King James's School

King James’s School is a 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 cchool was designated a Specialist Science College in 2004 and became an Academy in 2012. King James’s, whose origins go back to the thirteenth century, has occupied its present site since 1547.

King James’s is a truly comprehensive school. The annual intake of 180 (increasing to 210) students, for which we are regularly over-subscribed, 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.

We provide a stimulating learning environment that encourages all of our students to achieve to the best of their ability. We have excellent facilities including extensive grounds, six computer suites, an Independent Learning Centre and other specialist teaching rooms. 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, Art, Design & Business and Performance.

At KS4 all students follow GCSE courses in English Language, English Literature, Science, Mathematics and Statistics. In addition they choose four further subjects from a range of GCSE and Vocational courses, currently as follows: separate Science, French, Spanish, History, Geography, Classical Civilisation, RE, Sociology, H&SC (Voc), Art, Textiles, Food, Graphics, 3D Design, i-Media (Voc), Computer Science, Business, Enterprise and Marketing (Voc), Music (Voc), Drama (Voc), Physical Education and Sports Studies (Voc).

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. These have included the National Centre for the Excellence of Teaching in Mathematics, Astra-Zeneca Science Trust, David Jesson, National College of School Leadership, STEM, WISE, Network of Excellence for the Teaching of Computer Science and our Local Authority.