St James Infant School
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St James Infant School is a converter academy in Daventry for boys and girls aged 3 to 8. It has 199 pupils and room for 212. About 20 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit fewer than at most schools. We give it 50 out of 100. That puts it in line with schools like it, ahead of 36% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
90 St James Street, Daventry, NN11 4AG01327 702783stjamesinfant.comMrs Sarah O'Shea headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 13 February 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 6 July 2022 | Ungraded | School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
About 13 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up. Pupil numbers have grown by 17% since 2021/22, so places are getting harder to come by.
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 West Northamptonshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (14), emotional and mental health (12), Specific learning difficulty (9), Autistic spectrum disorder (7), Other difficulty or disability (5), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (5).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 199 | 199 | 183 | 199 | 183 | 178 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 19% | 21% | 17% | 14% | 16% | 15% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 33% | 37% | 34% | 38% | 36% | 26% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 15% | 10% | 14% | 7% | 12% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 94.8% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 5.2% | 5.8% | 6.4% | 7.8% | 3.9% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.1% | 4.2% | 5.3% | 5.8% | 2.8% | 3.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.1% | 1.5% | 1.1% | 2.1% | 1.2% | 0.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 17.2% | 16.4% | 15.5% | 27.4% | 12.8% | 6.9% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 primary 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 primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey CofE Academy | Academy | 620 m | 184 | Good 2024 | 49 | Compare |
| E-ACT The Grange School | Academy | 870 m | 336 | Requires improvement 2022 | 1 | Compare |
| Falconer's Hill Infant School | Academy | 890 m | 164 | Good 2024 | 39 | Compare |
| Falconer's Hill Academy | Academy | 940 m | 236 | Good 2022 | 18 | Compare |
| DSLV E-ACT Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 997 | Good 2022 | 22 | Compare |
| Ashby Fields Primary School | Academy | 1.3 miles | 397 | No overall grade 2025 | 51 | Compare |
| Monksmoor Park Church of England Primary School | Academy | 1.6 miles | 234 | Good 2023 | – | Compare |
| Newnham Primary School | Academy | 1.8 miles | 84 | Good 2023 | 43 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares St James Infant School with the 47 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 47 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 50 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 50% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 24 to 76. That range is wide enough that the school could sit in the next band, so take the band as a rough guide rather than a verdict. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | in line | +0.03 | Ofsted grade, 2.6 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | in line | +0.02 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | -0.05 | 2024/25; 116 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is St James Infant School a good school?
It is about average. St James Infant School scores 50 out of 100. That is in line with schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 36% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 24 to 76, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is St James Infant School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated St James Infant School good at its last full inspection on 13 February 2024.
How many pupils does St James Infant School have?
199 pupils aged 3 to 8 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 212 places, so it is 94% full.
Is St James Infant School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 13 places were empty in 2024/25 (8% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at St James Infant School?
Pupils were in school 94.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 17% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at St James Infant School?
The average class had 23.6 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
Does St James Infant School have a breakfast club?
Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- 90 St James Street, Daventry, NN11 4AG
- Telephone
- 01327 702783
- Website
- www.stjamesinfant.com
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah O'Shea
- Free breakfast club
- Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-8, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- InMAT (13 schools)
- Local authority
- West Northamptonshire
- Ward
- Daventry South
- Constituency
- Daventry
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 February 2018 (academy converter)
- URN
- 144178 · LAESTAB 9412118 · UKPRN 10065504
- Formerly
- St James Infant School
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.
- 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.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Breakfast club: DfE list of schools on the free breakfast club programme.
- 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.