Welcome to St Paul's Girls' School — St Paul's Girls' School

Under 15s play in indoor lacrosse tournament

• vs St James
• 6–0
• vs Heathfield
• 6–1
• vs North London Collegiate
• 3–2
• vs St Helen's
• 1–2
• vs LEH
• 1–2

Netball teams play St Augustine's

• Under 12 B
• 5–1
• Player of the match: Victoria Rees
• Under 12 D
• 11–0
• Player of the match: Beth Hindhaugh

Netball teams play Westminster

• 1st
• 23–12
• Player of the match: Alexia Arts
• 2nd
• 24–17
• Player of the match: Katie Sanderson

Insight into medicine for Wembley High students

Mona Barzin, a St Paul's alumna currently studying medicine at King's College, London, returned on 23 January to tell a mixed group of students from St Paul's and Wembley High Technology College about life as a trainee doctor. The seminar was the latest event in our informal partnership with Wembley High, where the head teacher, Gill Bal, used to be a parent at St Paul's.

The partnership scheme, which began in September 2007, sees 12 of the college's year 10 students visit St Paul's every three weeks to meet their counterparts in the same year group: the regular visits help them consolidate their learning in maths, English and science and develop their expressive confidence through creative writing, art, music and drama. In June 2008, the Wembley group joined in our annual year 10 conference, visiting workplaces and hearing advice from professionals in medicine, education, finance and the law. St Paul's staff discuss university and careers options with the Wembley students and the two schools have also co-operated in professional development by sharing academic and pastoral expertise.

"I'll definitely hold on to the friendships I've made and the lessons I've learnt," says one student from Wembley High who took part in the programme last year. "The music lesson I attended helped me achieve an A* in my first composition. Thanks to visiting St George's Hospital with St Paul's, I learnt that the sky should never be the limit."

Year 12 engineers visit Thames Barrier

It's the closest thing in London to a superhero: a set of rotating gates 523 m across designed to protect the capital from flooding during a North Sea tidal surge. The Thames Barrier, built at Woolwich Reach between 1974 and 1984, is strong enough to withstand the kind of flood that only happens once every 150,000 years. In January, four physicists from St Paul's received an all-access tour of the barrier to learn how engineers are protecting nearly 8 million people.

Every year, a group of year 12 physicists takes part in the Engineering Education Scheme, where students team up with companies to solve real engineering problems. This year, they're working with the infrastructure consultancy Halcrow on a scheme to reduce the risk of floods at Waltham Abbey.

To the delight of Ceci and her friends, the visit started with the necessary safety precautions – "We were kitted out with 'real engineering gear' including hard hats," she says. "Once we'd gone underneath the Thames into the barrier's intricate chamber system, we were finally able to appreciate it for what it is – a masterpiece."

"The curved silver exteriors are a striking addition to the image of the river," Ceci adds, "and the interior of each chamber is a structure made from arched hardwoods and timber, designed to resemble the front of a ship. People rarely single out flood defences for their aesthetic qualities but the Thames Barrier might be an exception to the rule – it makes engineering seem poetic."

"Touring the Thames Barrier finally gave us a chance to see engineering in context," she concludes. "I thought of it rather like a larger-than-life science practical. It's fair to say that, when a lever the size of a double-decker bus brought one of the barriers into its upright position, we sighed a mutual 'Aha!'."

Lacrosse teams play Haberdashers' Aske's

• 1st
• 10–2
• Player of the match: Olivia Watson
• Under 15
• 6–9
• Player of the match: Olly Morley

Cross-country teams take part in Knole Run

A herd of 800 deer looked on as two teams of long-distance runners represented St Paul's on 17 January in the Knole Run, an annual cross-country race through Knole Park which is organised by Sevenoaks School in Kent. Students from years 8, 9, 10 and 13 took part and ran together across 3.5 km of varied and undulating terrain.

For some students, including Hebe Foster, the event was their first taste of cross-country running. "We all made a very fast start and so we soon flagged when it came to the first hill," says Hebe. "A stream of charging deer met us at the foot of the hill but, when they turned and scarpered, we soon found out they were more scared of us than we were of them. Eventually we saw a long, slow corner ahead that took us downhill to the end. I ended my first race for St Paul's with a sprint finish."

Out of 17 teams, the juniors (years 8-9) came 6th and the seniors (years 10 and 13) came 8th in the open girls' race. The leading runners also gave St Paul's our highest positions for quite some time: Amelie Hunton was 10th, Maddy Eno 11th, Hebe Foster 13th, Louise Favre-Gilly 22nd, Lucy Fleming-Brown 36th, Anya Doherty 41st, Miranda Essex 43rd, Sophie Shaw 54th and Helen Bench 63rd out of 85 competitors who completed the course. "Everyone ran well," says cross-country co-ordinator and maths teacher Alexandra Shamloll. "The deer took the contestants' minds off the tough course and added to the views."

Roman recognition for year 7 student

A year 7 student, Alina Young, has won second prize in her age category of a national creative writing competition for a short story on a Roman theme. The Golden Sponge-Stick Award, organised by classics teachers at the Royal High School, Bath, was inspired by Caroline Lawrence's mystery novels (set in the Roman Empire) and challenged young writers to combine their storytelling talents with their knowledge of everyday Roman life.

Alina sent in her story "A Roman Myth" after hearing about the contest from her Latin teacher, Anna Holland. "After some encouraging words, I quickly gained enthusiasm," says Alina. "I loved writing my story, although it was a bit of a rush to fit it into 1,500 words and research nearly every sentence to make sure they were suitable for the Roman theme. I personally didn't think it would win but I was glad it did."

Netball teams play Putney High

• Under 15 A
• 13–20
• Player of the match: Hebe Foster
• Under 14 A
• 8–6
• Player of the match: Emily Jelly

Netball teams play Godolphin

• Under 13 A
• 8–11
• Player of the match: Daisy Hayes
• Under 13 B
• 2–6
• Player of the match: Alicia Drabble

Cricketers' success in tournament at Lord's

The Lady Taveners' Cricket Tournament could hardly have ended better for the Under 13 cricket team – they returned from Lord's with an unbeaten record. The team will now play in the Middlesex county final next month.

Berlin in winter lights up history

Historians from year 11 visited Berlin in December at the end of an autumn term spent studying Germany between 1919 and 1949. The group of 31 students and four staff visited the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Checkpoint Charlie – where East and West Berlin faced off during the Cold War – and the Stasi Museum in the old headquarters of the East German secret service, as well as the former royal family's summer palace at Sans Souci. When not bringing sites from the curriculum to life, they saw a performance of La bohème at the Berlin State Opera and toured four Christmas markets in as many days.

"The trip to Berlin was incredible – and cold," says history student Catherine Olver. "Our visits to more serious sites, particularly Sachsenhausen, helped us to properly appreciate the things we had been studying from a distance in our history lessons."

The visit also offered some students, such as Daisy Fletcher, an opportunity to improve their own German. Daisy says, "We mainly used it for shopping – expressing quantities when buying food. When we were sight-seeing, we could roughly understand what the place names, signs and adverts meant. It was also a first-hand chance to see the background information about Berlin from our German textbooks."

Tribute to well-loved teacher Geraldine Noyes

We are sorry to announce that Geraldine Noyes, who taught history at St Paul's between 1946 and 1971, died on 21 December 2008 aged 96.

Miss Noyes joined the St Paul's staff in January 1946 and was also appointed Second Mistress – deputy head – in September 1960. When she left in 1971, Margaret Osborn (the High Mistress between 1948 and 1963) wrote – "She has been an outstanding teacher and many girls owe their academic success in History to the interest she aroused when they were in school. As Second Mistress she has been quite remarkable for her powers of organisation and her common sense and humour in dealing with day to day disciplinary matters. She has been much loved by staff and girls. I have a personal debt to her, as it was she who, in my early years in the school, guided me through unfamiliar territory."

Alison Munro (the High Mistress between 1964 and 1974) paid tribute to Miss Noyes's contribution to a project to improve the school's facilities (including a new art studio, a common room for A-level students and the swimming pool). "I have been greatly helped in the initial planning by Miss Noyes," she wrote in the St Paul's magazine Paulina. "Even though she is leaving us this July on her retirement, she has with characteristic enthusiasm involved herself wholeheartedly in the planning work and the organisational problems that must arise while work is in progress."

Many alumnae also warmly remembered a teacher who spent a quarter of a century working at St Paul's. "Miss Noyes was absolutely lovely," says one alumna who studied with her in the 1950s. "She was one of the small, select group of teachers who saw a hint of talent inside my shy exterior."

Year 7 makes a splash for St Paul's charities

Members of year 7 who took part in a sponsored swim last term have now confirmed how much money they raised for St Paul's chosen charities – a total of £5,257. All five forms in the year group joined in the activity and trained beforehand to increase their fitness levels. Besides completing a record number of lengths of the pool, they also benefited three important causes – the school's own bursary fund, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Afrikids, which works with indigenous communities in northern Ghana.

"I'm not a good swimmer, so before I started I thought I wouldn't manage to do very many lengths," says Olivia Aaronson from year 7 – "but I think I did very well compared to my goal. When I stepped out of the pool, I felt really good about myself." Celeste Chen Cooper adds, "Everyone wanted to do a lot of laps because it was all for charity."

2008 leavers return for presentation

Six months after finishing their A levels and moving on from St Paul's, the 2008 leavers returned on 12 December for a presentation evening attended by their parents and a full turnout of staff, even one former staff member among them. The former students received A-level certificates and end of year prizes in a ceremony including addresses by Harry Palmer (the chairman of governors), Clarissa Farr (the High Mistress), Alex Hems (the head of years 12 and 13) and Florence Carr (performing her last official task as the outgoing head girl).

The evening finished in the old library with a reception, tinged with amusement and nostalgia for the alumnae and their parents when photographs of the girls on their first day at school in 2001 were displayed on a plasma screen.

"It was exciting to be able to return to St Paul's and share the stories of our diverse experiences with our friends," says Jenna Nicholas, now studying in the USA for a liberal arts degree at Stanford University. "It felt as though we were coming home after flying the nest and it was comforting to see such warm and friendly faces welcoming us back."

Rowan Road closed for two weeks

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