Please ensure that children are supervised by parents in the playground before and after school. Thank you.
The School Day
The school day starts at 8.45am and registration occurs at 9am. The school gates are open from 8.45am - 8.55am and entrance to St James Primary is through the main gates at the front for Reception and Year 1, Year 2. Year 3 - 6 enter through the smaller gate in main playground to the left of the entrance gate and then up to the classroom block at the back. The door to each classroom is at the back of the building.
Parents with buggies can leave them, if they so wish, in the undercover buggy park outside Year 2. All scooters and bikes must be left in the bike racks also located outside Year 2 classroom and are not allowed in either playground at any time because of the potential danger of accidents especially to our younger children.
Children arriving after 8.55am, must go via the office to be registered for the day. This is especially important if you have school lunches as these are ordered on the day at 9am. The school gates are closed for the day at 9am. If you wish to come into school after then, please press the School Office buzzer at the main gate.
Assemblies
The school meets together for an assembly at the beginning of each day across the week. These are a great way for children to share in an act of worship and a learning experience for the whole school community which develops their listening and musical skills. Class led assemblies are once a term on Fridays and parents are very welcome to attend their child’s. Every child is encouraged to have a part - no matter how big or small - as we find it develops their confidence and speaking skills enormously. Dates for these are shown on our calendar page and are set at the beginning of each term.
We also have regular assemblies where children across the school can celebrate their achievements together and once a week we have a church led assembly by the team at St James Church.
Playtimes
Children in Foundation stage have free flow giving them access to the outdoors throughout the day. This allows them to judge the best time for their children to take their playtimes. In Years 1 to 6 morning break is from 10.40am – 11am.
Lunchtimes
Lunch is catered for externally and prepared by Signature Dining. Lunchtimes take place in the school hall and are from 12 noon to 1pm. Children from KS1 meet first for lunch, followed by KS2. Eating together encourages interactions between year groups. Sports balls and games equipment are provided during lunchtime play. The children enjoy being able to use netballs, footballs, skipping rope and hoops as well as the permanent playground equipment such as the monkey bars and climbing frames, swingball and table football.
End of the day
School gates are opened at 3.25pm and school finishes at 3.30pm with a prayer. Parents should collect their children from their classroom door where they can take their things and any important messages can be passed on by the teacher.
Year 6 children are allowed to leave school at this time, but only if they have had a permission slip signed by their parents/carers stating that they can do so.
In an emergency and if you know you will be late, you cannot collect your child yourself or your child is going home with another adult, please contact the Office to let them know so that they can pass the message onto their class teacher.
Children whose parents have not arrived to collect them by 3.40pm will be taken to the School Office and parents can collect them from there.
Parents are encouraged to leave the school premises with their children by 3.45pm and a warning bell will ring just before both playground gates are locked. This is to ensure that children taking place in after school activities are safeguarded and to reduce the likelihood of unsupervised accidents happening on school grounds. Parents collecting their children from after school clubs can enter the school through the main entrance.
After School Clubs
We have a wealth of different after school clubs for our children from fencing to chess and from drama to gymnastics. We also have an extended after school club run by Energy Kidz that is open til 6pm, Monday to Friday. For more information on all our clubs, please click here
