# King James Academy Royston

URN 137656, All Through, Academy converter, Hertfordshire.

Garden Walk, Royston, SG8 7JH.

This page states what happened. It publishes no score, no ranking and no prediction, and nothing here says whether a particular child would be offered a place.

This is information only, not advice. It may have mistakes in it, or be out of date. Check with the school and the council before you decide anything.

Figures current as of 14 September 2026.

## About the school

- Type of school: Academy
- Academy trust: The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust
- Ages: 9 to 18
- Boys or girls: Boys and girls
- Sixth form: Yes
- Website: https://www.kjar.org.uk
- Telephone: 01763 242236
- School number (URN): 137656

From Get Information about Schools. Schools update their own entries, so these can be out of date.

The Diamond Learning Partnership Trust runs 14 other schools with a page here. Nearest first:

- Roman Way Academy, Royston, 0.7 miles away: /school/147008/roman-way-academy
- Middlefield Primary Academy, St Neots, 15.4 miles away: /school/138595/middlefield-primary-academy
- Winhills Primary Academy, St Neots, 15.7 miles away: /school/138280/winhills-primary-academy
- Wintringham Primary Academy, St. Neots, 15.7 miles away: /school/145924/wintringham-primary-academy
- The Round House Primary Academy, St Neots, 15.7 miles away: /school/139634/the-round-house-primary-academy
- Great Staughton Primary Academy, St Neots, 20.6 miles away: /school/140535/great-staughton-primary-academy
- Kimbolton Primary Academy, Huntingdon, 23.4 miles away: /school/140386/kimbolton-primary-academy
- Glebelands Primary Academy, Chatteris, 27.9 miles away: /school/143976/glebelands-primary-academy
- Thomas Eaton Primary Academy, March, 31.7 miles away: /school/143955/thomas-eaton-primary-academy
- Burrowmoor Primary Academy, March, 34.2 miles away: /school/150374/burrowmoor-primary-academy

## How big the school is

In 2024 this school had 1,321 places and 929 children on roll.

392 places were unfilled, which is 30% of the school.

In 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 the school had 839 children on roll on average, against 929 in 2024.

Its places have grown from 740 in 2011 to 1,321 in 2024.

Places are the whole school added up, every year group together. That is not the number of places a school offers to new children in one year.

Source: Department for Education school capacity collection.

## Children in each year group

As counted on one day in January 2026, the most recent school census. These are children, not places.

| Year group | Children |
|---|---:|
| Year 5 | 185 |
| Year 6 | 171 |
| Year 7 | 149 |
| Year 8 | 126 |
| Year 9 | 111 |
| Year 10 | 107 |
| Year 11 | 98 |

**This is not a list of spare places.** Places per year group are not published, and the count is from January. Children join and leave all year.

To ask about a place during the school year, contact Hertfordshire, which handles applications made in-year. They hold the up-to-date position and this page does not.

## Who decides who gets a place

This school sets its own admission rules, through its academy trust, rather than Hertfordshire setting them.

Look on the school's own website for its admission arrangements. An admission authority has to agree its rules every year and publish them. The council still takes the application.

Taken from the kind of school this is, as recorded by the Department for Education. The rules themselves are not reproduced here: a summary of an admission rule is not the rule, and only the admission authority's own published arrangements are binding.

## How to apply

Children usually start at this school in Year 5. A place is not automatic: families apply to the council where they live.

In Hertfordshire, applications for a middle school place close on Friday 15 January 2027. This is the same timetable as primary schools.

If you live in another council's area, apply through that council.

Hertfordshire: applying for a middle school place: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/primary-junior-and-middle-schools/primary-junior-and-middle-school-places.aspx

To ask about visiting the school, or anything else about it, contact the school. https://www.kjar.org.uk, 01763 242236.

Links and dates can change. Your council's own website has the final word.

## How many families applied

Children usually start at this school in Year 5.

The government publishes application figures only for the years when most children in England start a new school: Reception and Year 7, and Year 9 at some upper schools. So we have no figures for how many families applied for this school's main intake.

The figures that are published are for the few children who joined in Year 7: in 2026, 3 families putting it first and 6 offers. They do not show how popular the school is, so we do not use them to compare it with other schools or with its own past.


## How the last place was given out

In the 2026 intake this school was full. The last place was given out on: Not Nearest School. The child who lived furthest away and still got in was 12.86 miles away. The council does not say whether it measured in a straight line or along a route.

In the 2025 intake this school was not full: the last place was given out on Nearest School, and every child in a higher rule was offered a place.


In the 2023 intake this school was not full: the last place was given out on Not Nearest School, and every child in a higher rule was offered a place.

In the 2022 intake this school was not full: the last place was given out on Nearest School, and every child in a higher rule was offered a place.

In the 2021 intake this school was not full: the last place was given out on Not Nearest School, and every child in a higher rule was offered a place.

In the 2020 intake this school was not full: the last place was given out on Not Nearest School, and every child in a higher rule was offered a place.

## How the places were shared out

2026 intake, year_5: 193 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Nearest School | 120 |
| Siblings | 67 |
| Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan | 3 |
| Not Nearest School | 3 |

2025 intake, year_5: 194 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Trust Feeder Schools | 119 |
| Siblings | 64 |
| Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan | 6 |
| Non ranked allocation | 3 |
| Children Looked After Or Previously Looked After | 1 |
| Nearest School | 1 |

2024 intake, year_5: 181 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Trust Feeder Schools | 92 |
| Siblings | 79 |
| Non ranked allocation | 4 |
| Distance | 3 |
| Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan | 3 |

2023 intake, year_3: 168 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Trust Feeder Schools | 105 |
| Siblings | 54 |
| Not Nearest School | 4 |
| Nearest School | 2 |
| Children Looked After Or Previously Looked After | 1 |
| Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan | 1 |
| Non ranked allocation | 1 |

2022 intake, year_3: 183 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Trust Feeder Schools | 109 |
| Siblings | 59 |
| Nearest School | 4 |
| Non ranked allocation | 4 |
| Not Nearest School | 4 |
| Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan | 2 |
| Children Looked After Or Previously Looked After | 1 |

2021 intake, year_3: 195 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Trust Feeder Schools | 119 |
| Siblings | 68 |
| Nearest School | 4 |
| SEN (Special Educational Needs) | 2 |
| Non ranked allocation | 1 |
| Not Nearest School | 1 |

2020 intake, year_3: 184 children accounted for. These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's.

| Rule | Children admitted |
|---|---:|
| Trust Feeder Schools | 104 |
| Siblings | 71 |
| Nearest School | 3 |
| SEN (Special Educational Needs) | 3 |
| Non ranked allocation | 2 |
| Not Nearest School | 1 |

## Catchment area

We hold no published admission area for this school. That is not the same as an address being outside one. We cannot say either way.

## If you are refused a place

In 2026, families in Hertfordshire lodged 1,041 appeals about a school place.

670 of them were heard by a panel and 113 succeeded, which is about 17 in every 100 heard.

The other 371 did not reach a panel. Most appeals that do not are withdrawn because a place comes up first.

This is a record of decisions already made. A panel hears one case at a time and decides it on what that family sets out, so these figures do not indicate what would happen in any particular appeal.

These count appeals about every school in Hertfordshire, not this school. Nobody publishes appeal figures school by school.

Source: Department for Education, admission appeals in England.

## Children with special educational needs

In January 2026, 32 of the 947 children here had an education, health and care plan. That is 3 in every 100. That is close to the middle for schools in England, where the middle figure is 4 in every 100.

A further 115 were on SEN support, which is help arranged by the school without a plan. That is 12 in every 100, against a middle figure of 15 in every 100 across England.

A school named in a child's education, health and care plan has to admit that child. That duty holds even when the school is full, and it sits outside the rules that decide who gets a place when there are more children than places. Which school is named is decided with the council while the plan is being written, not through the normal application.

Source: Department for Education, special educational needs in England, January 2026 census.

## Who goes to this school

In January 2026, 176 of the 947 children here were known to be eligible for free school meals. That is 19 in every 100.

English was not the first language for 7 in every 100 children here.

This describes the children who go to this school. It is not a measure of the school. Most children go to a school near home, so it is mostly a fact about the streets around it.

This matters when reading results. Across the 15,153 schools we hold 2024 key stage 2 results for, the fifth with the fewest eligible children averaged 70% reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. The fifth with the most averaged 48%.

Those are averages of many schools all over the country. This school's own results are further down this page exactly as published.

Source: Department for Education school census, January 2026. Free school meal eligibility is counted for every pupil on roll.

## Results

### Key stage 2: what these numbers are made of

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Across the 3 years published, this measure ran from 51% in 2024 to 56% in 2023, a difference of 5 points.

Year 6 had 171 children, so one child is worth about 0.6 percentage points and that difference is about 8 children.

Half of schools in England move by 13 points or more across the same three years, so movement on this scale is ordinary rather than a sign of anything.


### Key stage 4: what these numbers are made of

Getting grade 4 or above in English and maths.

Across the 3 years published, this measure ran from 52.7% in 2024 to 61.3% in 2022, a difference of 8.6 points.

The year group had 93 children, so one child is worth about 1.1 percentage points and that difference is about 8 children.

Half of schools in England move by 6 points or more across the same three years.


Withheld figures are shown as a dash, never as zero. Progress measures are estimates and are published by the government with a 95% confidence interval.

Key stage 4, 2024: Attainment 8 40.30, Progress 8 not published.

Key stage 4, 2023: Attainment 8 42.70, Progress 8 +0.19.

Key stage 4, 2022: Attainment 8 44.70, Progress 8 +0.31.

Key stage 2, 2024: 51.0% reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Key stage 2, 2023: 56.0% reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Key stage 2, 2022: 52.0% reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

## Where these figures come from

- Department for Education: Get Information about Schools. School identity, type, phase, address, contact details and how it is run. https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- Hertfordshire: applying for a middle school place. Page checked 29 September 2026. https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/primary-junior-and-middle-schools/primary-junior-and-middle-school-places.aspx
- Ofsted: state-funded school inspections management information. Inspection outcomes, published monthly. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/monthly-management-information-ofsteds-school-inspections-outcomes. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Department for Education: school-level applications and offers. Preferences and offers, 2020 to 2026 intakes. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offers. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Department for Education: school pupils and their characteristics. Children in each year group, January 2026 census. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics
- Department for Education: school capacity. Places and pupils on roll, 2011 to 2024. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity
- Hertfordshire: offer-day statistics. 2026-juniormiddle.pdf. https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/school-admissions/research-a-school/school-admissions-previous-years-statistics.aspx. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Hertfordshire: admission rule breakdown. How places were shared out, 2020 to 2026 intakes. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Department for Education: key stage 4 performance. Attainment 8, Progress 8 and EBacc, by school. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
- Department for Education: key stage 2 attainment. Reading, writing and maths outcomes, by school. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-2-attainment. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
- Department for Education: school workforce in England. Teacher turnover, by school, from the School Workforce Census. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. Retrieved 4 September 2026.

"Retrieved" is the date of our copy of each source, not the year its figures describe.

## Using this information

This is information only, not advice. It may have mistakes in it, or be out of date. Check with the school and the council before you decide anything.

Full page: /school/137656/king-james-academy-royston
Same figures as JSON: /school/137656.json