Quarrydale Academy Review 2026: A large 11 to 18 academy with an oracy focus and a broad sixth form offer

A 1,550 place secondary academy with sixth form, Quarrydale Academy sits at the centre of Sutton-in-Ashfield’s school landscape and draws a wide mix of students across Years 7 to 13. It is a single academy trust, with a sizeable leadership structure and a clearly codified set of expectations that the school calls The Quarrydale Way.

The most recent Ofsted inspection (7 and 8 May 2025, published 19 June 2025) judged each key area as Requires Improvement, including sixth form provision.

Parents considering Quarrydale are typically weighing three things at once: its day-to-day routines (a structured timetable with breakfast club and clubs after lessons), its improvement journey, and the practical reality that it is oversubscribed in the available admissions dataset.

Quarrydale’s public-facing identity is unusually explicit. The Quarrydale Way lists nine expectations, covering effort, organisation, manners, punctuality, and uniform. That clarity is useful for families who want firm boundaries and consistent language across home and school, because it gives staff and students a shared reference point for routines and conduct.

Inspectors also reported that students feel safe and that pastoral support is a strength, while behaviour and the quality of education are not yet consistent across the school.

Beyond behaviour, the school’s wider culture is shaped by two visible priorities. First, communication is treated as a whole-school skill, not a bolt-on. Quarrydale became a Voice 21 school in September 2022, and its oracy framework is presented in practical terms, from how students speak and listen to how they reason, summarise, and respond to peers. Second, the academy places significant emphasis on access and participation, which shows up in multiple places on the website, from subsidised music tuition to structured careers encounters.

Leadership stability is also a notable feature. Mr Tim Paling became headteacher in September 2016, which matters because sustained improvement in a large secondary typically depends on consistent priorities over several years rather than short-term resets.

For GCSE outcomes, Quarrydale is ranked 3,127th in England and 1st locally in Sutton-in-Ashfield (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This places it below England average overall (in the lower tier, bottom 40%).

The underlying GCSE measures indicate a mixed picture. The school’s Attainment 8 score is 38.4, with an England average of 45.9. Progress 8 is -0.56, which indicates students make less progress than pupils with similar starting points nationally. EBacc entry and outcomes also look constrained, with an average EBacc APS of 3.45 and 8.1% achieving grade 5 or above in the EBacc subjects measure. (These measures are most meaningful when read together: a lower Progress 8 score often reflects inconsistency between subjects and groups rather than a single clear weakness.)

For A-level performance, Quarrydale is ranked 1,640th in England and 1st locally in Sutton-in-Ashfield (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This again places outcomes below England average overall. At A-level, 43.1% of grades were A* to B, compared with an England average of 47.2%. A* grades were 2.59% (England average for A* to A is 23.6%, which helps to explain why the overall top-end profile remains an improvement priority).

A practical implication for families is that Quarrydale’s sixth form can suit students who value breadth and a vocational-academic mix, but it is less likely to suit students seeking an intensely exam-driven, top-grade environment unless they are very self-directed and well supported.

Parents comparing results across local options should use the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool to view GCSE and A-level measures side-by-side, because headline impressions can be misleading in areas where schools serve different intakes.

Quarrydale’s stated teaching intent is straightforward: “make every lesson count”, prioritise orderly classrooms, and maintain high expectations so students are consistently challenged. The benefit of this kind of framing is that it pushes teaching teams toward routines that reduce time lost to transition and low-level disruption. The risk is implementation variance, where some subjects and year groups embed the approach well and others apply it unevenly.

Two curriculum strands stand out as distinctive.

Oracy (Voice 21)

The school sets out a four-part model, covering physical delivery, linguistic choices, cognitive reasoning, and social-emotional interaction. That level of definition matters because it gives teachers a common vocabulary for what good discussion looks like, and it makes participation teachable for quieter students rather than leaving it to confidence alone.

Science identity

The school positions Science as a defining feature of its identity and partnership work with other schools. For students who are motivated by practical investigation or STEM routes, this can strengthen engagement, particularly when combined with a structured careers programme and technical pathway visibility.

Where Students Go Next

The most recent published 16 to 18 leaver destinations data available for Quarrydale covers a cohort of 56 leavers in the 2023 to 2024 year. In that cohort, 48% progressed to university, 11% entered apprenticeships, and 30% moved into employment.

This profile suggests a sixth form where progression is genuinely mixed rather than dominated by one route. For some families, that is a positive: it indicates apprenticeships and employment are treated as normal outcomes, not second-best. For others, it may prompt a closer look at academic stretch, subject uptake, and how well the sixth form supports competitive university pathways.

The school’s careers programme outlines several concrete mechanisms that can support these routes, including mock interviews, enterprise and team building days, visits from local businesses, and work experience for Year 12. This is the kind of infrastructure that can materially improve employability outcomes when it is consistently delivered and well matched to individual guidance.

For Year 7 transfer into September 2026, Nottinghamshire County Council’s coordinated process is the key reference point. Applications open on 04 August 2025 and close on 31 October 2025, with offers released on 02 March 2026.

Quarrydale itself signals a recurring pattern of over-demand and advises families to list it as a first preference when applying through the local authority.

In the available admissions dataset, the school recorded 399 applications for 225 offers, which is consistent with an oversubscribed intake.

For sixth form entry, the school runs direct applications. The sixth form applications page states a deadline of Friday 27 November via the online application process, with later applications still possible by contacting the sixth form team. As the page does not specify a year, families should treat late November as the typical timing and confirm the current cycle dates via the sixth form application information.

A practical tip: families relying on a particular school should use FindMySchool’s Map Search to understand travel time and practical feasibility, especially where multiple preferences are being considered. (Distance cut-offs are not published here in the available data, and they can change each year.)

Pastoral support is presented as a structured, long-term system rather than a reactive one. Students are allocated to a tutor group on entry, and the intention is that the tutor remains the primary point of contact throughout their time in school, supported by Heads of Year and senior leaders. That continuity can be particularly helpful for students who need a consistent adult advocate and a stable rhythm to school life.

The leadership list also makes safeguarding responsibility visible, including a named lead designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and a wider DSL team. For parents, transparency here is a positive sign because it indicates safeguarding is treated as a whole-school responsibility, not a single-role function.

Quarrydale’s enrichment offer is strongest where it combines access with specificity.

Creative and STEM clubs with named identity

The school explicitly references Cartoon Club, Technology Club, F1 Club, and Brilliant Club, alongside study and revision sessions. These named programmes matter because they signal that enrichment is not only sport, and they provide routes for students who connect best through making, building, or creative production.

Music tuition with practical support

Instrument lessons cover vocals, woodwind, piano, brass, guitar and bass, drums, violin, and music theory. Lessons are subsidised and priced per term, with free lessons available for students eligible for Free School Meals and/or Pupil Premium, and for those studying music at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. Some instruments are loaned at no extra charge, which can remove a major barrier to sustained participation.

Sport structured around facilities

The PE clubs list is unusually concrete about spaces, referring to a large sports hall and small sports hall and setting out lunchtime and after-school options that include basketball, table tennis, football, badminton, rugby, trampolining, and netball, with seasonal summer clubs such as cricket, tennis, rounders, and athletics. This benefits students who need routine and predictability, because a published structure reduces reliance on informal knowledge.

The school day is clearly set out. Breakfast club runs 7:45 to 8:35, followed by AM tutor time from 8:35 to 9:00. Lessons run in five periods, with a 10:00 break and lunch 12:15 to 13:00, and the school day ends at 15:00. Clubs run after 15:00.

For travel planning, families should focus on realistic journey time at peak hours rather than map distance. Sutton-in-Ashfield traffic patterns and bus reliability can matter as much as mileage for punctuality, especially where the school’s expectations explicitly include being on time.

• Requires Improvement profile across key areas. The latest formal judgements indicate that consistency is the central challenge, spanning curriculum quality, behaviour, leadership, and sixth form. Families should look for clear evidence of subject-level improvement and consistent classroom routines during open events.

• Progress measures point to uneven outcomes. A Progress 8 score of -0.56 suggests that, on average, students are not achieving as strongly as pupils with similar starting points nationally. If your child needs high structure and frequent feedback to stay on track, ask how this works day-to-day in the subjects they are likely to take.

• Oversubscription means strategy matters. Where demand is higher than places, preference order and application timing become important. Use the local authority dates and do not assume that a late application will be treated the same as an on-time one.

• Sixth form fit varies by pathway. The A-level grade profile is below England average overall, while destinations include employment and apprenticeships as well as university. This may suit practical, career-driven students well, but families aiming for highly competitive university routes should ask detailed questions about subject performance and stretch provision.

Quarrydale Academy is a large, structured 11 to 18 school with a clearly stated behaviour and routines framework, a strong emphasis on oracy, and a practical enrichment offer that includes named STEM and creative clubs. The current reality is an improvement journey, with formal judgements and performance measures signalling that consistency across classrooms and subjects remains the key priority.

Best suited to students who benefit from clear expectations, a busy wider-curriculum menu, and a sixth form that supports multiple progression routes, including apprenticeships and employment as well as university.