You must be a registered user to access this information. Registration is free and it takes less than 1 minute to sign up.
Not right now. May be later!You must be a registered user to access this information. Registration is free and it takes less than 1 minute to sign up.
Not right now. May be later!
As soon as you walk through the door of St Paul’s you feel its warmth and creative energy. Ours is a welcoming and vibrant community, where laughter, friendships and activity abound.
A network of support is combined with a liberal ideology; we have no uniform, few rules and relationships are relaxed, yet respectful. Students are given the freedom to embrace their individuality, develop their own interests and discover their potential.
A shared enthusiasm for academic endeavour lies at the heart of our school. Students are encouraged to think deeply and explore ideas beyond the curriculum. Outside of the classroom, rich and varied co-curricular provision caters to all passions and hobbies.
Music and drama are open to all and are performed to a very high standard. The art studio is an oasis of creative energy and sport is played with verve and distinction.
There is never a dull moment at St Paul’s!
Our pastoral programme aims to help our students develop into active, empathetic leaders. I am continually inspired by the passion and dedication our students display, from the many initiatives launched by SPEAC (St Paul’s Environmental Action Committee) to the tireless fundraising efforts of the Charities Committee.
Our partnerships, volunteering and service programmes are central to school life, and students are encouraged to engage with the world around them.
Our bursary scheme provides us with a wonderful opportunity to offer the full breadth of our education to talented students whatever their background, and to enrich the school beyond measure with their energy and inspiration.
A St Paul’s education is rich in possibility and opportunity. Over the years our alumnae have contributed significantly on a national and global stage. From access to an incredible range of visiting speakers to an extensive careers and higher education programme, an education at St Paul’s is an extraordinary preparation for life.
The department is comprised of a suite of specialised studios focusing in turn on sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, painting and drawing, digital art and new media, and a darkroom. Whilst the specialisation of the studios creates opportunities for sophisticated technical exploration in each area, the curriculum and teaching guides helps students experience and understand them as inter-related with interdisciplinary practice actively encouraged. In the first three years, students learn a core of transferable skills and spend time in each of the studios, gaining experience that means from the V (Year 10) upwards they can be granted a great deal of flexibility to explore ideas and processes in a highly personal way.
Beyond the classroom
The department is always busy with daily ‘Open Studios' sessions. There are weekly life class sessions and meetings of History of Art Society, Junior Art Club and Gallery Society, whilst competitions such as Backtrack open up film-making to students throughout the school. Art historians have regularly excelled in the Articulation public speaking competition.
Our annual Artist-in-Residence programme brings established artists in to the school to work with students in the V (Year 10), most recently Helen Carnac and David Gates, whilst regular trips further support the Middle School course. A level fine artists join a visit to Berlin prior to the start of the VII (Year 12), where they can spend time working in artist's studio. Students studying history of art have the opportunity to join a trip to Venice, viewing both the historical collections and architecture of the city alongside the Venice Biennale.
Biology is a rapidly developing science which is having and will continue to have far reaching ramifications for the world and society. Our department comprises six members of teaching staff, two full-time technicians and is well resourced with a plethora of practical equipment and stimulus material, including a hippopotamus skull, a preserved human brain, a stuffed platypus and an eight foot model of the DNA double helix.
Beyond the classroom
The department provides opportunity for students to run a number of extracurricular activities, such as dissecting a sheep's head, painting with maggots, learning about the physiology of a race horse or listening to medical experts discussing a variety of cases. We have a newly flourishing Plant Club, which tends to all the plants in the department, as well as designing and building their own vegetable and herb plot. We have a one day fieldtrip to Kew Gardens in the V (Year 10) and a residential fieldtrip to Pembrokeshire in the VII (Year 12).
We also have a large number of students participating in the Biology Challenge and the British Biology Olympiad each year. A smaller number of our senior students write essays for competitions such as the ZSL Prince Philip Award and Marsh Prize, the Peterhouse Kelvin Science Prize and the Corpus Christi Schools Science Prize. Our Senior Scholarship entrants have recently included essays on a variety of topics including construction of an artificial uterus, the neuroscience of pain and the development of chemotherapy drugs from plants.
This vibrant department is staffed by a team of highly qualified and enthusiastic chemistry specialists and provides a modern and academically stimulating environment for the pupils. The chemistry department is housed in spacious accommodation, on the first-floor of the science block, in beautifully refurbished and extremely well-resourced laboratories.
Chemistry is the study of atomic particles and how they combine and react. Students acquire a knowledge and understanding of chemical patterns and apply them to familiar and unfamiliar situations. This is a highly practical subject and approximately one-third of lesson time is spent carrying out practical work, which students are encouraged to link to theoretical ideas. The subject puts emphasis on the importance of the scientific method, enabling students to design, carry out and evaluate experiments. Through this, pupils develop chemical knowledge, skills and understanding that enables them to problem-solve in a wider context. At the same time, they develop a dedication to scholarship, a love of independent thinking and creativity.
Beyond the classroom
Annually, four selected UIV (Year 8) students attend a Salters' Chemistry Festival and two V (Year 10) students attend a residential Salters' Chemistry Camp at a leading university. VII (Year 12) students enter the L6th Cambridge Chemistry Challenge and our VIII (Year 13) students have had considerable success in the Chemistry Olympiad.
Classics is the study of two ancient languages – Latin and Greek – and their rich and varied literature. These writings give access to two great civilisations that have done so much to shape the thought and culture of our modern world.
All students study Latin in MIV-LV (Years 7-9), and it is a popular choice at GCSE and beyond. Classical Greek is added as an optional GCSE subject in the V (Year 10) and runs through to A level. From the beginning we value the precision of each language and, through their study, learn much also about English and the structure of language in general, as we seek to produce accurate yet idiomatic translations. At the same time, we never lose sight of the fact that both languages were living, evolving means of communication which can tell us so much about the rich and varied cultures that gave rise to them.
The sound and beauty of the languages are important to us: each year our students participate with success in the London schools Classics reading competitions, and direct and produce a piece of drama in Greek, most recently Aeschylus' Agamemnon. We also firmly set our study of Latin and Greek in their historical and geographical contexts, both in the way in which we teach them in the classroom and through visits to Greece and Italy, as well to places of classical interest closer to home.
Our interest in the Classical world easily moves outside the classroom. Students contribute to the teaching of the Minimus Latin scheme at two local primary schools, and Junior Classics Club meet each week for hands-on activities such as making mosaics and draping togas. Senior students produce a Classics magazine, and a thriving senior Classics Society attracts large numbers to its meetings, at which visiting speakers address a range of topics and give a glimpse of the richness of the subject at university level. Indeed, each year a good number of students choose to continue their study of the Classical world at leading universities.
Computer science and creative technology is part of the curriculum in the Lower School and now provides two options at GCSE. We consider computer science to be the fourth science; it is a discipline with established techniques and thinking skills that will last students a lifetime. It is important that students are given the chance to learn the workings of the digital systems that pervade their world.
At St Paul's we are lucky to have superb facilities for computer science and creative technology. This includes: two dedicated computer rooms, one of which is available to students to use during all breaks; a well-equipped Maker Space containing 11 3D printers, one of which prints in clay; a CNC milling machine; a large laser cutter; and all the hand and power tools and electronics supplies anyone would need. Our VR studio holds seven VR stations with headsets, controllers and six degrees of freedom each, as well as further VR enabled machines with three degrees of freedom. In addition, we have excellent onsite IT technical support and school wide Wi-Fi supporting a ‘bring your own device policy'.
The drama department aims to create enthusiastic and confident performers who have an understanding and appreciation of the possibilities of drama and theatre. It is our intention to connect classroom drama to the theatre's long and diverse history as a cultural form. Drama fosters creativity and collaboration, but also demands great analytical skill and the ability to approach new ideas critically and with an open mind. Students explore all aspects of the theatre and find out what they enjoy doing best, whether that's directing, designing costumes, creating sets or props, stage management, acting, singing or dancing.
In all years drama is part of the curriculum and there are multiple opportunities for students of all ages to get involved in shows, whether in the fantastic Celia Johnson Theatre or in the drama studio. For those that want to pursue drama academically, we are delighted to offer the school directed course in drama and theatre studies at KS4 which provides a wide variety of challenging opportunities to students beyond the remit of any GCSE drama courses currently on offer. This course has been designed specifically for Paulinas to ensure they are creatively and academically challenged. At A level we follow the AQA syllabus and regularly prepare students to study drama at university and at drama school.
Most people's conception of economics is that it is all about money, but this is not an accurate reflection of the nature of the subject. Money is simply convenient shorthand, a means of measurement, rather than an objective in itself. Economists study the factors that contribute to material well-being; the conditions necessary for improvements in welfare and why they are constrained in so many situations.
Economic things are those which are scarce. As a society, we have to decide upon a way of choosing how, what and for whom to produce. In market economies, private ownership and the pursuit of self-interest are paramount through the workings of the price mechanism, and microeconomic theory analyses the strengths and weaknesses of free markets in this context. Macroeconomic analysis, by comparison, focuses on the factors which influence the performance of national economies.
At St Paul's, we believe that economic reasoning provides an important framework for developing practical, analytical skills which complement academic study across a broad range of subjects. There are rarely clear-cut ‘right' answers in the social sciences and we aim to develop the independent critical-thinking skills which enable our students to tackle complex real-world issues. Economics is, of course, a subject where an interest in current affairs and a curiosity for learning about how the world operates are vital ingredients for success and we teach by the application of theory to real world examples.
Classroom debate is an important part of the learning process, developing the evaluative skills which are crucial to a nuanced understanding of contemporary affairs. In this manner, abstract concepts and terminology come to life.
The Robinson Society invites eminent speakers from business, finance and politics to talk about current economic affairs, as well as organising debate and discussion across the Senior School. We have also entered the IFS Student Investor Challenge and Wharton Global Investor Competition, as well as a number of national essay writing competitions as a complement to the curriculum.
The members of the English department at St Paul's Girls' School form a diverse group but we share a profound love of literature and a passionate belief in its power to help human beings to understand the world, the past, other people and themselves. We are unapologetically literary in our focus and we believe that students of all ages and backgrounds can respond to and be delighted by the works of the great writers in English from all periods and all parts of the globe.
Creative writing
We see the development of our students' own creative writing as an essential complement to the reading and analysis of the work of the great writers of the past and present. To this end, we take every opportunity in lessons to encourage students to experiment with self-expression in a range of literary forms and genres. A member of staff has responsibility for the development of extra-curricular creative writing and there is a weekly creative writing group. Paulinas are also encouraged to enter local and national competitions such as the Tower Poetry competition and the Foyle's Young Poet, often with great success. Every year a group of students spend a week on a residential creative writing course led by published poets. We regularly host visiting writers and celebrate the work of our home-grown writers through our annual magazine, Words.
Clarity and accuracy
Even if you don't end up as a poet, the ability to write clearly, fluently and accurately will be an essential part of your everyday professional and personal life. We care about accuracy and aim to ensure that all students can spell and punctuate correctly, know how a sentence works and take pleasure in the subtleties of English syntax and punctuation. Lessons are dedicated to spelling, punctuation and grammar and students are continuously assessed. We also practise writing in non-fiction forms, learning to write economical summaries, journalistic articles and argumentative speeches
Reading
Reading is precious and lies at the heart of all that we do. We have a fortnightly library lesson, where students can read for pleasure, silently and undisturbed, and can consult teachers for recommendations. We treasure our library and work closely with the librarians to ensure that our collection is constantly evolving, reflecting students' interests but also challenging them to venture away from ‘comfort reading' or old favourites.
Students will use the Tricolore Total course books as well as a full range of supplementary resources. Lessons are taught in French and students will develop the skills to express themselves accurately on topics of relevance to their lives as young teenagers. The aim is to equip them to converse in an informed and interesting way with their French-speaking peers about differences and similarities in their lifestyle, education and matters of general concern such as the environment and careers. They will of course learn useful transactional language skills and be fully prepared for the IGCSE oral examination.
Grammatical structures are integral to the course and by the IGCSE examination all pupils should be able to manipulate the major tenses, as well as hypothesise and express opinions using the conditional and subjunctive moods. They will also understand the importance of idiom and lexical nuance as well as mastering key grammatical concepts. Over the five years we incorporate a programme of enrichment into the topic teaching in order to broaden students' cultural knowledge and appreciation of French society.
Trips and cultural opportunities
In a usual year UIV (Year 8) students may take part in the week-long exchange visit to Marseille. In the V (Year 10), there is a study visit with family home-stay to Montpellier. Senior School students travel independently but are able to seek advice and recommendations from the department. Students are also encouraged to form and maintain individual relationships and projects in French-speaking countries. We have had great success in the London schools' debating competitions and the French drama festival. Theatre and cinema trips to attend productions in French or in translation have also been suspended, but we look forward to resuming all these amazing learning opportunities and activities in the future.
Politicians, scientists, statistical modellers and international organisations are recognising the increasing importance of geography as bridging the gap between scientific understanding and social issues. This continues to be reflected at St Paul's: geography is popular throughout the school and many Old Paulinas are continuing to utilise the subject in environmental and social jobs.
Geography lessons at St Paul's inspire curiosity about the world. We pursue explanations for current global issues, whilst ensuring that all students have a secure understanding of the key concepts in physical and human geography. Fascinating questions are considered at all levels: Why do we want to understand our location? Why does climate change disproportionately affect women? Students appreciate the dynamic and interconnected nature of our subject and the flexibility we have to study the most recent news events. Lessons are varied and exciting, with students encouraged to develop core skills such as independent research, informed decision-making, debate and creative projects to help students realise the complexities of the problems we face in the 21st century. In a digital age, geography is becoming an ever more interactive subject with the increasing use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Geography is a compulsory subject at Key Stage 3, where students develop their geographical knowledge and skills within a structure of intellectual themes of diversity, change and challenges. We ask questions as varied as ‘How can we explain the changes in polar environments?' to ‘Should we be worried about global population growth?'. This is supported with cutting-edge technology, such as GIS systems and using VR to better understand a place. All KS3 year groups get to trial geography outside the classroom, with varying day trips across the south of England.
Geography comes even more alive outside of the classroom and we provide fieldwork opportunities for all age groups. Recent field trips have included the London Docklands, the Lake District, and Iceland. We encourage our geographers to question and engage with these diverse environments, promoting the essential enquiry-related skills through fieldwork investigations.
Our student-led Geography Society has hosted a number of speakers over the last few years, displaying to students the value of this subject in the workplace. We have enjoyed, for example, a talk by Tim Marshall, author of Prisoners of Geography. Many of our senior students also take advantage of our proximity to the Royal Geographical Society, where they frequently attend events and lectures.
Here at St Paul's, we are fortunate to be one of the few schools in the country who teach German as a first foreign language and to a large number of students across all year groups. Thus, we have a large cohort of GCSE and Senior School students every year, with excellent results. Again and again, our students and their parents discover what a great advantage it is to study a Germanic language in addition to an Oriental or a Romance language; travelling and a fuller understanding of the European world become so much easier.
From Haribo to Porsche, from Luther to Angela Merkel, from Schiller to Beethoven, from Einstein to Paul Klee, our language teaching looks beyond the grammar book to provide an enriching curriculum including geography, history, art, film and literature, and current affairs. German is one of the languages all students will explore in the MIV (Year 7); it is then offered as a first foreign language from the end of the MIV and as a second modern language from the UIV (Year 8). We use a very wide range of traditional as well as electronic resources to make the learning varied and fun. In addition, we offer exchanges at every key stage, tailored to the students' individual learning stage. This gives our students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the language in context and the wider social and cultural environment.
At the end of the VI (Year 11), students sit the CIE IGCSE. All exams test all four language skills. The year groups studying towards IGCSE enjoy one weekly lesson with our oral teacher. Over the five years we incorporate a programme of enrichment into the topic teaching in order to broaden students' cultural knowledge and appreciation of German society.
Trips and cultural opportunities
In the UIV (Year 8), most students take up the opportunity of a week-long exchange with the Liebfrauenschule Bonn to get their first glimpse of life in Germany. In the Middle School, many students travel to Berlin for a cultural and language course. Students opting to study German in the Senior School participate in our exchange, joint with the boys' school, with Otto-von-Taube-Gymnasium München. We regularly attend London theatre productions, film screenings and exhibitions in German and in translation.
One of the cultural highlights of the calendar is German day, which combines our love for the language with the more traditional approach to Christmas; students can be heard singing German Christmas carols and enjoying typical German lunches.
Historical study at St Paul's is founded on a common purpose of building an intelligent understanding of the past. We are, above all, enthusiasts for the many different branches of this enormous subject. This leads, we hope, to students appreciating the diversity and complexity of the past in such a way as to enrich and inform their understanding of the world in which they live, and will live.
Across their first three years students follow a chronological framework from the Middle Ages to the modern day which explores the changing nature of society throughout the world. Pupils will develop an understanding of local, national, and global history, whilst grappling with a range of challenging concepts such as feudalism, colonialism, and nationalism. They will study history from both ‘above and below', arming them with the knowledge and understanding to confront contemporary social and political issues from an informed position. Lessons are designed to nurture disciplinary thinking skills such as interpreting sources, making historical connections, chronological reasoning, and argumentation.
Our aim is to impart and enthuse our students with the opportunity to sample these influences through a creative, original and inspiring curriculum, encouraging students to develop lifelong communication skills which can be applied in a broad range of contexts.
Our teaching and learning styles are exemplified by the use of the school's language laboratories and well-maintained Portal, through which students may choose to access major national newspapers and also watch approved multimedia channels for up-to-date daily news. We also offer a wide selection of videos, songs, plays and historical documentaries to enhance linguistic and cultural awareness. The learning of grammar is made fun by numerous interactive language games that prove popular with our students. The library stocks an extensive range of Italian texts and DVDs that are available for the students to borrow.
Trips and Cultural opportunities
Alongside the course, we are committed to offering our students a first-hand experience of the language through study trips to Siena and Venice. Evening trips to the opera and the theatre are arranged to support their learning, improve the level of understanding and communicating, as well as deepen their appreciation of Italian culture and society.
Mandarin was introduced at St Paul's in 2006 with great success and every year students go on to study the subject to Senior School level and beyond.
Cambridge IGCSE Mandarin Chinese gives students a solid foundation in the language while offering insights into the culture and society of the Chinese speaking world. In this course, students will be expected to understand and express themselves on the following topic areas: everyday activities, personal and social life, the world around us, the world of work and the international world.
Trips and cultural opportunities
The V (Year 10) are offered a ten-day exchange to the high school affiliated to Beijing Normal University. Senior School students have the opportunity to take part in an intensive Chinese language course in a university in Hangzhou or Taiwan and volunteer at a local school for disabled children.
Every year, we celebrate the Chinese New Year within school through performances of Chinese folk dancing, kung fu and Chinese instrument workshops. Chinese tea tasting and Chinese calligraphy sessions are also popular. Day trips to London for special conferences and events, for example visiting Chinatown and having dinner in Chinese restaurants, are organised during term time. We also regularly participate with great success in the HSBC/British Council Chinese speaking competition in London.
The values of mathematical activity are varied. At the most basic level, every human needs to be able to understand and apply skills in arithmetic; in our increasingly technological world the modelling of abstract processes is continually becoming more important.
Ethos and importance
As the common language of the sciences, mathematics enables people across time, cultures and disciplines to communicate and collaborate in the development of human knowledge. As the description and exploration of pattern and structure, mathematics serves as artistic and spiritual inspiration. For our students to develop as young mathematicians, it is important that they recognise the value the mathematics department place upon intellectual engagement and development; reflection, observation, conjecture, exploration and conclusion are all important skills developed within their mathematics lessons. To succeed in school mathematics – and to take mathematical skills into the world beyond school – depends upon recognising that actively applying one's knowledge and deductive skills leads to the development of greater understanding.
Beyond the classroom
Here, mathematics is a valued activity beyond the requirements of the syllabus. Students in all year groups are entered for the UKMT Maths Challenge, with increasing numbers qualifying for the subsequent Olympiad rounds. For those who enjoy competitions, we enter teams into the UKMT Team Challenge and UKMT Senior Team Challenge, as well as the London schools Hans Woyda competition (runners-up in 2012, cup winners in 2014 and plate winners in 2018). For the less competitively minded, there are opportunities such as a weekly Codebreaking Club, Maths Society lectures from visiting speakers and attendance at occasional lectures at the Institute of Education, Royal Institution and Gresham College. We regularly fill the Old Library for talks with visiting speakers, to which students from our partnership schools are always invited. They provide excellent opportunity for further insights into mathematics beyond school and to quiz mathematicians working ‘in the front line'.
The global village doesn't mean that everyone will speak English; it means that we have more knowledge about other countries and cultures than ever before. Learning other languages isn't just about communicating information. It's the only way to understand how other cultures think and express themselves. As well as grammar and vocabulary, our language teaching draws on history, geography, politics, literature and film. In case that's not enough of an incentive, whichever career you move on to, people with foreign language skills will always stand out compared to people without them.
At St Paul's, we don't keep our love of languages in the language lab or the conversation class – we're a community where our students speak more than 30 different languages at home. We support a Modern Languages Society with its own magazine and students run a whole range of societies in the individual languages depending on their particular interests. Thanks to our links with foreign schools of a similar academic background, we're also able to offer a huge programme of exchanges and cultural visits.
All incoming MIV (Year 7) will begin a ‘Discovering Language' course which will harness their natural curiosity and enthusiasm and introduce them to the broad brush strokes of where language comes from and how it evolves. They will begin with a basic linguistics course and then be given the opportunity to explore three very different languages: Chinese, German and Russian, with a view to understanding more of the mechanics and motivation behind language learning before embarking on the ML1 and ML2 courses.
ML1 (Chinese, German or French) will begin in the summer of the MIV and will be quickly joined by a second language (any of the six on offer) in the UIV (Year 8). If your child already speaks one of the languages offered for ML1 as a mother tongue or a fluent second language, we advise them to choose one of the other two as their ML1 (first modern foreign language). Equally, the courses offered in the UIV are beginner courses and would not be suitable for a native speaker. Provision can be made, in line with school policy, for native speakers to sit exams in their native language if this is one of the mainstream languages offered in the curriculum.
The standard of music-making at St Paul's has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and a rich history. Holst, Vaughan Williams and Howells all taught here and music lessons still take place in the room where Holst composed The Planets. However, music at St Paul's is for everyone whatever their level; we provide opportunities for students who have just started learning and help the most advanced performers to achieve their goals.
Academic music aims to develop a variety of different musical skills through a wide range of musical genres. We run an internally devised course, which allows pupils to study beyond the confines of a GCSE curriculum, developing their musical knowledge together with a range of highly desirable transferable skills, such as critical thinking and intellectual curiosity. We follow the Eduqas syllabus at A level and regularly prepare students to study music at leading universities.
We are fortunate to have a staff of around 60 musicians teaching in the department, many of whom are leading professionals within their fields. In addition, there are workshops and masterclasses given by prominent musicians, which further enrich what we offer.
We run a wide variety of ensembles in a range of styles, from large orchestras to close harmony groups, with over 40 groups playing in more than 60 concerts and events each year. Many bring together musicians from all years and most can be joined without audition. We believe in tackling major works from the orchestral and choral repertoire, with performances at national and international venues, offering pupils amazing experiences that stay with them beyond their time in school. Alongside this we have regular opportunities for pupils to play in more informal concerts and events, in a range of styles, to gain experience of playing to others or to focus their performance skills further.
The music department here is a vibrant and inspiring place. We hope that, at the very least, students will leave St Paul's with a life-long love for music.
Our comprehensive curricular programme is grounded in the pursuit of ‘sport for all'. We strive to encourage participation through a variety of sporting programmes, ensuring that every student seeking a competitive or social atmosphere can find their place. Unlike any other subject, PE's main medium is human movement, so it is all about learning through action. It is a vital part of a young adult's total education. Not only does it have huge physical implications but also contributes to many aspects of the students' learning and development. Leadership, sportsmanship, fair play, officiating, analytical minds, evaluative approaches and communication are at the heart of all PE lessons at St Paul's.
Curriculum
In the Lower School, all students will take part in lacrosse, netball, athletics and swimming as their core sports. Alongside this, they will also get the chance to try various other activities, for example fitness, dance, gym and basketball. As they progress throughout the school, students will be able to rotate through a range of sessions, including squash, yoga, rowing, Zumba, tennis, water polo, volleyball and more, in addition to the main sports of netball, lacrosse and athletics. The aim is to ensure all students can find the sport that suits them and develop an enduring commitment to an active lifestyle.
Facilities
The facilities at St Paul's are outstanding. The main school site hosts our sports hall, equipped for badminton, basketball, gymnastics, football, netball, volleyball, tennis and trampolining, and with a large viewing gallery upstairs.
Our multi-gym and fitness studio are state of the art and after an induction session, students in the VI-VIII (Years 11-13) can use this facility during their free time to develop their fitness. The fitness studio is complete with a sprung dance floor, yoga/gymnastic mats and two flat screens with Apple TV, making it versatile for many of the clubs we have on offer.
Next door is the multi-gym, complete with four treadmills, stationary bikes, ellipticals and ergo machines as well as weights and kettlebells for both strength and cardiovascular improvement. A short walk away is our 25 metre, six-lane indoor competition swimming pool. This is a fantastic aquatic centre, which is also used for lifesaving training, synchronised swimming, water polo and diving, and has a large viewing area upstairs.
Next to the pool, we have our newly renovated pavilion and sport specific courts, which facilitate an array of sporting opportunities. The new pavilion has two classroom spaces complete with Apple TV and an indoor training and weights centre. In the winter there are two lacrosse pitches and four netball courts, while the summer months transform the facility into an athletics centre, with a six lane 300 metre track plus specific areas for all of the field events, four rounders pitches and four tennis courts. For rowing we use the facilities at Fulham Reach Boat House and Tideway Scullers for the V-VIII (Years 10-13), both of which are located on the scenic River Thames. We have a range of boats and rowing is offered both in the curricular and extracurricular programmes.
We study physics for three main reasons: physics is interesting, physics is useful, and physics enables a wide variety of careers.
Physics can be as practical as calculating the stresses in a bridge or as abstract as mapping the curved space-time near a black hole. It studies systems ranging in size from the smallest elementary particles to the entire universe.
Physics is at the heart of everything. The skills learnt in studying physics can be applied in every walk of life.
Physics learning and teaching at St Paul's
Teaching physics at St Paul's is a privilege. We have superb facilities – dedicated laboratories, excellent IT provision, modern equipment and a specialist technician – but what makes our jobs as teachers distinctive is our students. Even after decades of teaching, Paulinas can still astonish us with their intense dedication, their delightful idiosyncrasies and the quality of their questioning.
In addition to our teaching experience, the physics department staff have postgraduate qualifications in astrophysics, soft matter physics, quantum computing and laser optics.
Paulinas are supported throughout their physics studies through interesting and challenging teaching, incorporating a rich practical programme. We also run twice-weekly ‘Physics Workshop' sessions, where students are helped to catch up missed lessons, obtain advice on homework, work on personal projects and competitions, or just have a physics-related chat.
In the UIV (Year 8) we cover a broad range of topics (including space, optics and electronics) to prepare students for their IGCSE work in the LV–V (Years 9-10).
We follow the Pearson Edexcel specification for this, leading to the students' first public examinations at the end of the VI (Year 11). In the Senior School, we follow the Pearson Edexcel linear A Level. Each year approximately 30% of the cohort in the VII chooses to study physics at A Level.
Trips and visits to destinations including:
- The Kennedy Space Center and Orlando, Florida
- CERN
- Diamond Synchrotron
- Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
- The Extreme Physics Competition
- Engineering and particle physics masterclasses at Imperial College
Politics sits within the history and politics department, which plays a prominent role in the academic life of the school. The two subjects are closely related: much of our historical study is centred on the politics of the past and politics is, in a sense, very recent history. The two subjects are, therefore, complementary, with several members of the department teaching both.
Government and politics is offered at A level and gives students the opportunity to make sense of modern politics both in the United Kingdom and further afield.
Our choice of topics over the students' seven years at St Paul's aims to draw out their natural fascination with our world in the broadest sense: how it works, and has worked. The importance of an analytical approach, of an ability to apply abstract concepts and the essential skill of learning how to construct a persuasive argument lie at the heart of what we do and are essential, in some form or other, to all academic pursuits.
Following the new linear Edexcel syllabus, the first year of the politics course primarily focuses on the political processes of the United Kingdom and comprises two units: ‘UK government' and ‘UK politics'. The purpose of the course is to build political awareness and to develop students' understanding of how the modern world functions, of the complex issues that confront politicians and of the difficult decisions they frequently have to make. An important feature of the politics course is that it is constantly being updated to stay in touch with live issues and live debates.
In the second year of the course, we combine a topic focusing on the government of the USA with a parallel topic introducing core and non-core political ideologies. These two units enable the students to deepen their understanding of the wider world, both in terms of abstract ideas and of the importance of the very distinctive political practices of the USA.
This blend of topics naturally brings an important and intellectually stimulating comparative approach to the students' study of politics, which will equip them well for a wide range of degree courses. Politics combines well with history and makes an important contribution to the History and Politics Society.
Regular visits from local and national politicians are combined with visits to major political conferences and institutions, including the Houses of Parliament.
Studying religion and philosophy at St Paul's is about giving students the chance to look outside themselves. To look beyond Brook Green to the cremation pyres on the banks of the River Ganges, the prayer flags fluttering across the hills of Tibet and the black Kabbah in the heart of Mecca. To look at the women standing at the foot of the cross or facing martyrdom in the arena. To look beyond questions such as ‘How long should my essay be?' to ‘Is there such a thing as “right”?' and ‘Does God exist?' And to look beyond the hymns we sing in assembly to the story of Christianity in the West and the doctrine that lies behind those hymns.
We draw on the students' natural enthusiasm for new ideas. We don't give them answers; we give them information, raise questions and encourage them to draw their own conclusions. We introduce them to great works of religious art, music and literature and take them to see different examples of religious architecture. They meet sacred texts and people of faith: history, myths and stories that have inspired peoples through history. We look at the impact of religion on history and culture around the world.
We ask them to reflect, to recognise their own fundamental outlooks and be challenged by the ideas of their peers. We give them the conceptual tools to think about ethical issues such as abortion and euthanasia and the philosophical tools to be able to analyse arguments, whether these are concerned with arguments for the existence of God or the relationship between science and religion. They will encounter philosophical problems from Plato's Cave to Philippa Foot's trolley problem and John Searle's Chinese Room experiment. They will meet the ideas of Augustine and Aquinas as well as those of Wittgenstein and Kant. In a world where the understanding of religion seems increasingly important, not less, we respect faith but are not afraid of questions.
Since September 2016 Russian has featured as one of the languages in the MIV (Year 7) Discovering Languages course, allowing students to access a new alphabet and a taste of Slavonic culture.
Russian is then offered as an optional second modern language from the UIV (Year 8). Pupils may study Russian for two years and then opt into a further two years up to GCSE.
English and Russian have the same Indo-European linguistic origins and behind the exotic-looking alphabet there is a simple system of pronunciation and large number of familiar words.
We make the learning of the new language fun and within the first five lessons pupils learn the Cyrillic script and acquire reading and writing skills. Right from the start of the course, a lot of emphasis is placed on the development of the oral skills necessary for communicating in a foreign country. Within the first two years a firm and solid basis has been laid for the further study of Russian to GCSE level and beyond.
An equally important part of language acquisition is the study of the customs and traditions of the largest country in the world and the mentality of its people. Pupils prepare and deliver a project on ‘Russia on the Map' in the UIV and are encouraged to attend the Russian Club, Kirillitsa, which takes place every other week. Furthermore, once a week students in the Middle and Senior Schools are invited to attend a Russian news club run in English and communicate via Skype and letter with Russian exchange students of a similar age from a specialist arts and dance school in Moscow.
Trips and cultural opportunities
A six-day cultural trip open to members of the Middle and Senior Schools runs every year in December to St Petersburg and Moscow. Members of the Senior School also have the option of volunteering independently at the Orion Project in Kitezh; students of all ages raise funds for this charity every year by participating in the annual London Santa Run. We regularly attend London theatre, ballet and film productions in Russian and in translation, as well as exhibitions and political discussions relating to Russia. We often join up with other schools with Russian Departments, for example attending sixth form Russian Study Days or celebrating Russian Orthodox Easter together. Students have participated with great success in national Russian essay writing (including the Cambridge Fitzwilliam Essay Prize) and poetry speaking competitions.
Science at St Paul's is about creative thinking, identifying patterns and considering a range of evidence to provide solutions and answers. In our lessons we aim to develop the inquiry, discussion and questioning skills necessary for students to become our next generation of inspirational professional scientists, as well as scientifically literate and responsible citizens.
The science department is comprised of twelve specialist teaching laboratories in our beautiful 1930s building. The laboratories are all equipped with modern facilities such as interactive whiteboards and we are extremely well resourced. Each department has four laboratories and a dedicated preparation room.
Although biology, chemistry and physics all have their own separate identity, there are many areas of overlap in our planning and approach. The MIV (Year 7) follow a bespoke general science course taught by one teacher for the first year, before embarking on separate science courses in the UIV (Year 8). During Science Week the UIV carry out cross curricular projects to design a bionic limb, enabling them to expand their scientific understanding. A trip to the GCSE Science Live conference allows students to hear from leading scientists working across the three disciplines.
Science Week is a huge event at St Paul's run by students in the VII (Year 12). During the week there are lunchtime talks from visiting scientists, special science assemblies and even a mobile inflatable planetarium. Lunchtime activities have included making a giant DNA model out of jelly babies, a dazzling pyrotechnic display of fun chemical reactions, explosion society, making ice cream with dry ice and a snake dissection.
Approximately 50 students decide to study science related subjects at university every year and we have a very comprehensive programme to support them in their applications. We run specialised university preparation tutorial sessions for medicine & dentistry, engineering, psychology, biological sciences, physical sciences and chemistry. Every student will receive guidance on her application from an academic mentor and be offered science specific mock interviews.
Spanish is offered as an optional second language from the UIV (Year 8). The course focuses on attaining fluency in Spanish and gaining understanding of the history, traditions and culture of Spain and Latin America. Grammar is explored in depth and the students are introduced to the principles of linguistics through links and comparisons between English, Latin and other modern languages.
Discussion is encouraged in order to promote an understanding of the principles underlying all languages. Students are encouraged to make creative use of the language, taking intellectual risks and learning from mistakes in the same way that first languages are learned. From the early stages of the course, they will tackle longer passages in which they are expected to use the context to make inferences and deduce meaning.
Students applying to read Spanish at university attend preparation lessons which include advanced grammar and literary criticism. They are also encouraged to take part in the Canning House essay competition as well as translation and debating competitions. The department encourages students to subscribe to the Instituto Cervantes website in order to benefit from the range of cultural activities offered. Students attend courses, seminars and cultural events to complement their learning.
Trips and cultural opportunities
In the LV (Year 9), students may attend a study trip to the university city of Salamanca. The VI (Year 11) can participate in a long-established school exchange with Colegio Santa Teresa de Ganduxer in Barcelona, which serves to boost the students' cultural awareness of Spain and their oral confidence. Students may also attend the Sadler's Wells flamenco festival, and theatre and music visits are organised for Senior School students. Students are also encouraged to attend intensive study courses in Spain, staying with professional host families or in student halls.
In addition to the Spanish curriculum, our students are encouraged to take part in the Linguistics Olympiad and a translation competition alongside contributions to The Foreigner, the modern languages department magazine. The school library stocks an easy reader section with graded abridged versions of classic Spanish and Latin American works, Spanish translations of popular authors, such as Agatha Christie and J.K. Rowling, and copies of the specialist magazines Muy Interesante (science) and Historia y Vida (history).
Are you a school?
We want to make sure that the information we display is as accurate as possible. Please contact us if you spot anything that needs to be updated.