Meden School Review 2026: A calm, purposeful 11–18 academy with a strong enrichment offer in Warsop

Meden School is a mixed 11–18 state secondary in Warsop, Nottinghamshire, with sixth form provision and a roll that has grown significantly over recent years. It sits within Nova Education Trust and serves a wide set of local primary feeders across the Warsop area.

Academically, the headline picture is broadly in line with many comprehensive schools, with slightly positive Progress 8 and an emphasis on a broad curriculum. In FindMySchool’s GCSE outcomes ranking (based on official data), Meden sits 3,284th in England and 7th locally (Mansfield), which places it below England average overall. At A-level, it ranks 1,600th in England and 5th locally, again below England average overall. (FindMySchool rankings are proprietary and derived from official performance data.)

The school’s strongest “feel” is one of order and steady expectations. External review evidence points to calm behaviour, pupils feeling safe, and leaders putting particular weight on safeguarding systems. For families weighing up Meden, it tends to come down to fit: a structured school day, a carefully sequenced curriculum, and an unusually wide extra-curricular menu for a state school, including Robotics, Duke of Edinburgh, Debate Club, and local-history themed activities.

Meden’s modern identity is shaped by two overlapping threads: a community-facing role in Warsop and a trust-backed push for consistency in behaviour, curriculum sequencing, and staff development. The school is part of Nova Education Trust, which is a meaningful context for parents because it signals shared systems and professional development beyond a single site.

Leadership has also been a live theme recently. Government information lists the current headteacher as Mr Simon Morton. School communications indicate he took up headship at the start of the 2025–26 academic year, following an acting period, so 2025–26 is best understood as a transition year for the senior team’s priorities and style.

For pupils, the day-to-day culture described in formal review evidence is calm and purposeful, with positive relationships between staff and pupils and an expectation that pupils settle quickly to learning. Bullying is framed as something taken seriously and acted on quickly when it occurs, which matters in a community school where reputation often travels faster than policy documents.

The school also places visible weight on language about aspiration and responsibility, not as a slogan but as a behaviour reference point, including a defined “Meden way” for conduct. For many families, that consistency is the main draw: a school that aims to make expectations explicit, reinforces them through records and routines, and uses tutor time and enrichment to shape habits, not only outcomes.

This section uses FindMySchool rankings and the supplied performance dataset only.

At GCSE level, Meden’s FindMySchool ranking for outcomes is 3,284th in England and 7th in Mansfield. This places it below England average overall, within the lower-performing 40% of schools in England on this measure. (These are proprietary FindMySchool rankings based on official data.)

The attainment picture shows an Attainment 8 score of 40.6, alongside an average EBacc APS of 3.38. Progress 8 is +0.06, which indicates students make slightly above-average progress from their starting points. The EBacc grade 5+ measure sits at 50%.

For sixth form, Meden’s FindMySchool A-level ranking is 1,600th in England and 5th in Mansfield, again below England average overall on this dataset. The grade profile shows 5% of entries at A*, 11.67% at A, 24.17% at B, and 40.83% at A*–B.

What does that mean in practice for families? Meden looks best understood as a school where outcomes are not the sole selling point; instead, the value proposition is a sensible progress story, a broad offer, and a stable learning climate. Parents comparing multiple local options should use the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool to line up Meden’s Progress 8 and sixth-form profile against nearby schools that share a similar intake.

A useful way to think about Meden’s teaching model is “sequenced curriculum, consistent delivery, supported by routine”. The curriculum is set out as structured knowledge and skills by subject, with deliberate ordering so pupils build learning over time. In lessons, staff commonly revisit prior learning and use questioning to check understanding, then correct misconceptions promptly.

That style tends to suit pupils who benefit from clarity: knowing what they are meant to learn, practising it, then being held to account through regular checks. Teaching assistants are described as understanding their role and providing effective support, which is particularly relevant for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who need scaffolding without reduced ambition.

Reading is treated as a whole-school responsibility, with subjects supporting reading and targeted help for pupils who arrive with weaker reading skills. The main next step, as framed in improvement priorities, is building more independent reading practice beyond lessons so fluency keeps moving forward rather than plateauing.

In sixth form, curriculum planning is described as effective, with students taking on roles that extend beyond their own courses, including supporting younger pupils in mathematics. For families considering post-16, this hints at a smaller, more personalised sixth form culture where students are visible and can take responsibility, rather than being one face in a very large cohort.

Where Students Go Next

Meden has sixth form provision, and destination data here uses the supplied leavers dataset.

For the 2023/24 leavers cohort (cohort size 20), 65% progressed to university, 10% started apprenticeships, and 20% entered employment.

While the dataset does not provide Oxbridge figures for Meden, the destinations profile still offers a clear practical takeaway: university progression is a common route, but apprenticeships and employment are also meaningful pathways for a significant minority. For students who want an applied route, families should ask about the school’s provider-access approach and apprenticeship guidance, because the school is required to give Years 7 to 13 information about technical qualifications and apprenticeships and is inspected against that expectation.

Meden is a state school with no tuition fees. Entry at Year 7 is coordinated through Nottinghamshire County Council’s normal admissions round timeline. For September 2026 entry, Nottinghamshire’s published coordinated dates are: applications open 04 August 2025, close 31 October 2025, with offers on 02 March 2026.

Demand indicators in the supplied dataset show an oversubscribed position in the most recent available admissions cycle, with 280 applications and 186 offers, which is 1.51 applications per place. That is competitive, but not at the extreme end seen in some urban comprehensives.

Meden also actively markets transition and encourages early engagement. The school promotes open-evening style events for Year 5 and Year 6 families, and its published example timing is an evening in late September (22 September, 6pm to 8pm). If you are planning for a future year of entry, treat that as the typical window rather than relying on a single historic date; schools often repeat the pattern annually but change the exact day.

For families checking practical chances, distance criteria can matter in Nottinghamshire, but Meden’s dataset does not include a “last distance offered” figure. The best approach is to read Meden’s published oversubscription criteria and then use the FindMySchool Map Search to understand how your address compares with priority areas and distance measurements used in allocation.

Pastoral systems at Meden are built around tutors and a structured year-group model, with an emphasis on pupils being listened to and knowing who to turn to. The behaviour climate described in formal evidence is calm and orderly, with pupils generally getting on well together and lessons running with a purposeful tone.

The latest Ofsted inspection (27–28 June 2023, published 11 September 2023) judged the school Good across all graded areas, including sixth form. Safeguarding is a particular strength, with rigorous recording systems, staff training, and close work with external agencies described as part of an effective safeguarding culture.

Two pastoral challenges are worth treating as genuine “watch points” rather than deal-breakers. First, pupils with SEND have weaker attendance than their peers, and leaders are expected to keep tightening the plan here. Second, reading practice outside lessons is not yet as embedded as it could be for some pupils, which can matter for GCSE success across subjects.

Meden’s extra-curricular offer is a clear differentiator, partly because it is described with more specificity than many schools publish. It runs both timetabled enrichment for younger years and after-school electives with named programmes and clear skill links.

A strong example is Robotics, where students build a VEX IQ robot and then program it to complete tasks. The educational “so what” is straightforward: it turns abstract STEM into hands-on problem-solving, team roles, and iterative testing, which suits students who learn best by making and improving.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award offer is another anchor. The school runs Bronze and Silver levels and frames it as a structured commitment rather than a drop-in activity. For students who need motivation and routines outside lessons, the weekly cadence and expedition goal can be a turning point in confidence and self-management.

For students whose strengths are less “STEM-first”, there is also a deliberate effort to make cultural and community-facing activities concrete. Warsop Time Travellers is a local-history themed club that covers family trees, the history of Market Warsop, and the area’s coal-mining heritage. This is the sort of activity that can help students connect curriculum topics to place and identity, which tends to matter in a town where many families have deep local roots.

Beyond those, the published programme includes Debate Club, Mindfulness, Psychology Club, Book Club, and a school production programme. The point for parents is not simply variety; it is that pupils can find an “entry point” into school life that matches their interests, which is often what makes attendance and engagement easier to sustain through Years 9 to 11.

Meden publishes a detailed school-day structure and references a morning gate-close time of 08:45 for tutorial. Families should check the latest published timings because schools can adjust lesson structures across years, and Meden also differentiates some routines (for example, publishing separate day-structure documents for different parts of the week).

For travel planning, most families will approach Meden as a local-drive or bus-route school rather than a rail commute. The school publishes transport-related information for families, and Nottinghamshire’s home-to-school travel assistance rules can apply in specific circumstances, so it is worth checking both when planning a long-term route to school.

• Below-average overall exam ranking on this dataset. Meden’s FindMySchool GCSE ranking is 3,284th in England, and its A-level ranking is 1,600th in England. Families prioritising top-end exam outcomes above all else should compare options carefully, not only in Mansfield but also in surrounding areas where travel is realistic.

• Reading habits matter here. Targeted reading support is in place for pupils who arrive with weaker skills, but independent reading outside lessons is an identified improvement priority. If your child is a reluctant reader, ask how the school builds reading routines that stick at home as well as at school.

• Attendance for pupils with SEND needs close attention. Overall attendance is improving, but attendance for pupils with SEND is weaker than peers, which the school is expected to continue addressing. Parents of pupils with SEND should explore how the attendance plan is personalised and what early interventions look like.

• Admission competitiveness is real, even without extreme ratios. The latest available demand indicators show 1.51 applications per place and an oversubscribed position. If you are relying on Meden as a first choice, it is sensible to build a realistic preference list alongside it.

Meden School suits families who want a structured, calm comprehensive with a curriculum designed for steady progress and a genuinely detailed enrichment offer that goes beyond generic clubs. It is particularly well-matched to students who benefit from clear routines and who will engage with extracurricular anchors such as Robotics, Duke of Edinburgh, Debate, and community-linked activities. The primary trade-off is that, on this dataset, exam outcomes sit below England average overall, so families with highly exam-driven priorities should treat Meden as a “fit first” choice rather than a league-table choice.