Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School

Voluntary aided school·Primary school Wakefield·WF2 6AS
Composite score
32.8
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#12,838
National rank
#1364
In Yorkshire and The Humber
#84
In Wakefield
Top 87%
Nationally

Performance (KS2 SATs)

% meeting expected RWM
45%
% achieving higher RWM
3%
Reading average scaled score
102.0
National avg ≈ 105
Maths average scaled score
102.0
National avg ≈ 104
Reading progress
—
Maths progress
—

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Requires improvement
Personal development
Requires improvement
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Early years provision
Requires improvement

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
55 first choices, 68 places
First choices per place
0.81
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
141
any preference, for 68 places
First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.04
00.511.5
1 per place
0.9820220.7520230.7920240.7720250.812026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
4–11
Pupils on roll
618
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Church of England

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
24.6%
Typical primary: 21.5%
% EAL
33.7%
Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
20.9%
Typical primary: 14.3%
% with an EHC plan
4.0%
Typical primary: 3.0%

Attendance

Overall absence
6.3%
Typical primary: 5.3%
Persistently absent
21.5%
Typical primary: 13.3%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
23.2
Typical primary: 20.7
Spend per pupil
£6,013
Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

Location

Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School at a glance

Located in Wakefield, Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School is a primary school, classified by the DfE as a voluntary aided school with a Church of England religious character. The school educates roughly 618 pupils aged 4 to 11. In the most recent Key Stage 2 SATs, 45% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — well below the national average of 61%. That is down 7.0 percentage points in the proportion reaching the expected standard on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of primary schools nationally.

Pupils achieved an average scaled score of 102 in reading and 102 in maths (national averages are about 105 and 104). 3% reached the higher standard across all three subjects (around 8% do so nationally). Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 55 families who put it first were offered a place. Overall pupil absence was 6.3%. There are about 23.2 pupils per teacher. Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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