Airedale Academy
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Airedale Academy is a converter academy in Castleford for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. It has 1,008 pupils and room for 1,250. About 52 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 2 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 4% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was requires improvement, back in 2024.
Crewe Road, Airedale, Castleford, WF10 3JU01977 664555airedaleacademy.comMr Andy Percival principalAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 30 January 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Requires improvement overall.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 30 November 2022 | Ungraded | School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
195 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Wakefield | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 195 | 158 | 178 | 214 | 137 | 131 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 33.8 | 34.0 | 33.2 | 41.1 | 38.3 | 39.7 | 45.3 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -0.72 | -0.68 | -0.23 | -0.46 | -0.19 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 25% | 24% | 23% | 36% | 26% | 27% | 45% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 44% | 40% | 42% | 55% | 49% | 51% | 66% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 2.81 | 2.89 | 2.79 | 3.41 | 3.23 | 3.30 | 3.99 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 5% | 18% | 13% | 22% | 39% | 56% | 35% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 27.5 | 27.8 | 27.4 | 33.4 | 30.6 | 31.4 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 39.7 | 38.8 | 37.7 | 46.5 | 45.4 | 45.9 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 16.7 | 20.6 | 27.5 | 22.2 | 21.9 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | 60.9 | 60.5 | 68.5 | 55.6 | 54.4 | – | – |
Subjects
Results came out for 10 GCSE subjects in 2025. Each figure is the share of pupils who got a grade 5 or better, next to the average for state secondaries in England.
Subjects that did worse than the England average: Food Preparation & Nutrition (3% here, 52% across England), Geography (24% here, 51% across England), Art and Design (32% here, 58% across England), History (28% here, 52% across England).
The small number is how many pupils sat each subject. Subjects with fewer than six pupils aren't published.
Every subject against England, 2025
| Subject | Entries | Grades 9 to 7 | Grades 9 to 5 | Grades 9 to 4 | England 9 to 5 | Rank in England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 188 | 8% | 31% | 49% | 53% | 2,912 of 3,211 |
| English Language | 188 | 5% | 35% | 52% | 54% | 2,859 of 3,210 |
| English Literature | 187 | 8% | 44% | 59% | 58% | 2,442 of 3,202 |
| Combined Science | 182 | 6% | 27% | 45% | 36% | 2,119 of 3,084 |
| Geography | 108 | 3% | 24% | 41% | 51% | 2,849 of 3,116 |
| Art and Design | 63 | 6% | 32% | 51% | 58% | 2,480 of 2,818 |
| History | 47 | 9% | 28% | 36% | 52% | 2,864 of 3,126 |
| Food Preparation & Nutrition | 35 | 0% | 3% | 11% | 52% | 1,088 of 1,098 |
| Business | 18 | 17% | 56% | 72% | 51% | – |
| French | 18 | 28% | 50% | 56% | 60% | – |
In combined science each pupil gets two grades and we count the lower one. Rankings only include state secondaries where 20 or more pupils sat the subject.
A level and sixth-form results, 2025
19 students finished sixth-form courses.
All sixth-form measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students | 19 | 14 | 37 | 31 | 46 | 48 |
| Average A level grade | z | z | z | z | NE | NE |
| Applied general courses: points per entry | 31.25 | 30.59 | 33.39 | 38.41 | – | – |
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. 1 of the 3 gaps is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
338 places were empty (24% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have grown by 3% since 2021/22.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Wakefield council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
Specialist SEND provision. Listed by the government as catering for speech, language and communication.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Wakefield with speech, language and communication provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Moderate learning difficulty (69), emotional and mental health (69), Autistic spectrum disorder (41), language and communications needs (38), Specific learning difficulty (22), Hearing impairment (9).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 1,008 | 1,063 | 1,039 | 988 | 1,039 | 1,006 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 52% | 49% | 46% | 44% | 41% | 36% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 8% | 8% | 8% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 17% | 16% | 14% | 15% | 14% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 4% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 84.8% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 91.4%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 15.2% | 13.1% | 11.7% | 11.9% | 6.2% | 7.1% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 8.5% | 6.3% | 6.1% | 6.4% | 3.7% | 4.7% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 6.7% | 6.8% | 5.6% | 5.4% | 2.5% | 2.4% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 41.9% | 42.6% | 37.9% | 38.1% | 20.3% | 18.3% | 23.9% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 106.2 | 121.8 | 73.0 | 39.1 | 33.9 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 4 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 178 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 79%, compared with 92% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 87% | 83% | 90% | 89% |
| Education | 79% | 73% | 81% | 82% |
| Apprenticeship | 4% | 3% | 2% | 3% |
| Work | 4% | 7% | 6% | 5% |
| Not in education, work or training | 12% | 13% | 10% | 10% |
After sixth form
Where the 36 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 73%, compared with 88% for everyone else.
Where the ones heading for university went
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 83% | 87% | 61% | – |
| Education | 31% | 17% | 37% | – |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 3% | 7% | 0% |
| Work | 47% | 67% | 16% | – |
| Not in education, work or training | 14% | 10% | 37% | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other secondary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castleford Academy | Academy | 1.3 miles | 1,480 | No overall grade 2025 | 68 | Compare |
| The King's School | Academy | 2.5 miles | 1,041 | Good 2022 | 68 | Compare |
| St Wilfrid's Catholic High School & Sixth Form College: A Voluntary Academy | Academy | 2.6 miles | 1,470 | Report card 2026 | 46 | Compare |
| De Lacy Academy | Academy | 3.1 miles | 853 | Outstanding 2022 | 46 | Compare |
| Carleton High School | Academy | 3.1 miles | 1,026 | Not inspected | 59 | Compare |
| The Featherstone Academy | Academy | 3.4 miles | 556 | Good 2022 | 35 | Compare |
| Brigshaw High School | Academy | 3.8 miles | 1,321 | Not inspected | 47 | Compare |
| Outwood Academy Freeston | Academy | 4.5 miles | 993 | No overall grade 2025 | 34 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Airedale Academy with the 50 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 50 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher
Of those 50 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Airedale Academy, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outwood Academy Hemsworth | Academy | 7.4 miles | 1,101 | No overall grade 2025 | 37 | Compare |
| The Laurel Academy | Academy | 15.1 miles | 755 | Good 2023 | 75 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 2 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 2% of secondary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 1 to 3. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 20% | well below | -0.27 | 2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 195 pupils |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | well below | -0.43 | Ofsted grade, 2.6 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 20% | well below | -0.28 | DfE progress measure; 195 pupils |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.19 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well below | -0.26 | 2024/25; 1,096 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 10% | below | -0.05 | Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 195 pupils |
| What pupils do next | 5% | below | -0.05 | 178 pupils |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Airedale Academy a good school?
The figures are weak. Airedale Academy scores 2 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 4% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 1 to 3, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Airedale Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Airedale Academy requires improvement at its last full inspection on 30 January 2024.
How good are Airedale Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 25% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 33.8, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished most of a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Airedale Academy have?
1,008 pupils aged 11 to 18 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 1,250 places, so it is 81% full.
Is Airedale Academy oversubscribed?
Probably not. 338 places were empty in 2024/25 (24% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Airedale Academy?
Pupils were in school 84.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 42% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Airedale Academy?
The average class had 24.4 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 5% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does Airedale Academy have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is registered for speech, language and communication. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does Airedale Academy have a sixth form?
Yes. The average A level grade in 2025 was z.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Crewe Road, Airedale, Castleford, WF10 3JU
- Telephone
- 01977 664555
- Website
- www.airedaleacademy.com
- Principal
- Mr Andy Percival
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-18, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Castleford Academy Trust (9 schools)
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Ward
- Airedale and Ferry Fryston
- Constituency
- Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2011 (academy converter)
- URN
- 136613 · LAESTAB 3844026 · UKPRN 10033306
- Formerly
- Airedale High School
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.