St James C of E Primary School

Our school is a church school where our Christian values underpin much of our work and aspirations both for the children and the whole school community.

Our standards of work and behaviour are high and we seek to nurture children socially, emotionally, spiritually and academically. We’re not complacent and try to lead the way for our children and listen and reflect on the effectiveness of what we do and how we do it. We strive to improve our performance and encourage children to do the same.

The world of education is changing significantly and children need to be equipped to develop key, relevant life skills. We welcome discussion and agreement with parents about how to assist our children and know that effective school parent partnerships are crucial for their progress and well being.

As a Christian school, our Christian values are at the core of all we do. These are wisdom, thankfulness, humility, endurance, service, compassion, trust, peace, forgiveness, reverence, friendship, justice, hope and creation. To help learn about these values, each class study and are champions of two values which they look at in depth and share with others at school through our assemblies.

At St James Primary School we promote ‘British Values’ through our spiritual, moral, social and cultural education and distinctly Christian ethos, which permeates through the schools’ curriculum and supports the development of the ‘whole child’. We recognise that such development is most successful when those values and attitudes are promoted by all the staff and provide a model of behaviour for our pupils.

During their time at St James, children are helped to learn to manage their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions. They are taught the value and the reason behind the laws that govern and protect us.

We promote freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs and we do this by providing sensible boundaries within which our children make informed choices through a supportive and safe environment. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedom and adults within the school community are proactive in building trusting and respectful relationships with the children to boost their self esteem and to enable them to make good, confident choices.

We are lucky to be a school in the capital of Britain with all the advantages that London has to offer with its cultural and religious diversity. Mutual respect is at the heart of our ethos - respect for individuals, for belongings, for our behaviour is a theme that is closely linked to many of our Christian values. We believe in every child’s inclusion, where possible, in a range of activities and settings and locations and we are committed to introducing our children to their wider community beyond the school gates.

Our Christian worship helps all pupils to find out about themselves and others linking their lives to the communities in which they belong. Through our assemblies and RE and PSHE lesson as we regularly learn about our Christian values of friendship, compassion, trust and thankfulness and these link closely with this idea.

Our children follow a broad curriculum based on the revised National Curriculum (2014), and other learning experiences, which aim to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of the world and which is a foundation for lifelong learning. We believe all children are entitled to access this curriculum and to learn and develop at an appropriate pace. We seek to educate the whole child in a Christian environment. We encourage our children's physical, oral and social development and want them to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens both now and in the future.

St James School maintains a close relationship with St James Church, offering us a great opportunity to provide an education firmly founded on Christ and Christian values.

As art of the daily act of collective worship, once a week a team from the St James Church Children's Ministry leads an assembly to teach the gospel and to help the children explore and implement the principles of the Christian faith in their daily lives. To enhance worship, the children are taught a variety of songs and participate in very creative, fun, bible-based discussions.

We also teach a rich curriculum incorporating History, Geography, Art and Design, Languages, Music and Personal, Health & Social Education (PHSE). Teachers plan topics of work for each year group from the national curriculum. We supplement our provision each term with events to broader experiences of the children including Do Something Different Day, philosophy for children, Science week, and Hoola hoop day to name but a few.

Our children take part in a wide variety of school trips, usually once or twice termly to support their learning. Recent trips have included the Olympic Park, Science Museum, Hackney Empire, Natural History Museum, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, the Arts Depot and the Butterfly House in Golders Hill Park.

We also have outside agencies come into the school to run workshops for children in drama, art, music and science and we undertake local fieldwork in Highgate Woods and Muswell Hill.

The building has been updated, playgrounds improved and classrooms refurbished so that the crucial work of educating our children to the highest standards can continue in the tradition established when the school first opened its doors in 1850.

Our children are natural scientists and are keen to explore, enquire and understand the world around them. Within the National Curriculum framework we investigate life processes, materials, physical processes and concentrate on developing children's scientific skills, encouraging them to question, investigate and test appropriately.