Highfields School

Term dates

Academies can set their own term dates. Many follow Derbyshire council's dates, shown below as a guide, but check with the school, especially for INSET days.

• Term
• Holiday
• INSET day
• Exeat

See Derbyshire's full dates

Admissions

Places for Year 7 are applied for through your home council, not the school.

Apply for a secondary school place on GOV.UK

How places are given: there's no entrance test. When there are more applicants than places, places usually go by criteria such as siblings, distance or catchment area. Check the council's or school's admissions policy for the exact rules.

For the sixth form, apply to the school directly.

How many families applied: Year 7

For September 2026, 211 families put this school as their first choice, and 214 places were offered. 211 of the families who put it first got a place (100%).

Offers made on national offer day, from the Department for Education. Waiting lists and appeals can change things later. The hardest schools to get into.

Ofsted inspection

Short (ungraded) inspection, 8 January 2025: Standards maintained.

Read the Ofsted reports

From Ofsted's published inspection data (Open Government Licence). Report cards and older grades use different scales, so they can't be compared directly.

About and location

Type

Academy

Phase

Secondary

Ages

11–18

Pupils

1298 (capacity 1394)

Gender

Mixed

Academy trust

EAST MIDLANDS EDUCATION TRUST

Phone

01629581888

Address

Upper Lumsdale, Matlock, DE4 5NA

Website

highfields.derbyshire.sch.uk

Official school record, including Ofsted reports