Atlantic Academy
Free schools · 242 pupils
80% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.1
Academy converter
St James School
- Pupils on roll
- 985of 980 places
- Free school meals
- 28.2%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 198
- Ofsted
- School remains Good, 15 November 2023Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: St James School (URN 113507, until 1 May 2016).
What the data says
St James School has no sixth form. Of the 189 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, none moved to a sixth form college, 77% to a further education college and 1% started an apprenticeship.
Photography is unusually popular at GCSE: 20% of the year group took it, against 6% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were in line with the national picture: Attainment 8 of 46.9 against 46.1 across England and 45.4 in Devon, with 53% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Almost nobody goes straight into an apprenticeship or a job: 1% took an apprenticeship and 7% went into work, against 3% and 3% across England.
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Devon and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | St James School | Devon | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 189 | 7,192 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 89% | 92% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 81% | 82% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 2% | 23% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | 2% | 13% |
| — further education college | 77% | 56% | 37% |
| — other education | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 6% | 3% |
| Employment | 7% | 4% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 8% | 6% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 3% | 2% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | St James School | Devon | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 46.9 | 45.4 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 53% | 46% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 69% | 66% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 62% | 37% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.42 | 4.02 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 24% | 22% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 31.5 | 32.3 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 51.8 | 49.0 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 17% | 6% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 195 | 98% | 89% | 15% | 20% | 71% |
| Mathematics | 195 | 98% | 88% | 28% | 22% | 75% |
| English Literature | 185 | 93% | 86% | 18% | 21% | 74% |
| Combined Science | 162 | 82% | 65% | 19% | 9% | 75% |
| History | 96 | 48% | 41% | 27% | 26% | 60% |
| Geography | 83 | 42% | 41% | 14% | 25% | 66% |
| French | 74 | 37% | 18% | 23% | 29% | 77% |
| Spanish | 51 | 26% | 19% | 22% | 27% | 67% |
| Fine Art | 44 | 22% | 9% | 32% | 28% | 77% |
| Photography | 40 | 20% | 6% | 20% | 19% | 75% |
| Statistics | 31 | 16% | 5% | 42% | 20% | 84% |
| Sociology | 27 | 14% | 4% | 22% | 21% | 81% |
| Computer Science | 23 | 12% | 13% | 17% | 30% | 78% |
| Biology | 21 | 11% | 23% | 57% | 45% | 100% |
| Chemistry | 21 | 11% | 23% | 57% | 47% | 100% |
| Physics | 21 | 11% | 23% | 62% | 46% | 100% |
| Chinese | 4 | 2% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Polish | 3 | 2% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Portuguese | 2 | 1% | 0% | — | 50% | — |
| Religious Studies | 2 | 1% | 31% | — | 32% | — |
| Urdu | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 42% | — |
| Turkish | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 71% | — |
| Arabic | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 47% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Studies | 55 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 45 | — | — |
| Engineering Studies | 35 | — | — |
| Speech and Drama | 17 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 16 | — | — |
| Dance: General | 6 | — | — |
Other secondary schools in Devon
Axe Valley Academy
Academy sponsor led · 741 pupils
84% stayed in education · Attainment 8 39.2
Bideford College
Academy sponsor led · sixth form · 1,455 pupils
71% stayed in education · Attainment 8 45.7
Braunton Academy
Academy converter · 828 pupils
87% stayed in education · Attainment 8 53.7
Chulmleigh Community College
Academy converter · 735 pupils
88% stayed in education · Attainment 8 54.1
Clyst Vale Community College
Academy converter · sixth form · 944 pupils
78% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.5
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.