Ark Carleton High School
Secondary · Pontefract · WF8 3NW
Data updated
Last grade Ofsted published, no newer grade exists
Ofsted graded this school Good in 2019. 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 4 July 2019
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,026 pupils · 98% of 1,050 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 30.8% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 2.5% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 13.5% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 2.9% of pupils (2024/2025)
- URN
- 139501
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 251 families named it first for 199 Year 7 places, 1.26 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 1.971 miles, the only Year 7 round we hold for it. The last grade Ofsted published for it is Good, from 2019. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 6.6% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
1.26 first-choice applications per place199 places offered · 251 first-choice applications · oversubscribed
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Places by distance, last offered at 1.971 miles for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 1.971 miles
measured in a straight line.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Pontefract school admissions · Wakefield school admissions
GCSE results (2024/2025)
196 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| The Whitstable School | 39.3 | |
| Outwood Academy Freeston | 44.6 | |
| Lynn Grove Academy | 44.2 | |
| Buxton Community School | 41.6 | |
| Eckington School | 40.6 | |
| Belmont Community School | 53.4 | |
| Archway School | 43.3 | |
| Sedgefield Community College | 51.5 | |
| Altrincham College | 48.5 | |
| Outwood Academy Hasland Hall | 47.5 | |
| The Ripley Academy | 44.5 | |
| Ivanhoe School | 38.1 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Special educational needs
Needs this school records that it caters for, in the order it lists them.
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Provision type: Resourced provision.
- Resourced provision
- 20 of 20 places taken full, or over capacity
Unit places come from the school census and describe the position when it was taken, not today. Confirm with the local authority before relying on them.
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 92% (Wakefield 79%, England 59%) · Any other White background 2% (Wakefield 5%, England 7%) · Any other ethnic group 2% (Wakefield 1%, England 3%) · Not recorded 1% (Wakefield 2%, England 2%) · Black African 1% (Wakefield 3%, England 5%) · Any other Mixed background 1% (Wakefield 1%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Wakefield 1%, England 1%) · other groups together 2%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
33.50 suspensions per 100 pupils and 2 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Wakefield: 46.69 suspensions and 0.35 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
80% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 8% moved to another state school · 12% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
1.91% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
75% of teachers took sickness absence, 10.2 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £54,378; 13% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 73% (77%) · premises 6% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 10% (6%) · supplies and services 11% (11%) · educational supplies 9% (6%) · bought-in professional services 1% (1%) · catering 6% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £0; in-year balance +£1,367,000
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: academy finance return, 2024-25, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 5 November 2024: Improved significantly
- 4 July 2019: Good
- 20 November 2018: Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 9 May 2018: Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 31 January 2018: Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 27 September 2017: Taking effective action towards the removal of special measures
- 25 January 2017: Inadequate
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 8/10less deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 9/10among the least deprived fifth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 33.6% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 14.6% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 40.4% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 14.1% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 47.7% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 87.7% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 4.9% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 7.4% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 38.7% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 0.8% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 28.6% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 12.6% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01011848 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £245,000181 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £190,000–£335,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are cheaper than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (3.17 km, 2026 entry): 1,202 sales, median £215,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. 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
- 0an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 0an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 2an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 0an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted