Advice about US universities from the St Paul's family
January 2010
In 2009, 13 of the 116 young women who moved on from St Paul's chose a US university – and the ability to study a broader range of subjects at a higher level is becoming ever more attractive to our students. On 26 January, we welcomed many parents of girls who are thinking of following their lead to an evening event where they heard in-depth advice about flourishing in the US system from outside experts and several members of the St Paul's family.
The evening began with entertainment from The Tigressions, an a cappella singing group from Princeton University whose president, Nina Bahadur, joined Princeton from St Paul's in 2008.
Jo Moriarty, our higher education co-ordinator, and Kate Evans explained what parents need to know about the admissions process, both drawing on many years of experience guiding students into the US system. Two more alumnae who moved on to the US, Jessie Bridgett and Olivia Brown, shared their perspectives from the student's point of view.
The girls and their parents also heard from Jon Tabbert, an independent educational consultant who specialises in US applications, and a representative from Kaplan, a company that prepares students for the SAT Reasoning Test.
"It was a massively helpful evening," one parent says. "The girls who spoke were so impressive and the system is so different from the British one that the comprehensive guidance was crucial in understanding how best to support our daughter's application." In excitement at the opportunities open to her daughter, she added – "I wish I could go to university again!"
Record snowfall for Russian cultural visit
January 2009
Students and staff from St Paul's flew into the midst of a Russian winter when they landed in St Petersburg on 5 January. The 25 students from years 9 and 10 encountered a record snowfall during their five-day cultural visit, guided by Irina Ninnis, who teaches Russian and German, Kate Clanchy, our director of studies who teaches Russian and French, and our High Mistress, Clarissa Farr. The cold weather created an inspiring backdrop as the visitors explored the city's cultural and historical sights.
"We were particularly lucky to be able to visit the renowned Mariinsky Theatre twice and see two most enchanting ballets," says Olivia Godwin. "We saw the world's largest art collection at the Hermitage and Winter Palace, lavishly-decorated cathedrals and Catherine the Great's own palace, which has been stunningly restored since the siege of Leningrad. We also ate delicious traditional Russian food."
"My exciting time in St Petersburg became even more beautiful when more snow than had fallen for 130 years covered the city," Olivia says. "I'm going to treasure the memories from this visit and I can't wait for another chance to go there."
Two netball teams go through in county tournament
January 2010
The 1st and Under 16 netball teams both qualified for the next round of the Middlesex Netball Tournament after finishing as runners-up in the tournament's first round on 26 January. The teams chose Luisa Kahn and Claudia Bayne (1st), and Maddy Eno and Emma deBeer, as their players of the tournament so far.
Blanche McIntyre's production sells out London theatre
January 2010
In the spring of 2009, Blanche McIntyre's career in the theatre leaped forward when she won the National Theatre's first Leverhulme bursary for young directors. Before Christmas, her placement culminated in a sell-out production of Mikhail Bulgakov's play Molière or the League of Hypocrites at the Finborough Theatre.
"The bursary paid for me to be at the NT Studio for six months and then supported a production at the Finborough," explains Blanche, an alumna who studied classics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. "The Finborough only puts on plays that have not been produced in London – or ideally in the UK – in the last 20 years, so it allows for new work and rediscoveries of old work. It was difficult to find a play that suited me, the NT Studio and the theatre. Finally, at my wits' end, I turned to my old copy of Six Plays by Bulgakov and opened it accidentally at Molière. I actually said out loud 'This is it!'"
Blanche's fascination with Bulgakov dates back to her experiences of St Paul's drama. "I'm a huge fan of Bulgakov's work and I did The White Guard for the year 12 play at St Paul's back in 1998," Blanche says. "I also did The Master and Margarita as my first ever professional show."
Blanche and her cast spent a week on preliminary work, such as watching Russian films from the 1940s with the original cast of Molière, and two more weeks rehearsing each moment in detail. "We'd spend three hours on a page and a half - but it really needed it," says Blanche. "During the last week, we put everything together, ran it, rehearsed it and ran it again. The idea was that everyone would feel so secure at the lowest possible level that, once the show was up and running, they could start playing around."
The show moved into the theatre in late November for a month-long run. "We sold out every performance – thanks chiefly to Michael Billington's great review in The Guardian – which was amazing. The cast and production team relaxed and started to enjoy themselves. The fact that it was ambitious and elaborate started to work in our favour instead of against us, although it did take me a while to get a full night's sleep."
Fencer tops UK rankings after bronze in Pisa
January 2010
Aliya Itzkowitz from year 11 returned from Pisa as the UK's top under-17 sabre fencer after winning a bronze medal at the Pisa International Cadet Tournament on 17 January. The medal moved her to number 1 in the UK rankings for her age group. Aliya's fencing season will extend into the spring now that she has qualified for the European Cadet Championships in Athens and the World Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in Baku.
History students visit below-freezing Berlin
January 2010
Temperatures of -17 degrees Celsius failed to deter 41 members of year 11 visiting Berlin for four days in December. The students, who are studying Germany between 1919 and 1960 as part of their GCSE, spent a day at the Jewish Museum and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and another day exploring museums and galleries in the formerly Communist half of the German capital. "Berlin is a unique city and a much fought-over 'beacon of freedom'," says one of the historians, Kat Spooner. "We travelled around the city on the U-bahn and discovered how Berlin had grown from an insignificant eighteenth-century town to a divided city during the Cold War. We weren't put off by the temperatures and, needless to say, we all had to indulge in hot chocolate at the Christmas markets.
Being here 