The William Crane Comprehensive School which was opened in 1930 struggled to provide the required metrics and in 1999 finished joint bottom in the GCSE league tables, with only 4% of the 104 pupils being awarded with five GCSEs A-Cs.[citation needed] William Crane eventually went onto close in 2003.
In an interview with The Guardian, Russell Andrews, assistant director of education at Nottingham city council, explained "What we've got is a multi-layered set of social problems -social unrest where the school is, low morale among staff, low expectations, low input among parents. Had we taken a multi-layered approach to solving the problems five years ago it might have been different."
Head teacher from around 1998 until it closed in 2003 was Godfrey Davey.
Since the closure of William Crane, the one remaining primary school in the area is currently Ambleside Primary School.[2]
In 2012, according to research performed by the University of Nottingham only one in eight children in Bulwell, Aspley, Nottingham, Bilborough, Broxtowe Estate, Basford, Nottinghamshire and Bestwood went on to university, just 13% compared to a national average of 34%.[2]