Dr Jackson's Boston challenge in aid of the Debbie Fund

Chemistry teacher Philip Jackson spent the end of the Easter holiday running the Boston marathon achieving a personal best time of 3 hours 29 minutes and 25 seconds. A seasoned runner, Dr Jackson was proud to take this opportunity to raise money for the Debbie Fund, a charity supporting research into cervical cancer which was set up in the name of Debbie Phillips, mother of Paulinas Katy and Sarah. If anyone would like to support him to reach his target of £3,000, please visit his Justgiving page and sponsor generously!  We also congratulate Debbie's elder daughter Katy who completed the London marathon on April 17 in a time of 5 hours 14 minutes and she too has a Justgiving page to make donation quick and easy.

Amanda Triccas

Elizabeth Diggory travel scholarships 2011

We are pleased to announce the Elizabeth Diggory travel scholarships for 2011. The scheme, named after our High Mistress from 1998 to 2006, provides funds for students in years 11 to 13 to undertake travel for academic, charitable or cultural purposes. Submissions are considered by a panel and funds provided to cover part or the whole of a project. This year travel scholarships have been awarded to: Parisa Khonsari (year 13) who will volunteer at the Dar-al-aytam foundation in the city of Qon, south of the capital city of Iran. This foundation supports orphans, poor children and young adults by providing essentials such as food, clothing, healthcare and education. Janina Moutia-Bloom (year 13) will be working for Projects Abroad, an organisation that offers programmes on law and human rights. Janina has chosen the project based in Cape Town, South Africa. This application was inspired by the Friday lecture given by Baroness Cox, founder and CEO of Hart Organisation. Following the lecture Janina contacted her and she recommended Projects Abroad. Anitha Balaskantharaja (year 12) will be working in a government hospital in India. She will stay with family friends and a cardiologist has already agreed to her shadowing him during her visit.

Katharine Spooner (year 12) has been given funding to undertake two weeks voluntary community service teaching girls age 7-18 in Ghana. The project is designed specifically to prepare the girls for school or to return to school. Katherine Backler (year 12) is looking forward to travelling to Greece to spend six days visiting the major archaeological sites. As she only joined St. Paul's in September she missed out on the 2010 Classics trip and is preparing to apply to read that subject at university. Natasha Mardinian (year 12) hopes to participate in the volunteering programme of the Canadian Youth Mission to Armenia (CYMA) in response to the Leninakan earthquake.

Sarah Phillips (year 13) will continue to raise money for the Debbie Fund (in memory of her late mother) and to expand the work which the charity currently does onto a more global scale. She will spend two weeks in Benin to work with doctors and patients. She also intends to make a documentary focussing on women suffering from cervical cancer in Africa whilst she is there. Sabrina Sayeed (year 13) will be participating in an archaeological excavation in Santa Teresa, Menorca where they are seeking to uncover the Roman city of Sanisera. Christine Zhou (year 13) will be attending an intensive Italian language course in the beautiful city of Siena. Lucy Moss and Ellen Tracy (both year 12) will be undertaking a cycling expedition down the coast of Norway to raise funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Amanda Triccas

Crossing fingers for Olivia's lacrosse

Olivia Watson (OP 2009) has been selected for the second consecutive year to join the England Under 21s women’s lacrosse team. The U21 home internationals were played at Fettes School, Edinburgh on 6 March 2011. England's victories over Scotland (25 – 3) and Wales (17 – 4) ensured that England retained its undefeated record as champions. Sadly, due to changes in the way England women's lacrosse will be run next year, that was the last U21 Home Internationals. Olivia's next challenge this season is securing a place on the squad travelling to Cardiff for the April senior home internationals - we're crossing our fingers that she gets a second consecutive opportunity to represent England this year on the senior team. Olivia also received the top accolade for sports at University College, London. She was awarded 'Caps' for being the most outstanding international sportsperson of the year, an award made all the more precious as only one is awarded each year. Next year Olivia will be at the University of Pennsylvania for her year abroad where she hopes to learn a few lacrosse tips from the Ivy League champions!

Amanda Triccas

Science week: chemtastic experiments

I went to Chemtastic Experiments hoping for excitement, crazy demonstrations and flames. We started off with fire writing which was much more hands on than I expected. My partner and I wrote our names with a flammable liquid and left it to dry. Our second experiment was flame testing. This was a demonstration which involved mixing chemicals with an acid and burning them in the Bunsen Burner. The flames turned different ,beautiful colours depending on the chemical. This how they colour fireworks. The final, eagerly anticipated demonstration was the screaming jelly baby. A chemistry teacher had to carry this one out as it was very dangerous. I enjoyed working with other year 7 pupils who I didn't really know as I got to meet new people.

Hannah Sanderson (year 7)

Science week: wandering scientists

During science week, I met the scientists who were walking round the school at break times. They showed me an experiment which I then tried at home as well. They took a balloon and rubbed some Vaseline on one of its sides. They then got a sharp, long cocktail stick and pushed it though the Vaseline covered side. We were all blocking our ears at this point as we thought the balloon would pop and make a very big BANG! However, we were amazed to discover that the cocktail stick had simply gone though the surface of the balloon and the balloon itself had not popped at all! The Vaseline had made the cocktail stick slide in the balloon quickly and therefore, the balloon had not popped! This experiment amazed me and it showed me that the wonders of science are very great and things way beyond your imagination can become reality!

Nicola Thomson (year 7)

Science week: maggot racing

We went to maggot racing. We originally thought we would just be picking up maggots and racing them across the science tables. We were very wrong. Ashton and I chose the two most energetic maggots we could find. One of them died so we had to replace it. We named our pink maggot 'the pink sausage' and our yellow maggot 'the yellow pudding'. Then we had to build our racing course out of Lego. We spent about half the time building the course and by the end we had in our course two ramps, cylinder-shaped Lego pieces as obstacles, lots of corners, boulders, bridges and a final sprint at the end. We put our maggots on the starting line and let the race. The yellow pudding was in the lead but the pink sausage had snuck through a gap in our course and was near the end of the race! We grabbed the pink maggot gently with tweezers and brought him back to the starting line. Meanwhile the yellow maggot was actually rolling the cylinders around! In both races, the yellow maggots won, but it was always very close. We really enjoyed the maggot racing and would happily do it again. It was very fun handling the maggots and watching them race. We even saw a maggot do a forwards roll! We think it is a very good way to spend your time at lunch break. Maggot racing was possibly the most fun we've ever had at this school.

Ashton Hunt and Francesca Wilkinson (year 7)

Science week: making ice cream with dry ice

I went to Food Soc to make ice cream. It was very educational as I learnt to make ice cream using dry ice and sugar. There were two different flavours, strawberry and vanilla. What was funny was that the strawberry was white and the vanilla was pink. It was fascinating to see the dry ice turned into ice when we mixed. When we ate it tasted amazing.

Chiara Chung-Halpern (year 7)

Science week: CSI Brook Green

In forensics society we were doing fingerprints. There were various things we could do. We could take the fingerprints off two beakers and find out who had touched each beaker by comparing the fingerprints which they had prepared earlier. We could print our fingerprints on a sheet of paper. We could dust off our own fingerprints off equipment. We also watched a liquid which when placed on the piece of paper and dried reveals fingerprints. The two girls in charge showed us the powder and chemicals you can use to reveal fingerprints. There was a black powder, a fluorescent yellow powder and magnetic strands. The black powder is normally the one which is used while the fluorescent powder is used on dark surfaces as it shows up better. We had to figure out how to use the magnetic strands during the session. I enjoyed doing this activity and I learnt a few things from it. I learnt that even though fingerprints are all different, there are a set of designs like the "loop" and the "whorl". It was a lot of fun brushing on the powder then lifting the fingerprints with special tape. My favourite part was when Mr Frost brought in a note with a death threat on it. Everyone knew it was probably him who wrote it. We tested the paper with the liquid that when dried showed fingerprints. I also liked when my friend and I were printing our fingerprints and for some odd reason only the rim of her fingers ever had ink on it. My fingers were fine. In the end she had to drag her fingers across the ink pad. We all started joking that she would make a good criminal as her fingerprints wouldn't be very clear.

Elizabeth Oon (year 7)

Science week: jelly baby DNA

For science week I did created a DNA model from jelly babies. We used toothpicks, fizzy strawberry tubes, strawberry pencils, strawberry laces and obviously jelly babies. We each got a sheet with some diagrams on how to make them. First of all, we got four different jelly babies, all in different colours. Then we got two more in different colours to each other, but the same colour as we had picked before. We then separated the heads and bodies. We then picked two different coloured jelly babies (Which there were only two of) and switched the heads round and pushed a toothpick through the middle of them. We then got the other four jelly babies and switched the heads around on three of them, and the fourth was a spare which we ate. We then speared toothpicks through these jelly babies and got two strawberry laces/pencils/fizzy tubes and we stuck them on either side. We then repeated this as much as we could in the time that we had and at the end, we all stuck toothpicks on the strawberry laces/pencils/fizzy tubes and connected all of the jelly baby DNA. Then we had to twist the DNA. This was the hardest part of all, because we had to twist from one end to the other and we kept on breaking apart each piece of DNA and having to fix it again. But finally, we twisted the whole thing. We then got two meter sticks and measured the DNA as being four meters long! At the end we separated the DNA and we each got to take our DNA home. I really enjoyed this activity because it was fun to make all the DNA during the activity, and it was fun eating our DNA at the end! Out of all the activities I did in Science Week, this was definitely my favourite.

Lara Valt (year 7)

Gustav Holst: In The Bleak Midwinter

The first director of music at St Paul's holds a special place in the heart of the Paulina community. Indeed over the past decade the hymn I Vow To Thee My Country has been considered the "school hymn" set, as it is, to music Holst originally wrote for the 'Jupiter' movement of his suite The Planets. However, as award-winning director Tony Palmer's new documentary shows, Holst soon came to regret how his music had become a vehicle for nationalist and potentially militaristic sentiment.

Some of Tony's filming was done at St Paul's during the Christmas concert along with a special performance of a movement of the Brook Green suite conducted by Yeo Yat-Soon. The documentary also features former director of music Hilary Davan Wetton as well as John and Fiona York (collectively York2) who play some of The Planets for four hands and provide some of the commentary. Involvement in this production also offered an opportunity for our senior scholarship winner and film-maker Emily Penn (year 13) to work alongside Tony filming in London and Budapest, an experience which will stand her in good stead next year when she is at art college in Glasgow (A-level grades permitting!)

Tony's documentary will be broadcast on BBC4 on Easter Sunday. It is also available on DVD and members of the St Paul's community will be able to order copies through the school. We are delighted that Tony will be delivering a Friday Lecture to our senior students in which he will illuminate further his research on "our" composer. In the meantime, you can read a review in the Independent and another in the Telegraph.

Amanda Triccas

GCSE Maths Live event

To puzzle a Paulina is difficult, but to make maths interesting even to those few previously indifferent to its charms is a challenge, and one which GCSE Maths Live triumphantly achieved. The Vth (year 10) went to Russell Square to discover more about the stimulating possibilities of mathematics, in a day which included good juggling (mental and physical) and bad jokes. It used ideas from science to introduce us to unfamiliar aspects of maths and showed us new application for our existing skills.

Our first speaker was Steve Mould who explained the maths behind solids of constant width. The former resident scientist for Blue Peter so enthused us, that by the end we could turn 50p coins into wheels and use width to determine curves of constant width in irregular polygons. Following this, Katie Chicot unravelled the universe in terms of time, space and relativity, using equations and live demonstrations to explain Einstein's theory. After a brief break for lunch, we listened to the intriguingly titled lecture 'Soap Films, Sausages and the Electric Guitar' with Dr David Acheson. This talk was just as riveting as its title and featured equations about frequency and vibration, plus a live guitar solo from the great man himself! Our last speaker of the day, Dr Colin Wright, amazed us with his juggling nearly as much as he astonished us with his ability to explain synchronous patterns, negative numbers and mathematical modelling so clearly.

The scope of the day was ambitious enough to stretch even the toughest of GCSE mathematicians whilst displaying new and exciting areas that captured everyone's imagination.

Lucy Fleming-Brown (year 10)

St Paul's success at Schools' Fencing Championships

St Paul's fencers achieved considerable success at the Public Schools' Fencing Championships held towards the end of the Spring term.

We offer special congratulations to Phoebe Bright (year 10); with relatively little exposure to the sport, she achieved a third place finish in the junior girls' sabre showing real potential. Aliya Itzkowitz (year 12) won the senior girls' sabre event. Between them Aliya and Phoebe managed to get St Paul's a second place finish for the Johnson Cup which is awarded to the school with the highest points from last eight finishes in the girls' sabre event. Garance Biosse Duplan (year 8) was ninth in the Mount Haes Sabre category.

In the girls' foil event, Isobel Standing (year 8) was seventh in the Mount Haes category and Kate Dunbar (year 10) was eleventh in the junior category. St Paul's was also third in the lady Eleanor Holles Cup pursuit - a competition for the highest points earned with less than sixteen weapon entries.

Amanda Triccas

Nina Bahadur's first published poetry collection now out!

Nina Bahadur (left 2008) was always a leading light of St Paul's creative writing, setting up our internal publication Words and endowing a prize to encourage future generations. Now an undergraduate at Princeton, Nina has published her debut pamphlet, Every Single One. Described as "feeling a way through the electric, breathless experiences of young adulthood ... these poems are an honest and unabashed exploration of youth, intimacy, and growth". You can order a copy of the pamphlet via Amazon and girls at St Paul's will soon have copies in the library.

Amanda Triccas

Pompeii visit is another classic

Our year 8 visit to Pompeii was relatively uneventful this year - certainly compared to twelve months ago when the Icelandic volcano eruption stranded the party in the Mediterranean, necessitating a 30-hour coach trip home. This time the visit ran as planned and packed in visits to Sorrento, Naples, the sulphurous fumes at Solfarata, the isle of Capri, classical sites at Herculaneum and Paestum as well as the Vesuvius and Pompeii itself. 42 members of the year enjoyed clement weather and immersed themselves in experiencing in reality the subjects that they had studied at in class. "I enjoyed walking around the streets of Pompeii, as it made my knowledge about how the Romans lived come alive" said Dalia Lister. Liza Kaminov also noted "not only did the beautiful archaelogical sites and panoramic landscapes inspire and intrigue me, but the trip itself brought me much closer to the people in my year.'

Amanda Triccas

Creative writers flourish in Yorkshire

Ted Hughes found great inspiration in the 1970s at Lumb Bank Cottage and, this year, 15 Paulinas from across the top four years went to stay over the Easter holidays. The eighteenth-century house in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, was left by Hughes to the Arvon Foundation who run writing courses throughout the year. We were lucky enough to stay for a week of intense creative writing with two award winning poets, John Glenday and Kona Macphee, to guide us through the week. In the mornings we took part in formally-structured exercises, such as writing sestinas and in traditional folklore styles, leaving the afternoons for us to develop our own writing. In addition, we enjoyed individual tutorials with both poets in which we could discuss and receive feedback on our own work, one of the most insightful parts of the programme. On the fourth night we had guest poet Paul Farley read to us from his critically acclaimed compilations.

Staying in the house of one of the best-loved British poets of the last century was a wonderful experience and, besides the beautiful moorland scenery and atmospheric ruins of the nearby mill, we felt a part of a larger writing community. By sharing our work and speaking to other writers, we learned new techniques - such as how to conquer the dreaded blank page and how to write pastiche - and were free to experiment with different styles and directions. We soon overcame early concerns about reading work aloud and giving feedback to each other, allowing us to concentrate on our creative output. By the end of the week we had gained confidence and fluency and had produced a body of work, the best of which was anthologised. It was a stimulating week and we all to felt privileged to have continued the writing tradition at Lumb Bank.

Lucy Fleming-Brown (year 10)

Kat unlocks a prestigious summer at Yale

St Paul's year 12 student Kat Spooner has been accepted on to the extremely prestigious Ivy League Scholars Program this summer at Yale University. This is a tremendous achievement as it is a very competitive scheme attracting applicants from all over the world. The programme provides opportunities for students who aim to become senior leaders in their careers - CEOs, directors, prime ministers and presidents! We look forward to hearing from Kat in September when she will share her experiences with the school community and hopefully inspire younger girls to aim to apply to this course in the future.

Amanda Triccas

Aliya takes on the world!

Over the Easter holidays I represented Great Britain at the world fencing championships in Jordan. At the end of the fencing season, each country sends its top three fencers (for each of the three weapons) and I had the privilege of captaining the sabre squad. This was my second major championship, following the European championships in March. I was very excited and had high hopes as I am ranked 11th in Europe. However, as I soon learned, I had the rest of the world to deal with! After a 15-2 win,to make the last 32, I went out 12-15 to a Korean fencer. I was verydisappointed and had to deal with the frustration of not having been at my best at the most competitive competition. However, I have learned a lot from the experience and the days that followed brought some wonderful experiences too. I look forward to my next season and hope to make it back to the world championships next year. As I was also a member of the under-twenty squad, I got to stay on an extra week for the team event. With the extra days, I was able to explore Jordan - the Dead Sea and the amazing, ancient Nabatean city of Petra. I will never forget my experiences in Jordan. Apart from the fencing and sight seeing, I made friends from all over the world – amazing people I never would have met were it not for fencing!

Aliya Itzkowitz (year 12)

Prize for Kipling essay

Rachel Lewis (year 11) has won the The John Slater Memorial Kipling Essay Prize, awarded by the Kipling Society, for her essay on three poems ('Gunga Din, 'We and They' and 'If'). Rachel won substantial cash prizes for herself and the English department and a year's free membership of the Kipling Society. She was presented with her prize at the Kipling Society's annual luncheon on 4 May and her essay will be published in a forthcomigng edition of the Kipling Journal. Alice Charlotte Hart (year 11) was highly commended for her essay on Kipling's war poetry and was awarded a book token and a year's free membership of the society.

Jonathan Patrick (English department)

The Marble shines on the award shortlist

St Paul's Girls' School is one of 29 schools which have made it through with nominations in at least one category to the final judging of the Shine School Media Awards on 16 May. Final round judges will be selecting a shortlist of three schools and a winner in each of the ten categories, in addition to choosing the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners. Editors Hallie-Nell Swanson and Thea Murray Jones (both year 12) submitted for consideration the autumn edition of student newspaper The Marble.

On behalf of the organising committee, chairman Clifford Jakes said: "We should like to congratulate all the schools that have entered this year’s Shine Media School Awards. We applaud the effort that has been put into these publications and online editions, which really does shine through."

The Marble is being considered for the following categories: best design and layout; best feature article; best overall content and best commercial strategy. Watch this space for the result of the judges' deliberations.

Amanda Triccas (assistant deputy head)

Carry on camping in year 10

It has been over 50 years since the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme first inspired young people from across the UK to go camping, as part of a programme which also involves sport, charity work and learning new skills. Although we now have access to modern conveniences such as Pot Noodles and lightweight parkas, our 61 Paulinas enjoyed a very traditional expedition over the May bank holiday in the New Forest. The intrepid band of year 10 students set out to trek by day and camp by night, carrying everything they needed for the days ahead in their backpacks.

To qualify for the bronze award, the Paulinas needed to plan their own 14k route, and then navigate their way through the forest using a compass, map and the occasional landmark pond as guides. Other challenges included cooking on a camping stove, pitching a tent that would survive the rain during the night whilst surviving without mobile signal for a full weekend. However, these challenges were more then compensated for by the forest's native ponies and the discovery of Kendal Mint Cake and jelly cubes as the best source of nourishment. We also really enjoyed camping overnight; despite the absence of pillows and hot water we had great fun in our groups sitting in our self-pitched tents and observing the struggles of the neighbouring scout troop.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is a fantastic opportunity for students to try something new and challenging, and even the most nervous explorers had lots of fun on our camping weekend.

Lucy Fleming-Brown (year 10)

We're the kids in America!

Our week in Washington D.C. began with a ride in an all-American yellow school bus. It took us to the National Cathedral School where our exchanges awaited us with smiles. We were eager so eager to get to know each other that most of us got few hours sleep as we chatted late into the night.

During our morning at the school we learnt that the American system is incredibly different from what we are used to. With no GCSEs to work towards, the students do not have to worry about public exams until they are 18. With the same lessons every day of the week, they study only English, maths, French, history and only one science. Creative subjects, such as art and drama, are called 'electives' and are taken voluntarily on top of compulsory subjects. After the school day ends at half past three, the National Cathedral girls have at least an hour of compulsory sport.

Over the course of our week we experienced Washington's fantastic cultural heritage. We spent a day wandering up the National Mall and trying to take in as much of the Smithsonian Institute as possible. The museums include the world-famous Natural History Museum and Air and Space Museum, filled with artefacts from a woolly mammoth to the first satellite to enter space. We saw the Capitol, a majestic white building in which the Supreme Court sits, and were given a tour. It was fascinating to see where some of America's most important law cases play out. On our tour of the National Cathedral, commissioned in 1791 but not fully completed until 1990, our tour guide pointed out to us a 1960s-themed gargoyle and a statue of her dog placed on the roof by the architect!

On the final night of our trip we were thrown a farewell party - what a lovely way to say goodbye to our exchanges. They were kind, friendly, funny and hospitable. After an extremely memorable week not one of us wanted to go home.

Alice Rochford (year 10)

Peterhouse English prize for Alexandra

For her essay on the sonnet form in the light of Wordsworth's statement that 'Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room...', Alexandra Cussons (year 12) has been placed first in the prestigious Thomas Campion English Prize awarded by Peterhouse, Cambridge. The competition is designed to give those considering applying to university an opportunity to write about a subject in which they have a personal interest, developing and experiencing the independent study skills which they will need in order to excel at university. Alexandra has done wonderfully well to win such a tremendous accolade and will attend the prize giving at Peterhouse on 1 July.

Lydia Mason (English department)

More Old Paulina lacrosse success

Olivia Watson and Anna Harrison (both OP 2009) were selected on to the senior England Women’s lacrosse squad which went to the senior home internationals at Haberdashers Girls’ School in Monmouth on the weekend of 15–17 April 2011. Senior England B beat Ireland 24 – 0, Scotland 9 – 8, but unfortunately lost by 1 goal to Wales in the dying seconds of the match (10 – 11), so were only runners-up this year. England A were champions. Olivia will spend her third year of university in Philadelphia, at the University of Pennsylvania, where she will continue to play as much lacrosse as possible and enjoy the full American college experience.

Amanda Triccas (assistant deputy head)

Morgan in the swim of things

At the regional swimming championships last weekend Morgan Mills (year 7)achieved her 100m freestyle national qualifying time and set a new regional record in the 200m backstroke. In addition, her 4 x 200m and 4x100m relay team won their events and are likely to qualify for nationals.

Laurelle Borck (PE teacher)

Year 8 raise money for orphans of NZ earthquakes

My year 8 tutor group took it upon themselves to raise money for children orphaned in the New Zealand earthquake. Leena Meneely co-ordinated an auction of old clothes and they've raised £217. The first I knew about it was when I walked in to the form room a month ago to hear shouts of "I'll give you £10 for the leggings!" The girls are supporting a project co-ordinated by Ashinaga.

Jenny Chapman (year 8 form tutor)

St Paul's maths team wins UKMT Team Mathematics challenge

St Paul's became the first girls' school to win the UKMT Team Mathematics challenge with their victory on 20 June 2011. Competing against 95 other schools from around the UK, Olivia Aaronson (year 9),Josie Dallas (year 8), Georgina Hansen (year 9) and Jackie Li (year 8) were selected to represent the school from a highly talented squad who had been training every week with teachers Mekhla Barua and Martin Hanak-Hammerl.

Roger Green (head of mathematics)