SF School Facts UK

Primary school in Grantham, Lincolnshire

Poplar Farm School

Helmsley Road, Grantham, NG31 8XF

Ofsted Good · 2023
School website 01476850680
Ofsted Good January 2023
Chance of a place 100% of first choices offered

Ofsted

Goodas at 24 January 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 24 January 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 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

Current published outcome
Good
Last overall grade in this dataset
Good
Days since inspection
1,347 days
Framework era
Historic overall-grade framework (ended September 2024)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

key stage 2 results 2024/25

Not published for this URN in the current phase-appropriate school performance release.

Evidence found
No publishable key stage 2 headline attainment value for this exact URN.
Source coverage
DfE school-level 2024/25 performance files, joined by URN. Suppressed, not applicable and not published cells remain distinct from zero.
What this means
School Facts has no official phase-compatible attainment figure to display for this establishment and year.
What this does not mean
The school had no pupils, achieved 0%, performed poorly, or lacks results outside this release.

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

About as many first choices as places. Of the 48 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.

Places offered
50

for entry into Reception

Named it first choice
48
First choices per place
0.96

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
100%

England 95.1%

Demand has been broadly steady over three years.

These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
414
Places
420
How full
Nearly full — 414 of 420 places taken
Girls / boys
207 / 207
Overall absence
4%

primary schools average 5.2%

Persistently absent
6%

primary schools average 12.8% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
18%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
15%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
8%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
0

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
1

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
0

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
2

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Grantham Rail Station

2.3 km away — railway station

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

The area around the school

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£255,000

postcode sector NG31 8 · 639 sales

Typical range
£189,000 to £325,000

middle half of sales

Detached
£319,997
Semi-detached
£215,000
Terraced
£180,500
Flat
£119,950

Homes around this school are close to the England average.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
40%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
7%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
14%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
13%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
47%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
81%

England 62.7%

Social housing
8%

England 17%

Privately rented
8%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
46%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
32%

England 22.5%

No car
8%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for South Kesteven 004F and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Free schools
Phase
Primary
Ages
Ages 4–11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Sixth form
No
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Kate Hodson
Opened as this establishment
4 September 2018
Register status
Open
Local authority
Lincolnshire
Ward
Grantham Arnoldfield
Constituency
Grantham and Bourne
URN
145902

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Admissions history

The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.

Reception

1.40 2019/20: 0.97 first choices per place2020/21: 0.88 first choices per place2021/22: 1.31 first choices per place2022/23: 1.23 first choices per place2023/24: 0.90 first choices per place2024/25: 1.07 first choices per place2025/26: 0.89 first choices per place2026/27: 0.96 first choices per place20192021202320252026
All 8 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2019/20 60 58 0.97 95%
2020/21 56 49 0.88 100%
2021/22 58 76 1.31 75%
2022/23 60 74 1.23 78%
2023/24 58 52 0.90 100%
2024/25 60 64 1.07 94%
2025/26 54 48 0.89 100%
2026/27 50 48 0.96 100%

These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.

Nearest primary schools

SchoolOfstedExpected standardDistanceCompare
The Gonerby Hill Foot Church of England Primary SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2023 57% 0.5 mi
The St Sebastian's Church of England Primary School, Great GonerbyVoluntary aided school Good 2023 67% 0.8 mi
The Isaac Newton Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 60% 0.9 mi
Cliffedale Primary SchoolCommunity school Good 2024 59% 0.9 mi
St Wulfram's National Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy converter No overall grade 30% 1.1 mi
Barrowby Church of England Primary SchoolVoluntary controlled school No overall grade 86% 1.2 mi
West Grantham Church of England Primary AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 37% 1.2 mi
Huntingtower Community Primary AcademyAcademy converter Report card 2026 51% 1.3 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

SchoolAreaOfstedExpected standardCompare
St Joseph's Catholic Primary SchoolAcademy converter Gerrards Cross No overall grade 70%
Meadowside Primary SchoolCommunity school Kettering Report card 2026 48%
Herons' Moor AcademyAcademy converter Weston-super-Mare No overall grade 70%
Bridgetown Primary SchoolCommunity school Stratford-upon-Avon Good 2022 56%
Weston All Saints CofE Primary SchoolAcademy converter Bath Good 2023 39%
Palace Wood Primary SchoolCommunity school Maidstone Good 2022 70%
St Mary's RC Primary School, a Voluntary AcademyAcademy converter Manchester Good 2023 —
Heycroft Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led LEIGH-on-SEA Inadequate 2023 —
St John's CofE Aided Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school Caterham Good 2022 61%
Four Lanes Community Junior SchoolCommunity school Basingstoke Good 2024 42%
Normanton Common Primary AcademyAcademy converter Normanton Good 2024 68%
The Coombes Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Reading Requires improvement 2024 62%

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 145902; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 24 January 2023
AdmissionsDfE school applications and offers2026/27 plus history to 2014/15Exact URN and entry point; national offer day
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

Which exact school is this?

Match the DfE URN, school name and address; names and structures can change while the URN remains the stable identifier.

What does the latest inspection evidence say?

Use the inspection date and framework shown. Do not compare a legacy overall grade directly with the newer report-card judgements.

How should I compare nearby schools?

Compare the same phase, cohort and academic year, then keep intake context and confidence intervals beside performance measures.

What must a parent verify?

Check current admissions rules, travel practicality, support for the child’s needs and the school’s latest official information before deciding.