Quarrydale Academy
Quarrydale Academy (formerly Quarrydale School) is a secondary school with academy status located in the ex-mining and textile community of Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England. In March 2017, Ofsted judged this to be a ‘good’ school on their 4-point scale Sixth form. The sixth form is relatively small, with 20 students in year 13, and around 60 in year 12. There is a range of AS/A2 level courses available to take, and the classes are small. As of September 2006, the Quarrydale sixth form have entered into a consortium which includes Ashfield School, Kirkby College  and Sutton Community Academy to offer an extended choice of sixth form courses over the various school sites. The school has recently received a grant in order to refurbish the ground floor of the sixth form block, and recently extended the sixth form block to accommodate a large communal area and several quiet-study classrooms. School. The school has recently undergone redecoration in several areas. The science block has had its classrooms refurnished, and modernised. And other classrooms have been converted into new computer rooms. Several of the subject blocks have been moved around, with only English, P.E, Science, Technology  and the sixth form building being exempted from this re-arrangement. The school is now undergoing further improvements on blocks which didn't receive redecoration. The school has 6.9% authorised absences which is marginally above the national average. It also experiences 3% unauthorised absences which is over three times the national level. The proportion achieving five A* to C passes, including in English and mathematics, is well above average and continues to rise. Sutton Community Academy, a nearby ‘competitor’, is often shown worse than Quarrydale in the league tables and general image.