Thorns Collegiate Academy
Stockwell Avenue, Brierley Hill, DY5 2NU
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SHIRELAND COLLEGIATE ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Nicola Jones
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Stourbridge
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,000
- Pupils on roll
- 861
- URN
- 143818
- Local authority
- Dudley
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01384987973
About this school
Thorns Collegiate Academy is a secondary academy in Brierley Hill. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 861 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Thorns Collegiate 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
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 171 | 205 | 179 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.9 | 36.5 | 38.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.25 -0.47 to -0.04 | -0.52 -0.72 to -0.32 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 33% | 20.5% | 33.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 56% | 43.4% | 51.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 49% | 41% | 65.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.3 | 3.0 | 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 Thorns Collegiate 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 | Dudley average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.9 | 35.3 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 36.5 | 34.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 38.7 | 34.8 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 916 |
| 2023/24 | 947 |
| 2024/25 | 895 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Thorns Collegiate Academy compares
Thorns Collegiate Academy ranked 17th of 18 secondary schools in Dudley 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 | 38.7 | 9.3% | 35% | 861 | — |
| The Pedmore High School | 39.6 | 10.9% | 42% | 647 | 1.3 miles |
| Redhill School | 47.8 | 6.3% | 23.4% | 1,204 | 1.3 miles |
| The Wordsley School | — | — | — | 906 | 1.6 miles |
| Old Swinford Hospital | 59 | 7.1% | 6.4% | 1,036 | 1.6 miles |
| The Link Academy | 40.4 | 9.8% | 50.9% | 1,013 | 2.1 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)
- 34.97%
- English as an additional language
- 7.7%
- Overall absence
- 9.28%
- Persistent absence
- 28.23%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Pedmore High School1.3 miles
Secondary · Stourbridge
-
Redhill School1.3 miles
Secondary · Stourbridge
-
The Wordsley School1.6 miles
Secondary · Stourbridge
-
Old Swinford Hospital1.6 miles
Secondary · Stourbridge
-
The Link Academy2.1 miles
Secondary · Dudley
Other schools in Brierley Hill
- Brierley Hill Primary School Primary
- Brockmoor Primary School Primary
- Hawbush Primary School Primary
- Mount Pleasant Primary School Primary
- Peters Hill Primary School Primary
- Quarry Bank Primary School Primary
- St Mark's CofE Primary School Primary
- St Mary's RC Primary School Primary
- The Bromley-Pensnett Primary School Primary
- Thorns Primary School Primary
- Withymoor Primary School Primary
- The Old Park School Special schools
Common questions
- What ages does Thorns Collegiate Academy teach?
- Thorns Collegiate Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Brierley Hill.
- Who is the headteacher of Thorns Collegiate Academy?
- The headteacher of Thorns Collegiate Academy is Ms Nicola Jones, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Thorns Collegiate Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Thorns Collegiate 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 Thorns Collegiate Academy?
- Thorns Collegiate Academy has 861 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Thorns Collegiate Academy full?
- Thorns Collegiate Academy has capacity for 1,000 pupils and 861 on roll (86%), 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 Thorns Collegiate Academy a faith school?
- No. Thorns Collegiate Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Thorns Collegiate Academy a selective school?
- No. Thorns Collegiate Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Thorns Collegiate Academy part of an academy trust?
- Thorns Collegiate Academy is part of SHIRELAND COLLEGIATE ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Thorns Collegiate Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.9 in 2022/23 and 38.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Thorns Collegiate Academy compare with other schools in Dudley?
- Thorns Collegiate Academy ranked 17th of 18 secondary schools in Dudley 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 Thorns Collegiate Academy's absence rate?
- Thorns Collegiate Academy's overall absence rate is 9.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Thorns Collegiate Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Thorns Collegiate 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 2 July 2026.