Dawn House School
Dawn House School is a non-maintained special school in Nr Mansfield, Notts for boys and girls aged 5 to 19. It has 113 pupils and room for 120. About 39 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Helmsley Road, Rainworth, Nr Mansfield, Notts, NG21 0DQ01623 795361dawnhouseschool.org.ukMrs Jenny McConnell principalAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 1 July 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 29 June 2023 | Ungraded | School remains Outstanding (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
13 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Nottinghamshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 13 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 5 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 4.0 | – | 46.4 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -2.52 | -1.57 | -3.29 | -2.79 | – | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | 46% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | 14% | 0% | – | 67% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.24 | 0.13 | – | 4.09 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | 38% | 41% |
Subjects
Results came out for 1 GCSE subjects in 2025. Each figure is the share of pupils who got a grade 5 or better, next to the average for state secondaries in England.
The small number is how many pupils sat each subject. Subjects with fewer than six pupils aren't published.
Every subject against England, 2025
| Subject | Entries | Grades 9 to 7 | Grades 9 to 5 | Grades 9 to 4 | England 9 to 5 | Rank in England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art and Design | 10 | 0% | 10% | 20% | 58% | – |
In combined science each pupil gets two grades and we count the lower one. Rankings only include state secondaries where 20 or more pupils sat the subject.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Nottinghamshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with speech, language and communication.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Nottinghamshire with speech, language and communication provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (83), Autistic spectrum disorder (11), emotional and mental health (9), Moderate learning difficulty (3), Severe learning difficulty (2), Specific learning difficulty (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 113 | 103 | 94 | 77 | 78 | 68 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 36% | 36% | 35% | 31% | 27% | 24% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 99% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 85.8% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 14.2% | 14.3% | 14.2% | 16.8% | 12.3% | 14.9% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 11.7% | 12.3% | 12.6% | 14.7% | 11.9% | 14.4% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.5% | 2.1% | 1.7% | 2.1% | 0.3% | 0.6% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 35.3% | 36.0% | 30.8% | 43.3% | 37.3% | 36.2% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 16.5 | 7.5 | 2.6 | 6.4 | 2.9 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 13 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 100%, compared with – for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 100% | 100% | 100% | 88% |
| Education | 100% | 100% | 100% | 88% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathlands Primary School | Academy | 300 m | 183 | Report card 2025 | 74 | Compare |
| Lake View Primary and Nursery School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 215 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| The Joseph Whitaker School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 1,361 | No overall grade 2024 | 44 | Compare |
| Oak Tree Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 205 | Good 2023 | 12 | Compare |
| The Python Hill Academy | Academy | 1.2 miles | 307 | Good 2023 | 81 | Compare |
| St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy | Academy | 1.3 miles | 247 | Good 2022 | 62 | Compare |
| St Peter's CofE Primary Academy, Mansfield | Academy | 1.3 miles | 180 | Good 2022 | 41 | Compare |
| Wynndale Primary School | Council | 1.4 miles | 231 | Good 2022 | 71 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Dawn House School a good school?
Dawn House School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in July 2025.
What is Dawn House School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Dawn House School not judged at its last full inspection on 1 July 2025.
How good are Dawn House School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 3.1, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Dawn House School have?
113 pupils aged 5 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 120 places, so it is 94% full.
What is attendance like at Dawn House School?
Pupils were in school 85.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 35% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Dawn House School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for speech, language and communication. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does Dawn House School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Helmsley Road, Rainworth, Nr Mansfield, Notts, NG21 0DQ
- Telephone
- 01623 795361
- Website
- www.dawnhouseschool.org.uk
- Principal
- Mrs Jenny McConnell
- Type of school
- Non-maintained special school (Non-maintained special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 5-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Nottinghamshire
- Ward
- Southwell
- Constituency
- Mansfield
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 122956 · LAESTAB 8917022 · UKPRN 10015047
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.