St James Durban follows CAPS (Amended CAPS Section 4 – the most updated syllabus as published by the DoE) as a basis for our curriculum. We encourage Thinking Skills across all subjects, which prepares our pupils for the future and teaches them to solve problems creatively. In addition, Specialist Art, Specialist Drama and Specialist Music further enrich our curriculum. We write benchmarking tests every year, such as Quintathlon, Conquesta and Natural Sciences. We are fortunate to have our very own fully equipped Science Lab.
Our language of instruction is English, and our first additional languages are isiZulu and Afrikaans.
We share our property with the School of Practical Philosophy, and therefore ask our parents to only pack vegetarian lunches in order to show respect towards our founders – the School of Practical Philosophy.
We do not have sports fields on our property, so we transport our pupils to and from Hoy Park and Sutton Park Swimming Pool for PE and extra-murals.
Academic Support lessons are offered by the teachers as the need arises. Parents and teachers work closely together; especially when it comes to having a child assessed by Children’s Centres with Educational Psychologists to explore possible learning barriers.
Pupils receive an Academic Progress Report, and parent meetings are held every term to discuss the progress of your child. We aim to keep the lines of communication open as much as possible, which is why you will find that you will be invited to join a Class Group as soon as your child starts his/her journey with us. Letters are sent home via the PTC Book, but most communication will occur electronically.
Social skills, teambuilding and leadership development form part of your child’s growth, which is why we have annual outings.
The class teacher, together with either the Deputy Principal or the Principal accompany our pupils to keep an eye on things – the children’s safety is our first priority.
We love celebrating special days, such as Valentine’s Day, Arbor Day, Mandela Day, Spring Day and Heritage day. We usually dress up for fun over and above participating in relevant activities for those days. Our Eco Club sorts out all our recycling.
