King James's School

King James’s School is a highly successful and oversubscribed 11-16 comprehensive school (NOR 1050), serving a suburban area and a scatter of villages to the east and south of Huddersfield. It is situated approximately 2 miles from the centre of Huddersfield in a semi-rural position overlooking the Farnley Valley. The school, whose origins go back to the thirteenth century and has occupied its present site since 1547,  became a stand-alone Academy in 2012.

King James’s is a truly comprehensive school. The annual intake of 210 students has a very broad socio-economic mix and our ethnic mix closely resembles that of the wider British society. The intake comes predominantly from our catchment areas of Almondbury, Lepton, Kirkheaton and Grange Moor, but we also receive a significant number from outside the area.

The essence of our school is built around three Hs:

• our distinguished History; values and traditions dating back more than 400 years
• our Holistic provision, which develops students both academically and pastorally; a curriculum that promotes social mobility, high-quality teaching with a focus on academic rigour and a strong extra-curricular offer
• our High expectations and aspirations; the expectation of excellent attendance, punctuality and behaviour

We provide a stimulating learning environment that encourages all of our students to achieve to the best of their ability. The School provides a broad and balanced curriculum that allows all students to reach the highest standards of education, underpinned by dedicated Pastoral care to support the learning and emotional needs of our students.

The curriculum is organised through seven Curriculum Faculties: English, Mathematics, Science, Languages, Humanities, Performance and Creative. At KS3 (Y7-9), our offer comprises subjects from all these faculties. At KS4 (Y10-11) students follow GCSE courses in English Language, English Literature,  Mathematics and Science. In addition they choose four further subjects from a range of GCSE and Vocational courses, currently as follows: separate Science, French, Spanish, History, Geography, RE, Sociology, H&SC (Voc), Art, Textiles, Food, Graphics, i-Media (Voc), Computer Science, Enterprise and Marketing (Voc), Music (Voc), Drama (Voc), and Physical Education.

We have excellent facilities including extensive grounds, six computer suites, an Independent Learning Centre and other specialist teaching rooms.

In recent years teachers at King James’s School have been involved in numerous research teaching projects with a wide variety of different organisations. All of these initiatives have led to the School being at the forefront of development in Teaching and Learning.