The Featherstone Academy
Pontefract Road, Pontefract, WF7 5AJ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- RESILIENCE MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
- Executive Head Teacher
- Mrs Julia McCluskey
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Resilience Multi Academy Trust
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Normanton and Hemsworth
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 600
- Pupils on roll
- 556
- URN
- 138593
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01977698000
About this school
The Featherstone Academy is a secondary academy in Pontefract. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 556 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 24 March 2022, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 88 | 88 | 87 |
| Attainment 8 score | 44.0 | 40.6 | 41.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.12 -0.42 to +0.17 | -0.33 -0.62 to -0.03 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 43% | 42% | 35.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 52.3% | 66.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 81% | 78.4% | 80.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Featherstone Academy 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 | 44 | 38.3 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 40.6 | 39.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 41.6 | 38.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 485 |
| 2023/24 | 511 |
| 2024/25 | 524 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Featherstone Academy compares
The Featherstone Academy ranked 14th of 18 secondary schools in Wakefield for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 44% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 41.6 | 9.6% | 41% | 556 | — |
| The King's School | 49.9 | 6.6% | 24.4% | 1,041 | 1.2 miles |
| St Wilfrid's Catholic High School & Sixth Form College: A Voluntary Academy | 46.7 | 8% | 22.6% | 1,470 | 1.6 miles |
| Carleton High School | 47.5 | 7.2% | 30.1% | 1,026 | 1.7 miles |
| Outwood Academy Freeston | 44.6 | 10.7% | 29.6% | 993 | 3.2 miles |
| Airedale Academy | 33.8 | 15.2% | 49.7% | 1,008 | 3.4 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 41.03%
- English as an additional language
- 3.6%
- Overall absence
- 9.62%
- Persistent absence
- 23.99%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The King's School1.2 miles
Secondary · Pontefract
-
St Wilfrid's Catholic High School & Sixth Form College: A Voluntary Academy1.6 miles
Secondary · Pontefract
-
Carleton High School1.7 miles
Secondary · Pontefract
-
Outwood Academy Freeston3.2 miles
Secondary · Normanton
-
Airedale Academy3.4 miles
Secondary · Castleford
Other schools in Pontefract
The Featherstone Academy ranks 4th of the 6 ranked secondary schools in Pontefract.
- Carleton High School Secondary
- Minsthorpe Community College Secondary
- Outwood Academy Hemsworth Secondary
- St Wilfrid's Catholic High School & Sixth Form College: A Voluntary Academy Secondary
- The King's School Secondary
- Harewood Centre Nursery School Nursery
- Ackworth Howard Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School Primary
- Ackworth Mill Dam School Primary
- Ash Grove Primary Academy Primary
- Badsworth Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School Primary
- Carleton Park Junior and Infant School Primary
- Cherry Tree Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Featherstone Academy teach?
- The Featherstone Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Pontefract.
- Who is the executive head teacher of The Featherstone Academy?
- The executive head teacher of The Featherstone Academy is Mrs Julia McCluskey, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Featherstone Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Featherstone Academy, 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 The Featherstone Academy?
- The Featherstone Academy has 556 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Featherstone Academy full?
- The Featherstone Academy has capacity for 600 pupils and 556 on roll (93%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Featherstone Academy a faith school?
- No. The Featherstone Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Featherstone Academy a selective school?
- No. The Featherstone Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Featherstone Academy?
- The Featherstone Academy is part of RESILIENCE MULTI ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Featherstone Academy have?
- The schools register lists The Featherstone Academy's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Featherstone Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 44 in 2022/23 and 41.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Featherstone Academy rank locally?
- The Featherstone Academy ranked 14th of 18 secondary schools in Wakefield for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 44% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Featherstone Academy's absence rate?
- The Featherstone Academy's overall absence rate is 9.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Featherstone Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Featherstone Academy'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 1 July 2026.