SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Pontefract, Wakefield

Minsthorpe Community College

Minsthorpe Lane, South Elmsall, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF9 2UJ

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01977657600

Ofsted

Goodas at 8 November 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 8 November 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

41.3 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

36% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

54% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

8% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.21confidence interval 0.04 to 0.37

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as above average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
D+
Average points per entry
24.5

England average 32.3

A level students
29

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1609
Places
1755
How full
92% full — 1609 of 1755 places taken
Girls / boys
807 / 802
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
30%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
31%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
10%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
37%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
79%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
26%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
250

After sixth form

Went to university
28%

England 50%

In education, work or training
78%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
95

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

14% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
47%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
64

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Wakefield 043A, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
16%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
39%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
43%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
40%

England 17%

Households with no car
38%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
52%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
MINSTHORPE ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Principal: Mark Gilmore/ Rachael Merritt
Local authority
Wakefield
Ward
Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton
Constituency
Normanton and Hemsworth
URN
137011

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Outwood Academy HemsworthAcademy sponsor led No grade 41 2.6 mi
Ackworth SchoolOther independent school No grade 3.7 mi
Campsmount AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 41.5 4.6 mi
Outwood Academy ShaftonAcademy sponsor led No grade 42 4.7 mi
Outwood Academy AdwickAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 43.7 4.8 mi
Astrea Academy DearneAcademy converter Good 2023 40.2 5.1 mi
Carleton High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 47.5 5.2 mi
The Featherstone AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 41.6 5.5 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Samuel King's SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 30.2
Landau Forte Academy, AmingtonAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 40
Herne Bay High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 36.8
Batley Girls' High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.9
Sacred Heart Catholic High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52.1
St George's Catholic SchoolAcademy converter No grade 55.9
The Lenham SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 37
Sir Jonathan North Girls' CollegeAcademy converter No grade 52.6

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.