Quarrydale Academy
Sutton in Ashfield, NG17 2DU · Nottinghamshire local authority
Sutton in Ashfield’s School Grade D better than 14% of towns in England
What stands out about Quarrydale Academy
- Its own letter, D: GCSE results near the bottom of England’s secondary schools (better than 12%)
- 27% get grade 5 or above in English and maths, 21 points below England’s schools
- Ofsted: Inspected, May 2025 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (195 of 195)
- Progress 8 of -0.56 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did less well at GCSE than pupils nationally with the same results at 11
- Homes in its postcode sector (NG17 2) sold for a median £168,250; Sutton in Ashfield’s is £187,000
Results
DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 225 pupilsEach bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools Quarrydale beats are shaded green.
Attainment 8 39.3
Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 16% of schools · Nottinghamshire avg 46.6
Grade 5+ in English and maths 27%
A strong pass · higher than 9% of schools · Nottinghamshire avg 47%
Attainment 8, three years
The mark is England’s average that year
Progress 8, 2023/24
-0.56: below average. How pupils did at GCSE against pupils nationally with the same results at 11. Not published since 2023/24 (no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021).
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025/26
Attainment 8 for the 81 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Quarrydale Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (38), 2020 (44), 2021 (27), 2022 (26), 2023 (17). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Quarrydale Academy sets the admissions rules. Apply through Nottinghamshire council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Sutton in Ashfield and Nottinghamshire, side by side
2025/26All 45 graded secondaries in Nottinghamshire. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Sutton in Ashfield’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The West Bridgford School | A | 7% | 61.4 |
| Rushcliffe Spencer Academy | A | 12% | 58.3 |
| Carlton le Willows Academy | A | 26% | 56.5 |
| The Minster School | A | 11% | 55.5 |
| Toot Hill School | A | 16% | 55.2 |
| Alderman White School | A− | 25% | 53.2 |
| South Nottinghamshire Academy | B+ | 21% | 52.9 |
| George Spencer Academy | A− | 20% | 52.6 |
| The Becket School | A− | 19% | 52.3 |
| All Saints' Catholic Voluntary Academy | B+ | 20% | 51.5 |
| The South Wolds Academy & Sixth Form | B+ | 17% | 51.3 |
| Bramcote College | B+ | 27% | 50.7 |
| Chilwell School | A− | 22% | 50.3 |
| Carlton Academy | B+ | 26% | 50.2 |
| The Kimberley School | B+ | 22% | 49.6 |
| East Leake Academy | B+ | 20% | 49.5 |
| Colonel Frank Seely Academy | B | 24% | 49.2 |
| Redhill Academy | B | 25% | 49.1 |
| The Newark Academy | B+ | 28% | 49.1 |
| Serlby Park Academy | B+ | 40% | 48.7 |
| Outwood Academy Valley | B+ | 25% | 48.1 |
| Arnold Hill Spencer Academy | B+ | 21% | 47.8 |
| Christ The King Voluntary Academy | B− | 28% | 46.8 |
| Outwood Academy Portland | B− | 30% | 46.6 |
| The Garibaldi School | B | 26% | 46.1 |
| The National CofE Academy | B− | 23% | 45.9 |
| The Joseph Whitaker School | B− | 24% | 45.7 |
| The Brunts Academy | C+ | 30% | 45.4 |
| Ashfield Comprehensive School | C+ | 31% | 45.2 |
| The Manor Academy | C+ | 30% | 43.8 |
| Tuxford Academy | C | 23% | 43.7 |
| The Suthers School | C+ | 27% | 43.6 |
| The Elizabethan Academy | C+ | 28% | 42.9 |
| Meden School | C | 40% | 42 |
| Retford Oaks Academy | C− | 33% | 40.8 |
| Outwood Academy Kirkby | C− | 49% | 40.5 |
| Magnus Church of England Academy | C− | 46% | 40.4 |
| Hall Park Academy | C− | 33% | 40.3 |
| Selston High School | C− | 32% | 40.1 |
| Quarrydale Academy | D | 39% | 39.3 |
| Sutton Community Academy | C− | 46% | 39.1 |
| The Holgate Academy | D | 39% | 36.6 |
| Sherwood Church Academy | D | 34% | 36 |
| The Dukeries Academy | D− | 43% | 32.6 |
| Queen Elizabeth's Academy | D− | 41% | 32.3 |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 20251,277 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Quarrydale Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection (no overall grade since September 2024), May 2025.
Living near Quarrydale Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in NG17 2, the school’s postcode sector
Sutton in Ashfield property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in NG17 2 sell for a little under Sutton in Ashfield’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
14 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Sutton in Ashfield, NG17 2DU
Quarrydale Academy: common questions
Is Quarrydale Academy a good school?
By its published results, well below average: its GCSE results are better than 12% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is D), with an Attainment 8 of 39.3 and 27% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, May 2025.
How hard is it to get into Quarrydale Academy?
For September 2026, 195 families put Quarrydale Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 196 places were offered in all.
What is Quarrydale Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (May 2025).
How much do houses cost near Quarrydale Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, NG17 2, sold for a median £168,250 over the 36 months to August 2026 (438 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Sutton in Ashfield’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.