St John and St James CofE Primary School

About St John and St James CofE Primary School

St John and St James CofE Primary School in Enfield has been rated Good across the board in its most recent Ofsted inspection from November 2021, a notable improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2018. The school’s leadership, behaviour, personal development, early years provision and quality of education all received Good grades. On the key academic measure for primary schools, 59% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year. That figure sits below the Enfield local authority average of 67%, placing the school 45th out of 59 primary schools in the borough. Nationally, it ranks in the bottom half of all primary schools, at the 59th percentile. Just 10% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects, though individual subject scores tell a slightly stronger story: average reading and maths scores were 107 and 105 respectively, both above the national benchmark of 100.

The school’s Ofsted journey is worth noting. In 2018, inspectors judged the school to require improvement overall, with early years provision rated inadequate and leadership and management only requiring improvement. By 2021, every area had been turned around to Good, including early years provision which jumped from a grade 2 to a grade 2 — a significant and sustained recovery. The school serves a community with high levels of disadvantage: 41.9% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. Despite this, the school’s progress scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, so it is difficult to say how much value the school adds relative to its intake. What is clear is that attainment remains below the local average, and the school sits in the bottom 50 of Enfield’s 59 primary schools on the key combined measure.

St John and St James is a Church of England primary for children aged 3 to 11, with a nursery on site. It is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 41 applications for 22 places, with all 22 first-preference families offered a spot. The school has a wide range of facilities including a chapel, music rooms, art studios, a sensory room, playing fields and a sports hall. Sports on offer include netball, tennis, swimming, cricket and football, and clubs range from chess and coding to choir and book club. The school’s SEND provision is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, hearing and visual impairments, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families considering alternatives, the nearest Outstanding-rated primary is Highfield Primary School, 2.8 km away. This school will suit families who value a faith-based setting with strong pastoral support and a wide extracurricular offer, and who are comfortable with attainment outcomes that sit below the local average.

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