Primary
Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School
Barnsley Road, Wakefield, WF2 6AS
Key facts
- Phase
- Primary
- Type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 608 of 630 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 24.8
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Religious character
- Yes
- Diocese
- Diocese of Leeds (ce)
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 25.2
- All staff (FTE)
- 49.2
- Pupils per adult
- 12.7
- Pupils
- 625
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected January 2025
- Behaviour and attitudesRequires improvement
- Early yearsRequires improvement
- Leadership and governanceGood
- Personal developmentRequires improvement
- Quality of educationRequires improvement
Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
SafeguardingMet
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)Earlier inspections1
October 2019
Ungraded inspection
Good
Read the report (opens in a new tab)
SATs results
45%
20 points below the Wakefield average (65% across 105 schools)
102.0
2.8 below the Wakefield average (104.8 across 105 schools)
98th of 105 by our score, among the primary schools in Wakefield we can score - 124 in total, the rest without enough published data. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Average maths score | 102 |
| Average reading score | 102 |
| Reading, writing and maths | 45% |
| Working at a higher standard | 3% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time3 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 22/23 | 38% |
| 23/24 | 52% |
| 24/25 | 45% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 22/23 | 100.0 |
| 23/24 | 104.0 |
| 24/25 | 102.0 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 22/23 | 100.0 |
| 23/24 | 104.0 |
| 24/25 | 102.0 |
Barnsley Road, Wakefield, WF2 6AS
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 15 January, the year before starting.
Wakefield admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Headteacher
- Caroline Butterworth
- Address
- Barnsley Road, Wakefield, WF2 6AS
- Telephone
- 01924303525
Other primary schools nearby
- Sandal Magna Community Academy6.2/10
- Walton Primary Academy6.7/10
- Methodist Voluntary Controlled Junior, Infant and Nursery School: With Communication Resource6.2/10
- Hendal Primary School5.9/10
- The Mount Junior Infant & Nursery School5.8/10
- Wakefield St Marys Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School5.7/10