St Paul's School For Girls is a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

, comprehensive, girls' school in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, UK,

Admissions

It is a

Roman Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syst ...

, and became a specialist school in maths and computing in September 2005. It is ethnically diverse, with a mixture of Black and White English/Irish pupils. It is situated just north of the A456 and B4125, just south of

Edgbaston Reservoir Edgbaston Reservoir, originally known as Rotton Park Reservoir and referred to in some early maps as Rock Pool Reservoir, is a canal feeder reservoir in Birmingham, England, maintained by the Canal & River Trust.Environment Agency public regist ...

. The school is named after St Paul's Convent, and the headmistresses were nuns until 1998.

History

It was founded on 7 October 1908, from an earlier establishment based on ''Whittall Street''. St Paul's Convent had been founded at

Selly Park Selly Park is a Residential area, residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Selly Park is located between the Bristol Road (A38 road, A38) and the Pershore Road (A441 road, A441). Toponymy Selly Park is name ...

in 1864. In the 1940s, it became a

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

with selective entry based on the

11-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools ...

. In 1975, it became a Comprehensive School. Part of the school was destroyed by fire in November 1973.

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

visited on 12 September 1974. In 2010 a new Maths and English building was constructed named 'The Sister Suite' in reference to the nuns who founded the school, certain rooms inside the building were named after notable Sisters in the school's history.

Academic performance

It has relatively high

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 ...

pass rates for similar schools in the Birmingham LEA and in England. In 2009 it got the second best A-level results for comprehensive schools in Birmingham, with results similar to a grammar school.

Notable former pupils

Clare Short Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003. Short was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 t ...

former Labour MP *

Sarah Smart Sarah Smart (born 3 March 1977) is an English actress. Early life Smart was born on 3 March 1977 in Birmingham, England and lived in Northfield until 1987. She was a pupil of St Paul's School for Girls in Birmingham. Career Her career star ...

Actress *

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a ...

Actress

References

External links