Featherstone Purston St Thomas Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School

About Featherstone Purston St Thomas Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School

If you're a parent researching Featherstone Purston St Thomas Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School, the most recent parent experience data isn't available, but the school's oversubscription picture offers a clue to local sentiment. With 354 pupils on roll against a capacity of 410, the school is not currently oversubscribed, suggesting there is room for new families. This is a Church of England junior school for ages 7 to 11, mixed gender and state-funded, located in the Wakefield local authority area. The headteacher is Mathew Brown. One notable signal is the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, which stands at 45.8%, well above the national average, indicating a community with higher-than-average economic disadvantage. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, carried out in March 2024, rated it Requires Improvement overall, a downgrade from its previous Good rating in 2013. All inspected areas — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management — were judged to require improvement.

Academically, the school's Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 place it in the bottom half nationally and locally. Just 49% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared to the Wakefield local authority average of 64%. In reading, 65% reached the expected standard, with 12% achieving a higher standard; in writing, 70% met expectations but none reached the higher standard. Maths saw 60% at the expected level and 12% at the higher level. Average scores were 102 in reading and 101 in maths, both slightly below the national average. The school ranks 78th out of 97 primary schools in Wakefield on the combined expected standard metric, placing it in the bottom 50% of schools regionally and nationally. For context, the top-performing local peers include Jerry Clay Academy and Horbury Bridge Church of England Junior and Infant Academy, both scoring 93 on the same ranking measure.

The school offers a range of facilities including a gymnasium, music rooms, library, playing fields and a chapel. Sports provision includes athletics, rounders, football and dance, while extracurricular clubs cover film, coding, drama and science. SEND support is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulties. The nearest outstanding-rated primary school is Larks Hill Junior and Infant School, 2.7 km away. This school may suit families who value a Church of England ethos and a strong SEND framework, and who are comfortable with a school that is currently in a period of improvement following its recent Ofsted downgrade. The lack of oversubscription means places are more readily available than at higher-ranked local alternatives.

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