St. Paul’s Community Development Trust had its origins in the desire of people in Balsall Heath to make a better future for their children. It has developed from three small community projects which all began between 1968 and 1972.

One of these was St. Paul’s Nursery, which started as a preschool playgroup in the hall belonging to St. Paul’s Church. Just across the railway line, an adventure playground was opened by residents on the Malvern Street site where the Venture has remained and grown.

The third and youngest of the projects was St. Paul’s School. The School was founded to work with pupils who were disaffected from large mainstream secondary schools. Like the Nursery, it was first based in St. Paul’s Rd, where it occupied three Victorian terraced houses. Like the Nursery, also, the School moved as it grew. The three groups joined forces to establish the Trust in the late 1970s, and from these small beginnings in voluntary endeavour it has grown to be a thriving organisation.