St George's Catholic School

St. George’s Catholic School is a Roman Catholic secondary school, with academy status, in Maida Vale, Westminster, London, England. The school also offers sixth form education franchised from St. Thomas More R.C School.

The school’s strong reputation is founded on the high expectations it has for its pupils, which have led to it having one of the highest Value Added scores (how much progress pupils make) in England.

In 2013, 90% of pupils achieved five A*-C GCSE grades including English and Maths.

The school provides its pupils with a well-ordered and inspirational learning environment and places great importance on the fact that all pupils can succeed regardless of their background. Ofsted has commended the school on its “outstanding curriculum” and “very high quality of care, guidance and support”.

Context

St. George’s is an extremely diverse community. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups, with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and those with English as an Additional Language is within the top quintile nationally. The school is also in the highest quintile for pupil deprivation. Despite this context, almost all groups of pupils outperform the average for their group in national examinations. The school’s geographical context, within a stone’s throw of central London, affords pupils the opportunity to work with city businesses as part of a broad programme of extra-curricular projects.

History

In 2010, Ofsted stated that “St. George’s has undergone a remarkable transformation and has now confidently emerged from a turbulent period”. Since then, the transformation has continued apace. The school shot to notoriety in 1995 when Headmaster Philip Lawrence was fatally stabbed whilst intervening in a fight outside the school gates in order to protect one of the school’s pupils. His bravery and dedication were commemorated in the Philip Lawrence Awards which recognises young people’s achievements in making a positive difference to their communities. His life and work is marked within the school by the “Philip Lawrence Friendship Garden”. Following the tragedy of Philip Lawrence’s death, the school went through many years of difficult transition and continued its spell in the limelight as part of the television drama Ahead of the Class which followed the headship of Marie Stubbs.

The school began its current trajectory of rapid improvement with the arrival in 2006 of head teacher Martin Tissot, who is also now head teacher of St Thomas More Catholic School, Wood Green. He introduced a firm framework for discipline and an emphasis on high expectations with clear boundaries. In 2009 the school became the 5th most improved school in the country. In 2010 Ofsted inspected the school and judged it to be outstanding. The school also gained dual specialisms in Business and Humanities. In March 2013 the school converted to academy status.

Facilities

In 2010, major construction work as part of the “Building Schools for the Future” programme came to a close and the school expanded into outstanding new facilities in the “Curran Block”. These include state of the art ICT, Science and Drama facilities as well as a new rooftop sports area.

International links

St. George’s is committed to widening pupils' opportunities and therefore offers a range of international trips to pupils, often funded through corporate sponsorship and with opportunities for pupils to visit and learn about international business. These trips have included:

2011–12 – Shanghai

2010–11 – South Africa

2009–10 – South Africa (sponsored by HSBC), Prague and Hong Kong

St. George’s pupils have competed four times in the "South African Model United Nations" international debating competition. In 2009, the school’s joint team with leading public school, City of London Boys, came home with prizes for best team and best speaker.

Clubs and extra-curricular activities

Clubs and extra-curricular activities include: Young Apprentice; Youth Club; Sports; Drama; and Latin.

As part of St. George’s offering to Gifted and talented pupils, students have been offered the opportunity to study Latin. In 2011 a Year 10 pupil became the school’s first pupil to achieve a GCSE in Latin.

Communications

The Dragon is the school’s magazine. Launched in 2006, and issued termly,^[1] it is written by staff and pupils and highlights important events and pupil achievements as well as showcasing pupils' work.

Community outreach

St. George’s provides a range of opportunities to its local community including drawing classes and an annual senior citizens' Christmas party. A group of pupils also visited Parliament to present to MPs and local councillors on the issues that affected them in their communities.

Pupil destinations

Over recent years, pupils have been increasingly successful in securing places at top universities. In 2011, two St. George’s alumnae went to Oxbridge whilst others took places at other Russell Group universities.

In 2010, Year 11 pupils secured highly sought after scholarships to Harrow School and University College School. One of these pupils also won a silver medal in the European under-17s fencing championships in Athens whilst studying for his GCSEs at St. George’s.

References

External links

• School website