King's Meadow Academy
Wakefield Road, Pontefract, WF9 5BP
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- WATERTON ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Lauren Penny
- Sponsor
- Waterton Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Normanton and Hemsworth
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 315
- Pupils on roll
- 234
- URN
- 146034
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01924967607
About this school
King's Meadow Academy is a primary academy in Pontefract. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 234 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected King's Meadow Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- 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 | 38 | 42 | 29 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 32% | 43% | 45% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 34% | 48% | 59% |
| Expected standard in maths | 47% | 50% | 45% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 34% | 38% | 48% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 97.0 | 98.0 | 102.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 98.0 | 99.0 | 100.0 |
| Reading progress | -5.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.10 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.70 | - | - |
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 King's Meadow 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 | 32% | 59.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 43% | 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 | 9.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 268 |
| 2023/24 | 245 |
| 2024/25 | 243 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How King's Meadow Academy compares
King's Meadow Academy ranked 88th 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 28% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45% | 6.8% | 45.7% | 234 | — |
| Fitzwilliam Primary School | 50% | 4.9% | 30.8% | 224 | 0.6 miles |
| West End Academy | 73% | 5.1% | 30.7% | 187 | 1.2 miles |
| Outwood Primary Academy Bell Lane | 83% | 4.6% | 11.1% | 320 | 1.5 miles |
| St Helen's CE Primary School | 58% | 6.2% | 47.7% | 215 | 1.5 miles |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School | 30% | 7.6% | 34.9% | 119 | 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 45.68%
- English as an additional language
- 16.5%
- Overall absence
- 6.79%
- Persistent absence
- 24.42%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Fitzwilliam Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Pontefract
-
West End Academy1.2 miles
Primary · Pontefract
-
Outwood Primary Academy Bell Lane1.5 miles
Primary · Pontefract
-
St Helen's CE Primary School1.5 miles
Primary · Pontefract
-
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School1.6 miles
Primary · Pontefract
Other schools in Pontefract
King's Meadow Academy ranks 27th of the 33 ranked primary schools in Pontefract.
- 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
- Darrington Church of England Primary School Primary
- De Lacy Primary School Primary
- Featherstone All Saints CofE Academy Primary
- Featherstone Girnhill Infant School Primary
- Featherstone North Featherstone Junior and Infant School Primary
- Featherstone Purston Infant School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does King's Meadow Academy teach?
- King's Meadow Academy teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Pontefract.
- Who is the headteacher of King's Meadow Academy?
- The headteacher of King's Meadow Academy is Mrs Lauren Penny, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has King's Meadow Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected King's Meadow 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 many pupils are at King's Meadow Academy?
- King's Meadow Academy has 234 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is King's Meadow Academy full?
- King's Meadow Academy has capacity for 315 pupils and 234 on roll (74%), 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 King's Meadow Academy a faith school?
- No. King's Meadow Academy has no designated religious character.
- Does King's Meadow Academy have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records King's Meadow Academy as having no nursery classes.
- Is King's Meadow Academy part of an academy trust?
- King's Meadow Academy is part of WATERTON ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have King's Meadow Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 32% 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 King's Meadow Academy compare with other schools in Wakefield?
- King's Meadow Academy ranked 88th 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 28% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is King's Meadow Academy's absence rate?
- King's Meadow Academy's overall absence rate is 6.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are King's Meadow Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, King's Meadow 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.