Sutton Community Academy, Sutton-in-Ashfield

Ofsted's report card from its 21 April 2026 inspection grades Sutton Community Academy on 7 areas: 6 expected standard and 1 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Attendance is a clear priority for leaders and is managed through well-established systems."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have designed an ambitious and well-organised curriculum that is carefully sequenced to help pupils build knowledge and understanding over time."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have established clear systems to identify, assess and support pupils who face barriers to their learning or wellbeing."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders serve with clear moral purpose and are deeply committed to ensuring that all pupils are safe, included and supported to achieve as well as they can."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Pupils benefit from a personal development and wellbeing programme that supports them to build confidence, resilience and self‑belief."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "Students in the post‑16 provision are well supported and benefit from positive relationships with staff who know them as individuals."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Published results remain below national averages in several subjects and for some groups of pupils."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure greater consistency in teaching and use assessment information more effectively to identify and address gaps in pupils' learning"; "Leaders should ensure that planned adaptions to teaching and resources for pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are implemented consistently, so that pupils receive the intended support and adjustments that they need"; "Leaders should carefully analyse information that they gather so that they can identify priorities accurately and evaluate the impact of actions taken to improve pupils' outcomes".

In 2026, pupils at Sutton Community Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 39.1, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.6 in Nottinghamshire and 47 across England.

32% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 47% in Nottinghamshire and 47% in England.

That is up from 37.6 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.45: pupils made below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 33.6, against 44.2 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 10.6 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Art and Design and History.

For September 2026 entry, 114 families put Sutton Community Academy as their first choice and 380 named it as one of their preferences, for 118 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Sutton Community Academy are Quarrydale Academy (0.9 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 39.3); Ashfield Comprehensive School (1 mile, Good, Attainment 8 45.2); Outwood Academy Kirkby (1.9 miles, Attainment 8 40.5); and All Saints' Catholic Voluntary Academy (2.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 51.5).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than Sutton Community Academy.

Sutton Community Academy is one of 21 schools run by Academy Transformation Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40 in 2024/25.

Of the 152 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 81% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 59% to a further education college, 2% to an apprenticeship and 3% into work.

Of the 37 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 41% went on to university or other higher education, 8% to apprenticeships and 32% into work. 21% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

45.9% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 12.1% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 181 pupils (22.7%) received SEN support and 27 (3.4%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

The nearest railway station is Sutton Parkway Rail Station, about 0.9 miles away in a straight line.

19 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Station Street (adjacent), 70 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Sutton Community Academy stands in is among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 329 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage and arson. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Nottinghamshire (101), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Sutton Community Academy issued 599 suspensions, 74.9 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 3 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Sutton Community Academy are Croft Primary School (0.2 miles), Priestsic Primary and Nursery School (0.3 miles), Brierley Forest Primary and Nursery School (0.6 miles) and Leamington Primary and Nursery Academy (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.