Miss Key, Year 7 Learning Manager, Mrs Holdsworth, KS3 Manager and the Pastoral Team visit all students in the Summer term to talk to them about moving up to secondary school. 

All students then spend two transition days in school before starting in September. These transition days allow students to get to know their tutor and tutor group, experience a variety of lessons and explore their new school.

Students coming on their own or in a small group from smaller primary schools will also get an extra transition day to help facilitate their move up to secondary school and meet some new friends before the main transition days. Other students may come for an extra day if their primary schools feel that it would benefit them or they may just visit the school to have an extra look around. 

There will also be an Expectations Evening for parents and carers in July to support them in helping their son/daughter make the transition to secondary school.

The tutor, stays with their tutor group for all five years at King James’s to ensure consistency, is the most important person for pupils when they join the school. They will see the students every morning and be your first point of contact as parents/carers for all pastoral matters. 

Miss Key, Year 7 Learning Manager and the Pastoral Officer, who is a non-teaching member of staff and therefore available all day, work very closely with the SENCO and Family Support Officer to provide a high level of pastoral support for students. We also have a full time school nurse. The whole team is contactable via email or phone, should you need to contact them to ensure a smooth transition for your child.

Please visit the Parents & Students/Behaviour & Wellbeing section of our website for information on our Tutor Time Programme.

Students follow a 5 period day and King James’s runs a two week timetable. 

Morning registration begins at 8.45am and students should be in school for 8.40am. Punctuality to school and lessons is very important and regularly monitored.

Lessons begin at 9.00am and each lesson lasts an hour. We have a mid-morning break of 20 minutes and lunch is 40 minutes. The day finishes at 3.15pm.

Year 7 students go to lunch earlier than the rest of the school. This enables them to eat their lunch with their friends before they head off to a lunchtime extra-curricular club. The food on offer is always voted as the highlight of the day by Year 7 students. They love the variety of pasta pots, noodles, vegetarian options, sandwiches, paninis, fish and chips and chicken burgers. King James’s has a cashless catering system so students don’t need to bring dinner money with them. They just use their lunch card, which can be topped up at home on ParentPay. Students can also bring a packed lunch and eat it in the Lunch Hall with their friends. 

Year 7’s have their own social area; the Quad. On wet days, we all watch films together in Chaloner Hall or students can go to one of the many clubs on offer or to the Library.

This will depend on the subject but students should expect about 1 hour a night in total. We have a staffed Homework Club after school to support students with their homework.

Class sizes will vary depending on the subject. The average class size in Year 7 is 27. Practical classes like DT and Art are smaller.

Pupils will be put into tutor groups with someone from their primary school but the group will also be made up of a mix of pupils from all our feeder primary schools, all abilities and gender.

The teaching group will be different from the tutor group but will be made up in exactly the same way. This will allow students to make lots of new friends and get to know at least fifty new people in their year group.

Classes are mixed ability in all subjects except Mathematics who set from the start of the year. As students move up through the school setting is introduced in a number of subjects.

We encourage Year 7 students to get involved in the many clubs and extra-curricular activities on offer at lunch and after school. It is a great way to make new friends, get active and enjoy themselves. Clubs range from drama, sport, coding, chess, art, music, crafts, etc.

A comprehensive brochure containing a timetable for all the clubs and activities will be given to students. Details can be found in the Extra-Curricular area of our website.

King James’s has an outstanding reputation catering for students with ‘additional needs’ and is a totally inclusive school. These students are fully supported by our Learning Support Department, led by our SENCO, Alison Jones and her team of highly qualified specialist teachers and teaching assistants (TAs) whose experience and bespoke training enable them to deliver high quality intervention. We would ask that if you have any specific questions about your child then please first visit the Special Educational Needs (SEND) page of our website.