Sutton Community Academy

About Sutton Community Academy

Sutton Community Academy is a mixed secondary school in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, that currently educates 800 pupils against a capacity of 900, meaning it has some room to grow. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 45.3%, significantly higher than the national average and a clear indicator of the area's socioeconomic profile. Despite this, demand for places is strong: for the 2025/26 academic year, the school received 411 applications for 164 total places, with 154 first-preference applications and 153 first-preference offers made. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 2.51, suggesting families in the local area actively choose the school. The school is non-denominational and has no religious character, and it includes a sixth form for students aged 16 to 18. Headteacher Lewis Taylor leads a school that has clearly established itself as a key local option, even if its intake reflects the challenges of the community it serves.

Academically, the school's most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022 rated it Good across all categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. This marks a significant turnaround from its previous inspection in 2019, when it was rated Inadequate overall. At Key Stage 4, the school's Progress 8 score is -0.45, which is below the local authority average of -0.11 and places it in the bottom 50 nationally. Within Ashfield, it ranks 5th out of 7 schools, and 33rd out of 46 similar schools across Nottinghamshire. Attainment 8 sits at 36.3, with 39.5% of pupils achieving a grade 4 or above in English and maths. The EBacc entry rate is 49.3%, though only 13.8% achieved a grade 5 or above in the EBacc combination. At A-level, the school's value-added score is -0.43, with an average points per entry of 24.18, equivalent to a D+ grade, and the progress banding is rated below average.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, astro turf, sports hall, gymnasium, theatre, and a sixth form centre, alongside music rooms and an ICT suite. Sports provision covers tennis, martial arts, athletics, swimming, football, rugby, badminton, rowing, netball, and dance, while extracurricular clubs include Debate, Science Club, Choir, Duke of Edinburgh, and Model UN. The school has a well-documented SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families in Ashfield looking for a secondary school with a sixth form that has improved its Ofsted rating and offers strong extracurricular breadth, Sutton Community Academy is a realistic choice, though its academic outcomes are below the local average and it serves a high-deprivation intake.

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