Oakfield Park School
Community special school in Pontefract (Wakefield).
Location
iSchool location from Get Information about Schools. Nearby schools are coloured by phase. Open Map+ for a full-screen map with neighbourhood deprivation (England only).About
iWritten by WhatSchool from official school data (Get Information about Schools, DfE and Ofsted).Welcome to the Oakfield Park School website. We trust that you'll find it both informative and user-friendly. Oakfield Park School is a Local Authority maintained secondary school renowned for delivering outstanding education, as affirmed by Ofsted in March 2025.
Our school caters for 177 young people in the secondary and post 16 phases with severe, complex, or profound multiple learning difficulties. Among our diverse student body, many individuals contend with additional needs, including Autism, sensory impairment, challenging behaviour, as well as medical and physical difficulties.
As of September 2025 we will have 3 sites, our main site is Ackworth. We have a satelite site at Thornes Park in Wakefield for our Post 16 Formal Workskills Pathway students. This year due to capacity restraints we have a temporary satelite at Sandal in Wakefield which will support 3 classes of year 7 students with complex needs.
They will be joining us at Ackworth once our onsite building works has been completed.
Key facts
- URN
- 133719
- Type
- Community special school
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Sixth form
- Has a sixth form
- Local authority
- Wakefield
- Constituency
- Normanton and Hemsworth
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 2002
Governing body (12 current, 2 former)
Special schools governing body.
Leadership
| Name | Role | How appointed | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr David Smith | Chair of Governors | Appointed by GB/board | since 2026 · until 2028 |
| Mr Matthew Carlton Former | Chair of Governors | Appointed by GB/board | since 2025 · term ended 2026 |
Full governing body
| Name | Role | How appointed | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr Matthew Carlton | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2026 · until 2029 |
| Ms Wendy Fereday | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2026 · until 2030 |
| Linda Lockett | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2026 · until 2030 |
| Adele Housley | Governor | Parent appointed by GB/board due to no election candidates | since 2026 · until 2030 |
| Julie Coulson | Governor | Parent appointed by GB/board due to no election candidates | since 2025 · until 2029 |
| Mrs Chloe Brook | Governor | Elected by school staff | since 2024 · until 2028 |
| Mr David Smith | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2024 · until 2028 |
| Mrs Nicola Cryer | Governor | Ex-officio by virtue of office as headteacher/principal | since 2024 |
| Ms Kathryn Hallas | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2023 · until 2027 ends 2027 |
| Ms Amelia Hallas | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2023 · until 2027 ends 2027 |
| Ms Katie Beedle | Governor | Appointed by GB/board | since 2023 · until 2027 ends 2027 |
| Mr David Atkins Former | Governance Professional - Local Authority Maintained SchoolGovernance professional | since 2025 · term ended 2026 |
Source: Department for Education, Get Information about Schools (governance records, as at 25 October 2026). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Names are shown as published; there are no addresses or contact details. Current and former are worked out from term end dates when the page loads. Object or ask for removal · Report an issue with this record