April 2009
Results from our tennis matches against Godolphin & Latymer School on 29 April, involving six pairs from each age group:
Under 14
10–8
Under 13
8–9 (and one draw)
Under 13s take cricket final to last ball
April 2009
The Under 13 cricket team came second in the London and South-East finals on 20 April after four victories in the group stage and the closest of matches against Tonbridge Grammar School for the championship.
"We played every school in our group twice and won all four of our matches," say Eleanor Goldsbrough and Jini Gundalai from year 8. "In the grand final, we were against Tonbridge, who fielded with cricket gloves – a rather daunting prospect. Batting first, we scored a modest 64 runs before going on to bowl."
The final went down to the last ball, when the team's opponents needed two runs to win and one for a draw. "Harriet Alway ran in and bowled an incredible ball," say Eleanor and Jini. "She dived and fielded it before turning round to hit the stumps. Unfortunately, the umpire decided that the batsman was in. We lost by one run, but left with gleaming medals and certificates – and pink Middlesex cricket shirts await us too."
St Paul's becomes regional training centre for new teachers
April 2009
We're proud of our expertise in welcoming newly-qualified teachers (NQTs). In September 2009, our staff will be passing on their know-how to other London schools when St Paul's becomes a regional NQT training centre. Three times a year, we'll lead talks and workshops for about 40 NQTs in the London area and provide opportunities for NQTs to ask students what they want from their teachers.
Amanda Triccas, the assistant deputy head and director of management systems, has been mentoring NQTs here for three years. "It's been an extremely rewarding part of my job," says Amanda. "I've had the opportunity to help teachers from all educational and work backgrounds develop – NQTs aren't just graduates fresh out of university."
Amanda's involvement in NQT training has broadened her experience and led her to reflect on her own teaching practice. "I've enjoyed observing lessons in several subjects I haven't looked at since I was at school, such as science, geography, French, English, music and – most memorably – Mandarin Chinese. I've also contributed a chapter on child protection to a forthcoming Independent Schools Council book for NQTs. I'm especially glad to be able to play a part in the wider provision of training in the London region."
Alumna returns to St Paul's at assist rowing
April 2009
Six years after Natasha Carpenter moved on from St Paul's, the enthusiastic rower and historian has re-joined us. Natasha kept up her passion for rowing while studying at Durham and Oxford, became a PE teacher and started helping out with rowing at the beginning of the summer term.
"I'm delighted that I will be returning to St Paul's after so many excellent years here," says Natasha. "Although it's strange to be back, I'm looking forward to my new role. I will be working closely with the coaching team, the PE department, St Paul's staff and the High Mistress to deliver an exciting, fun and successful rowing programme."
Natasha's new students recently began their Easter holidays with a week of intensive training at the world-class rowing facilities on Dorney Lake, accompanied by geography teacher Rachel Harris and chemistry teacher Eilis Harron-Ponsonby. "Rowing twice a day for five days makes a huge difference to any athlete," says Rachel. "Many of the girls substantially improved their fitness or technique and everyone will be well-prepared for the intensive summer racing season.
"We also found time for revision sessions after supper," Rachel says, "and watching some of (my) favourite television shows." One rower, Sarah Beller, adds, "I loved being able to concentrate only on rowing and eating – two of my favourite things."
Day at the races for creative writers
April 2009
Two St Paul's students were runners-up in their age groups and a third was short-listed in this year's Martin Wills Memorial Trust Awards, an annual competition for creative writing on any aspect of horse-racing. In the under-19 category, Morgan Curtis was the runner-up and Julia Goroszeniuk was also short-listed, while Theodora Murray-Jones was the under-15 runner-up.
Morgan and Theodora visited Newmarket Racecourse for a prize-giving on 15 April. After the racing journalist Brough Scott, a judge of the awards, read excerpts from the stories and presented the prizes, the guests were able to enjoy the six races of the Craven Race Meeting. "We enjoyed a lovely lunch and a day by the track in bright sunshine," says Morgan. "I can't wait to get writing again in the hope that I might be able to return next year."
Student musicians celebrate Handel's anniversary
April 2009
Musicians from years 12 and 13 gathered at St Mary's Church in Perivale on 19 April to perform a concert of vocal and instumental music by George Frideric Handel, commemorating the 250th anniversary of his death. Four singers (Helen Hugh-Jones, Mary Galloway, Maria Gavriliouk and Anna Cavaliero), four strings players (Jasmine Ramsay-Gray, Alex Krook, Olivia Barber and Isobel Renton), horn player Susie Wedderburn and recorder player Emma Midforth performed a selection of operatic arias, chamber music and harpsichord solo suites, with the director of music, Yat-Soon Yeo, at the harpsichord.
The head of senior music and head of keyboard, John York, attended the concert at the exquisite medieval church. "The large and appreciative audience heard music of high drama, great charm, deep feeling and endless variety," says John. "It was accomplished with seeming ease and brilliance and presented with terrific aplomb. I certainly hope that St Paul's first visit to this delightful performance space can become a tradition."
Praise for year 10 student's Kew Gardens poem
April 2009
Jenny Hutchings from year 10 was highly commended in a competition seeking a commemorative poem for the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. Jenny's poem, "A Future for Kew", has appeared on the website of The Richmond Magazine, which organised the contest.
St Paul's spring concert showcases concertos
April 2009
Student soloists took centre stage at the St Paul's spring concert on 24 March, an event that has a special place in the St Paul's musical calendar as soloists' annual opportunity to play a concerto movement with the orchestras. This year, Susie Wedderburn played Matyas Seiber's Notturno on the French horn, Olivia Kenyon played the oboe concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams (a former director of music at St Paul's), Flora Harvey performed the first movement of Sibelius's violin concerto and Julia Davison performed Carl Maria von Weber's Concertino for Clarinet. The director of music, Yat-Soon Yeo, the head of strings, Hilary Sturt, and the head of curricular music, Mark Wilderspin, conducted the concertos.
After Leela Velautham's organ solo on the finale of Louis Vierne's Organ Symphony No. 1, the concert finished with a group performance of Giovanni Batista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, conducted by Yat-Soon Yeo. "The beautiful Stabat Mater featured all the wonderful singers in year 13 who will leave this summer," says the head of senior music and head of keyboard, John York. "It was a treat both musically and vocally. Every solo rang out, true and sonorous, and the director kept the chamber orchestra's playing taut, energetic and stylish."
Prize-winning alumna pianist in London recital
April 2009
A St Paul's alumna will perform at the Venezuelan embassy in London after winning the Royal College of Music's Teresa Carreño Memorial Piano Competition 2008. On 16 April, Hannah Watson will take part in a shared recital at the Bolivar Hall (56 Grafton Way, London, W1T 5DL) alongside the other competition winner, Xiaotian Shi.
Hannah joined St Paul's in year 12 and is currently studying French and Spanish at Girton College, Cambridge. "I was involved with the music department from the moment I started at St Paul's," says Hannah. "Having so many opportunities to perform solo and in ensembles, plus the wide-ranging academic music teaching, really increased my confidence and breadth of knowledge."
Entrance to the event, which starts at 7:30 pm, is free, although visitors need to book by calling 020 7388 7588.
Head of PE reflects on 12 months of teamwork
April 2009
After her first full year as head of PE at St Paul's, Marika Hatley can look back on 12 months spent raising the profile of physical activity and sport around the school. With new sports on the curriculum, more opportunities for teamwork in key sports and exciting plans for the future, she's more than satisfied with the progress towards her goals of maximising participation in sport and encouraging all students to strive for excellence.
A compulsory PE programme for year 12 and 13 students includes football, running, squash and touch rugby, while years 10 and 11 have experienced yoga, dance, fitness training, rock-climbing, lifesaving and rowing as new PE options. Many more teams now compete in the most popular autumn and spring sports of lacrosse and netball and St Paul's is increasingly committed to hosting tournaments – including an under-13 cricket tournament, which we successfully introduced in 2008. We play rounders matches against other local schools and have entered several higher-level tennis competitions. The St Paul's website plays its part by communicating match results, sometimes within hours of the final whistle.
Sports activities happen before school, after school and at lunchtime – and the improving weather makes the next few months a peak time for PE. "The summer already sees an increase in activities and I hope it will give all students the chance to take part in something," says Marika. "It might be more swimming, more rounders or continuing their netball and lacrosse skills, alongside yoga, cricket, kick-boxing, karate or the other sports we offer."
Marika has encouraged parents to become more involved in PE, not only as spectators but as participants in a rounders tournament with the lower year groups. At the same time, she's introduced a sports leadership programme which focuses on leading rather than participating: students on the programme develop their coaching skills and recently assisted in a borough-wide athletics tournament for local schools held in our sports hall.
As 2012 approaches, St Paul's – like the rest of London – will turn its mind to the Olympics. "I hope to be working with the students and other departments from the end of this summer term on events to tie in with the Olympic theme," says Marika. "Watch this space."
Jewellery designer thanks St Paul's for inspiration
April 2009
Nadia Dajani's varied CV has included studying architecture in London, helping to create the Jordanian pavilion at Expo 2000 and launching herself as a jewellery designer. Throughout her career, as she told the Jordanian fashion magazine Viva in February, she's been guided by her education at St Paul's.
As Nadia explains, "The educational thrust was not 'Here is the information – learn it' but rather 'Here is the information – what will you do with it?' It challenged us to justify ourselves to the world and ask what our contribution was going to be. Even today, I'm driven by those philosophies and I ask myself, 'What will I achieve in this day?'"
Nadia, who attended St Paul's between 1982 and 1984, founded her business on a strong ethos of corporate social responsibility and has trained more than 30 Jordanian women in making jewellery, giving them the skills to support their families. "Many are illiterate and have no education," says Nadia, "and some are even physically challenged, but they are now learning the same principles which propelled me at St Paul's."
Nadia also began working with the charity Women for Women International, which supports women survivors of war in eight conflict zones around the world, after its president, Zainab Salbi, became one of her clients (Zainab even wore one of Nadia's designs on The Oprah Winfrey Show). The proceeds from her specially designed collection, "Remember Me", will go towards a programme which benefits Iraqi women.
Alumna's airline musical lands in London
April 2009
A recent leaver in her final year at Bristol University has launched a musical on the London stage. Pippa Cleary is about to graduate with a music degree and hopes to establish a career in composing for music theatre: after writing her first musical during her final year at St Paul's, she has now composed the original score for Jet Set Go!. The musical, set in the aisles of a transatlantic jet, will run at the Jermyn Street Theatre from 31 March to 18 April 2009.
"The musical I put on in year 13, Someone to Love Me, was a great success," says Pippa, who moved on from St Paul's in 2004. "We staged it at school in conjunction with boys from St Paul's School. I remember many year 7 students, who must now be in their final year, enjoying it immensely. Last year I took Jet Set Go! to the Edinburgh Fringe. It sold out and quite by chance I bumped into another alumna who remembered my musical at St Paul's. She's coming to see the new show again now that it's in London."
Last call at St Paul's for year 13 actors
March 2009
A group of year 13 students took part in the last dramatic production of their St Paul's careers when they staged two performances of Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna. The team transformed the drama studio into a Spanish plaza, complete with a ton of sand, to present Adrian Mitchell's adaptation of the classic Spanish play in which 15th-century villagers rise up against a tyrannical military governor.
"I enjoyed the chance to act in my very last show at St Paul's," says Teresa Benet, "and I hope that I'll have the chance to do some more acting at university." Her fellow actor, Helen Hugh-Jones, adds – "We all had a great time from beginning to end."
Although the play represented a final taste of drama at St Paul's for most of the team, for modern languages teacher Katie Roberts the show was her debut as a director. "It was exciting and satisfying to watch Fuente Ovejuna take place," she says. "The cast embraced an unknown play with characteristic St Paul's good humour and worked hard to bring the village and its characters to life. It was a pleasure to work with the actors and I relished the opportunity for an out-of-classroom experience."
Being here 