Welcome to Saint Paul's Academy
News update - Monday, 3rd June 2013
St Paul's Academy is featured on BBC Scotland
A film crew from BBC Scotland spent a day at St Paul's filming as part of a Newsnight documentary on successful schools in London.
Gaelic Football Tour to Ireland
The U14 Gaelic Football team in partnership with Dulwich Harps GFC has recently returned from a six-day tour to Ireland. During their time in Ireland, the team recorded comfortable victories against Boyle GFC, Co. Roscommon and Lavey GFC, Co. Cavan. However, in their remaining games the team recorded narrow victories:
- Castlerea St Kevin's GFC, Co.Roscommon 0-09 (9pts) to 1-05 (8pts)
- The Downs GFC, Co. Westmeath 3-12 (21pts) to 2-13 (19pts)
Mathematics Challenge
Congratulations to our young mathematicians who took part in the annual maths challenge. Our results this year have been outstanding! 11 Bronze, 3 Silver and 2 GOLD awards by Stephen Tipper & Sean Galvin. Stephen is the first candidate in 15 years to achieve a score which entitles him to enter the Junior Maths Olympiad. Well done to all our students!''
GSCE Mathematics results
The GCSE Mathematics results from the March series have been published and our students have achieved a record breaking set of results. 81% of the cohort have achieved A* - C grades with 33 students achieving A/ A * grades. Congratulations to our students and the Mathematics Team.
English Department
In the Autumn Term 2012, a short film was made about our English department for the Ofsted website as an example of good practice. It shows fragments of lessons where talk, collaborative work and film have been used as tools for learning.
This is the link to the film:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-practice-film-st-pauls-greenwich-english
OFSTED Inspection: January 2013
As you will all be aware, we had our much anticipated Ofsted inspection on 23rd and 24th January. Schools now are only informed at lunchtime on the day before a two-day inspection is due to start as inspectors want to see what “normal” looks like. We think that this is a much fairer way of inspecting a school than giving weeks or months of notice, during which time staff anxiety levels would rise and panic would set in. With a no-notice inspection, staff and students are not thrown into a situation which becomes false, and therefore a much more realistic view of the school is formed by the inspectors.
However, ours was no ordinary inspection. Most schools of our size would expect one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and three additional inspectors, but we welcomed on the first day two HMI and two additional inspectors. On the second day, we welcomed four HMI, one additional inspector, a member of the policy team and the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove! Obviously, this came as something of a surprise, but we embraced the opportunity to show Mr Gove what a fantastic school we have and how proud we are of our community. This was the first time that Mr Gove had observed an Ofsted inspection first-hand and he appeared impressed by what he saw, however, there can be no doubt that the presence of Mr Gove and the extra inspectors added a different dimension to the inspection, as some staff had four adults, including Mr Gove, observing a lesson and students. Interestingly, some students also felt this pressure and were reticent about answering questions in lessons which were being observed in case they gave the wrong answers. This clearly demonstrates the close relationships between staff and students!
As far as the report itself is concerned, we are very pleased with the outcomes; the first statement made is that “This is a thriving and well-led academy” and the report goes on to say “This is an extremely welcoming place. Students are a great credit to themselves and to the academy. They are polite, friendly and helpful, and they behave superbly. They attend very regularly because they enjoy school and value their education”. The dedication of teachers was noted by the inspectors and it was seen that as a result of this, students “achieve well and leave with very good examination results”. We were also delighted that the excellent links we have with the local community were acknowledged.
Of course, we are never complacent and the inspectors rightly pointed out areas where we can improve. Our aim is to make sure we are outstanding in all areas and we are aware that, as we move from being a small school to being a much larger school, some new, more sophisticated systems need to be put into place. An example of this would be the need to evaluate the progress that different groups are making and we have recently appointed a new, full-time Data Manager, who will co-ordinate and analyse information from all Learning Zones, in order to give us a holistic picture about all students’ progress.
I would like to thank all staff and students, as well as parents and carers, for their tremendous support, not only during the inspection, but also on a day-to-day basis. The inspectors were hugely impressed by the positivity of the feedback they received from all members of our community and acknowledged that huge contribution this makes to the success of our Academy.
Click here to view the Ofsted Report.
Click here to view the article in the TES.
Patrick Winston
6th February 2013
Gaelic Football Trials
Download the Gaelic Football trials leaflet.
Uniform shop's new opening times
From Monday 10th September, St Paul's Academy school uniform shop will be open on the following days:
Mondays & Tuesdays: 3.30pm - 4.30pm
The school uniform shop will no longer be open on Wednesdays.
Should you wish to order by e-mail or telephone, please contact us on the details provided below. Your order will be processed and ready for collection three days from the date your order was received.
Payment for school uniform can only be made by cheque, cash or credit/debit card. View price list [pdf, 34 Kb].
Uniform shop number: 020 8311 3868 ext 154
E-mail address: spa.shop@stpauls.greenwich.sch.uk
Jessica Ennis visits Saint Paul's Academy
The community of St Paul’s was delighted to welcome newly crowned British Pentathlon record holder and London 2012 Olympic gold medal hope Jessica Ennis to the Academy. As part of the Olympic trail of inspiring London to the Games in July, Jessica on behalf of Aviva, was welcomed by not only students of St Paul’s but of a number of local primary and secondary schools, on what was a glorious sun-filled day of sporting celebration and inspiration.
View full article "Jessica Ennis visits Saint Paul's Academy".
Machindo inspired by Lord Coe
Machindo Mwambazi, a Year 10 Sports Leader at St Paul’s Academy was chosen to represent London Schools at the International Inspiration Olympic Gallery launch recently at the Museum of London where he met Lord Sebastian Coe, Denise Lewis and Colin Jackson of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). Machindo’s sporting photo was chosen to represent London at the Gallery and will now be displayed at the Olympic stadium during the London Games 2012.
