St James Church
School
School Places in September 2026
The information below is for parents looking for a school for their child starting school in reception in September 2026.
On this page you will find lots of the information regarding transition into reception at St James Church School.
Welcome to St James
Starting school is a big step for every child. At St James, we welcome parents/carers to come and spend time in the school to meet the staff and explore the environment.
We are holding 2 welcome meetings on Thursday 6th November:
Morning meeting 9:30am - 10:30am
Evening meeting 5:00pm - 6:00pm
This will include a meet and greet session with the Headteacher and other key members of staff and a tour around the school. It is your opportunity to ask any questions you may have, but also see what a typical day at St James looks like for our children.
Please complete the following link to sign up to one of the welcome sessions.
Admissions
The deadline for applications to start school is 15th January 2026. Please click the link for the Somerset website where you can find more information regarding applying to start school.
Apply to start school for the first time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please see below for the welcome message from Mr Johnson for children and families who started with us this academic year.
Welcome
We at St James Church School, would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our school community. This is the start of an exciting seven-year journey for your child with us. It is essential that we establish a good relationship with you and your child so that they start school happy and confident. At St James Church School, we value our parent partnership links and we are really looking forward to meeting you.
We recognise the importance for all children to have a happy and settled transition into school and to support this we have a clear transition plan supporting all children and parents to start their journey at St James positively.
- A welcome meeting
- Visits to nursery settings
- Stay and play sessions
- Home visits
- Class Dojo pages enabling your child to hear their teacher read over the summer and answer any questions you may have.
Please see below for some general information for starting school. This includes a virtual tour of the reception classes, a useful Early Years handbook and some useful resources to use when preparing your child to start their exciting journey through Primary School.
Kind regards,
Mr Johnson
Here are some pictures of the EYFS area:
Starting school is an exciting time in your child's journey. Here are some useful resources you might like to use when helping your child prepare for the next steps in their journey.
Additional Support Documents
School Readiness (Somerset).pdf
The Foundation Stage at St James 2021.pdf
Pacey Starting School Resources
Starting School - Pacey Website
Try reading these stories over the summer to help your child understand their transition to school.
Books about starting school
I am too absolutely small for school
Harry and the Dinosaurs go to school
Starting School
Helpful Websites
School Readiness Video - From the West Taunton School Nurse Team
GOV guidance - helping children aged 2-4 learn at home
Take a Tour of St James Reception Class
Alfred the mouse visited St James and had lots of fun with the children. Take a look at the classrooms and see what he got up to. You can even go on a virtual tour!
Alfred the Mouse takes a look around Reception at St James
Useful pages to take a look at on our website
We operate wrap around (before and after school) care at St James. Take a look at this page to see more information.
If you would like to get a flavour of what goes on here at St James, our weekly Chatterbox newsletters are a good place to start.
Uniform
School Uniform (Parents menu tab)
Above is a link to our uniform page.