Caistor Yarborough Academy Review 2026: A rural 11 to 16 school where progress matters

For families around Caistor and the wider rural patch of Lincolnshire, Caistor Yarborough Academy offers a clear, organised secondary experience focused on steady progress and practical next steps. The school day runs 8.50am to 3.20pm, and the timetable is structured around five one hour lessons plus tutor time, which helps give the week a predictable rhythm for students and parents.

Leadership is stable, with Mr Mark Midgley listed as headteacher across official records and the school website. The most recent full inspection (July 2021) judged the school Good across all headline areas, which provides a useful anchor for families weighing up local options.

What stands out most is the school’s emphasis on personal development through a defined house system and a calendar of trips, workshops, and clubs that are described in specific, year-by-year terms rather than generic promises.

Caistor Yarborough’s identity is closely tied to being a community secondary for a broad ability range, with an ethos framed around “Excellence for all” and four stated values: Respect, Responsible, Resourceful and Resilience. The language is practical and direct, and it sets expectations for day-to-day conduct, organisation, and how students present themselves in lessons.

A strong organising feature is the house system, which places students into Newton, Fisher, Jennings, or Tennyson, and uses points, competitions, and termly rewards to build routine participation. This matters because for many students, belonging is not an abstract idea, it is created by repeated small moments, being recognised for effort, turning up for an event, contributing to a team result, or taking a role that is visible beyond their immediate friendship group. The house approach also suits a mixed-intake school because it gives quieter students a structured way to be involved without needing to be the loudest voice in the room.

The site itself has a clear story. The school was built in 1938, later became an academy in 2011, and the website points to phased development, including a two storey English and Mathematics block, purpose-built science laboratories, and a sports hall constructed in the 1990s. These details help explain why the school places such emphasis on sport, practical enrichment, and a timetable that relies on specialist spaces.

Leadership is front-and-centre on the school website, with Mr Mark Midgley named as headteacher. The school does not publicly set out an appointment date, so families assessing longer-term direction are better served by looking at current priorities, curriculum information, and how the school talks about improvement and next steps, rather than relying on assumed timelines.

Caistor Yarborough Academy is ranked 2,296th in England and 2nd in the Market Rasen area for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This level of performance sits in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

On headline measures, the Attainment 8 score is 46. Progress 8 is 0.37, which indicates that, on average, students make above-average progress from their starting points across eight subjects. The average EBacc point score is 4.01, close to the England average figure shown alongside it (4.08).

Two practical implications follow from this profile. First, the school’s outcomes suggest it can add academic value even if intake attainment is mixed. Second, families should pay attention to subject choice and pathway planning, because EBacc entry and success measures are only one lens on performance and do not capture the full range of vocational or applied routes that many students benefit from at key stage 4.

Parents comparing local schools can use the FindMySchool Local Hub pages and the Comparison Tool to view these outcomes side-by-side and weigh up whether progress, attainment, or curriculum breadth matters most for their child.

Curriculum information on the school website emphasises breadth at key stage 3, followed by clearer pathways at key stage 4, supported by options guidance and year-group curriculum events. What this tends to look like in practice is a more generalist experience in Years 7 to 9, then an increasingly deliberate focus on examination courses, revision habits, and independent study in Years 10 and 11.

A useful indicator of the school’s practical approach is how it supports GCSE years with parent-facing materials, including a Year 10 curriculum evening pack that lists a wide spread of subjects and courses, including GCSE and BTEC options. For families, this is a signal that key stage 4 is treated as a two-year programme, rather than a late sprint that only begins in Year 11.

The most recent inspection identified that curriculum ambition was stronger in some subjects than others, and highlighted the importance of ensuring consistency across areas such as PSHE, religious education, and music. The constructive takeaway is that parents should ask, at open events or meetings, how the school checks curriculum quality across departments, not just in core subjects, and how it ensures students build knowledge step-by-step rather than repeating disconnected units.

Where Students Go Next

Because the school finishes at 16, destination planning is a central part of the student experience. The enrichment programme includes several explicit “next step” activities, such as taster days with post-16 providers and structured careers education framed around the Gatsby Benchmarks.

For many students, the most immediate transition will be to sixth form college or further education. The school website explicitly references experiences linked to John Leggott College and Lincoln College, as well as a University of Lincoln taster day, which gives students exposure to different learning environments before choices become fixed.

The practical benefit of this is confidence and clarity. Students who have already visited a college setting, spoken to providers, or taken part in employer-linked experiences usually make more realistic decisions about courses and travel, and are less likely to switch programmes mid-year. For parents, it is worth asking how guidance is delivered for different attainment levels, since strong destination support should include academic routes, applied routes, and apprenticeships awareness, not only one “gold standard” pathway.

Caistor Yarborough Academy is a state school, so there are no tuition fees. Admissions for Year 7 follow Lincolnshire’s coordinated process. The school’s published admission number (PAN) for Year 7 is 116.

Oversubscription is handled in a standard and understandable order. Priority is given first to looked-after and previously looked-after children, then to siblings, then by distance from home to the academy. Where distance does not separate applicants for the final place, the policy describes a lottery drawn by an independent person.

For September 2026 entry, Lincolnshire’s stated timeline opens on 8 September 2025 and closes on 31 October 2025. Offers for secondary places are issued on 2 March 2026. This matters because late applications are treated differently, and families can accidentally weaken their position by missing the national closing date.

Because the school’s last offered distance is not published here, families who are distance-sensitive should use the FindMySchoolMap Search to check their home-to-school measurement carefully, then verify how Lincolnshire measures distance in the coordinated scheme and in the school’s admissions policy.

Pastoral support is often where parents decide whether a school is the right fit, especially in an 11 to 16 setting where adolescence and examinations collide in a tight five-year window. The inspection evidence describes a culture where students feel safe and safeguarding systems are effective, with staff training and clear procedures for concerns. Ofsted confirmed that safeguarding arrangements are effective in the July 2021 inspection.

Support for students with special educational needs is described as well organised, with staff guidance and students known as individuals, which is particularly important in a mixed rural intake where needs can range from mild learning gaps to more complex profiles. The sensible parent question here is not whether support exists, but how it is operationalised, for example, what classroom adjustments look like, how reading and literacy gaps are handled in KS3, and how the school manages access arrangements and revision planning in KS4.

The wider personal development programme also links to wellbeing, with school-led events such as “stay safe” days, mental health and self-esteem sessions, and structured enrichment weeks. The key implication is that wellbeing is treated as something planned into the year, not only addressed when there is a problem.

The most useful way to judge extracurricular life is specificity, and Caistor Yarborough Academy provides that. Clubs listed on the school’s enrichment page include Drama Club, STEM Club, after-school football, netball, tennis, and cricket, with a term-by-term structure rather than a static menu. For students, this format can be motivating, it keeps the year fresh and gives clear “entry points” to try something new without feeling behind.

Trips and visits are described with unusual clarity for a mainstream 11 to 16 school. Examples include a Year 7 geography visit to Perlethorpe Outdoor Education Centre linked to rivers and habitat studies, a Year 7 PGL trip at Caythorpe, GCSE English Literature theatre visits for Years 10 and 11, and a bi-annual ski trip. There are also larger curriculum-linked international visits listed as bi-annual, including Normandy landings with Disneyland Paris, and Barcelona.

Workshops and themed days give another layer, including the KS3 UK Maths Challenge, World Book Day, a Codes for Drones workshop, a Year 9 Science Forensics day, and GCSE History and Year 7 History interactive workshops. This blend matters because it offers multiple ways to feel successful, performance on the sports field, competence in a practical workshop, confidence on stage in drama, or recognition through house competitions.

Finally, the house system adds a competitive but structured “through line” across the year, with points and rewards tied to participation across sport, academics, and creative activities. For many students, this is what turns extracurricular from optional add-on into a habit.

The compulsory school day runs from 8.50am to 3.20pm, Monday to Friday, and the school publishes a detailed bell schedule that parents can use to understand punctuality and movement through the day. Because this is a secondary school, wraparound care is not usually a core feature in the way it is for primaries, but after-school clubs do operate, and families should check what runs on which days for their child’s year group.

Term dates for the 2025 to 2026 year are published, which is useful for planning family logistics around revision periods and end-of-year assessments.

Transport is typically a key practical issue in rural Lincolnshire. Eligibility for local authority support depends on policy rules and distance, so families should read the council’s current school transport policy alongside admissions planning.

• Inspection currency. The most recent full inspection is from July 2021. It is a solid evidence point, but families should ask what has changed since then, particularly in areas highlighted for development, such as consistency across subjects and personal development planning at KS4.

• Distance rules matter. When a school uses distance as a key oversubscription criterion, small differences in measurement can be decisive. Check how distance is calculated in the local coordinated scheme and in the school’s policy, and avoid assumptions.

• A five-year experience, not seven. With no sixth form, every family needs a clear post-16 plan. The school describes links and experiences with colleges and providers, but parents should still ask how guidance is personalised for different attainment profiles.

• Extracurricular breadth varies by term. Clubs and activities are presented term-by-term. That can be a strength, but it also means some activities may not be available every term, so students with a specific passion may need to plan ahead.

Caistor Yarborough Academy suits families who want a structured 11 to 16 school day, a clear pastoral and safeguarding culture, and a practical approach to enrichment and next-step planning. The house system, trips programme, and STEM and drama options give students more than one route to confidence, and Progress 8 suggests the school helps students move forward from their starting points.

Who it suits most is the student who benefits from routines, tangible goals, and adult guidance that links school work to real choices at 16. For families considering it, the key decision factors are admissions mechanics, distance rules, and how confidently the school can map your child’s pathway through KS4 into the right post-16 destination.