Hurst Knoll St James' Church of England Primary School
General Information
- Address: Ladbrooke Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 8JS – View on map
- Phone: 01613304049
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Jonathon Hobday
- Age range: 4-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 12 families put it first for 15 places – 8 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 7 · 2024 10 · 2025 10 · 2026 8
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Church of England
- Nursery provision: No
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 108
- % eligible for free school meals: 57.8%
- Pupil mix: 6 in 10 (more mixed than the Tameside average)
- English as an additional language: 24% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 13.7% a year (Tameside 12.5%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 55% moved to another school, 45% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)
Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.
Behaviour
Awaiting Data
Across Tameside: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 6 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 0 (0.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 0 (0.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
- Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)
These are figures for all state primary schools in Tameside, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.
Attendance
- Overall absence: 5.5%
- Persistently absent pupils: 16.7%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 20.3%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 5.9%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Speech, language and communications needs: 15 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 12 pupils
- SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 6 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 3 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Speech, language and communications needs: 10 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Ofsted report card May 2026
Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.
- Safeguarding Met
- Inclusion Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
- Achievement Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
- Early years Expected standard
- Leadership and governance Expected standard
Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2022). The report card above replaces that grade.
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 47% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 0% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 15 percentage points below the Tameside average (62%)
- Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (3-year average 38% against an expected 51%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 38%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 63% · Writing 57% · Maths 53% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 57%
- Average test scores: reading 103, maths 102
- Based on: 30 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25
View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.
SATs results over time
Year 6 SATs: 52nd of 58 junior and primary schools in the area
- #50Waterloo Primary School49%
- #51Yew Tree Primary School48%
- #52Hurst Knoll St James' Church of England Primary School47%
- #53Greenfield Primary Academy46%
- #54St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy45%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £7,982 (2024-25)
9th of 67 primary schools in Tameside for spending per pupil
- #7St Peter's CofE Primary School£8,023
- #8Lyndhurst Primary School£7,991
- #9Hurst Knoll St James' Church of England Primary School£7,982
- #10Holy Trinity CofE Primary School£7,973
- #11Arlies Primary School£7,789
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)