St James Church of England Primary Academy
Grain, ME3 0BS · Medway local authority
Grain’s School Grade C better than 31% of towns in England
What stands out about St James Church of England Primary Academy
- Its own letter, C: Key Stage 2 results better than 29% of England’s primary schools
- 55% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 7 points below England’s schools
- Ofsted: Good, May 2023 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (12 of 12)
- Homes in its postcode sector (ME3 0) sold for a median £250,000; Grain’s is £250,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 55%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 28% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Medway avg 61%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 101, maths 99 (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 Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
In every year shown, every family who put it first was offered a place. 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. Medway Anglican Schools Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Medway council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Grain and Medway, side by side
2023–2025All 60 graded primaries in Medway. 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. Grain’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Pilgrim School (A Church of England Primary With Nursery) | A+ | 18% | 84% |
| St Margaret's at Troy Town CofE Voluntary Controlled Primary School | A | 37% | 78% |
| St Benedict's Catholic Primary School | A | 9% | 78% |
| Napier Community Primary and Nursery Academy | A− | 34% | 75% |
| English Martyrs' Catholic Primary School | A− | 16% | 75% |
| Walderslade Primary School | A− | 15% | 74% |
| St Michael Catholic Primary and Nursery School | A− | 29% | 74% |
| Leigh Academy Hundred of Hoo | A− | 24% | 72% |
| Leigh Academy High Halstow | A− | 9% | 72% |
| Lordswood School | A− | 22% | 71% |
| St Helen's Church of England Primary School, Cliffe | B+ | 21% | 70% |
| Fairview Community Primary School | B+ | 6% | 70% |
| St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School | B+ | 16% | 70% |
| Thames View Primary School | B+ | 14% | 69% |
| Halling Primary School | B+ | 16% | 69% |
| St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Primary School | B+ | 13% | 68% |
| St Mary's Island Church of England (Aided) Primary School | B+ | 10% | 68% |
| Elaine Primary School | B+ | 54% | 68% |
| Cuxton Community Junior School | B | 13% | 66% |
| Leigh Academy Peninsula East | B | 23% | 66% |
| St Margaret's Church of England Junior School | B | 20% | 66% |
| Kingfisher Community Primary School | B− | 36% | 64% |
| Hilltop Primary School | B− | 20% | 64% |
| St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School | B− | 10% | 64% |
| All Faiths Children's Academy | B− | 32% | 63% |
| Gordons Children's Academy, Junior | B− | 33% | 63% |
| Brompton-Westbrook Primary School | B− | 34% | 63% |
| Oaklands School | B− | 41% | 63% |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School | B− | 19% | 62% |
| Cliffe Woods Primary School | B− | 6% | 62% |
| Chattenden Primary School | B− | 35% | 62% |
| Balfour Junior School | B− | 31% | 62% |
| Hempstead Junior School | B− | 11% | 61% |
| Temple Mill Primary School | B− | 17% | 61% |
| Maundene School | B− | 27% | 61% |
| Riverside Primary School | C+ | 35% | 60% |
| Bligh Primary School (Juniors) | C+ | 41% | 60% |
| St William of Perth Roman Catholic Primary School | C+ | 11% | 60% |
| New Road Primary School | C+ | 43% | 59% |
| Saxon Way Primary School | C+ | 40% | 58% |
| The Academy of Woodlands | C | 40% | 56% |
| Featherby Junior School | C | 39% | 56% |
| St James Church of England Primary Academy | C | 30% | 55% |
| Cedar Children's Academy | C | 27% | 55% |
| Miers Court Primary School | C | 14% | 55% |
| All Saints Church of England Primary School | C | 36% | 54% |
| Parkwood Primary School | C | 19% | 54% |
| Delce Academy | C− | 54% | 52% |
| New Horizons Children's Academy | C− | 23% | 51% |
| Hoo St Werburgh Primary School and the Marlborough | C− | 24% | 51% |
| Deanwood Primary School | C− | 25% | 51% |
| Oasis Academy Skinner Street | C− | 47% | 49% |
| Byron Primary School | C− | 31% | 49% |
| Wayfield Primary School | C− | 36% | 48% |
| Wainscott Primary School | D | 19% | 45% |
| Twydall Primary School and Nursery | D | 43% | 44% |
| Warren Wood Primary School | D | 40% | 42% |
| Barnsole Primary School | D | 38% | 42% |
| Luton Primary School | D− | 52% | 37% |
| Phoenix Primary School | D− | 64% | 36% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025190 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 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: School remains Good, May 2023.
Living near St James Church of England Primary Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in ME3 0, the school’s postcode sector
Grain property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in ME3 0 sell for about the same as Grain’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Location
Directions ↗Grain, ME3 0BS
Primary schools near St James Church of England Primary Academy
The nearest state schools of the same phase, as the crow flies. Catchments and admissions rules decide which one a child gets.
St James Church of England Primary Academy: common questions
Is St James Church of England Primary Academy a good school?
By its published results, below average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 29% of England’s primary schools (its letter is C), with 55% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, May 2023.
How hard is it to get into St James Church of England Primary Academy?
For September 2026, 12 families put St James Church of England Primary Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 12 places were offered in all.
What is St James Church of England Primary Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Good (May 2023).
How much do houses cost near St James Church of England Primary Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, ME3 0, sold for a median £250,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (59 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; Grain’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.