St James' Church of England Primary School
Wardle, OL12 9JW · Rochdale local authority
Wardle’s School Grade B− better than 47% of towns in England
What stands out about St James' Church of England Primary School
- Its own letter, B: Key Stage 2 results better than 60% of England’s primary schools
- Ofsted report card, April 2026: achievement expected standard, safeguarding met (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (23 of 23)
- Homes in its postcode sector (OL12 9) sold for a median £192,650; Wardle’s is £215,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 66%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 60% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Rochdale avg 59%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 104, 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' Church of England Primary School?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2020 (12), 2021 (1), 2022 (3), 2023 (2), 2024 (4). 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. Watergrove Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Rochdale council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Wardle and Rochdale, side by side
2023–2025All 66 graded primaries in Rochdale. 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. Wardle’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Souls Church of England Primary School | A+ | 19% | 88% |
| Caldershaw Primary School | A+ | 10% | 86% |
| Healey Foundation Primary School | A | 23% | 76% |
| St Andrew's Church of England Primary School and Nursery | A− | 20% | 75% |
| Crossgates Primary School | A− | 15% | 74% |
| Whittaker Moss Primary School | A− | 6% | 73% |
| Hopwood Community Primary School | A− | 18% | 73% |
| St Michael's Church of England Primary School, Bamford | A− | 7% | 73% |
| All Saints Church of England Primary School | A− | 32% | 72% |
| Heap Bridge Village Primary School | A− | 27% | 72% |
| Bowlee Park Community Primary School | A− | 33% | 71% |
| Holy Family Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | A− | 31% | 71% |
| Kentmere Primary Academy | B+ | 40% | 70% |
| St John's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | B+ | 32% | 69% |
| Littleborough Community Primary School | B+ | 24% | 68% |
| Alkrington Primary School | B+ | 16% | 68% |
| St Luke's Church of England Primary School | B+ | 31% | 68% |
| Deeplish Primary Academy | B+ | 38% | 68% |
| St Vincent De Paul Roman Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy | B | 18% | 67% |
| Hollin Primary School | B | 35% | 66% |
| Milnrow Parish Church of England Primary School | B | 28% | 66% |
| St James' Church of England Primary School | B | 30% | 66% |
| Ashfield Valley Primary School | B | 30% | 65% |
| Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | B | 27% | 65% |
| Brimrod Community Primary School | B− | 35% | 64% |
| Heybrook Primary School | B− | 45% | 64% |
| St Peter's Church of England Primary School | B− | 38% | 64% |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School Rochdale, a Voluntary Academy | B− | 21% | 63% |
| Hamer Community Primary School | B− | 58% | 62% |
| Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School | B− | 18% | 62% |
| St Patrick's Roman Catholic Primary School | B− | 41% | 62% |
| Bamford Academy | B− | 16% | 61% |
| Belfield Community School | C+ | 39% | 60% |
| Shawclough Community Primary School | C+ | 30% | 59% |
| Greenbank Primary School | C+ | 34% | 58% |
| St Michael's Church of England Primary School, Alkrington | C | 8% | 57% |
| Smithy Bridge Foundation Primary School | C | 8% | 57% |
| Boarshaw Community Primary School | C | 41% | 56% |
| St Gabriel's Church of England Primary School | C | 28% | 56% |
| Marland Hill Community Primary School | C | 33% | 55% |
| St Thomas' Church of England Primary School | C | 29% | 55% |
| Harwood Park Primary School | C− | 46% | 53% |
| Parkfield Primary School | C− | 34% | 53% |
| St Peter's Roman Catholic Primary School, Rochdale | C− | 13% | 53% |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | C− | 19% | 53% |
| Norden Primary Academy | C− | 14% | 52% |
| St John's Church of England Primary School, Thornham | C− | 11% | 51% |
| Middleton Parish Church School | C− | 33% | 51% |
| St Gabriel's Roman Catholic Primary School, Rochdale | C− | 14% | 50% |
| Woodland Community Primary School | C− | 46% | 50% |
| Newhey Community Primary School | C− | 30% | 49% |
| Alice Ingham Roman Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy | C− | 57% | 49% |
| Sandbrook Community Primary School | C− | 65% | 49% |
| St John Fisher Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | C− | 25% | 48% |
| Castleton Primary School | D | 32% | 45% |
| Lowerplace Primary School | D | 34% | 45% |
| St Edward's Church of England Primary School | D | 25% | 45% |
| St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School, Middleton, Rochdale | D | 14% | 45% |
| Broadfield Community Primary School | D | 50% | 45% |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, Middleton | D | 30% | 44% |
| Our Lady & St Paul's RC Primary School, A Voluntary Academy | D | 40% | 43% |
| Elm Wood Primary School | D | 33% | 42% |
| St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Balderstone | D | 44% | 42% |
| Meanwood Community Nursery and Primary School | D | 55% | 41% |
| Moorhouse Academy | D | 44% | 40% |
| Stansfield Hall Church of England / Methodist Church Primary School | D− | 39% | 33% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025214 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' Church of England Primary School’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.
Report card, inspection starting April 2026.
Before the report card: Graded inspection: Good, February 2022.
Living near St James' Church of England Primary School
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in OL12 9, the school’s postcode sector
Wardle property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in OL12 9 sell for a little under Wardle’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
10 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Wardle, OL12 9JW
St James' Church of England Primary School: common questions
Is St James' Church of England Primary School a good school?
By its published results, above average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 60% of England’s primary schools (its letter is B), with 66% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: a report card in April 2026.
How hard is it to get into St James' Church of England Primary School?
For September 2026, 23 families put St James' Church of England Primary School first and all of them were offered a place; 24 places were offered in all.
What is St James' Church of England Primary School’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection (April 2026) gave a report card: achievement expected standard, safeguarding met. Ofsted stopped giving one-word overall grades in September 2024.
How much do houses cost near St James' Church of England Primary School?
Homes in its postcode sector, OL12 9, sold for a median £192,650 over the 36 months to August 2026 (318 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; Wardle’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.