Official inspection reports and grades
Inspected 16 June 2026
School workforce census, 2025/26.
Ofsted inspected Appleton Academy on 16 June 2026 using a report card, which grades each area separately and gives no overall grade. The school met Ofsted's safeguarding standards. It was graded Expected standard for inclusion, for personal development and wellbeing, for attendance and behaviour and for early years; Needs attention for achievement, for curriculum and teaching and for leadership and governance.
No. Distance only counts when Appleton Academy has more applicants than places. Then its admission criteria, set by its academy trust, decide who is offered a place first. Children in care or adopted from care come first by law. Most schools put brothers and sisters of current pupils next, then distance or a catchment area. How far away the last place went changes every year, depending on who applies.
Appleton Academy had 1,207 pupils aged 3 to 16 at the latest school census. Its official capacity is 1,378. It is a mixed school with no sixth form, so students move on at 16.