All Saints Academy Darfield

About All Saints Academy Darfield

Parents considering All Saints Academy Darfield will find a school that is clearly popular locally, with 41 applications for just 20 places in the 2025/26 admissions round — an oversubscription ratio of 2.05. All 20 first-preference applicants were offered a place, which suggests that while demand is strong, it is not yet fiercely competitive. The school does not publish a parent recommendation percentage, so that particular signal is unavailable. However, the high number of applications relative to places indicates that families in Barnsley see something appealing here. The school is a Church of England primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 3 to 11, with a nursery provision on site. Headteacher Catherine Green leads a school that is close to its capacity of 210, currently with 211 pupils enrolled. With 44.3% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage compared with the national picture.

Academically, the picture is more mixed. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024, the school was rated Requires Improvement overall, a downgrade from its previous Good rating in 2018. The inspection found that the quality of education and leadership and management both require improvement, while behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision were all rated Good. At Key Stage 2 in 2023/24, just 42% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — well below the Barnsley local authority average of 63%. This places the school 66th out of 70 primary schools in the authority, in the bottom 50% nationally. Individual subject scores were more varied: 73% met the expected standard in maths, 69% in reading, and 54% in writing. Average scaled scores were 103 in maths and 104 in reading, both slightly above the national average of 100, but the proportion reaching the higher standard was low, particularly in writing where no pupils achieved it.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a sensory room, chapel, library, ICT suite, and art studios, alongside sports such as football, gymnastics, cricket, and dance. Clubs include coding, gardening, eco club, and chess. For children with additional needs, the school lists provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This breadth of SEND support may appeal to families whose children require extra help. Given the oversubscription, parents should apply early and consider the first-preference route. The school will suit families who value a Church of England ethos, a strong early years foundation, and a wide range of extracurricular activities, but who are aware that academic outcomes currently lag behind the local average and that the school is working through an improvement plan following its recent Ofsted judgement.

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