The school was a secondary modern school. It became a comprehensive in the early 1970s, and effectively became the only school in the area when the former Farnworth Grammar School was demolished. There is also a St James C of E Primary School in Farnworth, on Hillside Avenue.
Exam success
The school is continually achieving high GCSE grades, with 61% of pupils attaining the equivalent to 5 GCSEs at grade C or above. The school achieved sports college status in September 2005. The new sports area includes a dance studio, a multi-use games area (MUGA) and a sports hall. St James' is a respectable school in all areas, especially in charity work, for which they raise over £5,000 each year. The sports college status has now been removed.
The school recently achieved its highest ever exam success in 2008 with 73% of pupils achieving 5 or more Grade A* to C G.C.S.Es. With 65% of pupils achieving 5 or more Grade A* to C G.C.S.Es including Maths and English. But, the school has refused to publish any results for the 2015 GCSE results.
Headteacher- Mrs C. Anderson
Deputy Headteacher- Mr C. Lamb
Assistant Headteachers - Mrs C. Thornton, Mr A. Leigh, Mr. M Pearce, Mr D Hulme, Mrs R Iozzi, Mrs L Quarmby, Mr M. Bowden
Ofsted Outstanding
Following the appointment of a new headteacher, Mrs T Lewyckyj, St James was inspected by Ofsted and received an overall grade of Outstanding. This was the only secondary school in Bolton to receive this honour at the time of inspection, and places St James in the top 2% of schools nationally. This inspection is dated back in 2011.
Since this inspection a new headteacher 'Mrs C. Anderson; has been appointed after Mrs T. Lewyckyj was made head of the bishop Fraser Trust which St James is a member of along with 2 other schools within the Bolton district
Notable former pupils
Laurence Robertson - Conservative MP for Tewkesbury (when a secondary modern and later transferred to Farnworth Grammar).
