Lift St James the Great
Chapman Way, East Malling, ME19 6SD
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- LIFT SCHOOLS
- Headteacher
- Miss Tamasin Springett
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Lift Schools
- Constituency
- Maidstone and Malling
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 176
- URN
- 138074
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01732841912
About this school
Lift St James the Great is a primary academy in East Malling. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 176 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 13 September 2023, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 21 | 30 | 28 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 67% | 80% | 79% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 3% | 11% |
| Expected standard in reading | 71% | 80% | 82% |
| Expected standard in maths | 71% | 83% | 86% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 62% | 80% | 71% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 107.0 | 110.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 105.0 | 107.0 |
| Reading progress | +2.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +3.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +3.50 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Lift St James the Great has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 67% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 80% | 60.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 79% | 60.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 197 |
| 2023/24 | 221 |
| 2024/25 | 192 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Lift St James the Great compares
Lift St James the Great ranked 68th of 427 primary schools in Kent for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 86% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 29% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 79% | 6.6% | 51.4% | 176 | — |
| More Park Catholic Primary School | 72% | 3.9% | 15.3% | 183 | 0.6 miles |
| Brookfield Infant School | — | 5.4% | 23.5% | 180 | 0.7 miles |
| Lunsford Primary School | 35% | 5.5% | 26% | 202 | 0.7 miles |
| Brookfield Junior School | 63% | 6% | 31% | 251 | 0.7 miles |
| Leybourne, St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary Academy | 81% | 4.8% | 10.9% | 211 | 0.7 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 51.43%
- English as an additional language
- 9.4%
- Overall absence
- 6.6%
- Persistent absence
- 28.65%
Location
Nearby schools
-
More Park Catholic Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · West Malling
-
Brookfield Infant School0.7 miles
Primary · Aylesford
-
Lunsford Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Aylesford
-
Brookfield Junior School0.7 miles
Primary · Aylesford
-
Leybourne, St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary Academy0.7 miles
Primary · West Malling
Common questions
- What year groups does Lift St James the Great teach?
- Lift St James the Great teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in East Malling.
- Who is the headteacher of Lift St James the Great?
- The headteacher of Lift St James the Great is Miss Tamasin Springett, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Lift St James the Great last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Lift St James the Great, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Lift St James the Great?
- Lift St James the Great has 176 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Lift St James the Great full?
- Lift St James the Great has capacity for 210 pupils and 176 on roll (84%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Lift St James the Great a faith school?
- No. Lift St James the Great has no designated religious character.
- Does Lift St James the Great have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Lift St James the Great as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Lift St James the Great?
- Lift St James the Great is part of LIFT SCHOOLS. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Lift St James the Great's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 67% in 2022/23 and 79% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Lift St James the Great rank locally?
- Lift St James the Great ranked 68th of 427 primary schools in Kent for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 86% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 29% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Lift St James the Great's absence rate?
- Lift St James the Great's overall absence rate is 6.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Lift St James the Great's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Lift St James the Great's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.