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.

St Paul's choir adds voice to The Planets

March 2010

It's been years since student singers from St Paul's have contributed their voices to a performance of our first Director of Music's masterpiece, The Planets. Now, in the last six months, it's happened twice: in September, girls made up the choir at the end of the suite's last movement, "Neptune, the Mystic" during a celebration of Gustav Holst's birthday at St Paul's, and on 20 March they joined the Kensington Symphony Orchestra in performing the full orchestral version at St John's, Smith Square.

"In September, we honoured Holst's 136th birthday with possibly the first performance of The Planets in Holst's version for four hands on one piano with the voices reinstated in the final movement," says John York, the head of senior music and keyboard at St Paul's. As part of York2, John has played the four-handed version all over the world with his wife Fiona. "The effect was truly magical. The girls were singing from the Marble and slowly walked away to fade as the pianists dropped out."

An invitation from the Kensington Symphony offered the senior choir, conducted by the head of singing, Heidi Pegler, a reprise of their performance. "The timing couldn't have been more auspicious," John says. "The choir had learned the notoriously difficult music for September and could surely do it again. Patiently waiting in the gallery of the lovely church in Smith Square, they were almost invisible as they held the first mysterious top G and covered the undulating, ever-changing harmonies. A large enthusiastic audience responded wonderfully."

"The familiar music of Holst's cycle felt thoroughly right," adds John - "and, with the voices supplied by the girls of St Paul's, very special indeed. I hope that these two performances will be the first of many."

Baked goods and baby photos raise nearly £1000 at year 7 fair

March 2010

Students from year 7 raised £919 on March 18 by organising a charity fair. The annual event, our youngest students' first opportunity to run a fund-raiser, brought sweets, cakes and raffles - not to mention neon gifts - to the rest of the St Paul's community.

Tomoka Kan and her group discovered that our students enjoy treats even more than trying their luck when they proposed raffling cookies at the fair. "When we were planning the stall, we discovered people wanted to buy the baked goods, not the raffle tickets," says Tomoka. "We kept the prices really low so that more customers would come - and we were able to sell quite a few brownies, cookies and Rice Krispie treats."

Some other groups used their imagination to think up new attractions. "I did the 'Guess the baby teacher' stall, which we titled 'Where did it all go wrong?'" says Jessica Phillips. "It was satisfying to see people pushing through the crowd to see our display board full of baby pictures. Preparing it was a challenge, because we had to get permission and then pictures from the teachers, but it all worked out in the end."

Meanwhile, Isabella Tagliaferri and her group had set out the most dazzling stall at the fair - a stand where all the wares were neon coloured. "Many other groups had activities to do with sweets, but our stall was different, maybe even unique," Isabella says. "I had a great time and we sold lots of stuff. We didn't get to keep much, but it was so much fun and we raised a lot of money for an amazing cause. I was really glad to be a part of it."
 

Physicists team up at pizza social

March 2010

Year 12 physicists from four south-west London schools set friendly rivalries aside on 18 March when they took part in a physics-and-pizza social event at Godolphin and Latymer School. Students from St Paul's, Godolphin, St Paul's School and Latymer Upper School joined in with what they now hope will become an annual tradition.

"We formed four mixed teams," say Michelle Lee and Pria de Eyto, "the Integrators, lnx, Quantum Café, 1, Universally Challenged and Supanova. After an intense six rounds and consuming a large amount of pizza, our team proved aptly named when 1 won by a landslide. It was a very enjoyable evening and we hope the schools will carry it on."

Liquid nitrogen and spaghetti towers: St Paul's Science Week is super cool

March 2010

National Science and Engineering Week at St Paul's started with a flash. A chemistry activity on Monday 8 March introduced students to safe explosions, flaming methane bubbles and the fiery consequences of burning a jelly baby in potassium chlorate.

Meanwhile, a treasure hunt that would lead girls around the scientific curiosities of our facilities started with the search for the clues on little orange cards secreted around the site. "As well as learning more about science, we got to know more about the school buildings, especially the science block," says Eleanor Gibbon. "We got to know different people in our year group and older girls who gave us hints to where some classrooms were."

Year 7 girls tried their hands at engineering on Wednesday when they took part in a competition to build the tallest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows. "Building the towers in 30 minutes was so entertaining and hard," says Florence Gilks. "All the marshmallows kept sticking to the spaghetti, which then stuck to your fingers."

The unusual building materials brought their own consolations. "The spaghetti and the marshmallow tasted good together," says Samira Kelly. "My team came fourth with a 23-cm tower because it collapsed when we let go. The tower had been breaking up even as we held it - we started laughing so hard that our shaking broke the tower even more. Although we didn't win, the activity was extremely fun and I would recommend it to all the new year 7 girls next year."

As the week went on, contestants in the treasure hunt wound their way around St Paul's. "We had to start again twice because we kept getting misled by the second clue," says Gwenyth Audran.

On Thursday, physics teacher Marcin Slaski staged Dr Slaski's Super Cool Liquid Nitrogen Show, where students could experiment with cooling substances to incredibly low temperatures. "I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into the Singing Hall and saw a huge metal bucket with smoke coming out of it," says Inara Ramji.

"First," says Emily Parfitt, "we poured the nitrogen over our hands. Because our bodies have such a higher temperature, the nitrogen evaporated before it touched us. Second came a rubber tube that froze when you dipped it into liquid nitrogen - and you could snap the top off. Finally, he put flowers into the nitrogen and they hardened until we could crush them with our fingers."

On the same day, the student-led Food Society brought examples of space food for a talk on nutrition in outer space. "Things like strawberries taste the same but in smoothie form," says Kea de Burutel, "although the mint chocolate chip ice cream had a very distinctive taste. We also saw someone drinking water in space, with nothing but droplets floating in the air."

As closing lecturers celebrated the end of Science Week and the cycle of David Attenborough film showings in the Great Hall reached its finale, the treasure hunters solved their final clues. "We made lots of interesting discoveries, such as finding out we had a preserved human brain at St Paul's," says Gwenyth. "We got there in the end."
  

Fencing team makes winning début at Crystal Palace 

March 2010

It takes speed, skill and agility and it's one of the fastest-growing sports at St Paul's. Aliya Itzkowitz, from year 11, became the UK's top under-17 sabre fencer in January - and on 16 March our fencing team took part for the first time in the Public Schools' Fencing Championships at the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace.

The team won the tournament's Johnson Cup, awarded to the girls' school that scored the most points from last-eight matches in the girls' sabre event. St Paul's also finished as the third highest-scoring team in girls' Mount Haes events and the third most improved school since last year.

Every member of the team went through to the final round of 32. Aliya Itzkowitz won the girls' junior sabre, Camilla Higgins finished 12th in the girls' senior foil and Kate Dunbar won her first direct elimination match to finish 12th out of 57 in the girls' Mount Haes foil. Phoebe Bright, Lucinda Conder and Bomee Kim ensured the Johnson Cup result by coming 3rd, 6th and 7th respectively in the girls' Mount Haes sabre.

"This is a national-standard tournament and many of our students' opponents had international experience," says chemistry teacher Amy Hudson, who accompanied the team. "They handled the pressure of their first competition brilliantly and seemed to really enjoy the day."

Kate Dunbar, who is now in year 9, started fencing at St Paul's last year. "I was a bit nervous in the beginning but Miss Hudson and our fencing coach, Jessica Lacheta, encouraged me," says Kate. "The competition turned out to be loads of fun and it's inspired me to get more involved in fencing."
 

Natural history society springs into being

March 2010

Student scientists at St Paul's have already joined forces to pursue their interests in fields from chemistry and medicine to forensic science and psychology. The latest discipline to become the focus of a student-led society is natural history, thanks to five biology enthusiasts in year 12 who will launch the group's first meeting on 11 March.

"We want to show how varied and exciting learning about biology can be," says the society's first president, Mary Ann Rhiemus. "We also hope to prepare people for studying human sciences and environmental biology in the future." The society's weekly meetings will vary from debates and speaker events to visits to the London Aquarium, dissections and even the chance to "paint" with maggots.

Jenny Chapman, a biology teacher, is the society's staff liaison. "The society is a brilliant opportunity for students to get their teeth into an exciting, fast-moving subject," says Jenny. "We hope to cover a broad range of topics from trypanosomes to telomeres." 

Secrets of the rainforests unfold at Science Week

March 2010

St Paul's annual Science Week ended in the rainforests of Borneo and the Caribbean on 12 March when the ecologist Dr Nick Brown visited us to give a closing lecture on "Secrets of the Rainforests". The forestry lecturer and senior tutor at Linacre College, Oxford has published more than 30 scientific papers and appeared on many BBC Radio 4 science shows and the documentary series Planet Earth. His current research has seen him devise a biodiversity monitoring project for Trinidad and Tobago.

"Dr Brown invited the audience to consider why rainforests are so diverse, how humans can use them and how rainforest animals and plants will cope with climate change," says biology teacher Jenny Chapman. "We're very lucky to have had such a fascinating speaker to end Science Week."

Spanish students old and new meet at Blood Wedding

March 2010

Two cohorts of Spanish students from St Paul's came together on 5 March at a performance of Federico García Lorca's play Blood Wedding. Members of years 12 and 13 who are studying the language visited the OFS Studio Theatre in Oxford to watch the St Hugh's Players production, which was directed by a St Paul's alumna, Ellen Jones.

The scarcity of plays in translation in Oxford drama inspired Ellen to direct Lorca's tragedy of passion and revenge. "It turned out to be even more challenging than I anticipated, because the cast and crew were so enormous," says Ellen, who is reading Spanish at St Hugh's College, Oxford. "Trying to get thirteen very busy students in the same room at once is nearly impossible - but we were able to rehearse every day except one for seven weeks."

Fortunately, Oxford offers some of the best opportunities in the country for students to take part in drama. "New writing always sells really well in Oxford, physical theatre is popular and there are many unusual adaptations," Ellen says. "We played around with Spanish and English in Blood Wedding. One of my friends wrote original music for the show, which quite a lot of music students are doing at the moment. We got a huge audience from language students in Oxford, the university Spanish Society and local schools' Spanish A-level students."

"The university support system for drama is massive," adds Ellen. "The profit from every student play goes back into university drama, so many different funding bodies, like the St Hugh's Players, can lend money to plays and take a share of the profit or loss. I belong to the St Hugh's Players committee and we decide whether or not to lend them money after student theatre companies apply to us with a bid outlining their budget, marketing strategy and vision."

Penélope García Rodríguez, a Spanish teacher, accompanied the group to Oxford. "Blood Wedding is one of the works we study at A2, so it was a wonderful opportunity for the girls to see the text 'rise from the book and become human,' as Lorca put it," Penélope says. "The production showed great sensitivity and imagination and efficiently solved the challenges of producing a play that combines poetry with live music and singing."
 

Soirée musicale heads from high Baroque to High School Musical

March 2010

Every term, the Soirée musicale brings student and staff musicians together to celebrate St Paul's passion for making music. On 3 March, 233 girls from all year groups - or more than a third of our students - spent an evening in the Great Hall presenting the breadth and depth of our musicians' interests.

"What impresses above all in these Soirées is the sheer range of music offered and the huge numbers of skilful and enthusiastic girls involved," says John York, the head of senior music and keyboard. "This time, the music travelled from the high Baroque of Monteverdi to the cheesiest High School Musical."

"Praise should go to the trainers of all these wonderful performances," John says. "The director of music, Yeo Yat-Soon, opened the evening by directing a sonorous fanfare from Monteverdi's Orfeo by the brass group. Eighty minutes later, Mark Wilderspin, the head of curricular music and composer-in-residence, conducted our highly effective training orchestra, the Sinfonia, in a lively march from Vaughan Williams's English Folk Song Suite."

Between Monteverdi's fanfare and Vaughan Williams's finale, the heads of singing, wind and strings - Heidi Pegler, Hilary Sturt and Barbara McGregor - conducted our many instrumental groups. Vocal ensembles directed by students themselves performed versions of songs that ranged through decades of US popular culture, from Leonard Bernstein to Beyoncé by way of the theme tune from The Flintstones.

"A large audience shared my enthusiasm at the Soirée musicale," says John. "I marvel, as always, at my colleagues' professionalism and the quality of everybody's work."
  

Year 9 biologists enter national challenge 

March 2010

A team of girls from year 9 have become the first students from St Pauls to take part in the Biology Challenge, a national biology competition for pupils in years 9 and 10. The group have been discussing the science behind stem cells, cloning and photosynthesis to prepare for a multiple choice paper and the possibility of competing against other UK schools in the Challenge's national heat.

"It's a great chance to expand our knowledge beyond the syllabus," says Alice Charlotte Hart, one of the team members. Jenny Chapman, a biology teacher, adds - "This is a brilliant opportunity for our students to join more than 25,000 others in a prestigious national competition that will stretch our best biologists."

Easter training has rowers on the edge of their seats

April 2010

20 members of years 11, 12 and 13 rowed through the rain at their Easter training camp as they refined their technique before one of the most important goals of their season, the National Schools' Regatta in May.

"We concentrated on seat racing, with the rowers switching from boat to boat to work out what our best line-ups would be," says geography teacher Rachel Harris, who accompanied the team to Dorney Lake alongside their two rowing coaches – sisters Natasha and Abigail Carpenter, who both went to St Paul's. "During the first two days, they each rowed eight 1-kilometre pieces. We were cycling to the lake every day with 20 girls on bikes like something out of The Sound of Music," adds Rachel.

Now Rachel and the current team hope this year's spirit will go on to inspire another generation of rowers at St Paul's. "The team has created a racing video to summarise the year so far," Rachel says. "On Wednesday, they showed it to a year 10 assembly in the hope that plenty of that year group will sign up to join next year's team."

Eight days at Easter with the National Youth Choir

April 2010

Meg Griffiths's first encounter with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain came last autumn when she successfully auditioned for the fun, challenging ensemble. During the Easter holidays, she joined her fellow singers - boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 - for eight days of rehearsals that culminated in a concert.

"The whole experience was incredible," Meg says. "The staff were more like peers and made it extremely easy for me to settle in, even though I'd never done a rehearsal course before and many other people were on their third or fourth. The days were full of hard-core rehearsals but two social activities each day loosened us up."

The intensive week allowed the group to put together 12 pieces for the final concert. "We had a full range of sopranos, altos, tenors and bass and the sounds we produced in full rehearsals were mind-blowing," Meg says. "The final concert with our a cappella memorised pieces was unforgettable. I learned so much from the friends I made and the conductors – I will definitely go on the next course in the summer."

Four classicists among top five in Oxford language test

May 2010

All four students who moved on from St Paul's to read Classics at Oxford in 2009 have finished among the top five at the university in the faculty-wide language test, set at the end of their second term. Sophie Skeet (Jesus College) came first, Jess Lewis (Corpus Christi) came third, Iona McLaren (Oriel) came fourth and Zoya Rous (Wadham) was fifth.

Alumna is youngest European woman to climb Everest

May 2010

A St Paul's alumna has become the youngest European woman to climb Mount Everest. Vanessa Folkerts, a 21-year-old history student at Princeton University, reached the summit of the most renowned mountain on Earth on 24 May, breaking a record set by 23-year-old Ena Vrbek from Croatia in 2009. Vanessa also became the youngest German ever to make the climb. Vanessa acquired the nickname of the "Fiddler on the Rock" after entertaining her teammates with a violin performance at base camp during the ascent. During her year-long leave of absence from Princeton, she aims to tackle more than 20 challenging mountains around the world.

Three students join National Youth Theatre

May 2010

Three students from St Paul's will join the National Youth Theatre this summer. Victoria Beyai and Scarlett Curtis from year 10 and Helena Fallstrom from year 12 have all taken an active part in drama at St Paul's: while Helena played Lulu in this year's Colet Play, an annual production staged entirely by year 12 students, Scarlett and Victoria are both studying the drama GCSE course we introduced in 2008.

"The National Youth Theatre gives young people the chance to work with some of the best professional writers, directors and technicians in British theatre," says Victoria Watkins, our head of drama. "The girls will attend a two-week workshop this sumer and then be able to audition for NYT productions."

Student comedians turn eyes on Middle East 

May 2010

Students from years 11 and 12 have been discussing the politics of the Middle East ever since they founded a new society, MidEast Focus, earlier this year. On the initiative of the society's founders, Parisa Khonsari and Si Chen, on 12 May a small group of girls performed St Paul's first ever Middle Eastern Comedy Show, after taking advice on their material from staff and many of their own Muslim, Jewish and Christian friends.

"Although we structured the show around amusing anecdotes, the underlying point was to call attention to the tragic conflicts that are still going on in the region today," says one of the performers, Kat Spooner. "At the end, we raised a collection for the Israeli-Palestinian charity Seeds of Hope."
 

St Paul's goes to the polls in mock election

May 2010

Students and staff at St Paul's played out their own version of the general election on 6 May in a four-way mock poll between Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. After groups representing each party had spent days inventing their own election materials, the ballot boxes opened at 8 am before registration and operated throughout break times and lunch until 1.15 pm. "There was a huge crowd around the voting desks to get our ballot papers," says Marianthi Baklavas. "It was an exciting chance for us to express our own opinion about the elections and have our votes count towards a result."

The result mirrored the national mood, with the Conservatives taking 46 per cent of a total 651 votes - coincidentally just one more vote than there are constituencies in the UK. More than half the members of staff who took part in the poll, however, chose Labour or the Liberal Democrats, giving the Conservatives third place in the staff vote just ahead of the Greens.

Students from years 7 and 8, encountering this St Paul's tradition for the first time, were the most enthusiastic voters: both year groups registered a turnout of more than 90 per cent. "This was the first real election I could interact with," says Elizabeth Wickham, from year 7. Cecile Miller and Hana Mizuta-Spencer, from the same year group, added, "We'd been strong Conservatives since the start of the election campaign so we were glad to see them win the school election too."

As the UK faced its first hung parliament since 1974, and as a St Paul's alumna, Harriet Harman, became the acting leader of the opposition, the student-led debating society met on 11 May to discuss whether the election result would strengthen UK politics.

Wind Serenade sounds farewell to Barbara McGregor

May 2010

For the musicians who took part in the annual Wind Serenade at St Paul's on 5 May, this year's edition of the concert for wind, brass and percussion had a special purpose: to sound the farewell to Barbara McGregor, our head of wind and brass, who is preparing to retire after teaching here for more than 20 years.

"Barbara and her team had been coaching all the different groups who performed in the concert," says John York, the head of senior music and keyboard. "The well-nigh all-inclusive line-up of girls performed an astoundingly broad repertoire, from the baroque right through to film music and pop. It could not have been a better farewell."

Swing bands, wind groups and percussion ensembles all took part in the concert, accompanied and conducted by other members of our music staff including the director of music, Yat-Soon Yeo, and the assistant director of music and composer-in-residence, Mark Wilderspin.

"At the end, with only one item left on the programme, Barbara's leaving required a special salute," John says. "To that end, Mark Wilderspin had written a short tribute in the form of a surprise fanfare. It suited the occasion admirably and invited Barbara to make a speech, thank her wonderful team and call for a special round of applause for the students from year 13 who will also move on this year. There only remained the big and rich Concert Band to conclude the evening with the fittingly-titled Sunset Glow by Minelli."

Singing Hall spruces up for second century

May 2010

A larger and more flexible performance space will be coming to the Singing Hall after a renovation programme began in April 2010. The refurbishment, which is likely to last at least nine months, will enlarge the stage, make audiences more comfortable and equip the hall with the latest audio-visual technology.

The enlarged stage area will accommodate a 60-member choir or a large orchestra yet still offer an intimate setting for chamber ensembles or lectures . Audiences will still enjoy the wood-panelled hall's splendid acoustics but now in even greater comfort, with purpose-designed tiered seating for 258 people and responsive climate control.

Musicians, dancers, teachers and students will enjoy new activities and multimedia performances once we have connected the Singing Hall for the 21st century. We will be able to create the perfect ambience for performances, lectures and presentations with state-of-the-art sound, lighting and projection systems. We're also putting a sound studio into one of the main teaching rooms in the music wing so that we can make professional recordings. At the same time, we'll be able to stream performances and lectures from the Singing Hall to classrooms and preserve them digitally.

The refurbishment is also welcome news behind the scenes. There'll be a lift for moving larger instruments such as harps, kettle drums and keyboards and purpose-built storage for smaller instruments. "We're improving the traffic flow so that performers won't have to cross the stage to circulate around the hall - and extra WC facilities will be more convenient for audience and performers alike.

As the Music Wing enters its second century, the renovation plans for a contemporary Singing Hall will respect the building's architectural tradition. The design of the west passageway extension will be a sympathetic complement to the existing Grade II-listed building . With matching stonework, brickwork and windows, the extension will contain a fully accessible and step-free main entrance from Rowan Road, plus an airy reception area for guests and a waiting room for performers.
 

A taste of France for year 8 students

May 2010

A week-long exchange visit to Marseille at the end of March gave 20 students from St Paul's an inside view of life in southern France. The girls from year 8 stayed with families of students at our partner school, the Ecole de Provence, which has now been welcoming our visits for twenty years.

"We were all pleasantly surprised at the beautiful landscapes surrounding Marseille and, after a weekend with our exchange partners' families, we couldn't wait to start exploring the city," says Alina Young.

During the week, the girls put their language skills to work in real-life situations and explored sites of interest in the area. "We particularly enjoyed a backstage tour of the Opéra Municipal de Marseille and the view from the hilltop basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde," says modern languages teacher Helene May, who accompanied the visit with her colleague Alice Dvorakova. "The highlight of the week was a day in Aix-en-Provence, where they had a tour of Cezanne's workshop, explored the town centre and practised their French with local shopkeepers."

"The experience was unforgettable," Alina says, "and our knowledge of both the French language and French culture improved tremendously."

Year 9 historians moved by Western Front battlefields

May 2010

Our annual history visit to the battlefields of the Western Front has always been one of our most popular - but this year almost half of year 9 and six members of staff spent three days exploring the legacy of the First World War in Belgium and Northern France.

Florence Kleiner was one of 52 girls on the visit, whose tour began in the Belgium town of Ypres at the Menin Gate Memorial. "It was hard to imagine that at the end of the war the town had been completely in ruins and one could have seen from one end to the other with nothing in the way," says Florence.

Next, the group moved on to Tyne Cot, the largest Allied cemetery in northern France, and the Canadian war memorial at Vimy Ridge. "I will always remember the Canadian memorial for its sheer scale and the way it dominated the skyline," says Daisy Hayes. "I felt a sense of awe and sadness when walking around it, looking at the thousands of names engraved around the bottom and wondering in which battle they had died. I was overwhelmed when I thought about how each and every name had had its own story and could have had its own future had things been different."

At Vimy Ridge, the students also visited a preserved set of trenches. "Before I saw them for myself, I had no idea how persistent the firing must have been," says Daisy. "I had imagined shell holes dotted here and there - instead, everywhere I looked were holes inside holes next to holes. Learning about the attrition in a classroom is all very well but going to the actual sites has brought it to life for me."

The long and moving day finished at the Museum of the Great War in Péronne, which has preserved different countries' military kit and household items. "It was interesting to compare and contrast the uniforms and equipment from Russian, French, English, Indian and German regiments," says Daisy, "and we also saw a table laden with items taken from the end of the war, still encrusted in Flanders mud." Florence adds, "We were rather excited to see that the only side with a portable tea set were the British."

On the last morning, the group were able to spend a few more hours in Flanders. "Unfortunately, we only had time to see one place, the Langemarck cemetery for German soldiers," Florence says. "This cemetery was much less peaceful than the others. It was a very small plot of land given by the Belgians, containing a mass grave for 25,000 men."

The girls began to wind down from their emotional visit by visiting a famous chocolate shop in Ypres before returning home by coach. "We'd like to thank all the teachers who took us, especially Dr Bailes, who was an excellent tour guide," says Florence. "We hope the next group from year 9 will be as moved and inspired as we were."
 

Students, staff and families beat the volcano

May 2010

Like 5 million other travellers, many St Paul's students had their journeys unexpectedly extended when ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano grounded air transport in Europe for six days. Girls and their families found resourceful ways home after their flights were cancelled or turned back – while students and staff on a classics trip to Pompeii set out on a 37-hour coach journey back to London.

Cecile Miller, from year 7, and her family made an unplanned road trip across western Europe at the end of their holiday in Rome. "Instead of flying from Rome to London, we took a train from Rome to Milan, drove from Milan to Geneva, drove all the way from Geneva to Brussels the next day and took the Eurostar home from there."

Meanwhile, year 9 student Natascha Hedegaard was coming back overland from the Balearic Islands. "We got stranded in Mallorca and had to spend three days on a ferry, in a car and on the Eurostar," Natascha says. "The refundable flights we booked kept being cancelled but I made it back to St Paul's in time for a GCSE exam."

Cassia Price, from year 10, was caught in the US when she stayed on to visit her family after our exchange visit to Washington. "It was certainly the most informative visit we had ever been on, but maybe not in the right way," says Cassia. "My parents and I ended up spending three hours in the Apple Store in Tampa, Florida, finding flights for Europe. A week later, after flying on four different airlines and staying in four cities – New York, Tampa, Boston and Miami – we finally arrived home."

Leena Meneely was caught about as far away as she possibly could have been - in Australia. The year 7 student notes "The feeling of being stranded so far away was horrible. We had no idea when we would return. But after many phone calls and 36 hours of travelling I made it back to school at the end of the second week of term. The relief and comfort of being back at school was fantastic!"

The 40 students and five staff who visited Pompeii during the Easter holidays also saw their flights cancelled and only returned to London at the very start of term. "After we were stranded in Italy, we took a coach journey across Italy, Switzerland and France for a day and a half before we could get to our ferry," says Olivia Aaronson, from year 8. "During the day, most of us listened to our iPods or played card games and we regularly stopped at service stations to buy food. The hard part was at night – it was really difficult to get to sleep!"

Creative writers retreat to Arvon Foundation

May 2010

It's been three years since the English department started to send creative writers from years 10 to 13 on courses with the Arvon Foundation. This April, they returned to one of their previous venues - Ted Hughes's old stone house at Lumb Bank in North Yorkshire - but this time had classes with different writers, the poets Jane Draycott and Meryl Pugh.

"Jane and Meryl's workshops inspired us each morning," says English teacher Sophie Breese. "We wrote vigorously during the day and discussed our writing over delicious meals put together by the girls. Daljit Nagra also popped in to read some of his published poems and work in progress. On the final night, each student - and teacher - read from their week's work, some of which will appear in the next edition of St Paul's creative writing magazine Words. The whole experience was intense, exciting and very inspiring."

No drought of inspiration for year 13 linguist

May 2010

Last year's record droughts in Mexico City moved one year 13 student, Miranda Lee, to enter a Spanish essay competition organised by the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian cultural centre at Canning House. In March, Miranda found out her essay had finished as the runner-up, winning her a cash prize and membership of Canning House.

"The essay competition runs every year and last year's theme was the environment and climate change in Latin America or Iberia," says Miranda, who has an offer to read French and Spanish at Oxford. "Over the Christmas holidays, I decided to write an 800-word essay about the warm ocean current El Niño and its effects on the climate of Mexico City."

"I thoroughly enjoyed writing this essay and being able to expand my ideas beyond the smaller word limit of the essays we normally write at school," Miranda says. "Even if I hadn't won a prize, I'd still recommend entering this competition for the experience of writing in depth about something that interests you in Spanish."

Easter week in Washington for year 10 students

May 2010

Easter, for 16 students in year 10, meant a week in the capital of the USA on an exchange visit with National Cathedral School. While living with their host families in Washington DC, they visited the city's historical sites and experienced being a newsreader at one of Washington's newest cultural institutions, the Newseum.

"It was an incredible insight into US life and also into the fabulous museums and shops in Washington," says one of the students, Cassia Price. "Lots of us tried Mexican food for the first time and we all tried new things, even playing Frisbee by a waterfall with a group of nuns."

The two members of staff who accompanied the visit, Kulvant Kaur-Jansari and Isabel Foley, found time to enjoy Washington themselves. Kulvant says, "The best cupcakes in the world, marshmallow fluff and ice cream in five-litre tubs - what more could a girl want?"

Maths challengers qualify for UK final

May 2010

Four students from years 8 and 9 are preparing for the national final of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Challenge after winning a regional final on 26 March. Georgina Hansen, Marguerite Tong, Helen Fishwick and Tina Xia took on 28 other London schools in group challenge rounds, cross-number puzzles and even a maths relay race.

"The Team Maths Challenge tests contestants' team working and communication skills as well as their mathematical dexterity," says maths teacher Camilla Darwin, who has been helping the group prepare for the competition. "The group challenge forces them to decide their own strategy for answering ten questions in the time allowed and the relay race splits them into pairs, with lots of movement as well as maths."

For the final on 21 June, the girls will need to research a maths topic such as rolling or symmetry beforehand – and produce a poster while answering questions on the day.

"The challenge was incredibly nerve-wracking at times, which only made it all the more exhilarating," says Helen. "It was such great fun I wish I could take part every year."

Parents of the 2010 leavers create a new bursary

June 2010

We congratulate and thank the indefatigable Bill Browning and his team who have successfully brought to fruition their ambitious campaign to guarantee a fully funded means-tested place for one of the nine bursary recipients joining St Paul’s in year 7 this September. Following a launch party, a mass mailing and a phonathon, they have surpassed their target by raising more than £152,000 from parents of students leaving our year 13 this summer. Spending much of their spare time phoning all the parents in the year group was a massive task for the committee but certainly worth the effort. This success makes a big difference to what can be done for a gifted child. We are currently able to offer financial assistance to 58 Paulinas and it is one of our top priorities to increase that number much further. We depend on the generous support and initiatives such as the 2010 leavers’ bursary to be are able to maintain and work further towards our ambition. However, Bill hasn’t given up yet! With 49 donors in the year participating to date, he’s still hoping that a few more might join him, as even the smallest amount is welcome.

For information on how to assist St Paul’s transform the lives of talented girls, please go to the development section of our website or call Rosemary Torrington 020 7605 4814 to discuss how you can help.

Year 8 educates peers on social networking

June 2010

Last term's drama curriculum cast students from year 8 as the educators when the director of drama, Victoria Watkins, asked every girl in the year group to take part in a challenge to teach their peers about social networking sites. Drawing on their own knowledge of safety on the web, they gave their performances to year 7 during an on 11 May and some groups performed to the rest of their own year on the 18th.

"The students experimented with a variety of strategies relevant to Theatre in Education and pooled what they already know of the advantages and disadvantages of social networking," Victoria says. "The advice included: use privacy settings, don't trust that people online are necessarily who they say they are and don't get obsessed with social networking sites."

"I found the social networking performances very interesting and funny," says one year 7 student, Georgina Thomas. "I used to think social networking sites were all bad. I now see there are some good points but you still have to be careful - you should add only people you know and wait until you're old enough to use the sites."  

Students have warm memories of Cold Comfort Farm

June 2010

When two friends from year 9, Alethea Redfern and Bel Parker, took up the challenge of directing their first studio play, 16 more students from the three youngest year groups at St Paul's had the chance to act in Paul Doust's adaptation of Stella Gibbons's comic novel Cold Comfort Farm - all thanks to some healthy competition among siblings.

"Bel and I had discussed doing a studio play together before but we weren't sure which one we wanted to put on until I saw my brother perform in the same play," says Alethea. "My sense of sibling rivalry kicked in but, more importantly, I knew this would be an ideal first play for us."

"Our drama teachers, Victoria Watkins and Isabel Foley, helped us get the rights to put on the play and then choose the actors," Alethea says. "Our Easter breaks were longer than some of us expected when five of our cast had trouble getting back to London during the volcanic ash cloud, yet soon enough we had costumes and set at the ready, lines almost perfect and cues well on their way. We had a little trouble finding some of the more obscure props, including a tricycle with a platform on the back. Thanks to the drama technician Nicky Deeley, we were able to use a service trolley that worked like a charm but took a little convincing to be moved on, off and across the stage."

After a busy final week of rehearsals, the cast performed twice on 25 and 26 May. "My favourite night was the 26th, once everyone had settled their nerves and could really blow up their characters," says Alethea. "Although the play is a comedy, there were one or two extremely sweet moments and mad old Aunt Ada was terrifying. I look forward to directing another play with Bel and hope she hasn't had enough of me!"
 

Alumna reaches senior England lacrosse team aged 18

June 2010

It's been less than a year since Olivia Watson moved on from St Paul's to study history at UCL - and the passion for lacrosse she built up over seven years on our sports fields have already seen her, at the age of 18, achieve places on both the Under 21 and senior England lacrosse squads.

Olivia took her step up to senior level in March 2010 when she competed in the Under 21 Home Internationals against other national squads in her age group from the United Kingdom. "After the Home Internationals - which also involved two other alumnae, Alice Leach and Anna Harrison - I was invited to the senior England trials and was fortunate to be selected," says Olivia. "When we played the senior Home Internationals in Edinburgh on 16-18 April despite the volcanic ash, I was part of the England A team that beat Wales A 25-2 and Ireland 22-0."

Olivia has since played on a UK team in Italy against Team Prague, the Czech national development team and Johns Hopkins University. "It's a first for an alumna to make both these England teams in the same season aged 18," Olivia says. "Now, I want to inspire young lacrosse players at St Paul's to work hard and achieve such results.".

Mission accomplished as rowers reach National Schools final

June 2010

Twelve rowers from St Pauls - four from each of years 11, 12 and 13 - travelled to Nottingham on 29 May for the high point of their season: competing in the National Schools Regatta with the objective of qualifying for the final race.

"Spirits were high in the run-up to the regatta even though all our rowers are in exam years," says Rachel Harris, geography teacher and rowing coach. "The girls' training had been going well and the double and the eight had both had excellent outings in glorious weather on the Thames. Unsurprisingly, though, Nottingham was cold, wet and windy on the 29th - the six-lane course was so cloudy it was hard for us to see the start 2 km away from where we rigged the boats."

The double earned a place in the first semi-final after coming ninth in a processional of 14 crews, yet bad luck meant the crew had to conserve energy in their next race and came last. Meanwhile, the determined eight fought hard in the repechage after only just missing out on third place the first time around.

"The eight needed to come first or second to make the final and were racing against King's School Chester, who had already beaten them once," Rachel says. "A tenacious last 200 m resulted in a photo finish, which proved our eight had won the repechage by half a second. Our aim for 2009-10 had been achieved and all the girls' hard work had paid off - we were now in a final at National Schools. The pressure was now off and the rowers could enjoy this last race."

Rachel and the assistant rowing coaches, alumnae Natasha and Abigail Carpenter, watched proudly as the eight lined up for the final. "They paddled off to the start tired and elated," Rachel says, "and what a start they had! They were still in the mix at 250 m alongside Headington and LEH - but the other two crews had had an easy heat and drew ahead."
  

Strings and singers join forces at early summer concert

June 2010

This year's series of concerts that has put every specialism of our music department into the spotlight ended on 11 May with a combination summed up by its title: Singing Strings. The bumper evening involved 182 girls from year 7 to year 13 - not only string players and singers but also students following our school-directed course in music, whose original compositions formed part of the musicians' repertoire.

After two songs by the Junior Madrigal Group - first Edward German's setting of "Orpheus with his Lute" and then "Kalinka" - several joint vocal and string ensembles performed settings of popular music and poetry. The quality of each of these small vocal ensembles is very high," says John York, the head of senior music and head of keyboard. "It's a testament to the dedication of their in-house coaches."

The contrasts of the programme gave a flavour of everyday musical life at St Paul's. "A new vocal group, Off Beat, gave us the classic show-stopper 'Lullaby of Broadway', catchily and effectively dressed up by Simon Walters," John says. "By way of complete contrast, the Baroque Group, conducted by the director of music Yeo Yat-Soon, played three of the minuets from Handel's 'Water Music' and 'Music for the Royal Fireworks'. Only at St Paul's could such items stand together and all be so brilliant."

The concert ended with two world-famous items: Michael Nyman's simple but emotional setting of Anne Frank's words, "If...", and Karl Jenkins's ceremonial "Adiemus", joined by the Chamber Orchestra and the Percussion Ensemble. "Some of the repertoire was very familiar indeed, some current pop material, some baroque, some light, some hot off the press," says John. "It all made a very rewarding and substantial feast.".

Eiffel off me bike!

July 2010

Director of sport Marika Lowe's cycle ride from London to Paris has raised nearly £4,000 for Alzheimer's Society. Marika, and her husband Adam, rode the 500 km in four days in July aiming to heighten awareness about this condition with which Marika's mother was diagnosed two years ago. Marika notes, "The ride was genuinely tougher than we expected with "proper" cyclists in our midst (all the gear!) a ridiculous amount of hills and dodgy-surfaced roads." Further sponsorship can be made through Marika and Adam's Justgiving page.

St Paul's musicians on BBC's The One Show

July 2010

Paulinas old and new combined forces at the very end of term to be filmed for The One Show, illustrating an article about Gustav Holst, our first director of music. The piece highlighted the hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country, the tune of which (Thaxted) was taken from the 'Jupiter' movement ofThe Planets by Holst in 1921, setting words of a poem written before the Great War by diplomat Cecil Spring-Rice. Our choir and orchestra, dressed in camera-friendly shades of blue and green rather than the usual concert black, were augmented by a number of former Paulinas and members of staff to ensure a powerful performance, one which had to be repeated over and over again to allow different angles to be filmed. Interviews and spoken links were fronted by Gyles Brandreth, father of former St Paul's student Saethryd. Gyles, and Holst expert Ian Lace, enjoyed poring over the Holst manuscripts curated by our archivist Howard Bailes. The piece aired on BBC 1 at 7pm on Thursday 15 July.

Geographers travel to land of ice and fire

August 2010

Nature's effects on the youngest rock on earth have shaped Iceland into the country known as "the Land of Ice and Fire" - so where better for 25 geographers from years 10 to 13 to explore the impact of volcanic activity on the planet?

"Iceland owes its formation to the North Atlantic Ridge, which is slowly forcing the North American and Eurasian plates apart," say Emma Jones and Eleanor Arscott from year 13. "Fresh magma and volcanic material rise up between the plates to the surface and cool to form new land."

Iceland's geology affected hundreds of thousands of travellers, including dozens of St Paul's students and staff, in April when ash clouds from Ejyafjallajökull disrupted European airspace for days. The Icelanders, say Eleanor and Emma, have learned to benefit from so much natural energy just beneath the ground - "The geothermal power from Iceland's volcanoes and its natural hot springs power and heat Icelandic homes and produce hot water for bathing and heating."

No clouds - of ash or water vapour - were in sight when the group flew into Reykjavik during a heatwave on 18 July and headed straight for the Blue Lagoon to experience the world's best outdoor bath. "The lagoon is a naturally heated pool of seawater that sits in the middle of a lava field," say Emma and Eleanor. "We all enjoyed relaxing in the hot water with warm mud oozing between our toes. Over the next few days, we visited waterfalls, took some stunning pictures and hiked up the Eldfell volcano, a whopping 205 m high."

The group's last two days in Iceland took in some of the island's most historic attractions - the waterspout that gave its name to the world's geysers, the site of the first Icelandic parliament held more than a thousand years ago and the "surprisingly small" city of Reykjavik. "It was a great way to end our amazing week," say Eleanor and Emma, who will both start geography degrees in September, "and definitely the best St Paul's visit that we've been on."

Lunch, languages and laughter as new year 7s join St Paul's

September 2010

When Ailin Cheng arrived for her first day at St Paul's, her welcome began as soon as she walked through the front door. "The second I stepped inside the gates, two friendly girls waved and started to make conversation," says Ailin, one of 108 girls who joined year 7 this September. "I completely relaxed and felt as confident as I'd been in my old school. My second day proved to be even better - I bumped into a girl in year 8 I already knew and we introduced each other to our friends."

Meanwhile, Molly Foster, like her classmates, was adapting to the feeling of moving on from primary school. "My first proper day was really strange, because you're used to being top of the school and you suddenly feel tiny," Molly says. "Then you realise everyone in your year feels the same and you make some really great mates. I love doing drama in the huge theatre, I enjoy discussions in religious studies, and maths is great because you don't have to move at snail's pace waiting for people to catch up."

Everyone finds new experiences at St Paul's - whether it's starting violin lessons like Ticiana Alencar, learning Latin for the first time like Sabrina Brewer, or enjoying breaks and lunchtimes in our dining hall. "Describe the dining hall as a restaurant and you wouldn't be too far from the truth," says Eliza Wan. "The choice is large, the food tastes good, the organisation is clear and the recipes are wonderful. It's more than I thought a school lunch could be."

The first weeks of term meant the chance to try out more than 50 clubs and societies. "I'm doing drama club and junior improvisation," says Alice Marbach, "and I still haven't tried out trampolining, which I've been meaning to do because it sounds amazing. I also go to animation club, where we've been watching Finding Nemo." Claudia Everest-Phillips adds, "The length of the lunch breaks means there's so much you can do." "I'm thinking about starting football because I'd like to play with my brother," says Sabrina, "but there are so many clubs it's hard to choose."

On Wedneaday 22 September, the whole year group visited the Stubbers Adventure Centre in Essex. "When the day to visit Stubbers finally came, I was so excited," says Katie Chan. "I'd made tons of friends by then but I sat next to my best friend on the coach and we played games all the way. We spent the day doing team challenges and water rafting - both the teams from my tutor group won the rafting race." "I remember our team was winning but the second-placed team was catching up," adds Alysa Dhar. "Since I had no oar, I started kicking in the water. I don't think it helped, but it was fun."

Committee announces school charities for 2010-2011

September 2010

Our charities committee, comprising year 12 students, has announced the two charities which will benefit from the variety of fundraising activities planned at St Paul's this year. The UK-based charity is the Debbie Fund, a cause close to our hearts not only for the obvious reason that it is a charity which seeks to improve the treatment options for women affected with this disease but, more poignantly, because Debbie's daughters are Paulinas (Katy is now at Oxford University and Sarah is in year 13). Debbie had many friends throughout the St Paul's community and we are delighted to be able to support this initiative. The overseas charity that we will be supporting is New Light, a project in Kolkata providing a nursery and night shelter to protect children, young adults and women at risk in the red-light district of the city.

We are planning a number of major events to provide funds for these causes including the parents' guild Christmas fair on Saturday 20 November and a quiz night as well as year group-wide activities such as the year 7 sponsored swim and a carnival organised by year 12 in June.

Young chemists enjoy colourful summer

September 2010

Colour chemistry is not a branch of the subject which is commonly met in the school laboratory but four year 11 students are now much more clued up on the topic. Over three days fifty pupils from all over the United Kingdom enjoyed lectures and practicals organiser by the Salters' company and led by a variety of experts at Leeds University, a centre which specialises in this branch of science.

Mary Sisley says "I enjoyed the chemistry camp immensely, as I was able to perform some fascinating experiments and learn about aspects of chemistry, of which I was previously completely unaware, from experts in the subject." Along with fellow students Mary Gibbins, Alice Charlotte Hart and Catherine Megregian, Mary took part in experiments with dyes, studying cyanotyping, discovering chemiluminescence and observing oscillating reactions. They will be able to share their insights with fellow St Paul's students as they prepare for ther triple award science GCSEs next summer.

Alumna's international lacrosse success

September 2010

Barely a few months since leaving St Paul's, Olivia Watson (2009 leaver) has become the first alumna to be selected to represent England women both at U21 and the senior lacrosse teams in the same season at the age of 18. England beat Wales and Ireland at both the U21 and the Senior Home Internationals. The Senior Home Internationals were played at Fettes school, Edinburgh on 17 April (despite volcanic ash) when senior England A beat Wales 25 - 2 and Ireland 22 - 0. Olivia has also since played on a "Team UK" in Italy against Team Prague, the Czech national development team and first division American college Johns Hopkins.

"I owe my recent success to each and every one of my brilliant sports teachers at St Paul's, starting with Mrs Palmer in year 7, Miss Walter, Mrs de Berry, Miss Machemer, Miss Arr and Miss Hatley (now Mrs Lowe). I would not have got here without any one of them." Olivia says. "Leaving school is a challenging time for serious lacrosse players. Suddenly you no longer have the luxury of frequency of training and matchplay all organised by dedicated teachers. You feel you are really on your own and everything is up to you. Fortunately, Mrs Lowe invited me, along with some other Paulinas, to join Pendley, a club which has produced many England players past and present. In addition I played for the UCL 1st Team, trained on my own, and played every match going, including indoor lacrosse. I also went for senior territorial trials and was fortunate to be selected on to the Senior South squad. England selectors are always present at these events and looking for new talent and improved players. I believe if you have the passion, some talent, are willing to work hard and have a lot of luck on your side, you can be invited to trial for England!"

However, Olivia warns, "the bad news is that the selection process takes place every year, so no player can afford to rest on her laurels."

Outstanding examination results for our GCSE and A-level students

September 2010

We're delighted with the exceptional achievement of our GCSE and A-level students this year and congratulate them warmly. The new A* grade at A level was awarded to 49 per cent of papers taken with 92 per cent of papers graded at A and A*. Similarly at GCSE 99.1 per cent of papers were awarded A or A* (with 84 per cent at A*). These results represent not only the hard work and commitment of the students but also the dedication and expertise of their teachers. It is pleasing to note that these girls also managed to enjoy so many aspects of school life as well, continuing to participate in sport, music, drama and charity projects throughout. Our best wishes go to our leavers who are currently preparing to start university courses, both in the UK and abroad, or gap year projects.

Art student's sculpture shown in Royal Academy online exhibition

September 2010

While Isobel Renton prepares to move on from St Paul's to a foundation course at Byam Shaw School of Art, one of the A-level art student's pieces is appearing in the Royal Academy A-Level Summer Exhibition Online, which runs alongside the RA's main Summer Exhibition.

Isobel's sculpture, "Jean & Paul: a sculptural representation of Gericault's 'The Raft of the Medusa'", interprets Gericault's well-known painting of a French naval disaster in three dimensions.

Isobel told the Royal Academy's blog that she got to know Gericault's painting while studying art history at St Paul's. Investigating the disaster's notorious background revealed that Gericault had excluded the taboo topic of cannibalism from his history of the wreck. "I was interested in the cannibalism and the gore and the other aspects that he left out," says Isobel. Clare Brashaw, a photography teacher, helped Isobel photograph the crank clay sculpture, a figure holding a severed head, for submission to the online exhibition. "With figurative sculpture, you’re creating a character," Isobel says. "So it’s like setting a play – you need to really know your character and the photography should exaggerate that."

Meanwhile, 12 artworks by students from years 11, 12 and 13 have gone on virtual display as part of the Saatchi Gallery Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for Schools open to schools from around the world. The judges' panel will choose 20 schools in December for a physical exhibition that will take place in January 2011.

New year, new students

Everyone knows that starting an entirely new school is difficult, but being a year 7 student is especially difficult – most of them have been used to small schools, where everyone knows everyone else’s name and there are only one or two classes per year. The step is a big one but, now the year 7s have been at St Paul’s for a month, they’ve found their footing and begun to get used to the new environment. As I was a year 7 myself until two months ago, I wondered what things they like the most about St Paul’s and what things they were finding most challenging to adjust to.

Art was the most popularly cited favourite subject. Girls experience considerable freedom in what they could do and a lot of space to express their own creative ideas. They agreed that encouragement from teachers to make their own work individual and different from everyone else’s was definitely improving their artwork.

Remembering that one of my greatest worries as a new year 7 was being late for lessons, I asked how they were finding navigating around the site. The girls I interviewed seemed to be smarter than I had been, all of them saying that they had quickly developed a feel for the school and a sense of where everything is. Many also commented on how older girls were always willing to help them find their way, My year 8 class has been no different in our keenness to help the year 7 even if they didn’t look the least bit lost and even though some of us are only a few months older than them.

Freedom is another aspect that year 7s enjoy. Nearly all of my interviewees said that St Paul’s trusts them much more than their old schools had and that, at break and lunch, they could wander around pretty much anywhere in the school without being told they had to stay in the playground or classroom. I remembered that when I was in year 7 and was told we could walk down to the PE field in threes, I was surprised that they didn’t insist that they supervise us marching down in single-file, like they had at my primary school.

Every single one of the year 7s I interviewed said that they were really enjoying St Paul’s, feeling that their tutors, teachers and the other girls were all really kind and prepared to help them in any way they could. This was also another thing I remembered feeling in year 7 and I’m pleased to see it is still the case.

Antonia Ruddle year 8

New year, former students

On a crisp September morning, St Paul’s presented an unusual sight: an assortment of teachers, alumnae and current pupils congregated on the Marble for a day dedicated to reunion of Paulinas with each other and with their alma mater. The chatter of old friends hummed while newly-arrived alumnae searched the name labels to see if a former classmate was expected to turn up. This gathering of the St Paul’s community across generations and continents commenced with an impressive array of coffee and pastries before moving towards the Great Hall to enjoy the artwork of Dr Grace Nicolle, one of the original 1904 Paulinas, and the material displayed by archivist Howard Bailes and his team of students. The alumnae included leavers from only six years ago to Valerie Slowe who had not returned since she left in 1946 and who inevitably found the experience strange.

Talking to the alumnae, one was struck by the pace of the change as even the most recent leavers were stunned by some of the developments made in their absence. Wartime alumnae reminisced about hiding on the concourse during air raids while more recent leavers relived some of their fonder school memories: “The games staff used to go round classrooms during lessons. If they caught you slumping they’d give you a ‘position mark’ and you were not allowed a ‘white girdle’ [a sports prize]” Following the Old Paulina League AGM in the Old Library, a room reputedly smelling “exactly the same”, the alumnae were serenaded by Gloria Yin and Lana Huang’s piano playing before enjoying lunch in the refurbished dining-room which one alumna described as looking “like a restaurant!”

Not only were alumnae present for reunion but also former members of staff. Gloria Bax: the elocution, speech and drama teacher who taught at St Paul’s from 1951 to 1975 has been coming to all the school plays she can since she left and was delighted to see that a photo of one of her productions had been displayed by Howard Bailes. The afternoon attracted a younger generation of alumnae for whom child-friendly activities had been provided. Entertainer ‘Tricky Toby’ pulled a rabbit out of his hat, toddlers were transformed by the face painters and families were able to enjoy the swimming pool under the watchful eye of Paulina lifeguards. A sumptuous tea rounded off the nostalgic day at 4 pm. Despite the differences in age and interest of each alumna, the general consensus of affection for the school was shared. As one alumna said “I wish Paulinas would stop, look and just take it all in. It is fantastic to look around you and then say thank you for your own experience as part of it all.”

Malika Shah year 12

Dr Jackson's marathon effort pays dividends

Philip Jackson, the newest member of the St. Paul's Girls' School chemistry department, proved that success in work and sport can easily complement each other when, on 26 September, he completed the Berlin marathon in an impressive three hours 32 minutes, two minutes within his previous all-time best. Year 12 student Kat Spooner, a middle distance specialist who is aiming for English schools qualification next summer, interviewed Dr Jackson about his passion for the sport.

KS: As both a runner and a teacher, with no doubt a busy schedule, what helps you to manage your time effectively?

PJ: I plan ahead really carefully and I have a routine from which I very rarely deviate. I could do school work every hour of every day but I carefully factor in times which I commit to running. Thus I know I shall be out training on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. As a routine it is almost cast in concrete!

KS: How did you keep a strong mental attitude in last weekend's Berlin marathon, i.e when you "hit the wall"?

PJ: I do not believe in the "wall". It is a myth. Providing you keep your intake of carbohydrate (in the form of gels) and water regular during the race you can keep going. I know the pace I am aiming for and I wear a Garmin (runners' satnav) which I use constantly to monitor my progress. I only lost concentration in Berlin at mile 25 (because by then I knew a PB was already in the bag) and that really annoyed me; a valuable lesson learnt.

KS: What has been your favourite aspect of this great sport?

PJ: There is so much, I don't know where to begin. I think it has to be the sheer sense of joy that I get from each race. I have never known such elation.

KS: What are your future plans in running?

PJ: To get my 5k time below 21 minutes, beat my personal best times at 10k and half marathon, and to complete the marathon "majors" i.e. Boston and Chicago next year. Then, who knows? Tokyo, Amsterdam, Barcelona? And, of course, to get all my senior girls' running group to enter a 10k road race!

An evening of absurdism in six languages

The audience sat expectantly in the theatre, chatting amongst themselves. Suddenly the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the room. The spotlight revealed a Russian woman (played by Alexandra Mostovoy) awaiting arrest for a crime not yet committed.This was the first of six plays put on by the modern languages department, each showcasing one language taught at St Paul’s and involving actresses from across the year groups. The Russian play, Elizabeth Bam by Daniil Kharms, reflected Stalin’s purges of the 1930s. It combined humorous elements with a dark storyline. Growing tension climaxes in the woman’s arrest at the end of the play. Next up was The Chairs, by French playwright Eugene Ionesco, the touching story of an old man (Olivia Godwin) and his wife (Alexia Katzaros). They wait alone in a building surrounded by water while the man tells of a message he must give to the world. Comic moments, such as the arrival of a mysterious guest no one but the couple can see, were combined with truly moving sequences to create a gripping yet amusing piece of drama.

The Spanish performance of The Picnic by Fernando Arrabal took a seemingly serious subject matter and turned it into a hilarious piece of theatre that was enjoyable even for non-Spanish speakers. It told the tale of a young soldier in the First World War (Iman Ahmedani), whose lonely hours at the front are interrupted by his eccentric parents, who settle down for a picnic. Soon an enemy soldier arrives and he is invited to join the fun after being captured. The Picnic ends with a bombing raid which sees the two soldiers dash for cover while the parents sit under an umbrella unperturbed.

The Chinese contribution took the form of a love poem, To the Oak, by avant garde female poet Shu Ting. “My main challenge in the performance was pronunciation,” said India Matharu-Daley, who performed the piece. “But after lots of practice with Ms Shao I was confident I could get it right.” Ting’s poem, which challenges the traditional role of women, provoked controversy when it was published in 1978. In a change of mood The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, by Italian author Dario Fo, is the comical story of a maniac (Helena Fallstrom) who is arrested on charges of impersonation and whose witty evasions and ever-changing personality quickly frustrate the inspector attempting to interrogate him. The presentations ended with The Physicists by Friedrich Durrenmatt, featuring the St Paul’s Germanists. It is set in a psychiatric ward in which detectives are investigating the death of a nurse. The inspector is puzzled both by the strange circumstances of the death and the detached attitude of the head nurse. Then an inmate claiming to be Sir Isaac Newton enters and the ensuing conversation leaves the inspector utterly confused about who is sane and who is mad. These performances exceeded expectations both in linguistic fluency and in dramatic performance and made a powerful night of viewing.

Dillon Leet year 10

Maths mastery over City of London Girls

The first match of this year’s Hans Woyda mathematics competition got off to a great start for a formidable maths team. Rachael Booth, Melek Pirgon, Grace Lee and Marguerite Tong travelled to City of London School for Girls with high expectations. The contest takes the form of seven rounds, each testing different aspects of maths, including mental arithmetic and calculator skills, algebra and trigonometry. Despite facing strong opposition, the strategy for the team round allowed St Paul’s to pick up maximum marks for this section and a particularly strong performance in the race round secured a 49-31 victory, one of the school’s highest ever scores. Rachael noted “It's great fun to do, and quite rewarding - particularly if we pull off a victory in a tense match, but the mental challenge involved is worth it regardless.” Preparations are now beginning for the next two exciting matches against Godolphin and Latymer and Latymer Upper. Could this be the year that St Paul's girls win the Hans Woyda?

Melek Pirgon year 12 and Lucy Webster year 11

Hammersmith Academy at home at St Paul's

The innovative Hammersmith Academy opened the doors to 350 parents and children for their 11+ open event on 28 September. However, it was not their own doors – the Academy building is not yet finished! Instead they used the Great Hall of St Paul’s Girls’ School, the current home of the academy leadership team.

Prospective parents and pupils were shown a DVD presentation about the school as an introduction to this event. The head teacher, Gary Kynaston, went on to give a speech about his future plans for the academy. He happily answered all queries from the audience, some of which were about the new school uniform.

When I met Mr Kynaston after the event, he declared himself pleased with the way the evening went, noting that a wide variety of local people were present.

Hammersmith Academy will be open to students from September 2011, following the completion of the building in May. This co-educational academy, sponsored by the Mercer’s Company, aims at supporting local families. It will offer A levels, and the entrance requirements will be will be a fair banding test for children of all abilities making sure that a third of the student body is composed of each of the higher, middle and lower bands. Initially, of course, the Academy will have only year 7 and year 12 students and we hope that there are areas of collaboration with all of the St Paul’s Schools.

Kate Goatley, the academy secretary, declared that they were most proud of their personalised curriculum and brand-new facilities, together with the wide range of subjects taught, and their highly-qualified teachers. “We aim to give our students the self confidence and knowledge they need to pursue their career,” she said, something which will be reinforced by the supportive, communitarian atmosphere that the school will offer a year from now.

Eléanor Sealy year 8 

Commedia dell'arte troupe

A small group of girls and their parents were waiting on the Marble, having been given a mysterious message on where to meet. A sudden booming voice calls up from the concourse and we are led into the Forum where a dozen girls in deep hoodies are already in character, chatting animatedly among themselves. Invited to sit casually at one side, the audience feel incredibly close and intimate with the cast, a theme which is continued throughout the performance. The main idea of the group was to take the concept back to its sixteenth-century roots and become more experimental with traditional clowning and improvisation. The girls mutter among themselves and agree that some sort of warm-up should take place. This is taken quite literally by one member of the ensemble, who proceeded to encourage the audience to do a series of cardiovascular workouts including star jumps, lunges and some enthusiastic hip rotations.

Having upped both our heart-rates and levels of curiosity, the performance at last begins with a number of props being transformed into a television set before our eyes. Through the 'screen' - a large, empty picture frame - we see two news readers preparing to go live... only to begin reading in a multitude of languages, none of which are English. The set director hurriedly fixes the studio's technical glitch and the programme continues. With no real technology involved in the performance, the TV set's 'technical glitches' are cleverly done, along with a number of paper banners being carried along the front of the stage to create the illusion of amusing headlines such as 'The King is dead!' followed by 'Whoops, just sleeping.'

A large part of this performance is the attention paid to the audience. The right amount of participation and communication with us is highly entertaining and makes us feel as if the action is all around us, especially when the interviewee - a fish gynaecologist - is plucked directly from our midst. The transitions between programmes vary purposefully between haphazard and smooth which ensures there is no dull moment and too quickly the performance draws to a close. "It may have been a little different from what you expected, but we decided to go back to our roots and experiment more with classic clowning and improvisation," Mrs Baxter explains. The performance ended with an impromptu ‘group photo’, which involved all members squeezed tightly into the television. The overall show was short but incredibly entertaining, the audience responded with great gusto to the interactive setting. Short but sweet, this new technique has been incredibly amusing and, moreover, a total success. So will the Commedia troupe continue with this new style? I hope so.

Harriet Alway year 10 and Alice Rochford year 10

Birdsong from page to stage

“Why would one want to make a painting out of a sculpture?” was the response of one critic to the play adapted by Rachel Wagstaff from Sebastian Faulks’ bestselling novel Birdsong. The repost was defiant. Both Faulks and Wagstaff insisted on the play’s close loyalty to the book, and Faulks even suggested a painting could surpass the original sculpture in beauty. The duo presented their collaboration to St Paul's Girls' School's parents’ guild arts society in the Celia Johnson Theatre a week after the play’s debut in London’s Comedy Theatre. Both were closely involved in the play’s development from page to stage, lavishing extra attention on the set. Performed on an unusually small stage against the backdrop of the impending First World War, the play is an intimate dramatisation of this catastrophic event and its repercussions on human relationships. This topic had been of great interest to Wagstaff since reading the book as a schoolgirl. Asked how the erotic scenes from the book were translated onto stage, she said the sexual scenes had been woven into dialogue, with hints of offstage events to avoid unease in the family-orientated audience. Many members of the arts’ society then saw the production following this talk, and could see both Sebastian Faulks’ and Rachel Wagstaff’s creative flair realised on stage.
Malika Shah year 12

Points of information

Should we impose limits on freedom of speech? That’s the question four girls from year 11 found themselves answering at debating competition held at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School. Faced with an unprepared motion without much debating experience, they nevertheless emerged with the confidence to revisit the motion at the St Paul's debating society this week. Other motions involved the question of state funding of the arts ("something I’ve never thought about before," says Paz Garcia), and the idea of paying teachers based on their pupils’ results.

This was not their first competition. Paz and her partner, Madalena Leao, along with Anna Thomas and Victoria Hingley, qualified for the national final of the International Competition for Young Debaters at the Oxford Union last year. Inspired to debate by a League of Nations role-play as part of their history GCSE course, they hope to use this experience representing the school at the upcoming Model United Nations. The girls, now much more interested in politics, enjoy exchanging views. Paz, who calls herself a "conservative capitalist", admits that her partner’s contrasting views allow them to better represent either side in unprepared debates. She enjoys the chance to "channel passion in to a polite debate", while Anna adds that she now sees "the harder side of putting policies in place – there’s no right or wrong".

Hallie-Nell Swanson VII

Bonn exchange 2010

St Paul’s is lucky to have enjoyed its longest-running exchange partnership with the Liebfrauenschule in Bonn for over twenty years and recently the students visited our year 8 Germanists again. What is it like to take part? I decided to investigate. When I asked girls in my class about the whether the exchange was a success, the response was very positive. Although they had to make sandwiches for their exchanges’ lunches and get to school earlier everyday so their exchanges do not miss their outings, all involved said it was great fun. Many Paulinas developed a good friendship with their exchange partner. As they had to fill out a form about their interests and hobbies before taking part, the girls were paired with exchanges who were really quite similar to them. Although their German skills did not yet allow conversation to flow to absolutely everything, the girls enjoyed their company and now have far better communication skills, especially body language and vocal tone! All in all year 8 recommends the Bonn exchange because, as well as honing your language ability, you might find a new best friend!

Jackie Li year 8

Paulina poets praised again

The St Paul's English department will agree that in recent years, creative writing has flourished at St Paul’s Girls’ School. This year is set to be our best yet, as within two weeks of the autumn term, five Paulinas have been recognised in the prestigious Foyle Young Poet of the Year competition. This award selects fifteen overall winners and another eighty-five highly commended young poets worldwide, aged between eleven and seventeen. The St Paul's winners this year are Elizabeth Morland, Ankita Saxena, Aithne Moran, Daisy Chandley, and Catherine Olver, who is one of the overall winners. Current year 13 Catherine, who had forgotten about the Foyle announcements due to AS results, describes her success as a “complete surprise”.

“I submitted a few poems online, including one that I had written as part of a school masterclass run by last year’s poet in residence, Frances Leviston” Catherine says, “It was very exciting to find out that I was one of the fifteen winners. The most fun part was probably telling my teacher Dr Breese the following morning! I am really looking forward to going on an Arvon course in February with the other winners and the judges, Luke Kennard and Jane Draycott."

The success was not only in the senior school. Daisy Chandley, in year 9, is our youngest Foyle Young Poet winner this year. “Last year I entered but didn’t make it, so I feel like my writing must be improving. It’s also great to be the youngest (and most likely the shortest!) at this school to be commended,” Daisy says.

Dr Breese is very proud of this year’s results. “We have had a really good success rate with the Foyle Young Poet competition in the last few years, with girls either winning or being commended. In 2008, Sophie Stephenson-Wright and Emma Jourdan were among the fifteen winners, and they have both gone on to win many prestigious competitions” says Dr Breese. This has been reinforced recently as Sophie, who is now currently at university, was announced as one of the winners of the Young Poets on the Underground contest. Her poem, Whalesong, can now be seen on many posters around the London Underground network.

Achievements in creative writing could be described as infectious at school, including among the staff. Due to her unwavering enthusiasm coupled with our successes in the Foyle Young Poet competition in recent years, the Poetry Society named Dr Breese as a 'Teacher Trailblazer' – one of eleven teachers across the country acknowledged as showing dedication to teaching poetry to young people. This academic year promises to be fruitful in terms of poetry and prose alike. If these successes are any indication of what is to come, the English department waits with bated breath for more writers to collect prestigious awards.

Aithne Moran year 11

New year, new subjects

Every year many sixth-formers at St Paul's choose to take up subjects new to them for A Level. We caught up with a few members of year 12 after their first half term of economics, politics, history of art and theatre studies. Anastasiya Gorodilova is studying economics. “I wanted to be able to understand conversations about current affairs and the economy and eventually take part myself” she says. Certainly it is timely to learn about what exactly causes a recession and how it can be dealt with. The class is currently learning about market mechanisms and, although this sounds complex, by half term the class is already comfortable with the new style of writing that is required to answer examination questions. Anastasiya was thrilled when something she had learnt in economics came up in a history lesson and she was able to apply her knowledge. She says, “My favourite aspect so far has been learning about consumer services and the psychology behind sales.”

Henna Shah has enjoyed her first few weeks of politics. She describes her lessons with Mr Askew and Mr Peck as “an energetic mix of debating and discussing current issues. We roughly represent all the main parties so there is always a broad spectrum of opinion.” The class now has a better understanding of the ideology behind Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. “I found learning about the differences between the laissez-faire liberals and the more radical liberals really interesting,” says Henna, who believes that we should all be taught more about the United Kingdom’s political system. “The classic sixth former is very opinionated, but we need to have the background knowledge to justify what we think. My politics class has not changed who I’d vote for, but at least I can give reason for my choice.”

Meanwhile Miss Evans has revealed to her history of art class why the Mona Lisa is so renowned. “It’s Leonardo’s sfumato,” says Lucy Byford, who recommends the comprehensive course. The art historians are given an overview of art from ancient to modern times in their first year. Lucy has enjoyed “unlocking the secrets” of Renaissance oil paintings and is considering taking history of art at university. “Choosing the subject was a leap of faith, but I knew I would love it from my first homework assignment – to go to a gallery! Now I really want to write essays on Botticelli and Rubens... I don’t feel like any piece is out of my grasp.”

According to Heloise Lowenthal theatre studies at A Level is a big step up from GCSE. Heloise says “we’ve been studying different practitioners in depth which has opened my eyes to a broader understanding of drama.” The class has also been doing more practical work including learning how to express emotion truthfully. “At first we were all really timid, but once we had overcome the barrier of being embarrassed and shared with each other, the lessons became very therapeutic. Theatre studies is what I’m really passionate about and I look forward to the lessons everyday." This year they will be working towards a final AS performance, in front of a live audience, we look forward to seeing them all break a leg!

Tatiana Barnes year 12 and India Matharu-Daley year 12

Loss - a documentary

 "My film acts as a snapshot into two people’s lives; it is not designed to give you a complete answer to the problems that loss creates, instead it shows the spectrum of emotion that comes with it," says Emily Penn, year 13 student and film maker. Emily's documentary project is the first to have been awarded a St Paul's senior scholarship so I was curious to learn more about her the origins of her brilliant and compelling entry. Loss focusses on her two grandparents from both sides of her family. Having already explored the medium of film in previous artworks and having set up the first St Paul's independent film society, Emily decided to embark on a new ambitious project, without formal script or actors.
Highlighting the importance of acceptance and the universal effects of loss, the documentary shows her two very different grandparents talking about their personal experiences and responses to loss throughout their lives. The contrast between their extreme viewpoints forms the basis of a provocative and moving exposition which explores themes of age and recollection within Loss. By using only a hand-held camera and no pre-scripted situations, she displays a raw, personal side to the characters which gives the film its sincere, emotive quality. Emily creates an accurate portrayal of them, having overcome the challenges of what she terms "the process of detachment" involved in working with her own family and the difficulty of trying to avoid subjectivity in her work.
From the original twelve hours of footage, Loss was edited down to a twenty minute short film, featuring both stills shot from their homes and live recordings of them speaking. Loss has a measured pace, moving with "the gentle rhythm" which she admires in classic documentaries such as Lindsay Anderson's 1957 film Everyday Except Christmas. Inspired by artists from the British Free Cinema movement, her work reflects qualities such as their interest in ‘real’ people, the lack of narration and minimal camerawork. She has produced a unique and honest result. Loss is not only a work of art in its own right but a poignant documentary which captures an image of a time that is soon to be lost.

Lucy Fleming-Brown year 10

Students debaters hone their skills

Debating does not just look good on a UCAS form; it is a real art form which takes skill, quick thinking and a lot of confidence to succeed in. Nine girls from year 12 discovered this when they were taken to the English Speaking Union’s debating workshop in Dartmouth House. The evening kicked off with a show debate of the motion ‘This house would ban cosmetic surgery.’ It was a great experience for the group to familiarise themselves with the proper debating style, and, afterwards, to criticise different techniques. After a quick overview of the evening’s events we were asked to split into two groups: Those who were debating novices and those who were experts.
"Thirty seconds to improvise...GO!"
Believe it or not, a great deal of debating is thinking "on your feet". Instant reactions are essential when rebutting a point of information or answering a question from the floor and this is especially important once you have reached a higher level in debating. In the senior debate class the distinguished lecturer firstly talked about some key elements of debating. Having confidence, speaking at an appropriate volume and restricting hand gestures (which proved to be more difficult for some) may all seem fairly obvious but once in front of a large audience, the basics can often disintegrate, leaving a bashful, awkward and nervous speaker. During the two hour intensive training session, we were encouraged, admonished and even cajoled to inject some more vigour as we debated. The session culminated a final, official debate, of ‘This House would propose banning all violent video games’. After some skilful tactics and indeed, much quick thinking, the two girls on the proposition team won, much to the delight of Tim Askew, teacher in charge of debating.
Proceedings in the novice workshop were a little more light-hearted. ‘Game’ was the keyword, which was deceivingly used to make us feel at ease. In reality the activities really pushed our ability to express emotions while speaking, think of arguments quickly and have the confidence to give points of information that really challenge the crux of the debate. After exercising our abilities they were put to the test in a group debate of the demanding motion: ‘This house would reinstate the death penalty.’ As part of the opposition creating convincing arguments was not a problem, but delivering them with confidence, finesse and coherently was the real challenge. Not only did we learn valuable skills during this debate, but because of the diverse group of debaters present we learnt many new ethical perspectives and terminology, which will certainly enrich our future debating. Of course what everyone was really aiming for was a full strawberry, the pinnacle of our instructor’s fruit-based scoring system, and after about fifteen minutes of fierce competition the opposition achieved a well earned victory.

Verity Green year 12 and Kat Spooner year 12

West London Action for Children quiz night

During half term St Paul’s Girls’ School opened its doors to the West London Action for Children (WLAC) charity which was hosting its ninth annual quiz night in the Great Hall. WLAC works with under-privileged children in the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea, providing counselling for families, adults and children involved in abuse, domestic violence, poverty and divorce. Most of the money from donations goes directly to providing the therapists needed. Light-hearted yet hard-fought competition between tables was fuelled by lavish picnic fare and the odd glass of wine. Challenging questions such as, “What is produced in a ginnery? Clue: it’s not gin!” and “How many days and nights did Jonah reside in the whale?” gave the collective brain cells something of a workout. Mutiny nearly broke out over whether a Norway lobster is a scampo (the singular form of scampi) or a langoustine. Participants whipped out their mobile phones to seek back up for their dissent and, even when the quizmaster stamped his authority firmly on proceedings and insisted on scampo, cries of "langoustine!" rang out for up to an hour later, often called out randomly for no reason. Raffle prizes included a Christmas tree from Scotland, courtesy of local gardening business Shoots and Leaves, and a tea for two at Betty Blythe Fine Food Pantry. Tickets were sold by members of the St Paul's event management team (representing years 8 to 12 inclusive) who encouraged participants to improve on last year's total of £1,800 to raise £2,365. Along with sponsorship of the event by local business Bective Leslie Marsh, the total sum raised for WLAC was £9,695. It was good to see St Paul’s students working with the charity which helps children in our borough. Most of us live in comfortable situations, unlike the children who are helped by the WLAC, so to see Paulinas helping out with the event and to see St Paul's loaning the Great Hall to the charity for the quiz night, was really rewarding.

Charlotte Dougall year 10

Sarah's live webcast for Debbie Fund

Sarah Phillips, year 13 student at St Paul's, will be releasing her new extended-play CD on 6 December 2010. She'll be hosting a live webcast which will be an online launch party and so open to everyone everywhere!
"It will be broadcast from the studio in London (where I recorded the songs) and there will be special guests popping in for chats" says Sarah. The EP will feature her recordings of Say It's Possible, Blue Chair, Broken Strings and the Paolo Nutini song Autumn which recorded so poignantly on the evening of her mother Debbie's death from cervical cancer. While Sarah herself received the HPV inoculation at school, she is painfully aware that older generations face the threat of cruel disease. "The vaccine is such a good thing," says Sarah. "But cervical cancer mostly starts to develop in women in their early 30s, who may not have had the vaccine. It’s those women this research could help." Sarah's webcast is a free event but in the meantime she invites you to pre-order the songs on iTunes or the CD which you can pre-order on Amazon. From 6 December you'll even be able to buy the CD in Tesco (All proceeds to Debbie Fund!) Please also visit her Facebook page or follow her on Twitter sarahoephillips

Sponsored swim by year 7 raises exactly £5,000!

The annual sponsored swim took place in October 2010 and our new year 7 have proven themselves to be outstanding swimmers with fantastic results. The top swimmers in the year reached a total of fifty lengths and, of course, the money is being raised for great causes: the school charities and bursary fund. The girls were all excited about the swim as for most of them, it was their first big swimming event. “It was a great idea,” says one student, “and it was really enjoyable, although quite hard.”

“It was nice and the pool was warm.” another year 7 says, “I don’t know how many lengths I did, but I hope it’s a good total. It’s nice because there isn’t too much competition within the form to achieve the best score. We just want to raise as much money as possible because we think the school charities and the bursary fund are really good causes, even if each person individually doesn't do very many lengths,”.

Awards have been given within each form group for most lengths and for effort, and one class received a prize for overall effort and attainment. Isabel Barnes and Apolline Bokkerink achieved the highest amount of lengths in the whole year: a stunning fifty lengths each.

The monies have finally been collected and added up and we're proud to announce that the swim raised exactly £5,000. "Actually it was a few pounds off the round figure" says an anonymous teacher "so I donated a little bit extra to make it a tidy sum!" The funds provide for £1,250 each to our charities the Debbie Fund and New Light and £2,500 to our bursary fund, helping the brightest girls in London benefit from a St Paul's education.

Antonia Ruddle year 8

Beijing exchange 2010

We were excited to meet our exchange partners’ families after hosting our students from Beijing in London earlier this term. The girls who took part in the Chinese exchange were impressed by their hosts’ hospitality. We were entertained bargaining at traditional Chinese markets and watching the sunset over the Bird’s Nest Stadium, plus our families cooked a wonderful variety of authentic food for us, so we had lots of chopstick practice.

While our exchange partners were at school during the week, we went on excursions to the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and Beijing Zoo. Surprisingly a number of Chinese tourists were fascinated by our group of Western schoolchildren – we were asked to pose for photos several times! We also enjoyed the Beijing Opera and an amazing acrobatics show in the evenings.

The exchange was a fantastic experience that opened our eyes to a very different way of life, especially when we sat in on our exchanges’ lessons for a day. Among the many differences between St Paul’s Girls’ School and the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University was the flag raising ceremony, complete with the Chinese national anthem, on Monday morning! We learnt a lot about Chinese history and culture in Beijing, and, of course, had ample opportunity to practice our Chinese.

Clementine Makower and Holly Metcalf year 10

St Paul's inaugurates year 13 art visit to Berlin

The Jewish Museum was amongst the first we visited. Daniel Liebeskind’s dramatic architectural experience begins with the monumental zinc-panelled facade of the building and continues through the underground ‘axes’ or tunnels which house the permanent collection. The triumph of the design, in my opinion, is its blending of the architecture with viewer experience, a sentiment embodied fully in the chilling experience of the holocaust tower. This vast dark concrete space is freezing-cold and the only light that permeates it enters through a slit in the roof, some 30 metres above the viewer.

The Neue Nationalgalerie, an impressive modernist space referred to as the ‘glass box’, houses a collection of early twentieth-century art. I found the German expressionist movement to be particularly well represented with an abundance of works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in particular. However, the extensive collection also shows work by Cubists Picasso, Gris and Léger; Surrealists Ernst, Dalí and Miró; and Bauhaus instructors Klee and Kandinsky.

We had a chance to visit the Bauhaus archive itself, which contains a vast collection of art, architectural models, sculpture and design from the movement which became an icon of modernism. The Bauhaus school, a community of artists, was concerned primarily with functionality and where design was given as much weight as fine art.

One of the most unusual and striking places that we visited was the Tacheles, a huge derelict building that houses an artists’ collective. The exterior and interior walls are completely covered in graffiti and the many rooms in the five-storey construction are used as exhibition spaces or artists’ studios. The garden is occupied by a metal work studio and functions as both a sculpture garden and recreational space, with abandoned chairs tables and even cars occupying it.

The Hamburger Bahnhof contains an extraordinary collection of European and American painting, sculpture, photography and film from the twentieth century. The film scene in Berlin is vibrant, and some of us had the chance to visit the KW (Kunst Werke) Institute which housed all manner of contemporary to early twentieth-century film such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari of 1920, a disturbing example of early Surrealist cinema.

Berlin’s buzzing world of culture seemed to permeate every aspect of the city. From the impressive light shows that flashed from the skyscrapers in the centre of town (it was the festival of light), the monumental architecture along the Unter den Linden which ends with the Brandenburger Tor and the Mitte District, which is full of independent gallery spaces, vintage shops and cafes. We even had a chance to attend one of Berlin’s most famous cultural experiences; the cabaret. The show incorporated a mixture of song, dance and high-flying acrobatics all set within the most unlikely and awe-inspiring sets.

Beatrice Vermeir year 13

GCSE Italian visit to Venice

On our first morning in Venice, we were woken by the sound of sirens. Mrs Knight assured us that these were only to signal the acqua alta (high water). This phenomenon that occurs at the change of season when the canal’s water level rises and lower parts of the city are flooded. To cope with acqua alta, elevated platforms are set along the main streets to allow passage. The famous acqua alta boots are really needed only when exceptionally high waters occur. Even then, the inconvenience lasts just as long as it takes for the water to go down again, which usually happens in a few hours. We were very excited imagining ourselves wading to school through knee-deep water, but we found that there was no flooding in our part of the city.

We enjoyed Italian lessons at the Istituto Venezia every morning. The lessons were a lot of fun, ranging from designing a pub to a singing competition, all in Italian. After our lessons we had lunch in one of the many restaurants lining the nearby piazza, then head off to the nearest vaporetto (Venetian water bus) stop for our afternoon activity.

During our trip, we went on many exciting and interesting visits to museums and art. One of our favourite trips was to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. It is among the most important museums in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the twentieth century. Located in Peggy Guggenheim's former home on the Grand Canal, the museum presents her personal art collection.

We also visited the Mocenigo Palace, an imposing Venetian aristocratic residence. The Mocenigo family was one of the most important families of Venice. Seven Mocenigos became doges (the rulers of the city). The museum contains a rich collections of 18th Century textiles and costumes. We viewed the state rooms on the piano nobile (first floor) and spotted secret doors on the wall, which were used for communication with the kitchen and butler’s residence.

The Palazzo Ducale was the seat of the Venetian government for centuries, as well as being the home of the Doge. It was the venue for law courts, its civil administration and the city jail, the latter connected to the palace through the Bridge of Sighs. Built in ninth century as a fortified castle, the existing palace owes its external appearance to the building work of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries with the pink Verona marble and the lace-like Istrian stone arcades. Inside the Doge's palace is a special Lion's Mouth, in which Venetians could post accusations against anyone. It was used as a means of collecting complaints – citizen against citizen, citizen against authorities.

St Mark’s Square is the only true square in Venice – the other open areas are known as campi, which means "fields" in English. The square was the scene of some of the city’s most important religious and political activities as well as the centre of Venetian social life for almost a millennium. It was originally divided into two parts by the Rio Batario river, which was filled in the twelfth century. A small, new square was built with the columns of San Marco and San Teodhore, the city’s patron saints. The Piazza San Marco may be more famous, but the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. The current structure was built in just three years, between 1588 and 1591, and remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot until the Accademia Bridge was built in 1854. The Rialto Bridge’s 24-foot arch was designed to allow passage of galleys and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support the bridge more than 400 years later. The architect, Antonio da Ponte ("Anthony of the Bridge," appropriately enough), competed against such eminent designers as Michelangelo and Palladio for the contract.

On our last day, Mrs Knight and Mrs Ninnis organised gondola rides for us – an amazing and memorable experience. As soon as we boarded and met our gondoliers, we began to race. Our competitive instincts got the better of us but were stopped after a short time by the picturesque beauty around us. We wound our way through canals that we had thought were surely too narrow for one gondola, let alone three, and saw houses on the same level as the water. We were also introduced to "Mr Gondolier 2009" who happened to be passing through the same canal as us. As soon as he flashed us a smile, we understood why he had won the title.

Venice has inspired not only painters, but writers too. There are forty references by Shakespeare to Venice; two of his plays, The Merchant of Venice and Othello, are set wholly or partly in Venice; Byron composed many poems and two historical dramas set in the city. Venice provides the ideal place for mystery, intrigue, extravagance and romanticism, as well as ample opportunity to improve our Italian in an authentic and stimulating environment.

Rachel Cockerell year 11

Barcelona exchange 2010

After hosting our Spanish exchange partners in September, we eagerly awaited our half term trip to Barcelona. Strictly instructed by Miss Garcia not to speak English, our host families spoke to us only in Spanish, and thankfully not Catalan, which we have yet to master.

A highlight of the trip was our visit to Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batllo. Originally the house of the Batllo family, the casa is now open to the public. Inside we enjoyed many of Gaudí’s signature architectural features including undulating ceilings and walls and an incredible roof terrace with colourful mosaics and views over Barcelona. I had also heard quite a bit about the Sagrada Família, a privately-funded Catholic church designed by Gaudí. Although construction began in 1822, the church is still not finished. Its interior, however, is amazing, especially the columns, which open out and converge at their tops to imitate tree foliage. The Dalí Museum, designed by the artist, was fascinating. Our guide was pointed out many double meanings in Dalí’s paintings and helped us get inside the mind of the eccentric man.

In a week our Spanish had most definitely improved and we conversed effectively with the shop attendants along La Rambla, Barcelona’s main shopping street – I would thoroughly recommend the exchange to all students of Spanish!

Jennifer Ehr year 11

Dr Slaski's liquid nitogen lecture 2010

Dr Slaski, a physics teacher at St Paul's for four years, attracted over 60 students and teachers to the theatre on Friday 5 November. “I hope we will see many of you doing physics in the future" were his parting words, as he concluded his physics lecture on liquid nitrogen. And certainly the impact of his talk had a significant impact on those who heard it.

Beginning with a short talk on scales and the highest and lowest possible temperatures, Dr Slaski then focussed on what can be done with liquid nitrogen, and rested briefly on conductivity, semi-conductors and super-conductors. Throughout the audience were shown remarkable and dramatic experiments to demonstrate the effects of liquid nitrogen, a substance that only exists at -200°C.

One of these experiments was to display a wooden spoon with a super-conductor inside, which was only effective at very low temperatures, so when the spoon was placed in liquid nitrogen, it had enough strength to levitate a magnet upside-down.

The audience some of whom had come from local schools such as Sacred Heart and Latymer received the lecture and Dr Slaski’s numerous jokes warmly. "Thank you so much for organising such a delightful event and communicating your passion for science so well" declared the head of science at Sacred Heart. Physics is traditionally the least popular science for girls to study but the St Paul's department is challenging that trend with three sets at A level and a growing reputation for exciting visits to NASA and CERN as well as the practical physics trip to Alton Towers. Dr Slaski's flamboyant approach to liquid nitrogen is just one of the reasons why physics, like the universe, continues to expand!

Eléanor Sealy year 8

Paulinas at the cutting edge A/W 2010

Take unlimited enthusiasm, 1000 steel pins, 100 metres of cloth, ten intrepid GCSE students and one chief seamstress and you have the first ever St Paul’s textiles course. Using sewing machines (kindly donated by the Parent’s Guild), the girls set to work, learning how to create a dress from dreams drawn on paper to the finished garment. The course, an extension of the GCSE-equivalent visual arts course, has been eagerly awaited as there had been no previous opportunity to study textiles or fashion design at school for some decades.

Starting with basic design skills, the students began to draw their ideas which they then developed into a final sketch. With this clear image in mind, they then cut paper patterns before learning to adapt them to fit personal measurements. The next stage was producing a calico toile, before creating the final dress in felt or cotton. This detailed and skilled process was overseen by the wonderful Natasha who kept a calm head, even when releasing lost limbs from stitched up holes and re-pinning troublesome necklines.

This type of traditional couture dressmaking was an entirely new experience for most of the girls. Even those who knew how to operate a sewing machine had not anticipated how much work goes into making a dress. The course has been great fun as well as extremely instructive, and the girls would like to thank Natasha for teaching them and the Parent’s Guild for supplying sewing machines. John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld and Christopher Kane look out - here come the girls!

Lucy Fleming-Brown year 10

Maths in and out of the zoo

Maths Society recently welcomed Professor Chris Budd, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath, for a talk entitled ‘Maths In and Out of the Zoo’. His talk focussed on the applications of maths across the real world, including the incubation of penguin eggs at Bristol Zoo and the maths behind crowd formations.

Professor Budd, who also holds the chair of Mathematics at the Royal Institution, spoke about his recent involvement with the aquarium at Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, where he and a team of mathematicians successfully used a mathematical model to solve the problems that the zoo was having with temperature regulation. He spoke about the mathematics behind Robert Lang's popular origami animals, which are folded out of a single sheet of uncut paper.

It was a very successful talk, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended. Julia Nikolic, a further mathematician, said "An insight into the world of maths beyond our curriculum is always fascinating - it was great to see applications of mathematics in the most unexpected places!"

Katriona Barr year 12

Third annual St Paul's chess challenge

Three chess masters and sixty pupils gathered in the great hall on Thursday 25th November to take part in the sponsored charity chess challenge. This event was to raise for the school charities New Light and Debbie Fund.

The two chess masters, Sabrina Chevannes and Lorin D'Costa and chess grandmaster Daniel King all overruled their Paulina opponents, leaving a predictable but nonetheless devastating score of only losses.

Mr King told me before the challenge how he ascribes his chess career in part to the influence of his family. "We had a healthy sibling rivalry", something which led him at the age of five years old to begin playing chess, a game which he always admired for its complexity and history. One event he fondly remembered was the fundamental chess match against the Soviet Union from which he brought victory to England.

The St Paul's chess challenge lasted approximately one hour and a half and was one of close victories and agonising losses. As one participant said, "It was close, but not close enough".

Eléanor Sealy year 8

Ballgirling at the Royal Albert Hall

Girls from year 10 (and some from year 11) certainly had their work cut out at the Royal Albert Hall this year, as matching the great success of last year’s ball girls was definitely a challenge. Being only the second year running that St Paul’s enjoyed the privilege of ball girling for the AEGON Masters’ Finals (tennis tournament), everyone was anxious, especially with three of the days being broadcast on TV!

Fortunately, thanks to hard work from both teachers and ball girls, everything went smoothly, despite Mansour Bahrami’s many distracting jokes on court. Along with being able to keep most of our outfits (courtesy of our FILA sponsor), we were also given the fantastic opportunity of playing tennis with none other than professional Younes El Aynaoui! Unfortunately, none of us possessed quite the skill to beat him, however some of us proudly managed to win a few points, even if they were only from flukey shots!

However nerve-wracking the whole experience was, I can easily say that all of the ball girls walked away from the tennis court having gained something invaluable, whether it was increased knowledge of the sport, or the rather special gift of one of Pat Cash’s fresh-from-the-match and dripping-with-sweat headbands... I would certainly recommend everyone to get more involved with sports at St Paul's, including tennis, as ball girling at the Royal Albert Hall is not something to be missed!

Emily Laciny year 10

Year 8 devised drama performance

Edgar Allan Poe was an American short-story writer and poet during the early nineteenth century, most famous for his Gothic pieces. His work formed the basis of the year 8 drama club’s performance of Tales of Mystery and Horror. The confinements of the school concourse provided the perfect place for a site-specific promenade performance. The five pieces ran concurrently and the audience was free to walk about to watch whichever piece they wished. Some members of the audience were even invited to take part. The audience enjoyed the fact that they could interact with the characters and that each play told a completely different story. Within a few minutes of the plays commencing, the audience was no doubt petrified. Many unsuspecting parents turned around to find a zombie, dressed entirely in black, staring back at them. Jenny Hutchings of year 12, one of the assistant directors, said, “This year year 8 were given the starting point of Edgar Allen Poe which gave rise to some terrifying ideas which had to be toned down quite a bit, but for the most part they were very imaginative in their interpretation. All of their hard work over the past term came to a wonderful conclusion last week and I am very proud of them all”.

Melek Pirgon year 12

John York's latest CD releases

John York, head of keyboards, has taught at St Paul's for over twenty years. This year he has released two CDs which he believes to be his “finest work to date”. The first of the CDs is Chopin’s Cello Sonata, sonatas by Karl Szymanowski and Simon Laks. These are a collection of showpieces performed with his old friend and cellist Raphael Wallfisch.

The two have played together for a long time having toured throughout Europe with one another, creating a wonderful, fulfilling sound and complementing the other. To both, the pieces feel personal and familiar, especially Mr Wallfisch whose mother played the cello at Auschwitz at the same time as Simon Laks, despite the two having never met.

The second of the CDs, is a duet aptly titled York 2,as it is Mr York and his wife Fiona, who also teaches piano at St Paul's. The CD contains works by Gustav Holst, a well-known figure to all Paulinas, and retains the original four-hand version of The Planets. Mr York takes on a grand feat, performing such famous pieces as these, but as he said himself “People keep returning to classical music for a reason, the pieces are great and timeless.”

Raniyah Qureshi year 8

The second St Paul's Girls' School football tournament

The second annual St Paul's Girls' School football tournament took place on 9 December. Teams came from local schools Godolphin and Latimer, Latymer Upper, Lady Margaret and Putney High School. The standard of play was remarkably high, with Latymer's outstanding team winning the trophy. For St Paul's football, it was a very encouraging evening and a glimpse of possible glories to come. Although the tournament is primarily for years 12 and 13, our youthful team included three members of Year 9 and we were delighted with our third-place finish.

Jonathan Patrick (coach)

Carol Service

"Taking part in the carol service was magical - we all sang our hearts out..." (year 7 performer).

The penultimate week of term was marked with a traditional evening service of lessons and carols in the Great Hall and was an occasion for celebration for girls, staff and parents alike. With the accompaniment of organ and candle-lit piano, the junior choir and the junior chamber choir led the congregation beautifully in a variety of well-known carols, as well as singing some less familiar seasonal songs to their rapt audience. Many of the new girls especially enjoyed rehearsing songs that they had never heard before, one of them saying: "It was great fun to learn new songs I don’t usually sing and after practising them so much it was great to finally perform them."

A highlight of the evening was music scholar Yasmin Sachee’s debut as conductor leading the junior choir’s rendition of Chilcott’s This Joy – her energy and poise masterfully controlled the close canon of voices as they rose in a spirited rendition of the piece. Indeed the performance seemed to sum up the whole evening, being as it was a marriage of spiritual reflection and joyful celebration. As one new girl remarked about the service: "I thought that it was great that it meant so much to so many people....it definitely got me in the Christmas spirit!"

Lydia Mason

Christmas concert 2010

This year’s christmas concert was impressive, including extracts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, a 15-part Charpentier mass and pieces written by students and teachers respectively. The music scholars opened the concert with No man Is An Island, Entire Of Itself… composed by Mark Wilderspin, our composer in residence. The words are derived from a meditation by John Donne, written in 1624. The ensemble reflected a sense of people relying on each other in order to do well and even incorporated the newly-refurbished school bell operated by Tomoka Kan from the school office! Director of music Yat-Soon Yeo then conducted the baroque ensemble in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major from the harpsichord, reminding us once more of his virtuosity on that instrument. The first half of the concert ended with the impressive Mess de Minuit Pour Noël by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, a mass in 15 parts featuring soloists from the senior school.

After the interval, Angus Meryon (head of wind) conducted the concert band performing Fantasy of Flight by John Williams which included extracts from Harry Potter, Star Wars and E.T.. The chamber orchestra, conducted by Hilary Sturt, then performed Elegy and Prelude from John Ireland’s Downland Suite. The symphony orchestra performed the premiere of Suite for Orchestra, a piece in three movements, composed by year 13 student Tatiana Kalveks. The crchestra evidently enjoyed playing a work written by one of their peers, and the composer received warm applause. The next orchestral item featured the Marche and Valse des Fleurs from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite.

Finally, the orchestra, choir and audience joined in singing and playing the school’s three tradtional carols: John Gardner’s The Holly and the Ivy and Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day and former director of music Julian Grant’s arrangement of Ding Dong Merrily On High. It was an appropriately moving end to a very successful Christmas concert attended by many former Paulinas for whom the concert has become an integral part of their plans for Christmas.

Zoë Deckker year 12