Airedale Academy
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,008 pupils
79% stayed in education · Attainment 8 33.8
Academy converter
Castleford Academy
- Pupils on roll
- 1,480of 1,500 places
- Free school meals
- 28.7%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 295
- Ofsted
- Inspected, 28 January 2025Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Castleford High School Technology and Sports College With Hearing Impairment Resource (URN 108273, until 1 April 2011).
What the data says
Castleford Academy has no sixth form. Of the 277 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 31% moved to a sixth form college, 48% to a further education college and 4% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 31% of leavers went to one, roughly twice the England rate of 13%.
10% of leavers were not in sustained education, employment or training six months on, compared with 6% nationally.
Fine Art is unusually popular at GCSE: 20% of the year group took it, against 9% of pupils across England.
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Wakefield and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Castleford Academy | Wakefield | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 277 | 3,844 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 88% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 81% | 82% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 2% | 12% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 31% | 28% | 13% |
| — further education college | 48% | 41% | 37% |
| — other education | — | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 4% | 4% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 10% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 2% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Castleford Academy | Wakefield | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 48.5 | 45.1 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 51% | 46% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 67% | 65% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 18% | 33% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.08 | 3.95 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 26% | 28% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 36.1 | 33.4 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 52.9 | 49.6 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 6% | 12% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 294 | 100% | 89% | 21% | 20% | 68% |
| Mathematics | 294 | 100% | 88% | 30% | 22% | 72% |
| English Literature | 292 | 99% | 86% | 12% | 21% | 68% |
| Combined Science | 260 | 88% | 65% | 11% | 9% | 65% |
| History | 160 | 54% | 41% | 25% | 26% | 71% |
| Geography | 88 | 30% | 41% | 9% | 25% | 52% |
| French | 68 | 23% | 18% | 28% | 29% | 87% |
| Physical Education | 68 | 23% | 11% | 49% | 24% | 99% |
| Fine Art | 59 | 20% | 9% | 22% | 28% | 88% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 58 | 20% | 8% | 24% | 21% | 91% |
| Drama | 41 | 14% | 7% | 5% | 27% | 61% |
| Religious Studies | 34 | 12% | 31% | 41% | 32% | 91% |
| Biology | 34 | 12% | 23% | 59% | 45% | 91% |
| Physics | 31 | 11% | 23% | 65% | 46% | 100% |
| Chemistry | 31 | 11% | 23% | 68% | 47% | 100% |
| Computer Science | 26 | 9% | 13% | 19% | 30% | 62% |
| Design and Technology | 18 | 6% | 11% | 0% | 23% | 39% |
| Music | 18 | 6% | 5% | 0% | 33% | 44% |
| Textiles | 15 | 5% | 2% | 0% | 27% | 73% |
| Spanish | 12 | 4% | 19% | 33% | 27% | 83% |
| Polish | 5 | 2% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Chinese | 3 | 1% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Russian | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Persian | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 77% | — |
| Art and Design | 1 | 0% | 7% | — | 24% | — |
| Italian | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering Studies | 87 | — | — |
| Multimedia | 67 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 62 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 55 | — | — |
| Building / Construction Operations (General / Combined) | 38 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 32 | — | — |
| Retailing | 16 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 13 | — | — |
Other secondary schools in Wakefield
Carleton High School
Academy converter · 1,026 pupils
79% stayed in education · Attainment 8 47.5
Crofton Academy
Academy converter · 1,045 pupils
84% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.5
De Lacy Academy
Academy converter · 853 pupils
70% stayed in education · Attainment 8 45.6
Horbury Academy
Academy converter · 1,070 pupils
82% stayed in education · Attainment 8 48.7
Kettlethorpe High School
Community school · 1,616 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.9
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.