Paddington Academy opened in September 2006 as one of two new academies established to replace North Westminster Community School. According to the government, North Westminster Community School was apparently failing since just 25% of pupils were leaving with 5 A*-C grade GCSEs. The initial plan was for the school to move to an older building located on North Wharf Road for its first term of opening and then move into a brand new building located on Marylands Road. However, work on the new building was severely delayed a number of times which forced the school to stay situated on North Wharf Road for a year before finally being able to move to the new and current site in 2007.
Academics
In the academy's first Ofsted report in 2007, it was described as " academy rightly judges that standards remain low and that achievement is inadequate." The academy's second Ofsted report and first full inspection in 2009 showed that there was an improvement in the grades of students however, there was a lack of consistency within the subjects. However, overall the school was described as " academy which provides a satisfactory quality of education." In 2007, GCSE results showed that only 25% of students managed to get 5 or more A*-C grades including English and Maths. The following year that figure reached up 41%, a 16% increase. This then fell again to only 34% including English and Maths in 2009, a 7% decrease in the number of students managing to reach the sufficient grades. However, in 2010 the number of students achieving 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades including English and Maths jumped to 62% and in total, 94% of students managed to achieve 5 or more A*-C grades, up from 86% the year before. As of 2011, the results show that figure has managed to rise again to 68% with a total of 99% of students managing to achieve 5 or more A*-C GCSEs, a 5% increase from last year. In 2010, Paddington Academy became the second most improved academy in England, was ranked the 5th best school in the country and was ranked 2nd for the most student progress. As of 2011, it received the 3rd highest number of students receiving 5 or more A*-C GCSEs in Westminster and was ranked the 4th best school in England. In November 2011, the academy was judged as Outstanding by Ofsted. In 2011, Mohammed Said Noor became the first ever academy student to gain a place at Oxbridge. Mohammed received 3A*s and 1A in his A-levels and went on to study Medicine at the University of Cambridge. In 2015, the Academy recorded its highest number of students going to Russell Group universities. That year, the school sent its first student to study History at University of Cambridge, with five in total achieving 3A*s. In August 2017, the Academy saw its results improving for the 6th year consecutively with over 22% of its students securing a place at a Russell Group university. Some notable performances included a place at University of Cambridge and, for the first time in the Academy's history, one student gained 4 A* grades at A Level, which is matched or bettered by fewer than 0.03% of all students nationally. Additionally, at GCSE level, the Academy scored a 0.74 improvement at Progress 8, placing the school in top 1% nationally. In August 2018, the Academy saw its results improving for the 7th year running, with students breaking their "School GCSE Records" - at GCSE level, 80% of their students gained at least a grade 4 in English and Maths. In addition, 60 of the grades gained by students were grade 9s, which is the highest attainable grade at GCSE and was achieved by only 3% of students nationally. Also, over 93% of their A-Level students gained an A*-C grade and were thus awarded places at Cambridge, UCL, King's College London, and other well-known universities. In August 2019, the Academy saw its results further improving continuing a trend of consistently high achievement for the last eight years - at GCSE level, again, with 82% students gaining 4+ in English and Maths, 56% gained a 5+ in both and 18% Level 7, 66 of the grades achieved were at the highest grade 9, 30% of all grades were 7+. Class of 2019 also saw a large rise in the percentage achieving the English Baccalaureate to 45% with 81% of students gaining a 4+ in a Language GCSE. At , 32% of grades were awarded the highest marks of A* or A, 66% of A Level grades were awarded A*-B; 90% of grades were awarded A*-C and ten students gained at least 3+ A grades at A Level - these results secured students places at Cambridge, plus a range of further Russell Group universities. More so the school continues to improve every year and a in October 2019 places the
