Castle Newnham School
All-through · Academy converter · Ages 4–16 · Bedford
Last distance offered · Reception 2026
Every applicant was offered a place
From Bedford Borough Council · offers on 16 April 2026
Year 7 2026: 2.72 mi
2025 figure 🔒
Castle Newnham School is an all-through school in Bedford for ages 4–16 (academy converter). Bedford has published a last distance offered for this school for Reception and Year 7 2024 to 2026 entry.
Castle Newnham School catchment area: last distance offered
Parents often call this the catchment area: it's how far from the school the last child offered a place lived. It changes every year.
| Entry | Last distance offered |
|---|---|
| Reception 2026 | Every applicant was offered a place |
| Year 7 2026 | 2.72 mi |
| Reception 2025 | 🔒 With a pass |
| Year 7 2025 | 🔒 With a pass |
| Year 7 2024 | 🔒 With a pass |
What the pass includes · How to read it: one past year, not a catchment
What the figures show
- For Year 7 in 2026, the last child offered a place lived 2.72 miles from the school; no last distance was published for Reception 2026.
- Reception 2026 drew 69 first-choice applications for 88 offers; 68 offers went to first-choice families, and 1 first-choice family was not offered a place.
- In Reception 2026, 20 offers went to families who ranked the school second or lower, and the published admission number for Reception 2027 is 90 places.
- In the January 2026 census there were 624 pupils on roll, with 9.6% eligible for free school meals and 24.7 pupils per teacher.
Worked out by Catchmently from the published figures on this page and those for other Bedford schools. Distances are as published; how they were measured differs between admission authorities.
Key facts
- Address
- Goldington Road, Bedford, MK40 3EP
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- All-through
- Ages
- 4–16
- Council
- Bedford
- Pupils on roll
- 624 January 2026 school census
- Free school meals
- 9.6% of pupils eligible
- Pupils per teacher
- 24.7
Official record: Get Information about Schools · as at 15 September 2026
Ofsted
No Ofsted grade Inspected 17 March 2026
Strengths
- “Pupils are proud of their school community.”
- “They embrace the school value of respect in all they do.”
- “They are kind and considerate to each other.”
To improve
- “Typically, staff identify and address any gaps in pupils' knowledge or skills, although this needs further strengthening so that more pupils build detailed knowledge over time.”
- “This is not yet consistently the case across the full curriculum.”
- “However, these are sometimes not well matched to some children's gaps in learning.”
Safeguarding: met
Quoted from the Ofsted report published 20 May 2026 (read the report). Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Exam results
| Measure | School | England |
|---|---|---|
| Key stage 2 · reading, writing and maths, expected standard (2024/25) | 67% | 62% |
Department for Education school performance data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Applications and offers
- 2026 Reception entry: 69 first-preference applications, 88 offers in total, 68 offers to first-preference applicants.
Department for Education, school-level applications and offers, figures on national offer day. Earlier years are in the pass.
Nearby special, independent and other schools
Straight-line distance, in Bedford.
- Bedford School 0.4 mi No Ofsted grade
- Bedford Girls' School 0.6 mi No Ofsted grade
- Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School 0.8 mi No Ofsted grade
- KWS School 0.8 mi No Ofsted grade
- Polam School 1.0 mi No Ofsted grade
- Bedford Modern School 1.3 mi No Ofsted grade
- Bedford Greenacre Independent School 1.5 mi No Ofsted grade
- St John's School 1.5 mi Good