King James's School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Secondary
Post 16
PUPILS
1554
AGES
11 - 18
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Community school
SCHOOL GUIDE RATING
unlock
UNLOCK

Can I Get My Child Into This School?

Enter a postcode to see where you live on the map
heatmap example
Sample Map Only
Very Likely
Likely
Less Likely

This pupil heat map shows where pupils currently attending the school live.
The concentration of pupils shows likelihood of admission based on distance criteria

Source: All attending pupils National School Census Data, ONS
01609 533679

This School Guide heat map has been plotted using official pupil data taken from the last School Census collected by the Department for Education. It is a visualisation of where pupils lived at the time of the annual School Census.

Our heat maps use groups of postcodes, not individual postcodes, and have naturally soft edges. All pupils are included in the mapping (i.e. children with siblings already at the school, high priority pupils and selective and/or religious admissions) but we may have removed statistical ‘outliers’ with more remote postcodes that do not reflect majority admissions.

For some schools, the heat map may be a useful indicator of the catchment area but our heat maps are not the same as catchment area maps. Catchment area maps, published by the school or local authority, are based on geographical admissions criteria and show actual cut-off distances and pre-defined catchment areas for a single admission year.

This information is provided as a guide only. The criteria in which schools use to allocate places in the event that they are oversubscribed can and do vary between schools and over time. These criteria can include distance from the school and sometimes specific catchment areas but can also include, amongst others, priority for siblings, children of a particular faith or specific feeder schools. Living in an area where children have previously attended a school does not guarantee admission to the school in future years. Always check with the school’s own admission authority for the current admission arrangements.

3 steps to help parents gather catchment information for a school:

  1. Look at our school catchment area guide for more information on heat maps. They give a useful indicator of the general areas that admit pupils to the school. This visualisation is based on all attending pupils present at the time of the annual School Census.
  2. Use the link to the Local Authority Contact (above) to find catchment area information based on a single admission year. This is very important if you are considering applying to a school.
  3. On each school page, use the link to visit the school website and find information on individual school admissions criteria. Geographical criteria are only applied after pupils have been admitted on higher priority criteria such as Looked After Children, SEN, siblings, etc.

How Does The School Perform?

Good
NATIONAL AVG. 2.09
Ofsted Inspection
(10/01/2023)
Full Report - All Reports
59%
NATIONAL AVG. 38%
5+ GCSEs grade 9-4 (standard pass or above) including English and maths



Unlock The Rest Of The Data Now
We've Helped 20 Million Parents
  • See All Official School Data
  • View Catchment Area Maps
  • Access 2024 League Tables
  • Read Real Parent Reviews
  • Unlock 2024 Star Ratings
  • Easily Choose Your #1 School
£19.95
Per month

Progress Compared With All Other Schools

UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 15% of schools in England) Below Average (About 18% of schools in England) Average (About 35% of schools in England) Above Average (About 16% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 16% of schools in England)

School Results Over Time

2019 2022 2023 2020 Covid-19 2021 Covid-19 UNLOCK

% of pupils who achieved 5+ GCSEs grade 9-4
2019 2022 2023 2020 Covid-19 2021 Covid-19 UNLOCK

% of pupils who achieved GCSE grade 5 or above in both English and maths
2019 2022 2023 2020 Covid-19 2021 Covid-19 UNLOCK

% of pupils who achieved 3 A levels at AAB or higher
`
King James Road
Knaresborough
HG5 8EB
01423866061

School Description

You and your leadership team have maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection. A lot has changed in the last six years, including the appointments of several new members and associate members of the senior leadership team following several successful promotions to headship. The governing body has been reconstituted and you have restructured the pastoral support team. You have also appointed a family liaison officer and a new head of English. Together, you have created a culture of high aspirations, where pupils feel supported to do well. A phrase heard often during the inspection was, ‘same bar, different ladder’, which sums up the ethos that you have created. All staff work together to ensure that all pupils aim high and are supported to achieve as well as they can. Pupils feel well supported and they enjoy learning in your school. You have an accurate evaluation of the school’s work and a secure plan for improvement, which recognises that although you have made significant improvements for disadvantaged pupils, there is still work to do. This involves ensuring that disadvantaged pupils’ attendance improves further and that the improvements in progress for this group are sustained and increased. Since the previous inspection, governors, school leaders and the local authority recognised that, over time, disadvantaged pupils have not achieved as well as their peers. You commissioned an external review in December 2015 and have used the findings and the expertise of your staff to take immediate and robust action to prevent any further decline. Your effective strategies, which make good use of additional funding for pupil premium pupils, are ensuring that differences in progress are diminishing in every year group in the school. You recognise that the strategies you employ need to be flexible and personalised to each pupil, giving every individual the support to overcome their barriers to learning. At the previous inspection, you were asked to improve the pace of learning by focusing on different pupils’ needs and involving pupils more actively in their learning. You have achieved this by developing the ways pupils work and learn together. You were also asked to ensure that targets for pupils were challenging. Targets set are now in line with the achievement of the top 20% of pupils nationally. Staff and pupils work together to strive for the highest levels of achievement. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. Thorough systems and procedures, which staff clearly understand, ensure that pupils are kept safe. Pupils say that they feel safe and that they have staff they can talk to if they need help or advice. Pupils report that bullying is rare and say that when it does happen it is dealt with swiftly. Written records of bullying incidents confirm this. Your personal, social, health, citizenship and economic education programme is ensuring that pupils learn about key issues such as online safety and child sexual exploitation. Pupils value what they learn in these sessions because it increases their awareness of issues that may affect them and helps them to understand risk. Inspection findings Highly effective collaborative working between governors, school leaders and the local authority has led to the development of effective strategies to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Improving the progress of disadvantaged pupils is given a high priority and is included in performance management plans. As a result, the work in disadvantaged pupils’ books has improved, they are making better progress and their attendance is improving. Leaders have put in place strategies to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils across the whole school. They have looked carefully at each year group to identify barriers to learning and are developing bespoke provision. For example, small group tutoring is supporting pupils to develop numeracy skills and a reading intervention programme is improving literacy skills. In some subjects, disadvantaged pupils are beginning to outperform their peers. Effective spending of additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is ensuring that high levels of pastoral support are in place for those who are vulnerable. The recent appointment of a family liaison officer is helping to improve disadvantaged pupils’ attendance and increase parental engagement with school. This support is helping to improve progress for these pupils because they are attending school more regularly. School leaders ensure that teachers use assessment information to plan lessons that take into account the different abilities of pupils. This information is also used regularly to check which pupils are on track and if any are falling behind, allowing appropriate interventions to take place. As a result, the majority of pupils make good progress and remain on track to achieve well. The curriculum is well designed, allowing all options to be available to all pupils. Pupils are well supported and guided in their choices for GCSE. Options in Year 8 for technology and languages allow pupils to try out subjects before they make their final GCSE selections. A rich variety of extra-curricular opportunities ensures that pupils develop their skills outside of lessons. Activities on offer include a multitude of sports, charity work, music, art, science and photography to name just a few. Pupils say that they value these opportunities and levels of participation are good. Sixth-form provision remains good. This is because outcomes over time are strong. Careers advice and guidance ensures that students are on the right courses which link closely to their career aspirations. Students work hard in lessons and in independent study time. They are positive role models for younger pupils, often becoming involved in the wider life of the school by mentoring and supporting other pupils. Leaders take effective action to address areas of underperformance in the school. For example, action taken to improve outcomes in languages is resulting in a better experience for pupils, better progress and an increased number of pupils opting to study languages at GCSE. However, there is still work to do to sustain this improvement. Attendance is above the national average for pupils overall and there is an improving picture for disadvantaged pupils. Strategies such as mentors, tightening up the procedures for registration and the more consistent use of appropriate rewards and sanctions are contributing well to this improvement. Pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning and they behave well. Conduct around school, in lessons and during social times is excellent. Pupils are polite and friendly. A new behaviour policy is being developed to ensure a consistently positive approach to discipline and to further reduce the number of days lost for learning. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: the impact of strategies for improving disadvantaged pupils’ progress and attendance is regularly evaluated, ensuring that changes are made to ensure sustained improvement and the best possible outcomes for this group of pupils steps continue to be taken to identify and tackle underperformance in subjects such as languages to ensure that all pupils achieve well. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for North Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Debbie Redshaw Her Majesty’s Inspector Information about the inspection Inspectors met with you, your senior leaders and some of your middle leaders, governors, your school improvement partner and your pupils. We gathered a range of evidence from conducting observation of learning and from scrutinising pupils’ work jointly with your senior leaders. The inspection team checked and evaluated documents including your child protection policy, safeguarding records, school selfevaluation, school improvement plans, minutes from governors’ meetings, evaluations of the quality of teaching and learning, performance management information and attendance information. Inspectors also took account of 145 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, 83 responses to the pupil questionnaire and 129 responses to the staff questionnaire.

King James's School Parent Reviews



unlock % Parents Recommend This School
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>38, "agree"=>48, "disagree"=>10, "strongly_disagree"=>4, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>36, "agree"=>52, "disagree"=>8, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>21, "agree"=>53, "disagree"=>16, "strongly_disagree"=>5, "dont_know"=>5} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
My Child Has Not Been Bullied Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"my_child_has_not_been_bullied"=>64, "strongly_agree"=>5, "agree"=>12, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>6, "dont_know"=>6} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>23, "agree"=>44, "disagree"=>25, "strongly_disagree"=>5, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
I Have Not Raised Any Concerns Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"i_have_not_raised_any_concerns"=>22, "strongly_agree"=>26, "agree"=>29, "disagree"=>14, "strongly_disagree"=>7, "dont_know"=>2} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>32, "agree"=>33, "disagree"=>12, "strongly_disagree"=>18, "dont_know"=>5} UNLOCK Figures based on 57 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>31, "agree"=>48, "disagree"=>10, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>7} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>31, "agree"=>50, "disagree"=>14, "strongly_disagree"=>2, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>34, "agree"=>51, "disagree"=>12, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>43, "agree"=>53, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>1} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>43, "agree"=>49, "disagree"=>5, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>24, "agree"=>49, "disagree"=>15, "strongly_disagree"=>4, "dont_know"=>9} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023
Yes No {"yes"=>83, "no"=>17} UNLOCK Figures based on 402 responses up to 23-01-2023

Responses taken from Ofsted Parent View

Your rating:
Review guidelines
  • Do explain who you are and your relationship to the school e.g. ‘I am a parent…’
  • Do back up your opinion with examples or clear reasons but, remember, it’s your opinion not fact.
  • Don’t use bad or aggressive language.
  • Don't go in to detail about specific staff or pupils. Individual complaints should be directed to the school.
  • Do go to the relevant authority is you have concerns about a serious issue such as bullying, drug abuse or bad management.
Read the full review guidelines and where to find help if you have serious concerns about a school.
We respect your privacy and never share your email address with the reviewed school or any third parties. Please see our T&Cs and Privacy Policy for details of how we treat registered emails with TLC.


News, Photos and Open Days from King James's School

We are waiting for this school to upload information. Represent this school?
Register your details to add open days, photos and news.

Do you represent
King James's School?

Register to add photos, news and download your Certificate of Excellence 2023/24

*Official school administrator email addresses

(eg [email protected]). Details will be verified.

Questions? Email [email protected]

We're here to help your school to add information for parents.

Thank you for registering your details

A member of the School Guide team will verify your details within 2 working days and provide further detailed instructions for setting up your School Noticeboard.

For any questions please email [email protected]