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Computing question takes year 7 student to Christmas lecture

An insightful question to Bill Gates won a year 7 student, Olivia Aaronson, tickets for herself and her family to hear the Christmas Lecture at the Royal Institution after her suggestion won a competition in The Times. Olivia attended Christopher Bishop's lecture on software, "The Ghost in the Machine", on 11 December.

The Times also put Olivia's question to Bill Gates himself. "Bill Gates believes that, even though the most powerful computers could match the power of our senses, over the next decade they will never match the learning ability of even the smallest child," says Olivia. "After that, we would just have to guess."

St Paul's ends term and sees in the season

Students and staff celebrated the end of term with a range of activities as the Christmas break approached. New students marked the end of their first term together, arts and science staff (augmented by Don Wilson, the gardener, and David Martin, the caretaker) faced off in a volleyball match to raise money for the school charities and one year 13 history class brought in a cake depicting events they'd studied during the term.

"The best part was the staff volleyball match," says Lydia Ladbrooke from year 7. "It was great fun cheering my teachers on." Emma Price, meanwhile, enjoyed the "secret Santa" in which each form took part. "It was a great idea," Emma says. "We each got a very nice present and we all had the pleasure of seeing someone else open the present we had given them."

St Paul's had already been seeing in the season for some days with imaginative decorations and the sound of carols (including a school favourite, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day – composed by a former director of music, John Gardner). On 17 December, everyone enjoyed a Christmas menu choice of turkey escalopes, tandoori chicken, salmon steaks or mozzarella and cherry tomato bruschetta with Christmas pudding and satsumas for dessert.

Welcomes and farewells at end of term

We'd like to send our best wishes and thanks to some colleagues who are moving on at the end of the autumn term. Geography teacher Sally Jennings has left after the birth of her baby and we are delighted to confirm Rachel Harris as her permanent replacement. We are also grateful to Lorna Macleod and Tony Richards who stepped in to cover maternity leave for Christelle Maillot (modern languages) and Kate Lee (physics). We welcome both Kate and Christelle back in January.

Warmest thanks also go to IT director Michael Maling and head chef Graham Garnett, who both move on to new challenges, and to Urszula Bereza. Urszula has done an excellent job in setting up the human resources department but is now joining her husband, whose work takes him to the Bahamas. Helen Gordon-Smith steps up to replace Urszula as human resources administrator.

Economics students grapple with the interest rate

Economics students already know that their subject explains how finance shapes the world they live in. Indeed, after the events of the last twelve months, it's one of the most relevant parts of the curriculum. Four students from year 13 were able to put their knowledge into practice on 28 November when they took part in a regional heat of the Target Two Point Zero Challenge, organised by The Times and the Bank of England.

Teams in the challenge have to assess real-time information, work out what interest rate will achieve a given inflation target and give a 15-minute presentation to the bank's agent and other Bank of England economists. "It was vital to communicate and share information with each other," says one of the competitors, Catherine Gu. "We arranged daily meetings, refined our speeches and, of course, enhanced our knowledge of economics and current affairs. In practice we had only two weeks to prepare."

The team came second out of seven schools in the heat. "We suggested cutting the interest rate to 2 per cent," says Catherine, "which was indeed the actual bank rate cut in December. We'd certainly recommend this activity to anyone who studies economics or likes a challenge."

Alumnae relations manager makes connections

Life can take St Paul's alumnae all over the world as they move through their careers and bring up families, so keeping in touch with them can be a full-time undertaking – as Charlotte Buswell discovered when she became our first alumnae relations manager in December. Over the coming year, Charlotte plans to make it easier for alumnae to update the school with their news, find old friends and support new generations of St Paul's students.

Charlotte's already thinking about new events which will appeal to alumnae of all ages and professions. So, who better to ask than alumnae themselves? "In the new year I'm going to send a questionnaire to all alumnae and ask them what sort of activities and events they'd like to see," says Charlotte. "I hope to get lots of feedback." She also hopes to expand the information for alumnae on the web.

Before joining us, Charlotte worked in a similar role for Westminster School. She's also worked for a mental health charity and a hospital in London and she studied archaeology and anthropology at Durham University. "Everyone's been extremely friendly and helpful so far," says Charlotte. "I'm sure I'm going to enjoy my job here very much."

Parents' gift is right on time for sport

Dancers and swimmers will be able to practice more precisely from next term thanks to a generous donation from the St Paul's parents' association, the Parents' Guild. The gift of approximately £2,100 will fund mirrors for the dance studio and clocks for the swimming pool, as well as a new trophy cabinet.

"We're extremely grateful for the items we've received from the Guild," says the director of PE, Marika Hatley. "The mirrors in the dance studio have arrived at a timely moment, because from January 2009 dance and yoga will be more prominent in the PE curriculum. We hope that the trophy cabinet will become a feature in the main school building and remind visitors how important sport is to our students."

The equipment will also benefit the groups from the wider community who share our facilities, such as the Greenhouse Schools Project founded by a St Paul's governor, Michael de Giorgio. The project, which began six years ago as a holiday programme for disadvantaged young people on a London housing estate, now runs sport and performing arts programmes for children and teenagers who might not otherwise have the opportunity to develop their teamwork, discipline and self-respect.

Under 12s win Hammersmith and Fulham netball tournament

• vs Sacred Heart High School
• 13–2
• vs Phoenix High School
• 8–0

Fund-raising secures six new bursaries

The 2008 bursary campaign report, launched on 15 December, marks a successful year of fund-raising which allowed us to create six new bursaries in September 2008 and should enable us to do the same in September 2009. The fund-raising effort will continue next year since, as the High Mistress, Clarissa Farr, points out, "we cannot meet the requirements of a comprehensive and ambitious scheme single-handed." We rely on our donors' generosity if we're to provide the most talented girls in London with the life-changing opportunity of a St Paul's education.

Both the revenue bursary fund (which uses money immediately) and the bursary endowment (a long-term investment which pays interest to fund bursaries) are running at maximum capacity, according to the foundation director, Rosemary Torrington. "The revenue fund is used up as soon as we receive it, so it needs constant replenishment. Usually people donate to it termly, annually or monthly. The endowment needs very large capital sums to provide meaningful interest-based funding."

We can only move closer to the governors' long-term target of funding 25 per cent of the school roll through bursaries if we continue to attract donations, adds Rosemary. "Some people like to see the benefits that their donation brings, so they like to fund a girl through school. Others prefer to add to the endowment pot as a long-term investment. The school needs a mix of funding streams."

Many past and present students have come together to help the bursary campaign in a small way, knowing that donations of any amount help us reach our target. Several year groups of alumnae and the parents of several groups of leavers have formed syndicates to collectively fund a bursary – among them the parents of 2008's leavers. This year, the campaign also benefited from £7,000 raised by current students themselves.

Maths team returns from India

Last week, 15 St Paul's maths students and three teachers returned from India after taking part in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Well over 200 students, representing 64 teams from 11 countries, participated in the contest, which was held at the City Montessori School in Lucknow, northern India.

For year 12 student Ellie Ogilvie, competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad with the St Paul's maths team also meant her first visit to India. "I'll never forget the transfer from Lucknow airport to the school," says Ellie, "with cows wandering alone across the road, persistent car horns sounding and no traffic lights to be seen. Shopping in the market was a surreal experience. We returned home with suitcases double the size they had been packed with the scarves and beautiful jewellery that we had well and truly haggled for with the help of our prefects from Lucknow."

Nonetheless, home comforts were still close at hand – thanks to a school tuck shop which sold Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars. One of our maths teachers, Mekhla Barua, was even able to celebrate her birthday with her father, who lives in Delhi and visited the opening ceremony in Lucknow.

Once the teams had settled in, the competition began with relay contests and team quizzes. More individual and group contests followed on the second day before the finale of the team quiz on stage and a mathematical fair where the teams could get to know each other and learn new puzzles. "The people we met all had different ways of solving the problems they were faced with," says Caterina Buizza. "Sometimes a problem we thought was fairly simple appeared much harder to other teams, or vice versa. We all made many friends and we won't lose touch with them." Ellie adds – "Meeting teams from across the world, including South Africa, St Maarten and Bulgaria, was a real eye-opener. We were able to bond and communicate through the universal language of maths."

In between competition events, the host school organised a range of activities for its multi-national visitors. One evening each group gave a cultural presentation representing their own country – our students chose to sing Let it Be by the Beatles and the Spice Girls' Stop. On another evening, the groups visited a different branch of the City Montessori School. "In the auditorium we were greeted by a live band singing Bollywood songs," says maths teacher Alexandra Shamloll. "It got so full that we all went outside on to the lawn, the singer set up his equipment there and carried on. The Indian pupils guided us in our moves and were all yelling for a fairly recent hit – Pappu Can't Dance from the film Jaane tu... ya jaane na."

The team members returned very pleased with their results. They won several medals in the individual competitions (bronze for Elizabeth Morland; silver for Caterina Buizza and Sarah Beller; gold for Katriona Barr). One team (Naomi Gnanapragasam, Ina Browning and Morgan Curtis) won a medal in the group contest, three other teams came fourth and one came fifth. "Everyone was over the moon," says Mekhla – "The girls did so well."

Fun and fund-raising at the Christmas fair

This year's Christmas fair on 22 November raised a record sum of approximately £22,000, according to the St Paul's parents' association (the Parents' Guild) which organises the biennial event. Besides the St Paul's bursary fund, three charities connected to the school will also benefit: Sixty Plus (a local charity for the elderly where girls from years 12 and 13 volunteer), Afrikids (which helps children in Ghana) and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

"About 1,800 people came to the fair," reports Sandy Spearman, the chairman of the Guild. "They enjoyed a huge variety of stalls, the hilarious staff pantomime, entertainment in the sports hall and delicious food. Stylish and vibrant decorations set the scene for the fair and talented buskers provided a live musical accompaniment."

Current students also enjoyed the fair, especially the staff performance of Cinderella, the tombola and the raffle. "My friends and I all took pictures at the photo booth so that we can remember it until the next time," says Roxana Legezynska. "It was much better than other Christmas fairs I've been to."

Drugs educator tells the blunt truth

Teenagers hear so much information about drugs, it can be hard to get them to take the dangers on board. That's why we invited Jonnie Leach to talk about drugs to three year groups and their parents on 5 December. As a practising psychotherapist and a former drug user himself, Jonnie has acquired a reputation among UK schools as a convincing drugs educator who recounts his own experiences and gets the facts across.

Jonnie spoke to students from year 9, year 10 and year 11 in separate one-hour meetings during the day. In the evening, he held another workshop for parents where he encouraged them to start an open dialogue with their children about drugs. "I didn't feel patronised at all," says one student, "and he had a very realistic attitude to teenagers' behaviour. It was a real fresh air after the constant nagging from adults – my parents are paranoid about drugs. I was genuinely touched by his story, though, and I'm not going to lie – it terrified me!"

For parents who weren't able to come but want advice on encouraging their children to talk to them about drugs, there are two resources we can recommend – Whatever!: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Parenting Teenagers by Gill Hines and Alison Baverstock (available from Amazon) and the independent drugs information website DrugScope.

Netball teams play Putney High

• 1st
• 13–20
• Player of the match: Anna Harrison
• 2nd
• 18–12
• Player of the match: Sophie Ruddock

Lacrosse teams play Caterham

• 1st
• 4–5
• Player of the match: Chandler Benet
• 2nd
• 8–4
• Player of the match: Marina Lindsay-Brown
• 3rd
• 7–4
• Players of the match: Natasha Daniell and Jamie Voros
• Under 15
• 14–1
• Players of the match: Hebe Foster and Helen Bench
• Under 14 A
• 7–9
• Player of the match: Alice Berry
• Under 14 B
• 9–6
• Player of the match: Flora Hadaway
• Under 13 A
• 4–15
• Player of the match: Soraya Rahall
• Under 13 B
• 6–8
• Player of the match: Claire Pajot

Netball teams play Caterham

• Under 12 A
• 14–13
• Player of the match: Masha Galaeva
• Under 12 B
• 8–9
• Player of the match: Laura Savage

Musicians report on great tour of China

Last Wednesday, some of the St Paul's musicians who took part in a half-term concert tour of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing presented an assembly to inform the rest of the school about their visit. A group of 77 students, six members of staff and 40 musical instruments spent 11 days in China to perform with local orchestras and experience Chinese culture.

The musicians' first stop was Hong Kong, where they gave their first concert at St Paul's Co-Educational College. "We teamed up with our Chinese orchestra and choir equivalents for the Hong Kong premiere of Mr Wilderspin's Colet Prayer," says Leela Velautham, a French horn player and organist. "With a full orchestra and a super-choir it sounded about twenty times as incredible as it did on Colet Day. We also got to enjoy some of the school's extremely diverse musical talents such as their award-winning harmonica orchestra and we had our first encounter with the electrophone – a cross between an organ and something that made unexpected noises."

Their last day in the city began with a performance at the Sunday morning service at St John's Anglican Cathedral and ended with a day-long train journey to Beijing. A promise of Peking duck kept up their spirits as they crossed the Yellow River flood plain. The Beijing leg of the tour included a performance at the Palace of Youth inside the Forbidden City where the orchestra was joined by the Youth Palace Brass Groups – and where the audience included Julian Grant, a former director of music at St Paul's. After riding rickshaws, seeing Tiananmen Square, admiring the Olympic sites and singing their way to the highest point of the Great Wall of China, the musicians returned to Beijing station and headed to Shanghai.

The tour's final leg in Shanghai ended with a large concert at the Shanghai Conservatory. There was still time to explore the city before rehearsals began, however – so the group visited Nanjing Road, the Jade Buddha Temple, a silk-making museum and a traditional Chinese tea house. "We sampled several kinds of tea," says Josefina Garcia, a singer, "including Romeo and Juliet jasmine tea, which bloomed into brightly-coloured flowers in the hot water. Romeo was a little late to make an appearance – but no surprises there."

Netball teams play St James

• Under 12 A
• 8–0
• Player of the match: Delphine Veys
• Under 12 B
• 5–1
• Player of the match: Davina Forth
• Under 12 C
• 4–3
• Player of the match: Laura Savage

Year 7 and year 12 dress up and dance

If Snow White had had a better grasp of 21st-century pop, she might have realised something was up with that shiny red apple when the seven dwarves broke into an admonishing chorus of Britney Spears's Toxic.

The fairytale-themed dance-off among the five classes of 20 girls who make up 2008–09's year 7 was the highlight of the annual year 7/year 12 fancy dress party, say students from both years who participated.

One Friday every November, year 12 invites year 7 to a party after school as the end of their first term at St Paul's draws near. While year 7 takes the last period of the school day off to dress up, the year 12 students are decorating the dining room and great hall, getting a tea ready and preparing their own costumes. This year, tea and the traditional fancy dress competition were followed by a dance-off where every year 7 class performed a dance routine they'd been rehearsing. "The dance-off was my favourite part," says Jessica Yang from year 7. "I got to know everyone in my class even more while practising our routine and I found out everyone's special talent."

This was the second time around for many members of year 12 who remembered the party tradition from their own time in year 7. "It was definitely better hosting than attending," says Hannah Gompertz – "or maybe we just throw a better party than the year 12s of 2003."

Netball teams play Harrodian

• Under 12 B
• 5–11
• Player of the match: Claudia Richardson
• Under 12 C
• 11–4
• Players of the match: Laura Savage and Sophia Wigg

Year 13 students hear about AIDS and human rights

On 26 November, five students from year 13 attended a lecture by Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws QC on the human rights violations that affect HIV and AIDS patients. Baroness Kennedy, speaking to mark World AIDS Day at an event organised by the Sophia Forum, explained the problems people with AIDS face in fighting injustices and obtaining legal representation.

"People with the virus often fear seeking treatment because as they risk being ostracised by their friends and families," says Miranda Essex. "In some cultures, they are even beaten, shunned from society and blamed for their illness. The lecture made us realise how important it is to try and help seek solutions to problems like this rather than just letting them pass you by when glancing through the newspaper."

Afterwards, the students were able to speak to other members of the audience, many of whom were involved in HIV/AIDS work. Sophie Shaw, another member of year 13, reflects – "We were able to discuss the points raised in the lecture with people whose work has a direct impact on the lives of millions, an experience that was extremely stimulating but humbling at the same time."

World AIDS Day itself took place on 1 December. We observed it at St Paul's with an enthusiastic fund-raising collection – and the famous red ribbon everywhere to be seen.

Year 7 student gets the sporting habit

Louisa Molson wasn't sure what to expect from sport at St Paul's when she joined year 7 in September – but she soon found out that she needn't have worried. Three months into her St Paul's career, she'd started to play on the year 7 netball and lacrosse teams, besides getting involved with the extensive range of extra-curricular sport on offer. "PE here is truly amazing," says Louisa. "Our sports teachers are very encouraging and so far we've enjoyed an exciting, successful start."

Lacrosse and netball are the traditional autumn and spring term sports at St Paul's, so many PE lessons this term have concentrated on the sports' important skills and helping classmates to get to know each other better through playing as a team. "We have matches against other schools every week and field a number of teams," says Louisa, "and everyone who wants to play has an opportunity to do so." Other PE sessions on the timetable incorporate swimming, gym and indoor athletics – while clubs for fencing, cricket, water polo, football and trampolining (to name just some) are thriving too.

"I love all the sport and the chance it's given me to make many friends throughout my year group," says Louisa. And there's even more to come – tennis and track and field athletics will be on the timetable as well once summer rolls around.