Ofsted has judged The Wells Academy to be meeting the expected standard across all six areas of the new national inspection framework. These are: achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance and personal development and wellbeing.

Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Instead, schools receive a detailed report card across key areas of school life, providing families with a clearer and more balanced picture of its strengths and next steps. While implemented at the end of 2025, The Wells Academy is the first secondary school in Nottingham to be inspected under this new framework.

During the inspection, inspectors recognised the significant progress made by the academy. They noted improvements in teaching, behaviour, attendance and achievement, with students achieving the strongest GCSE outcomes in the academy’s history in 2025.

Inspectors also praised the academy’s leadership, highlighting that ‘school leaders work with moral purpose and determination to ensure the school improves pupils’ life chances regardless of any challenging circumstances in their lives’.

This commitment has created a calm, orderly and inclusive culture, where students ‘appreciate how staff greet them every morning at the school gates and throughout the day in corridors and lessons’, ‘understand and live up to leaders’ high expectations’ and attend regularly ‘because [pupils] value their school and know that education is important’.

The report also highlights the academy’s strong pastoral systems, noting that leaders swiftly identify students’ needs and provide effective academic, emotional and social support.

Students also benefit from a well-planned personal development programme. Inspectors recognised the academy's PSHE curriculum, strong careers education and a growing enrichment programme which includes partnerships with universities and sports organisations.

Academy leaders were commended for building strong relationships with families. Inspectors reported that ‘leaders have won the confidence of parents and carers’ and that ‘parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school’.

Read the full report
You can read our full inspection report here.

Parent View
Ofsted Parent View gives families the chance to give feedback about the academy throughout the academic year. You can access our Parent View here.