SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

The Holgate Academy

Nabbs Lane, Hucknall, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG15 6HB

Ofsted Requires improvement · 2024 Sixth form
School website 01159632104

Ofsted

Requires improvementas at 4 June 2024

Graded Requires improvement at its last graded inspection, on 4 June 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

34.3 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

20% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

38% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

2.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

23% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom 10% of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.81confidence interval -1.00 to -0.63

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well below average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C
Average points per entry
30.3

England average 32.3

A level students
24

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1207
Places
1379
How full
88% full — 1207 of 1379 places taken
Girls / boys
567 / 640
Overall absence
11%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
32%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
38%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
5%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
86%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
78%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
15%
No sustained destination
9%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
181

After sixth form

Went to university
32%

England 50%

In education, work or training
88%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
12%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
34

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

19% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
46%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
37

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Ashfield 016C, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
14%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
33%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
37%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
51%

England 17%

Households with no car
34%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
49%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
DIVERSE ACADEMIES TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Heather Widdup
Local authority
Nottinghamshire
Ward
Hucknall West
Constituency
Sherwood Forest
URN
139956

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The National CofE AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 42.6 1 mi
The Bulwell AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 36.1 2.2 mi
The Kimberley SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 51 2.5 mi
Park Vale AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 42.8 2.7 mi
The Oakwood AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 41.3 3 mi
Hall Park AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 43 3.7 mi
Ellis Guilford SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 37.1 3.9 mi
Redhill AcademyAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 50.6 4.3 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Turner Free SchoolFree schools Good 2022 37.6
Walton AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 41.1
Ash Hill AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 46.9
Canons High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 39.1
Beacon Hill AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 41
Barr's Hill SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 46.7
The Pedmore High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 39.6
Royds Hall, A Share AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 46.8

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.