St Paul’s School Awarded ‘Significant Strength’ in Most Recent Inspection

In January 2025, St Paul’s School was visited by a team of nine inspectors from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) which reports on the extent to which the statutory Independent School Standards and other applicable regulatory requirements are met. We are delighted that St Paul’s met all five of the required standards, which relate to: leadership and management, and governance; quality of education, training and recreation; pupils’ physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing; pupils’ social and economic education and contribution to society; safeguarding.  

Alongside the standards, inspectors are able to identify a “significant strength” in some schools. This refers to a specific aspect of a school’s provision which has a clear, demonstrable, and highly beneficial impact on pupils, showcasing a deep understanding of their development needs, and is attributable to the knowledge and actions of school leadership and staff. This would go beyond what would be seen in other similar schools and is not the expected or usual outcome in an ISI report. Any recommended significant strengths are then subject to quality assurance by the inspectorate. 

We are, therefore, delighted to share that the inspectors identified the impact of our co-curricular programme as a significant strength, stating that “the dynamic extra-curricular provision encourages pupils to establish new friendships and builds and supports their confidence and self-esteem. Pupils develop their academic, sporting and creative skills through regular participation in the extra-curricular programme and achieve extremely well, including in national competitions.” 

The “extremely wide and stimulating extra-curricular programme” which we offer, much of which takes place across the 100-minute lunch break our pupils benefit from, was found to “provide pupils with highly effective opportunities to nurture existing talents and skills, or to experience and explore new interests”. The inspectors noted that “The richness and variety of the extra-curricular programme ensures that pupils extend their knowledge and develop their skills well, whether they wish to simply try something new or strive for high levels of achievement in academic, sporting, creative or recreational endeavours.”  

High Master, Sally-Anne Huang, said “I truly feel that, on top of our public exam results and post-school destinations, these comments highlight what a special place St Paul’s really is. I am hugely proud of my colleagues and our pupil body who make all of this possible.” 

Among its other findings, the report highlighted that “the school is a welcoming and respectful community” where our pupils “develop a social conscience and sense of responsibility towards others, both locally and further afield. They promote the school’s core values of humility and respect through engagement with opportunities to contribute positively to others in the community.” Our volunteering and outreach programmes were noted as allowing pupils to “develop a spirit of altruism and an awareness of social justice through their charitable endeavours”.  

The inspectors noted that “the school emphasises the value of enjoyment and participation and provides a range of sporting activities that engage pupils well”. The School was also praised for its “robust safeguarding culture”, including peer-on-peer support as “older pupils volunteer to provide mentoring support to younger pupils and are specifically trained for this role so that they know how to respond to concerns appropriately.” 

You can read the full report here. To view all of the above in action, follow our School Instagram account.