# Sutton Community Academy

Sutton Community Academy (formerly Sutton Centre Community College) is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England.

## History
### Early plans

Sutton in Ashfield Urban District councillors in 1966 looked at the possibility of a technical-grammar school between Sutton and Huthwaite.
A £264,770 technical grammar school had been planned in 1960, costing £315,000 by 1963. In 1964 the £328,614 technical grammar school was given the go ahead by the county council. The technical grammar school was being planned by 1966. A model was made of the layout of the new technical grammar school in 1968, in the town centre. Two technical grammar schools had been built at Mansfield in 1957 and 1959, one at Eastwood in 1957, one at Hucknall in 1955, and one in Worksop in 1956.
But after 1969, this earlier plan changed to a comprehensive school instead. The school was to be an eight form comprehensive, although the councillors still mostly preferred and expected a technical grammar school, due to the town's textile industry. Quarrydale Comprehensive had opened, but the Sutton Urban councillors saw this type of school as more of an up-to-date secondary modern school with improved buildings. The councillors did not believe that comprehensive schools offered the relevant technical knowledge which they were mostly looking for. Comprehensive school plans in the 1960s were much more favoured by radical city councillors, but in towns such as Sutton-in-Ashfield, the local councillors were more traditional. The local Sutton councillors had also wanted a campus-type school on Leamington Drive, with grammar school, secondary modern school, and a secondary technical school, in the early 1950s.
The Nottinghamshire deputy director of education, James Stone, had joined from Leicestershire, which itself had adopted the community college idea in 1956. This idea was itself borrowed from the village college idea in Cambridgeshire, with joint-use buildings with adult education.

### Opening

The county council built schools, and the district council built sports facilities. On 15 September 1970, both councils met and agreed to develop a joint-use school. Another meeting was held in February 1971, between the Labour district and the Conservative county council. At the end of April 1971, the scheme was approved by Nottinghamshire Education Committee. £30,000 came from the district council for the building, and construction started in January 1972 by Searsons Ltd, under the CLASP building technique. The headteacher was the former head of Geography at Rushcliffe Technical Grammar School for Boys.
The school was featured on 'The Education Debate' at 11.30pm, on Tuesday 15 March 1977 on BBC1, presented by Harry Rée, a former grammar school head. On Monday 8 December 1980, David Hawksworth of Woman's Hour visited the school. The school was also featured on the 'Education Roadshow' on Radio 4, on Sunday 12 October 1986.

### Attainment

The school (intentionally) only offered CSEs, not O-levels. By the 1990s, it was a failing school.

### Academy

The school was awarded dual Specialist Business and Enterprise College and Arts College status, before becoming an academy in January 2013.

## School performance

In 2019 the school was inspected by Ofsted and judged Inadequate. A new principal and senior leadership team were put in place in 2021, and Ofsted found that the school was improving. In 2022 the school was inspected again and judged Good.