St James Independent Schools

St James' Independent Schools in London (UK) are three fee-paying schools for children aged 4 to 18. The Junior and Senior Girls' Schools are in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and the Senior Boys' School in Ashford, Surrey. In 2019 The Times UK School Guide ranked St James' Senior Girls School 102nd with 82.1% scoring A*-B at A-Level, and St James' Senior Boys 251st with 75.9% scoring A*- B at A-level. Meditation and Mindfulness St James' incorporate stillness, meditation, reflection techniques into the school routine. Sanskrit Language Unusually for a UK school, the St James Schools teach Sanskrit., which is a compulsory second language for the junior students. Being an ancient Indo-European language its study illuminates the grammar and etymology of modern languages of that family, including English; its philosophical concepts provide a wealth of human thought; regarded classical language par excellence and considered positive while assessing university admissions. It also helps students grasp maths, science and other languages better. Warwick Jessup, head of Sanskrit department, says: "This is the most perfect and logical language in the world, the only one that is not named after the people who speak it. Indeed the word 'Sanskrit' itself means perfected language." Paul Moss, Headmaster of the school, says: "The Devanagri script and spoken Sanskrit are two of the best ways for a child to overcome stiffness of fingers and the tongue. Today’s European languages do not use many parts of the tongue and mouth while speaking or many finger movements while writing, whereas Sanskrit helps immensely to develop cerebral dexterity through its phonetics."