St James' Catholic High School

St James' Catholic High School was founded in 1934 by the Dominican Sisters at the behest of the Cardinal Bourne to provide Catholic secondary education for the children of the parishes of north west London.

From 1949 until 1996, St James' existed on two, sometimes three sites. The goal of the school community for decades had been to unite on one site. With generous backing of the Funding Agency for schools, the Archdiocese and the Dominican Sisters, consolidation on our Colindale site was achieved in September 1996.

We have a great deal to be proud of here at St James’, but we are far from complacent.  We continue to strive for excellence for all students.  Staff work very successfully with parents, governors and our wider community, supporting our young people as they undertake their faith and their educational journeys.  Our mission statement is our cornerstone and we do all that we can to ensure our students are enabled to “live their lives to the full”.

When Ofsted visited us in March 2017, they acknowledged the fact that "pupils made progress that was significantly higher than the national progress score and in the top 10% of schools nationally." They attributed this excellent progress to our nurturing and supportive learning community and the strong relationships between staff and pupils, as well as our whole-school focus on high-quality teaching, learning and assessement across the curriculum. 

On behaviour, the inspectors said that: "During teaching sessions, pupils demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning. They are consistently engaged and enthusiastic (...) listen carefully to their teachers and to the views of others.They are keen to do well in their studies,work very hard and take pride in their work. Consequently, they make excellent progress throughout their time at school".

Excellent outcomes have been secured for students again this summer.  53% of Year 13 students achieved A*-B and have been able to accept their university offers in another very competitive year.  92% of our Year 11 students achieved at least five A* to C grades at GCSE  and 85% of students included both English and Maths in at least five A* to C grades at GCSE.  We are delighted with these results.  These marvellous achievements are down to students, parents and staff at St James’, knowing the roles they had to play and working with enthusiasm and dedication to ensure our students achieved as well as they possibly could.