King James's School

King James’s School is performing well overall, maintaining a good standard in the quality of education, behavior, and personal development. Parents and pupils appreciate the supportive and caring environment, where students feel safe. The school emphasizes its values through 'The King James’s Way,' promoting respect and tolerance. The leadership has successfully responded to previous areas for improvement, adapting the curriculum to meet diverse needs, particularly benefiting students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Despite the positives, the school faces challenges, notably in improving examination results in certain subjects and addressing the attendance and exclusion rates of disadvantaged pupils. While the overall attendance is good, disadvantaged pupils have lower attendance rates, and the school must work to align their achievements more closely with their peers. Nonetheless, the commitment to personal development and careers preparation is commendable, with nearly all pupils progressing to suitable post-16 opportunities.

Strengths

• Strong support for students from teachers and pastoral staff
• Pupils feel safe and are well looked after
• Positive family atmosphere in the school
• Effective curriculum adaptations for all pupils, including SEND
• Good management of pupil behavior and positive classroom environments
• High levels of participation in extracurricular activities
• Well-developed program for personal development and careers education

Areas for Improvement

• Need to improve GCSE results in certain weaker subjects
• Attendance rates of disadvantaged pupils are lower
• Disadvantaged pupils are more likely to be excluded

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at King James's School attended 92.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 18.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 5.5% of pupils at King James's School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 King James's School had 17.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 14.2% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 13.7% of pupils at King James's School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 King James's School received £7,818 and spent £7,665 for each of its 1,066 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £382,000 (£358 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

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• Secondary Schools

All schools in Huddersfield · Kirklees local authority: places and applications

What is King James's School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for King James's School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was King James's School last inspected by Ofsted?

King James's School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does King James's School have?

King James's School has 1,055 pupils on roll.

What age range does King James's School cover?

King James's School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are King James's School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 43.3, and 37% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is King James's School?

King James's School is at St Helen's Gate, Almondbury, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD4 6SG.