Ark Northfield Primary School
Primary · Pontefract · WF9 3LY
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 8 March 2022
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
348 pupils · 110% of 315 capacity (over capacity) (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Age range
- 3–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 22.6% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 3.1% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 11% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 9.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Nursery
- Yes
- URN
- 150309
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 46 families named it first for 45 Reception places, 1.02 first choices per place. Its last Reception place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 0.647 miles, the only Reception round we hold for it. Ofsted last graded it Requires improvement on 8 March 2022, under the framework used before November 2025. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 3.2% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
1.02 first-choice applications per place45 places offered · 46 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 0.647 miles for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Reception
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 0.647 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: Pontefract school admissions · Wakefield school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
48 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025
On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 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.
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.
- Speech, Language and Communication Needs
- 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 91% (Wakefield 77%, England 60%) · Any other White background 2% (Wakefield 5%, England 7%) · Any other Mixed background 2% (Wakefield 2%, England 3%) · Not recorded 1% (Wakefield 1%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Wakefield 1%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Asian 1% (Wakefield 1%, England 2%) · Black African 1% (Wakefield 4%, England 5%) · other groups together 1%
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)
3.10 suspensions per 100 pupils and 1 permanent exclusion · England, primary schools: 2.47 suspensions and 0.03 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Wakefield: 3.31 suspensions and 0.01 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 · 20% moved to another state school
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, primary academies: 0.3% vacant, 0.32% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
68.8% of teachers took sickness absence, 4.6 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 £47,876; 17.6% on the leadership pay range · England, primary schools: £50,856, 17.3%
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 primary schools in brackets: Staff 77% (77%) · premises 7% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 7% (8%) · supplies and services 10% (9%) · educational supplies 6% (4%) · bought-in professional services 3% (2%) · catering 5% (5%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £0; in-year balance +£336,000
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
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 5/10around the middle for England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 3/10more deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 20.2% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 25.7% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 24.2% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 25.1% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 44.9% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 60.7% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 23.9% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 15.3% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 31.8% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 9.9% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 22.1% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 22.7% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01011868 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £170,000191 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £135,000–£230,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Reception cutoff distance (1.04 km, 2026 entry): 194 sales, median £170,000. 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
- 1an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 13an 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