Nottingham Free School
Secondary · Free schools · Mixed · Nottingham
The Courtaulds Building, Nottingham, NG5 1EB
75
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
66%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
94.4%
12.7% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
699
Capacity used
Over capacity112%
626 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
66%
1st preference success rate
105 of 160 families who put it first got an offer
116
Places offered
489
Total applications
4.2
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 160 | 105 | ● 66% |
| 2nd preference | 154 | 9 | ● 6% |
| 3rd preference | 104 | 1 | ● 1% |
| 4th preference | 71 | 1 | ● 1% |
| Total | 489 | 116 | 24% |
1st preference success by year
Nottingham lets families list 4 preferences. 17 applications came from outside the council area (1 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Jo Simpson
- Address
- The Courtaulds Building, 290 Haydn Road, Nottingham, NG5 1EB
- Phone
- 01158964949
- Local authority
- Nottingham
- Ward / constituency
- Berridge · Nottingham East
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 141010
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 28% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 17% | — | — |
| SEN support | 10% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 3 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: NOVA EDUCATION TRUST
699 pupils · 626 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 22
09 November 2022
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 621 pupils
Attendance
94.4%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
5.6%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
12.7%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
1.6%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
3.2%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 52.7 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.29 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 59% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 80% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.90 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 35.55 | — | — |
Average grade: B- (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 51.5 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 54.6% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 79% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 64.7% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.84 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 119 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 31.1 | 35 |
| Average grade | C | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 9.7% | 17% |
| A-level students | 31 | — |
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 119 | 29% | 61% | 80% | |
| English Language | 119 | 21% | 61% | 80% | |
| English Literature | 119 | 23% | 68% | 83% | |
| Combined Science | 94 | 21% | 61% | 78% | |
| Geography | 73 | 21% | 51% | 63% | |
| Spanish | 71 | 32% | 58% | 76% | |
| Business | 56 | 11% | 46% | 64% | |
| History | 46 | 37% | 54% | 67% | |
| Art and Design | 32 | 47% | 97% | 100% | |
| Religious Studies | 26 | 27% | 65% | 92% | |
| Physics | 22 | 45% | 91% | 95% | |
| Computer Science | 22 | 9% | 27% | 45% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biology | 10 | 0% | 0% | 30% | |
| Mathematics | 9 | 0% | 0% | 33% | |
| English Literature | 9 | 22% | 33% | 44% | |
| Chemistry | 7 | 0% | 14% | 29% | |
| Psychology | 7 | 0% | 14% | 14% | |
| Business Studies | 7 | 0% | 14% | 43% | |
| Sociology | 6 | 0% | 33% | 50% | |
| Religious Studies | 6 | 17% | 33% | 50% | |
| Economics | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Fine Art | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Geography | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Computer Science | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #324 of 1,897 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 20427: Nottingham Free School
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Applications | 4 |
| Offers | <3 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | <3 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 53% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 0% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 68% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Nottingham council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.