James Marks Academy
James Marks Academy is a special free school in Welwyn Garden City for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. It has 62 pupils, 2 more than it has places for. About 21 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit fewer than at most schools. Ofsted visited in June 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
The Commons, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 4RZMr Scott Martin headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 9 June 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2024
2 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. Fewer than eleven pupils sat the exams, so the figures could identify individual children.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Hertfordshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (43), emotional and mental health (14), Specific learning difficulty (2), Multi-sensory impairment (1), Severe learning difficulty (1), language and communications needs (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 62 | 51 | 23 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 19% | 16% | 13% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 2% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 98% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 75.7% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 24.3% | 32.0% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 17.5% | 26.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 6.8% | 5.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 65.1% | 68.4% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonswood Primary & Nursery School | Council | 160 m | 410 | Good 2023 | 75 | Compare |
| Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery School | Council | 0.8 miles | 418 | No overall grade 2025 | 54 | Compare |
| Holwell Primary School | Council | 1.0 miles | 397 | Good 2023 | 90 | Compare |
| Creswick Academy | Academy | 1.0 miles | 325 | Requires improvement 2022 | 2 | Compare |
| Ludwick Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 1.0 miles | 177 | Outstanding 2023 | – | Compare |
| Our Lady Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 1.0 miles | 204 | Report card 2026 | 70 | Compare |
| Watchlytes Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 158 | Report card 2025 | 67 | Compare |
| Peartree Primary School | Academy | 1.2 miles | 184 | Not inspected | 83 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is James Marks Academy a good school?
James Marks Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted's report card from June 2026 rated its teaching as strong.
What is James Marks Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 9 June 2026 it rated teaching as strong, achievement as strong, behaviour and attendance as strong, leadership as strong.
How many pupils does James Marks Academy have?
62 pupils aged 11 to 18 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 60 places, so it is 103% full.
What is attendance like at James Marks Academy?
Pupils were in school 75.7% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 65% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does James Marks Academy have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- The Commons, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 4RZ
- Headteacher
- Mr Scott Martin
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-18, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- James Marks Academy Trust (2 schools)
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward
- Howlands
- Constituency
- Welwyn Hatfield
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2023 (academy free school)
- URN
- 149736 · LAESTAB 9197030 · UKPRN 10093052
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2023/24 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.