St. George's Catholic School is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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) ...

, with academy status, 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 ...

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 ...

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, England. The school also offers

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

education franchised from St Thomas More Catholic School.

History

In 2010,

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 ...

stated that "St. George’s has undergone a remarkable transformation and has now confidently emerged from a turbulent period". The school received publicity in 1995 when headmaster Philip Lawrence was fatally stabbed whilst intervening in a fight outside the school gates in order to protect a pupil. His bravery and dedication were commemorated in the

Philip Lawrence Awards The Philip Lawrence Awards were created in the UK in 1997 to reward outstanding achievements in good citizenship by young people aged 11 to 20. They recognise contributions to the community which bring out the best in young people, empower them to ...

which recognise 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 Lawrence's death, the school went through many years of difficult transition and appeared as part of the television drama '' Ahead of the Class'' which followed the headship of

Marie Stubbs Marie, Lady Stubbs, DSG (born 1939) is a British educator and academic, mostly known for being the headmistress who reformed St George's Roman Catholic Secondary School, in Maida Vale, London. Career in education Early career Marie Margaret ...

. In regards to Stubbs' term, Paul McGuire of the ''

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'' wrote "The fact that the school was deemed a national example of good practice after only four terms was a remarkable achievement by any standards." In 2006 head teacher Martin Tissot joined the staff; he is also now head teacher of St Thomas More Catholic School, Wood Green. In 2009 the school became the fifth most improved school in the country. In 2010

inspected the school and it was rated outstanding. The school also gained dual specialisms in business and humanities. In March 2013 the school converted to academy status.

School performance and inspection judgements

The school has one of the highest Value Added scores, measuring how much progress pupils make in

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 ...

. In 2013, 55% of pupils achieved five A*-C

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

grades including English and maths. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups, with

Special Educational Needs Special educational needs (SEN), also known as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the United Kingdom refers to the education of children who require different education provision to the mainstream system. Definition The definiti ...

(SEN) and those with

English as an Additional Language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English language, English by speakers with different first language, native languages. Language education for English-language learner, people learning English may be known as English as a ...

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. As of 2021, the school's most recent inspection by Ofsted was in 2014, with a judgement of Outstanding.

Facilities

In 2010, major construction work as part of the

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

programme was completed and the school added the Curran Block. This includes ICT, science and drama facilities as well as a new rooftop sports area. 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

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , speciali ...

won best team and best speaker.

Communications

''The Dragon'' is the school's magazine. Launched in 2006, and issued termly, it is written by staff and pupils.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Catholic School Academies in the City of Westminster Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster Educational institutions with year of establishment missing Maida Vale Secondary schools in the City of Westminster