St Paul’s Way Trust School

Queen Mary has recently become the lead partner in a new National Challenge Trust School in Tower Hamlets. Like Academies, Trust Schools have autonomy from Local Authorities and more flexibility in the curriculum, although they conform to the same admissions policies as other schools. St Paul's Way Trust School has been transferred from the Local Authority to a Foundation Trust led by Queen Mary and with Kings College London, The Institute of Education, The University of East London, NHS Tower Hamlets, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and Catlin Ltd (a City global insurer) as the other members of the Trust. The Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees, which oversees the Governing Body’s stewardship of progress on targets in the School Improvement Plan.

Both Trust Board and Governing Body are chaired by Queen Mary representatives: Professor Philip Ogden, Senior Vice-Principal, is Chair of the Trust Board and Professor Peter Heathcote is Chair of the Governing Body. St Paul's Way Trust School, which will move into modern purpose-designed £40 million buildings in 2011, has both a Science Specialism and a Visual Arts Specialism. The new School will have its own theatre, art gallery and the very best sports and library facilities. There will be community facilities, an internet café and a careers centre. See www.stpaulsway.org/bsf_main.htm for details.

The School is especially keen to work closely with academic schools at Queen Mary to develop an innovative and exciting curriculum that will attract students into science and to use this as a means of improving achievement. The School has been designated a Project Faraday School – the first in London – and because of this has special funding for science facilities in its new buildings, which will include an Observatory and excellent laboratories. A Faraday Project Working Group, with Queen Mary contributions, is developing a programme of science-related activities. There will also be facilities relating to the visual arts: Catlin has donated funding for a new art gallery, which will complement the School's existing links with the Saatchi Gallery, Bow Arts Trust and other arts bodies. At present St Paul's Way offers education up to 16, but it is working with the Local Authority to develop a Sixth Form from 2013 onwards in partnership with other schools. The School recently underwent a Local Authority inspection, with very positive results. St Paul's Way is a short 20-minute walk from Queen Mary's Mile End Campus. For more information on the School, see www.stpaulsway.org.