St. Paul’s Way is one of the most deprived areas in Tower Hamlets but lies in the midst of Europe’s largest regeneration area, encompassing the Royal Docks, Canning Town, Canary Wharf, Poplar, Stratford City, the Westfield Shopping Centre, and the site of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Along St Paul’s Way, within a few hundred yards of each other, are two housing estates, a secondary school, a GP practice, two primary schools, a retail parade and several community facilities.

Yet far from bringing communities together, St Paul’s Way acted as a car-dominated boundary between the disparate communities on either side of it; one local resident described the road as “the Berlin Wall”.

A series of significant developments were planned along the street, but the thinking was not ‘joined-up’ – the school, the health centre, and the housing were going to be built in isolation to each other.

Find out more about the Science Summer School here.

St Paul’s Way Trust School, a ‘National Teaching School’ and a ‘Through School’, places science at the heart of the curriculum with its unique Faraday learning pathway. The aim is to inspire young people to become the next generation of Britain’s scientists. Our new sixth form research laboratories, designed by Queen Mary University of London, build on this offer by giving students access to exciting and cutting edge research opportunities such as the Authentic Biology DNA research project.

The opportunities for exciting and innovative careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) are almost limitless. We present an inspirational programme which mixes the best of STEAM subjects with a focus on Engineering, through a series of seminars, discussions and hands-on experiments.

Across the road from St Paul’s Way Trust School is the new Health Centre, currently under construction. This new facility will be three stories high with a Pharmacy and complementary healthcare on the ground floor, a GP surgery on the first floor, and with space above for Queen Mary’s Dentistry Department and DNA research. This will provide an integrated model of healthcare with a much more holistic approach to tackling the health challenges of the community.

The first of the developments to be completed was St Paul’s Way Trust School.

There was a deliberate focus on taking a community-orientated, integrated approach to the school during the building process to improve performance even before it was finished.

The school has been in its new £40 million building since January 2011. Its academic performance has improved dramatically. It is amongst the twelve most improved schools in the UK. There are high expectations for significantly better results in the future, which can be seen by the increasing waiting lists for entry.

The objects of the Company were to carry out activities which benefit the community of Poplar, in Tower Hamlets, London, and other local communities by creating, stimulating, and promoting:

• entrepreneurial approaches to the social problems faced by local communities;
• partnerships between public, business and community organisations with a view to addressing the problems faced by local communities;
• local employment;
• enterprise and business activity, particularly by and for members of local communities;
• learning and educational opportunities.
• Researching, producing, and disseminating information, and holding events and seminars to address the problems faced by local communities.
• Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of public and social sector organisations that serve local communities.
• Improving the quality and management of the public realm in local communities.