Castle Mead Academy
Richard III Road, Leicester, LE3 5QT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE MEAD EDUCATIONAL TRUST
- Headteacher
- Miss Chloe French
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- The Mead Educational Trust
- Constituency
- Leicester West
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,200
- Pupils on roll
- 1,223
- URN
- 147068
- Local authority
- Leicester
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01162143150
About this school
Castle Mead Academy is a secondary academy in Leicester. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,223 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 240 | 246 |
| Attainment 8 score | 47.0 | 48.0 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.14 -0.05 to +0.33 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 50% | 55.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 70.4% | 70.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 81.3% | 78% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.5 | 4.6 |
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 Castle Mead 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 | Leicester average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | — | 40.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 47 | 42.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 48 | 46.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 966 |
| 2023/24 | 1,227 |
| 2024/25 | 1,240 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Castle Mead Academy compares
Castle Mead Academy ranked 10th of 19 secondary schools in Leicester for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 69% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48 | 9.3% | 45.2% | 1,223 | — |
| Brook Mead Academy | — | 6.2% | 28.8% | 1,104 | 0.7 miles |
| Moat Community College | 44.6 | 8.9% | 37.1% | 1,091 | 1.1 miles |
| Fullhurst Community College | 39.2 | 11.8% | 38.7% | 1,441 | 1.1 miles |
| English Martyrs' Catholic School, A Voluntary Academy | 54 | 4.3% | 16% | 1,143 | 1.1 miles |
| Beaumont Leys School | 45.2 | 8.6% | 32.7% | 1,062 | 1.4 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)
- 45.16%
- English as an additional language
- 44.2%
- Overall absence
- 9.29%
- Persistent absence
- 22.96%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Brook Mead Academy0.7 miles
Secondary · Leicester
-
Moat Community College1.1 miles
Secondary · Leicester
-
Fullhurst Community College1.1 miles
Secondary · Leicester
-
English Martyrs' Catholic School, A Voluntary Academy1.1 miles
Secondary · Leicester
-
Beaumont Leys School1.4 miles
Secondary · Leicester
Other schools in Leicester
Castle Mead Academy ranks 15th of the 33 ranked secondary schools in Leicester.
- Babington Academy Secondary
- Beauchamp College Secondary
- Beaumont Leys School Secondary
- Bosworth Academy Secondary
- Brockington College Secondary
- Brook Mead Academy Secondary
- Brookvale Groby Learning Campus Secondary
- Crown Hills Community College Secondary
- English Martyrs' Catholic School, A Voluntary Academy Secondary
- Fullhurst Community College Secondary
- Gartree High School Secondary
- Heath Lane Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Castle Mead Academy teach?
- Castle Mead Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Leicester.
- Who is the headteacher of Castle Mead Academy?
- The headteacher of Castle Mead Academy is Miss Chloe French, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Castle Mead Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Castle Mead 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 Castle Mead Academy?
- Castle Mead Academy has 1,223 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Castle Mead Academy full?
- Castle Mead Academy has capacity for 1,200 pupils and 1,223 on roll (102%), so it is at or above 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 Castle Mead Academy a faith school?
- No. Castle Mead Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Castle Mead Academy a selective school?
- No. Castle Mead Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Castle Mead Academy?
- Castle Mead Academy is part of THE MEAD EDUCATIONAL TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Castle Mead Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 47 in 2023/24 and 48 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Castle Mead Academy rank locally?
- Castle Mead Academy ranked 10th of 19 secondary schools in Leicester for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 69% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Castle Mead Academy's absence rate?
- Castle Mead Academy's overall absence rate is 9.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Castle Mead Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Castle Mead 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.