Half Acres Primary Academy
Temple Street, Castleford, WF10 5RE
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- INSPIRE PARTNERSHIP MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Mrs Rachael Taylor
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Inspire Partnership Multi Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 450
- Pupils on roll
- 424
- URN
- 144332
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01977802325
About this school
Half Acres Primary Academy is a primary academy in Castleford. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 424 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- 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 | 60 | 32 | 57 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 48% | 66% | 65% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| Expected standard in reading | 72% | 66% | 82% |
| Expected standard in maths | 67% | 78% | 75% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 72% | 75% | 79% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 102.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 103.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.60 | - | - |
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 Half Acres Primary 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 | 48% | 59.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 66% | 62.8% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 65% | 63.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 406 |
| 2023/24 | 392 |
| 2024/25 | 430 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Half Acres Primary Academy compares
Half Acres Primary Academy ranked 46th of 98 primary schools in Wakefield for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 53% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 35% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 65% | 6.3% | 23.3% | 424 | — |
| Smawthorne Henry Moore Academy | — | — | — | 473 | 0.4 miles |
| St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Castleford | 52% | 5% | 7.7% | 197 | 0.6 miles |
| Ackton Pastures Primary Academy | 64% | 4.7% | 20.2% | 356 | 0.6 miles |
| Castleford Wheldon Infant School and Nursery | — | 5.9% | 18.7% | 169 | 0.7 miles |
| Castleford Park Junior Academy | 61% | 5.1% | 28.3% | 412 | 0.7 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)
- 23.33%
- English as an additional language
- 19.1%
- Overall absence
- 6.28%
- Persistent absence
- 14.73%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Smawthorne Henry Moore Academy0.4 miles
Primary · Castleford
-
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Castleford0.6 miles
Primary · Castleford
-
Ackton Pastures Primary Academy0.6 miles
Primary · Castleford
-
Castleford Wheldon Infant School and Nursery0.7 miles
Primary · Castleford
-
Castleford Park Junior Academy0.7 miles
Primary · Castleford
Other schools in Castleford
Half Acres Primary Academy ranks 3rd of the 10 ranked primary schools in Castleford.
- Ackton Pastures Primary Academy Primary
- Airedale Infant Academy Primary
- Airedale Junior Academy Primary
- Allerton Bywater Primary School Primary
- Castleford Park Junior Academy Primary
- Castleford Three Lane Ends Academy Primary
- Castleford Wheldon Infant School and Nursery Primary
- Fairburn View Primary School, Castleford Primary
- Glasshoughton Infant Academy Primary
- Lady Elizabeth Hastings CofE Primary School Primary
- Oyster Park Primary Academy Primary
- Smawthorne Henry Moore Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Half Acres Primary Academy teach?
- Half Acres Primary Academy teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Castleford.
- Who is the principal of Half Acres Primary Academy?
- The principal of Half Acres Primary Academy is Mrs Rachael Taylor, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Half Acres Primary Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Half Acres Primary 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 Half Acres Primary Academy?
- Half Acres Primary Academy has 424 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Half Acres Primary Academy full?
- Half Acres Primary Academy has capacity for 450 pupils and 424 on roll (94%), 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 Half Acres Primary Academy a faith school?
- No. Half Acres Primary Academy has no designated religious character.
- Does Half Acres Primary Academy have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Half Acres Primary Academy as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Half Acres Primary Academy?
- Half Acres Primary Academy is part of INSPIRE PARTNERSHIP MULTI ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Half Acres Primary Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 48% in 2022/23 and 65% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Half Acres Primary Academy rank locally?
- Half Acres Primary Academy ranked 46th of 98 primary schools in Wakefield for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 53% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 35% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Half Acres Primary Academy's absence rate?
- Half Acres Primary Academy's overall absence rate is 6.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Half Acres Primary Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Half Acres Primary 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 10 July 2026.