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Lift Shafton

Primary · Barnsley · S72 8QA

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Good (2015)

Last grade Ofsted published, no newer grade exists

Ofsted graded this school Good in 2015. Every inspection since has been ungraded, and an ungraded inspection cannot change a grade. The most recent found “Improved significantly”. Ofsted's current data file lists only graded inspections from September 2019 onwards, so this grade has dropped out of it, but it is still the school's grade of record, and still on Ofsted's own report page. It is old, so weigh it against the more recent evidence on this page.

Inspected 17 November 2015

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

247 pupils · 88% of 280 capacity

School type
Academy sponsor led
Age range
3–11
Gender
Mixed
Free school meals
26% of pupils
English as additional language
5.3% of pupils
SEN support
16.5% of pupils
EHC plan
3.7% of pupils
Nursery
Yes
Website
http://www.shaftonprimaryacademy.org
URN
139004

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

0.96 first-choice applications per place

23 places offered · 22 first-choice applications · roughly balanced

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Reception

Every applicant was offered a place for 2025 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2024 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 1.989 miles

measurement method not stated by the council.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)

29 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths
59%
England 62%
Reaching the higher standard
7%
England 8%
Average scaled score (reading)
103
England 106
Average scaled score (maths)
100
England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025

This school59%
Median of its 12 closest peers61%
Barnsley average66.8%
England62%

On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is in line with the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedResult
St White's Primary SchoolCinderford · 131 miles awayGood61%
Springmead Primary SchoolWelwyn Garden City · 134 miles awayGood52%
St Catherine's CofE Primary SchoolLaunceston · 240 miles awayGood (2019)63%
The Metheringham Primary SchoolLincoln · 52 miles awayGood54%
St Marys CofE Primary SchoolShrewsbury · 76 miles awayNo current grade68%
St Thomas's CofE Primary SchoolKendal · 75 miles awayGood48%
Midsomer Norton Primary SchoolRadstock · 166 miles awayExpected standard78%
Astley Primary SchoolMelton Constable · 114 miles awayGood39%
Longton Lane Community Primary SchoolSt Helens · 57 miles awayGood61%
Hardwicke Parochial Primary AcademyGloucester · 128 miles awayGood62%
Brompton Community Primary SchoolNorthallerton · 53 miles awayGood55%
Crowle Primary AcademyCrowle · 23 miles awayNeeds attention63%

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
4.2%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
12.7%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
22.2
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

82% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 9% moved to another state school · 9% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£5,621
Typical primary school£6,959

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
5/10around the middle for England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
4/10more deprived than most of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher22.2%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications24.3%18.1%
In managerial or professional work23.5%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways22.8%18.1%
Residents in very good health40.9%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier74.3%62.3%
Social housing7.4%17.1%
Privately rented18.1%20.5%
Detached houses38.1%22.9%
Flats3.4%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms14.5%21.1%
Households with no car or van17%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01007331 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,508 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£160,000129 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£130,000–£210,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (38)£245,000
Semi-detached (53)£155,000
Terraced (31)£125,000
Flat (7)£87,500

Homes around this school are among the cheapest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
1an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
2an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
14an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
7an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools