Curriculum Overview
For many years the College has enjoyed a high reputation for its academic standards. In recent years, standards have been shown to be improving in all years with the new emphasis on academic rigour instituted by the Principal. Our results in the ELLA (Literacy) and SNAP (Numeracy) tests in Stage Four are well above the State average as are the results of our Year 10 students in the School Certificate. In the Higher School Certificate, St Paul’s boys continue to excel with many gaining places at University, TAFE and other tertiary institutions. 
The curriculum is planned to allow progressive development from Stage Four (Years 7 and 8) to Stage Five (Years 9 and 10) and to Stage Six (Years 11 and 12). More than 90% of St Paul’s boys now stay on for Preliminary Year (Year 11) and sit for the Higher School Certificate at the end of Year 12. Teaching programs are developed and written in the College under the guidelines set down in syllabuses published by the NSW Board of Studies.
St Paul’s is regarded as being at the vanguard of educational innovation both in Manly Warringah and in the Diocese of Broken Bay. In recent years we have become leaders in Boys Education, Literacy, Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Information Technology.
The curriculum is kept under frequent review as the College is regularly appraised by curriculum experts from both the Broken Bay Diocese Catholic Schools and the Board of Studies.
All teaching departments are extremely well resourced, including special facilities where appropriate, such as science laboratories, computer rooms, art and music rooms and an industry standard hospitality kitchen. The College has a very well equipped multi-media library at its core which is a central resource for teaching and learning. All boys are given tuition in the use of the library including research techniques.
The approach of the College to academic study is to encourage a boy to take pride in his work and to reach high standards. Boys are encouraged to become self-directed learners and homework is an essential part of this development. A number of Boys’ Education strategies, including the effective use of the Student Diary, have been implemented to help boys organise their work. The emphasis is always on producing work of high quality.
