Schools in St Ives
Cambridgeshire · 11 schools
Year 7 applications for September 2027 close in 5 days
Deadline Saturday 31 October 2026. Apply to Cambridgeshire (the council where you live). Offers on 1 March.
Reception applications for September 2027 close in 81 days
Deadline Friday 15 January 2027. Apply to Cambridgeshire (the council where you live). Offers on 16 April.
Schools in St Ives (11)
- Holywell CofE Primary School
Primary · Ages 4-11 · PE27 4TF
Ofsted: Outstanding (2013)KS2: 76% expected (2025) - Aurora Fairway School
Special · Ages 11-16 · Independent · PE27 6AL
Ofsted: Good (2023)Attainment 8: 5.2 (2026) - Thorndown Primary School
Primary · Ages 4-11 · PE27 6SE
Ofsted: Good (2017)KS2: 83% expected (2025)90% of first choices got in - St Ives Junior School
Primary · Ages 7-11 · TR26 1DN
Ofsted: Requires Improvement (2023)KS2: 83% expected (2025)
By type:Primary schools in St Ives (8)Secondary schools in St Ives (2)Special schools in St Ives (1)
11
8 primary · 2 secondary
3,973
81% capacity used
4
0 outstanding · 4 good
4,897
924 spare places
Ofsted Ratings
Best Schools in St Ives
View the full league table - ranked by Ofsted, Progress 8, KS2 results and more
Best Schools in Cambridgeshire
Compare all schools across the county
Area Performance (2026)
Attainment 8
33.0
GCSE Eng+Maths
34.4%
School Capacity & Demand
Housing Growth Detected
731 new homes approved nearby. This could generate an estimated +183 primary and +132 secondary pupils.
Source: MHCLG Live Table 122 (2024-25, last 5 years)
Primary Schools
82% occupied · 436 spare places
Secondary Schools
80% occupied · 482 spare places
Questions parents ask about schools in St Ives
How many schools are there in St Ives?
St Ives has 11 open schools: 8 state primary, 2 state secondary or all-through and 1 special.
Source: DfE Get Information About Schools
Which schools in St Ives are rated Outstanding?
1 school in St Ives was rated Outstanding at its most recent graded Ofsted inspection: Holywell CofE Primary School. Counting Good as well, 91% of the 11 graded schools here are rated Good or better. Ofsted stopped giving single-word overall grades in September 2024, so these are the grades from each school's last full inspection.
Source: Ofsted
Which secondary schools in St Ives get the best GCSE results?
Of the 2 schools in St Ives with 2026 GCSE results, the highest Attainment 8 scores - the average grade across a pupil's best eight GCSEs - were at St Ivo Academy, with an Attainment 8 score of 51.3 and 57% passing English and maths at grade 5 or above; and St Ives School, with an Attainment 8 score of 42.4 and 36% passing English and maths at grade 5 or above. Progress 8, the DfE's value-added measure, was not published for 2026.
Source: DfE school performance data
Which primary schools in St Ives have the best SATs results?
Of the 6 primary schools in St Ives with 2025 Key Stage 2 results, the highest shares of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading and maths were at St Ives Junior School (83% in reading, 82% in maths); Thorndown Primary School (84% in reading, 81% in maths); and Holywell CofE Primary School (81% in reading, 70% in maths). Small schools can swing a long way from one year to the next, because each pupil is a large share of the result.
St Ives Junior SchoolThorndown Primary SchoolHolywell CofE Primary School
Source: DfE school performance data
Are there grammar schools in St Ives?
No. None of the state secondary schools in St Ives selects pupils by ability, so every state secondary here is comprehensive.
Source: DfE Get Information About Schools
Do schools in St Ives have catchment areas?
Most state schools in St Ives have no fixed catchment boundary. When a school is oversubscribed, the council allocates places on its published criteria - usually looked-after children first, then siblings, then home-to-school distance - so the practical cut-off moves each year. Each school's page here shows an estimate of its catchment radius.
How do I apply for a school place in St Ives?
Apply to your council - Cambridgeshire or Cornwall, depending on your address - through its coordinated admissions process, even for academies and faith schools. In England the closing date is 31 October for secondary places and 15 January for primary places, in the year before your child starts.