| Established | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Type | Voluntary-aided comprehensive |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Headteacher | Mr Neil Lockyer |
| Specialism | Arts |
| Location | Spencefield Lane Leicester Leicestershire LE5 6HN England |
| Local authority | Leicester |
| DfE URN | 120307 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 1043 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Black, white and gold |
| Former name | Evington Hall RC Girls' Grammar School |
| Diocese | Nottingham |
St Paul's Roman Catholic Comprehensive School and Performing Arts College, known locally as St Paul's School, is a voluntary-aided Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Evington, Leicester, teaching years 7-13.
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It is one of only two Catholic comprehensives in the Leicester area, the other being English Martyrs Catholic School. There are currently 1080 students on roll at St Paul's[1], 180 of whom are sixth-formers. They are organized into years, with years 7, 8 and 9 (Key Stage 3 years) constituting the "lower school"; years 10 and 11 (GCSE years) constituting the "upper school"; and years 12 and 13 (A-Level years) constituting the "sixth form". Years 7-11 are headed by a Year Head (also called a Progress Leader), and years 12 and 13 are headed by the Head of Sixth Form, assisted by an Assistant Head of Sixth Form.
It is situated off the B667, just west of City of Leicester College.
Evington Hall Convent Grammar School was a girls' grammar school on Spencefield Lane (B667). The Convent of the Nativity Junior School was on the same site.
The school was created in 1977 from the merger of two local Catholic schools - Evington Hall, the girls' grammar school that served the city and county; and Corpus Christi, the local secondary modern school built in 1950 on Gwendolen Road opposite Leicester General Hospital, which is now the site of the non-denominational Crown Hills Community College since 1978. The current building includes the original Evington Hall building as well as several new wings built over the years. The new additions have made the school building roughly twice the size it was upon the school's foundation. The school celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 2002, with an open day for alumni, hosted by students and staff. In 2003, the school attained specialist Performing Arts College status, and it has enjoyed excellent results in this field.
From September 2011, the former site of the grammar school, at Evington Hall, will become the Leicester Krishna-Avanti Primary School, a Hindu free school. It had previously been occupied until 2008 by the Junior School of the independent Leicester Grammar School, which moved to Great Glen. The owners of the building failed to get planning permission for housing.
St Paul's is a voluntary aided school, and as such receives a reduced amount of government funding. However, the school is equipped with modern computer facilities, a well-stocked library and a state-of-the-art performing arts department which includes a recording studio, drama suites, dance suites and a Drama Hall with a high stage and curtains. It was officially opened by Labour MPs Jim Knight (then-Minister of State for Schools) and Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East. There is also a Catholic chapel on the premises, which features a plaque blessed by Pope John Paul II.
It also features two big hard-court areas, one with basketball posts and a modern sports court with various equipment including two full size football goals. Most of the teaching rooms are equipped with interactive wipeboards and computers.
A planning application had been submitted by Leicester Grammar Junior School (a school which neighboured St. Paul's until 2008) to build houses on the land adjacent to St Paul's School. The land has been designated as being for educational and community use, and St Paul's have offered to buy the land at a cost which reflects this. However, despite knowing for several years of the Grammar school's plans to sell off the land, St Paul's declined to make an offer on the land, and was thus put up for private sale. The students of St. Paul's have used this large area of grassland for P.E lessons and games at break times and lunchtimes. Owning the land would allow the school to continue to develop as a centre of educational excellence for decades to come, building on its recent designation as one of the country's High Performing Schools. The students would also not have to travel to another school for their P.E lessons. If the land was developed the school would instead have to adjust to functioning on a site shared with housing with the obvious difficulties over safety and privacy.
UPDATE: "Our primary concern as a governing body has always been to secure enough land to meet our immediate requirements in terms of outdoor play space and also provide sufficient land for future expansion of built facilities. With this in mind we have purchased the whole of the playing fields to the rear of the school." St Paul's School Governors
St Paul's Catholic school agreed to withdraw its appeal against housing being built on the Leicester Grammar site, in return for Leicester Grammar selling St Paul's their playing fields.
St Paul's offers GCSE, A-Level and BTEC qualifications, as well as a mandatory PHSE programme.
St Paul's Catholic School recently got the second highest GCSE grades in Leicester, and also have achieved some of the highest A Level results in the city.
Leicester LEA has low GCSE results, but the school is one the few to gain good GCSE results, and in 2010 was third best, behind another catholic school, English Martyrs Catholic School (in the north-west of Leicester). St Paul's gets slightly better A-level results than English Martyrs, with the second best A-level results in Leicester, behind Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College. It has A-level results slightly above the England average, and gets the best results for the three 11-18 Leicester schools.