Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School
Barnsley Road, Wakefield, WF2 6AS
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Headteacher
- Mrs Caroline Butterworth
- Diocese
- Diocese of Leeds (ce)
- Constituency
- Ossett and Denby Dale
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 630
- Pupils on roll
- 608
- URN
- 108270
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01924303525
About this school
Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School is a Church of England voluntary aided primary school in Wakefield. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 608 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 87 | 88 | 88 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 38% | 52% | 45% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 2% | 1% | 3% |
| Expected standard in reading | 48% | 67% | 55% |
| Expected standard in maths | 51% | 70% | 61% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 60% | 64% | 57% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 100.0 | 104.0 | 102.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 100.0 | 104.0 | 102.0 |
| Reading progress | -5.60 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -2.80 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -5.20 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Wakefield average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 38% | 59.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 52% | 62.8% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 45% | 63.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 618 |
| 2023/24 | 625 |
| 2024/25 | 618 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School compares
Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School ranked 87th of 98 primary schools in Wakefield for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 16% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 49% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45% | 5.4% | 24.6% | 608 | — |
| Sandal Magna Community Academy | 67% | 6.6% | 36.5% | 255 | 0.7 miles |
| Walton Primary Academy | 71% | 4% | 8.5% | 336 | 1.1 miles |
| Methodist Voluntary Controlled Junior, Infant and Nursery School: With Communication Resource | 65% | 5.4% | 20.9% | 245 | 1.1 miles |
| Hendal Primary School | 51% | 5.4% | 35.5% | 410 | 1.3 miles |
| The Mount Junior Infant & Nursery School | 56% | 4.8% | 32.3% | 210 | 1.6 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 24.6%
- English as an additional language
- 33.7%
- Overall absence
- 5.42%
- Persistent absence
- 13.69%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Sandal Magna Community Academy0.7 miles
Primary · Wakefield
-
Walton Primary Academy1.1 miles
Primary · Wakefield
-
Methodist Voluntary Controlled Junior, Infant and Nursery School: With Communication Resource1.1 miles
Primary · Wakefield
-
Hendal Primary School1.3 miles
Primary · Wakefield
-
The Mount Junior Infant & Nursery School1.6 miles
Primary · Wakefield
Other schools in Wakefield
Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School ranks 50th of the 50 ranked primary schools in Wakefield.
- Alverthorpe St Paul's CofE (VA) School 3-11yrs Primary
- Blackgates Primary Academy Primary
- Carlton Primary School Primary
- Crigglestone Dane Royd Junior and Infant School Primary
- Crigglestone Mackie Hill Junior and Infant School Primary
- Crigglestone St James CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Crofton Infant School Primary
- Crofton Junior School Primary
- East Ardsley Primary Academy Primary
- English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Primary
- Flockton CofE (C) First School Primary
- Grange Moor Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School teach?
- Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Wakefield.
- Who is the headteacher of Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School?
- The headteacher of Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School is Mrs Caroline Butterworth, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School?
- Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School has 608 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School full?
- Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School has capacity for 630 pupils and 608 on roll (97%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School a faith school?
- Yes. Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School is designated Church of England, in the Diocese of Leeds (ce).
- Does Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 38% in 2022/23 and 45% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School rank locally?
- Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School ranked 87th of 98 primary schools in Wakefield for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 16% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 49% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School's absence rate?
- Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sandal Castle VA Community Primary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.