Welcome To St Paul’s School  

Sheena Sinclair - Headteacher

St Paul’s is a popular, welcoming, inclusive and happy school with an excellent reputation. Our Mission Statement and Catholic ethos underpins everything we do. We have a highly qualified and extremely dedicated team of staff who ensure that we succeed in our mission of ‘educating the whole child’. We strive to create a culture of ambition for all and a life-long love of learning.
As children journey through school, they experience a range of enriching, varied experiences and opportunities.

Our knowledge rich curriculum has been planned and sequenced and recently reviewed (Sept 22) to encourage an ambitious, sustainable thirst for knowledge and understanding, and a love of learning. It considers the needs of our children; the experiences we offer ensures they benefit from enhanced academic, spiritual, moral, social and cultural enrichment. The SENDCo is passionate about every child being able to access the full curriculum and works closely with teachers and teaching assistants to ensure that a range of teaching strategies and resources are fully utilised to promote best outcomes. We have excellent relationships with a range of external professionals who support us in this.

We place high priority on the physical and mental wellbeing of children as we believe that children can only become successful learners if they are physically and emotionally healthy.

We are proud to have adopted the Thrive Approach into our school day.  We recognise the need for staff and children to be encouraged and supported to look after their mental health and well-being. To support the Thrive Approach we are also a Forest School and offer this as part of our enriched curriculum offer as well as extended school provision.

We are delighted and so proud to have recently been awarded the AfPE Quality Mark with Distinction for our Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity provision.

Our Maths and English subject leaders work closely with the local Hubs and have ensured that opportunities offered by the Hubs have enriched staff development and outcomes for our children.
Subject leaders across the school work in partnership with others; curriculum leaders support by leading in-house CPD and ongoing coaching and this is increasingly evident in all subjects.  Curriculum design has been enhanced due to the KS2-3 curriculum planning led by the Trust.

We employ specialist teachers from Tees Valley Music Service (TVMS) and Lingotots to ensure that our music and modern foreign languages curriculum is enriched – our children deserve the very best.

We also work closely with the Local Authority as part of our ‘Enhanced Mainstream School’ status; we provide a support base for up to 6 children with additional SEMH needs and our staff, led by the Deputy Headteacher, ensure that the ethos and culture of our base supports the needs of pupils across the school.

Outcomes for pupils are usually above national averages and progress scores are usually positive. We place a high priority on the physical and mental wellbeing of children; this is at the heart of everything that is taught.  We have an exceptional Personal, Social, Health and Relationships curriculum to embrace each child, offering them a safe opportunity to explore themselves, their relationships and the wider world around them.  We have outstanding layered leadership of our approaches to personal development.

The character virtues of respect and responsibility, justice and compassion, confidence and resilience, honesty and self-belief, permeate our curriculum and help children develop their sense of self to embrace life in its fullness.

To support our parents, we offer wraparound care for children attending St Paul’s School from 7.30am – 5.15pm each day during term time as well as 30-hour provision for 3-4-year-old children in.  This high-quality provision reflects the standards we pride ourselves on throughout the school day.

Our ‘Young Paul’s’ group provides a link between home, school and Parish.  Children who are on our Nursery waiting list are invited to come to this group before they start Nursery so parents and carers can get to know each other and children can play with their new friends.

Attendance is in line with national average, and persistent absence is below national average. We challenge and support families to ensure that all children can make the most of every school day.  Pupil voice evidences that our children enjoy coming to school.  Parental feedback also overwhelmingly positive.  Because of a shared vision and shared values, the majority of pupils display positive attitudes and are excellent role models.

Professional development and career development are key strengths of our school.  Our staff are encouraged to be ambitious in their own development and embrace opportunities offered.  Our staff are instrumental to the success of the school and offer in-reach and out-reach to support and develop others.  We work with the Carmel Teacher Training Partnership and have an accolade of trainees who have qualified to teach at an outstanding standard due to the quality of mentoring offered in school.

Our school is enhanced by dedicated and skilled Governors who offer their time and talents to support and challenge both the strategic and operational running of the school.  We also have strong partnership with our Parish, working closely with catechists and the Parish SVP.

Thank you for visiting our school website which provides a wealth of information about the school and our offer to pupils.

  • In the ‘Information’ section you will find guidance on our admissions procedures and our admissions policy.
  • In the Curriculum section you will find information about the exciting and purposeful curriculum we offer here at St Paul’s. We have worked hard to ensure that learning throughout the school is relevant, engaging and connected to prior learning; fully developing pupils’ knowledge and skills. We believe that experience should be at the heart of the curriculum and are proud that our children are excited by their learning throughout school.

We hope you enjoy exploring this website and finding out about our school.  If you would like to visit us please contact the office and arrange an appointment.  I am always happy to show visitors the work of our wonderful school.