Newmarket Academy
Exning Road, Newmarket, CB8 0EB
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP
- Headteacher
- Mrs Claire Preston
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Unity Schools Partnership
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- West Suffolk
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 797
- URN
- 140669
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01638664412
About this school
Newmarket Academy is a secondary academy in Newmarket. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 797 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Newmarket Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 163 | 160 | 160 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.9 | 42.5 | 45.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.34 -0.56 to -0.12 | -0.50 -0.72 to -0.28 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 38% | 38.8% | 45.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 54% | 61.3% | 73.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 74% | 58.8% | 30.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.0 |
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 Newmarket 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 | Suffolk average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.9 | 37.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42.5 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 45.9 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 836 |
| 2023/24 | 831 |
| 2024/25 | 813 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Newmarket Academy compares
Newmarket Academy ranked 14th of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 61% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45.9 | 7.5% | 21.4% | 797 | — |
| Soham Village College | 51.2 | 7.2% | 19% | 1,436 | 6.0 miles |
| Bottisham Village College | 51.1 | 8.6% | 20.8% | 1,396 | 6.2 miles |
| Mildenhall College Academy | 37.4 | 8.1% | 24.7% | 1,317 | 8.4 miles |
| St Bede's Inter-Church School | 61.6 | 6.8% | 16% | 943 | 10.7 miles |
| The Netherhall School | 45.5 | 10.1% | 30.2% | 1,259 | 10.9 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 21.4%
- English as an additional language
- 20.8%
- Overall absence
- 7.47%
- Persistent absence
- 20.05%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Soham Village College6.0 miles
Secondary · Ely
-
Bottisham Village College6.2 miles
Secondary · Cambridge
-
Mildenhall College Academy8.4 miles
Secondary · Mildenhall
-
St Bede's Inter-Church School10.7 miles
Secondary · Cambridge
-
The Netherhall School10.9 miles
Secondary · Cambridge
Other schools in Newmarket
- All Saints Church of England Primary School, Newmarket Primary
- Burrough Green CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Cheveley CofE Primary School Primary
- Ditton Lodge Primary School Primary
- Exning Primary School Primary
- Houldsworth Valley Primary Academy Primary
- Kennett Primary School Primary
- Kettlefields Primary School Primary
- Laureate Community Academy Primary
- Moulton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Paddocks Primary School Primary
- St Louis Catholic Academy Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Newmarket Academy teach?
- Newmarket Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Newmarket.
- Who is the headteacher of Newmarket Academy?
- The headteacher of Newmarket Academy is Mrs Claire Preston, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Newmarket Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Newmarket 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 many pupils are at Newmarket Academy?
- Newmarket Academy has 797 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Newmarket Academy full?
- Newmarket Academy has capacity for 900 pupils and 797 on roll (89%), 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 Newmarket Academy a faith school?
- No. Newmarket Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Newmarket Academy part of an academy trust?
- Newmarket Academy is part of UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Newmarket Academy have?
- The schools register lists Newmarket Academy's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Newmarket Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.9 in 2022/23 and 45.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Newmarket Academy compare with other schools in Suffolk?
- Newmarket Academy ranked 14th of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 61% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Newmarket Academy's absence rate?
- Newmarket Academy's overall absence rate is 7.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Newmarket Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Newmarket 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 1 July 2026.