Leigh Academy Snowfields
- Special
- Free schools special
- Ages 11 to 18
URN 147870 · Kent · LEIGH ACADEMIES TRUST
Inspection
Ofsted management information, as at 30 September 2026.
Latest graded inspection
27 June 2023Overall effectiveness
Outstanding
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding is effective
- Yes
Full inspection (section 5)
Under the earlier framework, inspections gave an overall effectiveness grade.
Read the reports on Ofsted’s website. Source: Ofsted, State-funded school inspections and outcomes: management information.
Attendance
Against Kent and England, special schools.
Overall absence
2024/2517.4%
- Kent
- 14.4%
- England
- 12.8%
4.6 percentage points higher than England.
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| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 11.3% | 10.2% |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 11.3% | 10.1% |
| 2020/21 | 9.4% | 16.6% | 15.2% |
| 2021/22 | 18.2% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 2022/23 | 17.3% | 14.4% | 13.0% |
| 2023/24 | 15.8% | 14.5% | 13.0% |
| 2024/25 | 17.4% | 14.4% | 12.8% |
Sessions missed for any reason, as a share of all possible sessions in the school year. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25.
Persistent absence
2024/2539.9%
- Kent
- 40.2%
- England
- 35.3%
4.6 percentage points higher than England.
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| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 32.8% | 29.6% |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 32.3% | 28.8% |
| 2020/21 | 31.3% | 54.1% | 48.9% |
| 2021/22 | 45.7% | 44.2% | 40.4% |
| 2022/23 | 47.5% | 42.0% | 38.3% |
| 2023/24 | 40.9% | 41.9% | 37.2% |
| 2024/25 | 39.9% | 40.2% | 35.3% |
Pupils who missed 10% or more of their possible sessions, as a share of pupils. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25.
Severe absence
2024/2512.4%
- Kent
- 8.1%
- England
- 6.9%
5.5 percentage points higher than England.
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| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 5.8% | 4.4% |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 5.6% | 4.6% |
| 2020/21 | 4.2% | 5.8% | 5.6% |
| 2021/22 | 11.7% | 5.8% | 5.8% |
| 2022/23 | 10.5% | 6.6% | 6.2% |
| 2023/24 | 9.6% | 7.6% | 6.7% |
| 2024/25 | 12.4% | 8.1% | 6.9% |
Pupils who missed 50% or more of their possible sessions, as a share of pupils. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25.
Suspensions and permanent exclusions
Against Kent and England, special schools.
Suspensions per 100 pupils
2024/2524.42
- Kent
- 18.25
- England
- 12.32
12.10 higher than England.
Show the figures as a table
| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 9.15 | 12.34 |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 9.97 | 11.32 |
| 2019/20 | Not published | 7.04 | 7.76 |
| 2020/21 | 4.35 | 7.31 | 7.29 |
| 2021/22 | 23.53 | 9.59 | 9.60 |
| 2022/23 | 21.71 | 13.83 | 10.99 |
| 2023/24 | 15.09 | 15.69 | 12.62 |
| 2024/25 | 24.42 | 18.25 | 12.32 |
Suspensions in the school year for every 100 pupils on roll. One pupil can be suspended more than once. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England, 2024/25.
Permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
2024/250.00
- Kent
- 0.03
- England
- 0.08
0.08 lower than England.
Show the figures as a table
| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 0.00 | 0.07 |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 0.00 | 0.06 |
| 2019/20 | Not published | 0.02 | 0.04 |
| 2020/21 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.03 |
| 2021/22 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.05 |
| 2022/23 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.08 |
| 2023/24 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.08 |
| 2024/25 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.08 |
Permanent exclusions in the school year for every 100 pupils on roll. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England, 2024/25.
Key stage 4 results
Against Kent and England, secondary schools.
Attainment 8
2025/26 (provisional)20.1
Not compared with mainstream schools.
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| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 17.1 |
| 2024/25 | 16.5 |
| 2025/26 (provisional) | 20.1 |
The average of pupils' points across eight GCSE-level qualifications, with English and maths counted twice. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Key stage 4 performance, 2025/26.
English and maths: grade 4 or above
2025/26 (provisional)21%
Not compared with mainstream schools.
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| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 26% |
| 2024/25 | 9% |
| 2025/26 (provisional) | 21% |
Pupils at the end of key stage 4 with grade 4 or above in both English and maths. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Key stage 4 performance, 2025/26.
English and maths: grade 5 or above
2025/26 (provisional)6%
Not compared with mainstream schools.
Show the figures as a table
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2023/24 | 5% |
| 2024/25 | 4% |
| 2025/26 (provisional) | 6% |
Pupils at the end of key stage 4 with grade 5 or above in both English and maths. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Key stage 4 performance, 2025/26.
Pupils
Against Kent and England, special schools.
Eligible for free school meals
2024/2534.7%
- Kent
- 46.4%
- England
- 48.8%
14.1 percentage points lower than England.
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| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 29.4% | 41.3% | 44.4% |
| 2022/23 | 34.3% | 41.7% | 45.6% |
| 2023/24 | 34.1% | 44.0% | 47.1% |
| 2024/25 | 34.7% | 46.4% | 48.8% |
Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals on census day in January. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Schools, pupils and their characteristics, 2024/25.
SEN support
2024/250.0%
- Kent
- 0.5%
- England
- 0.5%
0.5 percentage points lower than England.
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| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 0.0% | 1.7% | 0.9% |
| 2022/23 | 0.0% | 1.5% | 0.8% |
| 2023/24 | 0.0% | 1.3% | 0.7% |
| 2024/25 | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
Pupils receiving special educational needs support without an education, health and care plan. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Schools, pupils and their characteristics, 2024/25.
Education, health and care plan
2024/25100.0%
- Kent
- 99.5%
- England
- 99.5%
0.5 percentage points higher than England.
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| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 100.0% | 98.3% | 99.1% |
| 2022/23 | 100.0% | 98.5% | 99.2% |
| 2023/24 | 100.0% | 98.7% | 99.3% |
| 2024/25 | 100.0% | 99.5% | 99.5% |
Pupils with an education, health and care plan. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Schools, pupils and their characteristics, 2024/25.
First language other than English
2024/250.0%
- Kent
- 5.9%
- England
- 14.4%
14.4 percentage points lower than England.
Show the figures as a table
| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 0.0% | 5.9% | 14.5% |
| 2022/23 | 0.0% | 5.7% | 14.4% |
| 2023/24 | 0.0% | 5.9% | 14.4% |
| 2024/25 | 0.0% | 5.9% | 14.4% |
Pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, Schools, pupils and their characteristics, 2024/25.
Teachers
Against Kent and England, special schools.
Pupils per qualified teacher
2025/2610.1
- Kent
- 7.5
- England
- 7.3
2.8 higher than England.
Show the figures as a table
| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 6.6 | 6.7 |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| 2019/20 | Not published | 6.6 | 7.0 |
| 2020/21 | 5.8 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| 2021/22 | 7.7 | 7.0 | 6.9 |
| 2022/23 | 13.7 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| 2023/24 | 8.6 | 7.2 | 7.1 |
| 2024/25 | 11.7 | 7.5 | 7.3 |
| 2025/26 | 10.1 | 7.5 | 7.3 |
Full-time equivalent pupils for each full-time equivalent qualified teacher. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, School workforce in England, 2025/26.
Teacher sickness absence
2024/256.8 days
- Kent
- 4.7 days
- England
- 5.0 days
1.8 days higher than England.
Compared with all state-funded schools: DfE publishes this measure for all schools, not by phase.
Show the figures as a table
| Year | This school | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | Not published | 3.7 days | 4.0 days |
| 2018/19 | Not published | 3.8 days | 4.0 days |
| 2019/20 | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| 2020/21 | Not published | 3.3 days | 3.9 days |
| 2021/22 | 8.5 days | 5.8 days | 6.3 days |
| 2022/23 | 5.0 days | 4.6 days | 5.2 days |
| 2023/24 | 12.6 days | 4.9 days | 5.3 days |
| 2024/25 | 6.8 days | 4.7 days | 5.0 days |
Days lost to sickness absence in the school year, averaged across all teachers. Source: Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics, School workforce in England, 2024/25.
Finance
Academies report their accounts as part of their trust, so DfE publishes no school-level balance for this school. The trust’s figures are in DfE’s Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool.
See this school in the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool
About the school
- Pupils on roll
- 355
- Capacity
- 396
- Type
- Free schools special
- Phase
- Special
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Sixth form
- Has a sixth form
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- LEIGH ACADEMIES TRUST
- Opened
- 1 September 2020
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Constituency
- Faversham and Mid Kent
- Special educational needs provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Resourced provision
- SEN unit
- Deprivation of the area (IDACI)
- Decile 9 of 10 (1 is the most deprived tenth of neighbourhoods)
Address: Popesfield Way, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 5GA
Website: leighacademysnowfields.org.uk/
Telephone: 01622250050
Sources and corrections
Every figure on this page names its source and period. This release was built on 20 October 2026.
- Department for Education: Get Information about Schools: establishment data (GIAS establishment extract 2026-10-20)
- Ofsted: State-funded school inspections and outcomes: management information (Latest inspections as at 2026-09-30; All inspections, 2018/19; All inspections, 2019/20; All inspections, 2020/21; All inspections, 2021/22; All inspections, 2022/23; All inspections, 2023/24; All inspections, 2024/25; All inspections, 2025/26)
- Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics: Pupil absence in schools in England (absence-3term-school, 2013/14 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id])
- Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics: Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England (exc-school, 2006/07 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id]; exc-ap-school, 2013/14 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id]; exc-geography, 2006/07 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id]; exc-ap-geography, 2013/14 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id])
- Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics: Key stage 2 attainment (ks2-school, 2022/23 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id]; ks2-geography, 2015/16 to 2025/26 [pinned data set id])
- Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics: Key stage 4 performance (ks4-school, 2023/24 to 2025/26 [pinned data set id]; ks4-geography, 2018/19 to 2025/26 [pinned data set id])
- Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics: Schools, pupils and their characteristics (School census, January 2022 (performance tables, 2021 to 2022); School census, January 2023 (performance tables, 2022 to 2023); School census, January 2024 (performance tables, 2023 to 2024); School census, January 2025 (performance tables, 2024 to 2025))
- Department for Education, Explore Education Statistics: School workforce in England (ptr-school, 2010/11 to 2025/26 [pinned data set id]; ptr-geography, 2010/11 to 2025/26 [pinned data set id]; sickness-school, 2009/10 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id]; sickness-geography, 2009/10 to 2024/25 [pinned data set id])
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: English indices of deprivation 2025: Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (English indices of deprivation 2025, File 7 (2021 LSOAs))
Spotted something wrong? Report a correction with the school’s URN (147870). Fixes go out in the next weekly release.