St James' CofE Academy
Bedford, MK40 4BD · Bedford local authority
Bedford’s School Grade C better than 27% of towns in England
What stands out about St James' CofE Academy
- Its own letter, C+: Key Stage 2 results better than 39% of England’s primary schools
- Ofsted: Inspected, February 2025 (shown, not graded)
- 96% of families who put it first got a place for September 2026 (27 of 28)
- Homes in its postcode sector (MK40 4) sold for a median £370,000; Bedford’s is £325,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 59%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 39% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Bedford avg 55%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 105, maths 103 (100 = the expected standard)
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at St James' CofE Academy?
96% of the families who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2020 (13), 2021 (6), 2024 (3), 2026 (1). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Diocese of St Albans Multi-Academy Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Bedford council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand
96% got their first choice
Bedford and Bedford, side by side
2023–2025All 51 graded primaries in Bedford. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Bedford’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharnbrook Primary | A− | 14% | 75% |
| Kempston Rural Primary School | A− | 11% | 72% |
| Thurleigh Primary School | A− | 31% | 72% |
| Hazeldene School | A− | 13% | 72% |
| Harrold Primary Academy | A− | 16% | 71% |
| Great Denham Primary School | B+ | 13% | 70% |
| Great Ouse Primary Academy | B+ | 19% | 70% |
| Kymbrook Primary School | B+ | 16% | 69% |
| Elstow School | B+ | 21% | 69% |
| Bromham CofE Primary School | B+ | 9% | 68% |
| The Hills Academy | B | 9% | 65% |
| Castle Newnham School | B− | 10% | 64% |
| St Lawrence Church of England Primary School | B− | 25% | 63% |
| Putnoe Primary School | B− | 36% | 62% |
| Camestone School | B− | 12% | 61% |
| Carlton CofE Primary School | C+ | 7% | 60% |
| Cotton End Forest School | C+ | 18% | 59% |
| Turvey Primary School | C+ | 14% | 59% |
| St James' CofE Academy | C+ | 18% | 59% |
| King's Oak Primary School | C+ | 42% | 58% |
| Wilden CofE VA Primary School | C+ | 11% | 58% |
| Goldington Green Academy | C+ | 37% | 58% |
| Eileen Wade Primary School | C | 14% | 57% |
| Brickhill Primary School | C | 17% | 57% |
| Scott Primary School & Nursery | C | 16% | 57% |
| Oakley Primary Academy | C | 11% | 57% |
| Cauldwell School | C | 21% | 57% |
| Lakeview School | C | 19% | 57% |
| Edith Cavell Primary School | C | 36% | 56% |
| Milton Ernest CofE Primary School | C | 8% | 54% |
| Christopher Reeves CofE VA Primary School | C− | 10% | 51% |
| Queen's Park Academy | C− | 32% | 50% |
| Shortstown Primary School | C− | 26% | 50% |
| Livingstone Primary School | C− | 36% | 49% |
| Riseley CofE Primary School | C− | 9% | 49% |
| Westfield Primary School | C− | 21% | 49% |
| Ursula Taylor Church of England School | C− | 23% | 49% |
| Marston Vale Middle School | C− | 22% | 49% |
| Balliol Primary School | C− | 30% | 48% |
| Wixams Tree Primary Academy | C− | 18% | 48% |
| St John Rigby Catholic Primary School | D | 12% | 47% |
| Renhold VC Primary School | D | 8% | 44% |
| Priory Primary School | D | 26% | 43% |
| Sheerhatch Primary School | D | 19% | 42% |
| St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary and Pre-School | D | 35% | 41% |
| Shackleton Primary School | D | 34% | 41% |
| Springfield Primary School | D | 29% | 41% |
| Ravensden CofE Primary Academy | D− | 23% | 38% |
| Roxton Church of England Academy | D− | 27% | 32% |
| Great Barford Church of England Primary Academy | D− | 21% | 28% |
| Pinchmill Primary School | D− | 14% | 27% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025192 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
St James' CofE Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Ungraded inspection: Standards maintained, February 2025.
Living near St James' CofE Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in MK40 4, the school’s postcode sector
Bedford property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in MK40 4 sell for a little over Bedford’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
12 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Bedford, MK40 4BD
St James' CofE Academy: common questions
Is St James' CofE Academy a good school?
By its published results, below average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 39% of England’s primary schools (its letter is C+), with 59% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, February 2025.
How hard is it to get into St James' CofE Academy?
For September 2026, 28 families put St James' CofE Academy first and 27 of them were offered a place; 30 places were offered in all.
What is St James' CofE Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (February 2025).
How much do houses cost near St James' CofE Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, MK40 4, sold for a median £370,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (766 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Bedford’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.