James Ward Elementary School Home

What's Happening At Ward

Golden Apple Award Winner 2026 Ms. Richmond

Golden Apple Award for Excellence In Teaching 2026 Winner. Ms. Richmond, we are so incredibly proud to call you a James Ward Jaguar. Congratulations on this well deserved honor!

Misty Richmond JWS 7th and 8th Grade Teacher

Please see Ms. Chacon or Ms. Yau to signup for the portal. You can email at [email protected] with your name and your students name and room number and a account setup link will be sent to you. In the portal you can see your students grades and assignments up to date. We are also now collecting all fees through the Aspen portal. Please allow teachers two weeks to get in new grades that are missing.

This is a Photo Gallery throughout the years at James Ward.

Visit our photo gallery page!

Photos throughout the year.

New Uniform Website

There is a new uniform website. It is www.https://orders.sgondemand.com/jwes/catalog
You can also purchase uniform colors at Kohls, Target, Old Navy, and Zemsky's.

Newsletters

Check here to see the latest Newsletters.

The CPS Volunteer Process

Please follow this process for Level 1 and Level 2 volunteer approval.

Upcoming Events

Sep 23

First BAC Informational Meeting

Time: 8 AM – 9 AM

Location: JWS

Sep 23

Merit Strings Demonstration Night

Time: 3 PM – 5 PM

Location: JWS

Aug 25

First Day for Students in PreKindergarten :)

Aug 24

First Day back for Students K - 8th :)

Show All Events

All About Mr. Ward

James Ward, Esquire, was born in Antrim, Ireland on August 1, 1814. In 1834, he traveled to America and lived at Auburn, New York as a farmer. He married Mary E. Hickson in 1840 and remained with her until her departure from this world in 1855. Mr. Ward was a member of the Chicago Board of Education from May 1857 to 1863. During this period there was much progress and growth in the school system. At that time, he was the chairman of the committee on School Buildings and Grounds. As the chairman, he was responsible for the planning and supervision of the construction of the free schools in Chicago.