enterprise, and an orchestra. Sports on offer include swimming, hockey, basketball, tennis, dance, and football. For SEND, the school supports pupils with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. In the Parent View survey, 38% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that SEND children get the support they need, though 62% disagreed or strongly disagreed. The school has no sixth form, so pupils will need to move on after Year 11. Given its oversubscribed status and the recent Ofsted improvement, this is a school that is attracting interest, but the parent feedback suggests families should dig into the details of communication and behaviour support before making a decision.

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