The children’s final years at St James are a wonderful time – they flourish as leaders in the school and grow in maturity both socially and academically.
We broaden the curriculum, introducing new subjects and more in-depth work. The children spend more time with specialist teachers and begin to make significant steps towards a more independent style of learning.
They begin to participate in team sports and represent the school at inter-school matches and ISA fixtures. A particular highlight of these years are the residential class holidays which the children join for the first time.
The children’s final years at St James are a wonderful time – they flourish as leaders in the school and grow in maturity both socially and academically. Each Year 6 pupil is made a Prefect, and they have positions of responsibility, including Head Pupils, House Captains, Eco and School Council leaders.
They have weekly verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning lessons and increasing input in smaller teaching groups. Although we are entirely committed to supporting the children in preparing for the tests, this is not at the expense of a wide and varied curriculum.
The resilience and self-reliance that the children have developed over their time at school, in addition to thoughtful discussions during their weekly Philosophy classes or school assemblies, allows them to approach the next stage of their educational journey with confidence.
The Pause
At St James, we feel it is important to introduce our pupils to stillness and allow them to discover how to be inwardly free and deeply at ease within themselves. A short period of 5-10 minutes at the beginning and middle of every day is allocated to quietude in which pupils may meditate, contemplate or simply be still – according to their own spiritual inclinations.