The Nicholas Hamond Academy
Brandon Road, Swaffham, PE37 7DZ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- ACADEMY TRANSFORMATION TRUST
- Acting Head
- Mr Mark Woodhouse
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Academy Transformation Trust
- Constituency
- South West Norfolk
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 840
- Pupils on roll
- 710
- URN
- 138918
- Local authority
- Norfolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01760721480
About this school
The Nicholas Hamond Academy is a secondary academy in Swaffham. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 710 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 119 | 140 | 110 |
| Attainment 8 score | 35.7 | 35.5 | 38.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.50 -0.76 to -0.24 | -0.55 -0.79 to -0.30 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 22% | 22.9% | 29.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 39% | 40% | 51.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 72% | 65.7% | 44.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.4 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Nicholas Hamond Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Norfolk average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 35.7 | 38.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35.5 | 39.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 38.4 | 38.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 668 |
| 2023/24 | 687 |
| 2024/25 | 683 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Nicholas Hamond Academy compares
The Nicholas Hamond Academy ranked 49th of 53 secondary schools in Norfolk for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38.4 | 9.2% | 30.9% | 710 | — |
| Wayland Academy | 52 | 5.6% | 25.7% | 564 | 7.6 miles |
| Iceni Secondary Academy | 39 | 11.3% | 24.4% | 555 | 9.5 miles |
| Swaffham CofE Primary Academy | — | 5.6% | 29.7% | 215 | 0.1 miles |
| Heartwood CofE VC Primary & Nursery School | — | 5% | 31.9% | 241 | 0.4 miles |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Swaffham | — | 10.8% | 38.2% | 61 | 0.7 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report17 March 2026
- 2 December 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 30.89%
- English as an additional language
- 8.8%
- Overall absence
- 9.23%
- Persistent absence
- 23.77%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Wayland Academy7.6 miles
Secondary · Thetford
-
Iceni Secondary Academy9.5 miles
Secondary · Thetford
-
Swaffham CofE Primary Academy0.1 miles
Primary · Swaffham
-
Heartwood CofE VC Primary & Nursery School0.4 miles
Primary · Swaffham
-
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Swaffham0.7 miles
Primary · Swaffham
Other schools in Swaffham
- Heartwood CofE VC Primary & Nursery School Primary
- Necton VA Primary School Primary
- Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Swaffham Primary
- Swaffham CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Fred Nicholson School Special schools
- OneSchool Global UK - Swaffham Campus Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does The Nicholas Hamond Academy teach?
- The Nicholas Hamond Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Swaffham.
- Who is the acting head of The Nicholas Hamond Academy?
- The acting head of The Nicholas Hamond Academy is Mr Mark Woodhouse, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Nicholas Hamond Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Nicholas Hamond Academy, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Nicholas Hamond Academy?
- The Nicholas Hamond Academy has 710 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Nicholas Hamond Academy full?
- The Nicholas Hamond Academy has capacity for 840 pupils and 710 on roll (85%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Nicholas Hamond Academy a faith school?
- No. The Nicholas Hamond Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Nicholas Hamond Academy a selective school?
- No. The Nicholas Hamond Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Nicholas Hamond Academy?
- The Nicholas Hamond Academy is part of ACADEMY TRANSFORMATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Nicholas Hamond Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 35.7 in 2022/23 and 38.4 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Nicholas Hamond Academy rank locally?
- The Nicholas Hamond Academy ranked 49th of 53 secondary schools in Norfolk for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Nicholas Hamond Academy's absence rate?
- The Nicholas Hamond Academy's overall absence rate is 9.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Nicholas Hamond Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Nicholas Hamond Academy's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 15 July 2026.