Armfield Academy
All-through · Blackpool · FY4 1TL
Data updated
Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system
This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.
Inspected 7 February 2023
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,221 pupils · 100% of 1,220 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Free schools
- Age range
- 3–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 39.9% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 5.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 8.8% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Nursery
- Yes
- URN
- 145863
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 180 families named it first for 159 Year 7 places, 1.13 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 0.846 miles; distance decided places in 2 of the 2 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2025 to 2026. Ofsted last graded it Good on 7 February 2023, under the framework used before November 2025. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 8.5% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
1.05 first-choice applications per place59 places offered · 62 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
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
1.13 first-choice applications per place159 places offered · 180 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 0.836 miles for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Reception
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 0.836 miles
measured in a straight line.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 0.846 miles
measured in a straight line.
Would you have got in? Check your postcode
One free check a month, no account needed: your postcode against this school's cutoff history. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools you would be inside, and the address check across every school at once.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Blackpool school admissions · the wider Blackpool authority
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
60 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
GCSE results (2024/2025)
152 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 behind 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Neale-Wade Academy | 34.8 | |
| Pool Hayes Academy | 37.7 | |
| Outwood Academy Shafton | 42 | |
| Don Valley Academy | 48 | |
| Beacon Hill Academy | 41 | |
| Reddish Vale High School | 37.7 | |
| Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High School | 41.4 | |
| Herne Bay High School | 36.8 | |
| Shire Oak Academy | 35 | |
| Walsall Academy | 43.9 | |
| Eckington School | 40.6 | |
| The King Alfred School | 40.5 |
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.
- Specific Learning Difficulty
- Visual Impairment
- Other Difficulty/Disability
- Hearing Impairment
- Speech, Language and Communication Needs
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Multi-Sensory Impairment
- Physical Disability
- Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Severe Learning Difficulty
- Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 88% (Blackpool 81%, England 59%) · Any other White background 3% (Blackpool 5%, England 7%) · Asian Pakistani 2% (Blackpool 1%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Asian 1% (Blackpool 1%, England 2%) · Not recorded 1% (Blackpool 1%, England 2%) · Black African 1% (Blackpool 2%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 1% (Blackpool 1%, England 2%) · Any other Mixed background 1% (Blackpool 1%, England 3%) · 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)
16.05 suspensions per 100 pupils and 5 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Blackpool: 33.19 suspensions and 1.02 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)
90% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 5% moved to another state school · 5% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 1.4% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
66.2% of teachers took sickness absence, 7.9 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 £47,448; 9.7% 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 all-through schools in brackets: Staff 79% (78%) · premises 4% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 8% (8%) · supplies and services 9% (9%) · educational supplies 8% (6%) · bought-in professional services 1% (1%) · catering 5% (4%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £567,000; in-year balance +£718,000
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
- 7 February 2023: Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 6/10around the middle for England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 4/10more deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 25.4% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 20% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 31.2% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 19.3% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 44.1% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 69.7% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 2.6% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 27.7% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 9.7% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 14.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 19.5% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 22.6% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01012755 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £157,000498 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £121,000–£195,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are among the cheapest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (1.36 km, 2026 entry): 892 sales, median £147,500. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
Inside the Reception cutoff distance (1.34 km, 2026 entry): 885 sales, median £148,000. 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
- 2an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 6an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 25an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 5an 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
Nearby schools
See all primary schools in Blackpool →