St Paul's Academy

St Paul's Academy is a larger-than-average secondary school in Abbey Wood, London, part of St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust, with a new principal appointed in January 2026. The school has a strong personal development and wellbeing offer, effective leadership, and improving attendance and behaviour. Safeguarding standards are met. Overall, the school is performing at expected levels in most areas, with personal development and wellbeing judged as strong standard.

Strengths

• Personal development and wellbeing curriculum is ambitious and builds pupils' confidence and character.
• Careers education is excellent, with every pupil receiving expert guidance and Year 10 work experience.
• Pupils feel proud to belong and take part in a wide range of activities through the 'St Paul's Academy promise'.
• Pupils behave well, show positive attitudes to learning, and bullying is dealt with quickly.
• Attendance is improving and sits broadly in line with national figures, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Leaders have made rapid progress in areas needing improvement, with strong support from directors and governors.
• Staff feel well supported, with manageable workload and protected professional learning time.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture of safeguarding.
• Pupils secure appropriate destinations in education, employment and training.
• Disadvantaged pupils attain outcomes in line with their peers.
• Early reading and foundational support is targeted and effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' attainment and progress in national examinations such as GCSEs are not as good as they need to be over time, especially for high prior attainers.
• Some pupils with SEND do not have their needs identified quickly or accurately, hindering their progress.
• Support for pupils with SEND is not regularly reviewed, and not all pupils have plans that are checked and updated.
• Some teaching does not stretch and challenge pupils who are capable of achieving more.
• Questioning sometimes does not identify or address pupils' misconceptions quickly.
• Some pupils do not develop the extended writing skills needed to achieve the highest outcomes.
• Long-term goals for pupils in high-needs provision are not fully decided, and transition decisions are not based on fully accurate assessment.
• Low parental involvement makes planning and reviewing SEND support harder.
• Leaders' actions to improve achievement are too early to show impact.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at St Paul's Academy attended 92.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 24.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 26.6% of pupils at St Paul's Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 St Paul's Academy had 20.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.2% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 15.9% of pupils at St Paul's Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2023–24 St Paul's Academy received £9,181 and spent £10,022 for each of its 1,120 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £2,008,000 (£1,793 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust, income was £6,318 and spending £6,497 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Greenwich · Greenwich local authority: places and applications

St Paul's Academy is part of St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• St Matthew Academy London
• Bonus Pastor Catholic College Bromley
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School London
• St Michael's Catholic College London
• Our Lady and St Philip Neri Catholic Primary School London
• St Anthony's Catholic Primary School London
• St George's Cathedral Catholic Primary School London
• St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School London
• St James the Great RC Primary and Nursery School Thornton Heath

What is St Paul's Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Paul's Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was St Paul's Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Paul's Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does St Paul's Academy have?

St Paul's Academy has 1,066 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Paul's Academy cover?

St Paul's Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are St Paul's Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 42.1, and 36% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Paul's Academy?

St Paul's Academy is at Finchale Road, Abbey Wood, London, SE2 9PX.