Paddington Academy is a

non-selective In biochemistry and pharmacology, a ligand is a Chemical substance, substance that forms a Complex (chemistry), complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose. The etymology stems from ''ligare'', which means 'to bind'. In protein-lig ...

co-educational

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

located in

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

in the borough of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

and the

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Established in September 2006, it is run by

United Learning United Learning is a group of state-funded schools and fee-paying independent schools operating in England. United Learning is the trading name for United Church Schools Trust (UCST) and United Learning Trust (ULT). It is one of the largest 10 ch ...

, formerly known as

United Church Schools Trust The United Church Schools Trust (UCST) is a large education charity in the United Kingdom which owns and operates a group of 12 independent schools. The charity is operating under the name United Learning as of 2012. History UCST was founded in ...

. It was officially opened by

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

on 19 March 2009 at 9am.

History

Paddington Academy opened in September 2006 as one of two new academies (along with Westminster Academy) established to replace

North Westminster Community School North Westminster Community School was a comprehensive school in London, England, formed in 1981 by the amalgamation of Rutherford School, Sarah Siddons Girls' School, and Paddington School. It closed in 2006 and was replaced by three new schoo ...

. The initial plan was moving school to an older building located on North Wharf Road for its first term and then moving into a new building located on Maryland's Road. However, work on the new building was delayed multiple times, forcing the school to stay at North Wharf Road for a year before finally moving to the new and current site in April 2007.

Academics

Ofsted judgements

In the academy's first

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

report in 2007, it was described as "an academy that rightly judges that standards remain low and that achievement is inadequate." The academy's second Ofsted report and first full inspection in 2009 showed that while there was an improvement in the grades of students, there was a lack of consistency within the subjects. However, overall the school was described as " nacademy which provides a satisfactory quality of education." In November 2011, the academy was judged as Outstanding by Ofsted.

GCSE results

In 2007, GCSE results showed that only 25% of students managed to get 5 or more A*–C grades including English and Maths. The following year, that figure increased to 41%. Then in 2009, it fell to 34%. However, in 2010 the number of students achieving 5 or more A*–C GCSE grades including English and Maths jumped to 62% and in total, 94% of students managed to achieve 5 or more A*–C grades, up from 86% the year before. As of 2011, the results show that figure has managed to rise again to 68% with a total of 99% of students managing to achieve 5 or more A*–C GCSEs, a 5% increase from the prior year. In 2010, Paddington Academy became the second most improved academy in England, was ranked the 5th best school in the country and was ranked 2nd for the most student progress. As of 2011, it received the 3rd highest number of students receiving 5 or more A*-C GCSEs in Westminster and was ranked the 4th best school in England. In August 2018 at GCSE level 80% of students at the academy gained at least a grade 4 in English and Maths. In addition, 60 of the grades gained by students were grade 9s, which is the highest attainable grade at GCSE and was achieved by only 3% of students nationally. At A Level, 32% of grades were awarded the highest marks of A* or A, 66% of A Level grades were awarded A*-B; 90% of grades were awarded A*-C and ten students gained at least 3+ A grades at A Level (7% of the cohort). The school achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.94 in October 2019 which placed the academy in the top 1% of schools nationally.

References

External links