ST PAUL’S neWSIssue 06 I Summer Term 2017 I St Paul’s School, Lonsdale Road, London, SW13 9JT I www.stpaulsschool.org.uk

Among the usual wide range and highlevel of achievements documented in thisedition of St Paul’s News, the performanceof the boat club is worthy of specialattention. In March the club retained the Thames Cup, awarded to the topperforming school in the Schools’ Headregatta, and any claim this laid to SPSbeing the top rowing school in the UKwas upheld in May by our results at theNational UK Schools’ Regatta. Goldmedals for the A crews in the U14, U15and Senior Level eights, and a silver atU16, are surely unparalleled in the historyof the ‘NatSchools’. Put another way, St Paul’s was half a length off making aclean sweep of all the boys’ premier eventsin the UK’s pre-eminent rowing competitionfor schools. There were many very proudparents, staff and pupils at Eton Dorney:congratulations to all involved.

Life on the site will be very busy duringthe summer holidays. The temporarykitchen will be removed and we will moveinto the brand new dining facilities on theground floor of the new general teachingbuilding. The rest of the senior schoolGTB is scheduled to be handed overduring September, and we will prepare itfor occupation after the October Remedy.The existing GTB will then be empty, andit will be handed over to the contractorsfor demolition and construction of thesecond phase of the GTB. Meanwhile,senior school administrative staff and theMontgomery Conference Room will allmove to temporary accommodation nearthe boathouse. I hope that your summeris less busy and equally productive.

Mark Bailey, High Master, St Paul’s School

The High Master and his family at the Summer Festival

Summer Update from the High Master

SPS Make History at national Schoolsregatta with QueenMother Cup Win

rOWing Over the Bank Holiday weekend, theBoat Club was out in force at theNational Schools’ Regatta. Highlightsincluded gold in the J14A Octuples, J15Championship Eights and ChampionshipEights events. Adding to the medal tallywere the J16s with silver in J16Championship Eights and J16 2ndEights. The First Eight won the blueriband event, taking home the QueenMother Cup for the first time in history.

Sunday brought further success in the lower years with bronze in J16Championship Pairs and J16B CoxedFours. Most notably, Alexander

Langstone-Bolt, Casper Woods (Captainof the Boats), Calvin Tarczy, Douwe deGraaf and Axel de Boissard took gold onboth days of racing, winning the HedsorCup for Championship Coxed Fours.

The First Eight returned to Dorney Lake the following weekend for theMetropolitan Regatta, where theyenjoyed fantastically close racing withthe University of London First Eight, as well as the senior men’s crews fromThames Rowing Club and Leander. A busy half-term, but one that affordedgood training and experience for theHenley Royal Regatta.

engineeringteam Firefly 03 06WeLLbeing

Mental Health App 02 CriCketU14 Champions

Pupils Develop Appfor Mental Health

WeLLbeing

Thirteen pupils in the Fourth Form havebeen working with the Anna Freud Centreto develop an app to help end mentalhealth discrimination amongstadolescents.

Before the Easter holidays, the boys tookpart in focus groups to research ideasaround the causes and impact of mentalhealth stigma. Building on these findings,the pupils then visited the Anna FreudCentre in North London after school for

two evenings in early May to build theapp alongside professional developers. One of the pupils said: “I really wanted tohelp other young people have the kinds ofconversations about mental health that wehave at St Paul's.”

The app now moves into the formaldevelopment stage with the hope of itone day being available to schoolchildrenacross London.

gold Win for Pauline at rYA Championships

SAiLing

In the week before Easter, Lower Eighthpupil James Hammett (left) won gold atthe Royal Yachting Association (RYA) UKYouth National Championships, takingthe top position with partner James Eales to win the Boys 29er regatta race.

The five-day event was hosted at theHayling Island Sailing Club from 10 to 14April and saw 379 sailors compete in 18races. The race is the highlight of the

youth events calendar, with theopportunity for sailors to be scouted for international representation or the UK Youth Squad.

James’s win has resulted in a place in theBritish Youth Sailing Team, which will seehim and his crew participate in the 29erEuropean Championships and WorldChampionship this summer.

Maths battleACADeMiC

On Monday 8 May we hosted our first maths battle between St Paul’s, St Paul’s Girls and the London School of Mathematics & Programming. Teamsof eight pupils spent an hour and a halfstudying eight problems. Then theytook turns to present and justify theirsolutions to another team and to the jury,

made up of two adult mathematicians,with an audience of parents watching in a tense atmosphere. One boycommented, “This is agony!”, as histeammate was attempting to uphold his solution after prolonged and intensequestioning from the jurors. Everyonewants to do it again.

get Creative WeekCreAtive ArtS

For the third consecutive year, theschool’s Get Creative Week allows everypupil in the Fourth and Fifth Form thechance to explore creative skills notnormally offered in the course of theschool’s mainstream extracurricularprovision. The focus is on hands-on,practical creativity: engaging mind andbody in something that opens up newhorizons beyond the academic.

For the Fourth Form, a series oflunchtime workshops in everything from knitting to designing your ownfamily crest were extremely popular;the Fifth Form were given the afternoonoff lessons and the chance to partake in one of a series of workshops led by visiting professionals includingmastering trapeze skills, street dance,origami and animé illustration.

We first introduced Team Firefly in issue 4 of St Paul’s News (Autumn 2016), and as we approachthe end of the academic year the team has given us an update.

After nearly two years of fundraising, designing,building and refining, the team was finally able toenter a national heat on 25 June. Having been placedthird in the rookie category, and reaching over 50kphafter completely rebuilding the electronics system in 90 minutes, Team Firefly looks forward to entering two more race heats later this year, alreadyprototyping a radical new Mk2 design. Formed by a group of Fifth Formers in the autumn of 2015, led by George Worledge, Thomas Dhome-Casanovaand Luke Andrews, the team hopes to encouragesome of the next-generation Pauline engineers tokeep Team Firefly’s flag flying!

The team said: “Naturally, we couldn’t have done this alone, and the F24 team would like to thank,among the many amazing people we’ve worked with:Arthur Jenkins, Miss Douglass, Mr Clark, Mr Holder,Mr Bailey, Miss Hamma and all of our sponsors.”

Pauline entrepreneurs YOUng enterPriSe

St Paul’s has continued its recent successin Young Enterprise with two teams –Team Janus (led by Jonah Lowenstein with their link teacher Mr Troen) andTeam Mosaic (led by Nicholas Heymanand Fred Hill with their link teacher Mr Schmitt) – through to this year’sRichmond and Kingston Area Final. Team Janus, with their productVenturePad, was named Best

Company, and also won awards for the application of Science, Technology,Engineering and Maths (STEM), and for the Best Product. The team went on to win two more awards at the SouthLondon Finals, crowned as Best Companyonce again, and winning Most InnovativeProduct. They also represented SouthLondon in the London Finals on Thursday 8 June.

italian Study trip to Siena

triPS

Over the Easter break, 19 Eighth Form Italianists andthree members of the Italian department headed to the Tuscan city of Siena. The week-long trip offered the Pauline group the opportunity to develop theirunderstanding of the language with morning lessons at the Università per Stranieri. Afternoons featured a mixture of independent study in the university library, and excursions in and around Siena.

Boys gained a unique and rare insight into the fiercerivalry of Siena’s seventeen contrade (and the famousPalio horse race they compete for) as the Contradadell’Oca opened its doors, with a tour of its chapel, alook at the spoils of past Palio victories and a convivialdinner in its clubhouse. Each student was welcomedinto the home of a Sienese family for the week, andeach benefitted greatly from the significant challenge of having to negotiate family life, school life and newfriendships independently and in the language of study.

Schools Aerospace Challenge engineering

Four teams, composed of three Paulineseach, have qualified for the AerospaceExperience Summer School at CranfieldUniversity where they will be treated toa range of experiences such as talks onSABRE engines, visits to wind tunnels,practicals on crash investigations andindoor free fall. They will also receiveguidance from experienced aerospaceprofessionals, guest speakers and

engineering graduates in developingtheir UAV design brief that could seethem win the Schools AerospaceChallenge, consisting of a cash prize and an awards ceremony at the IMechE.

This achievement is particularly notable as Dr Gardam who introduced the Aerospace Challenge at SPS is retiring this year.

02 03

team Firefly engineering

The Wind in the WillowsDrAMA

For one glorious week in May, the Samuel Pepys Theatre wastransformed into an idyllic riverbanksetting, complete with its very ownpond, to play host to one of the mostspectacular school productions ofrecent years: a cast of just under 40 Fourth and Fifth Form boysperformed in Alan Bennett’s comic

masterpiece The Wind in the Willows.The set design, including pop-upcampfires, vintage motor cars andflying scenery, delighted audienceswith its invention and flair. Under thedirection of Christian Anthony, thecomic timing and madcap energy ofthis young cast was considerable,and with such a raft of talent rising

through the ranks (including OllieTanner as the preposterous Toad,Matthew Ainsby as nervous Mole,George Lyons as a fearsomelygrumpy Badger and Harry Church as the divinely snooty Rat) it seemsthat SPS Drama is in safe hands for the years ahead.

Success at intermediateMathematical Olympiad

MAtHeMAtiCS

Congratulations to nine pupils in theFourth, Fifth and Sixth Forms who won medals in the 2017 IntermediateMathematical Olympiad, placing them in the top 100 mathematicians in the

country in their respective years. Theywere Alex Kwang, Ismail Mardin, AndrewSpielmann, Amu Varma, Anton Fedotov,Hamish Elder, George Monro-Davies,Yang Hsu and David Rae.

This month, Lower Eighth pupils fromSPS and SPGS will showcase theirtalents at the Lyric Studio, performingBabel, a dance and physical theatre piece based on a text written by an Old Pauline, Patrick Neate, whose novel City of Tiny Lights has just been released as a film.

The show will be directed by current SPS Director of Drama Edward Williamsand choreographed by Andrea Walker(201Dance).

Patrick writes: “Babel began as a piece ofspoken word, which I performed in clubsaround London. It seemed to chime withpeople. It was seen by a TV producer and, about six years later, I found myselfdeveloping it for a late-night slot onChannel 4. Midnight poetry on TV? It was never likely to have much reach.But, two of the (undoubtedly limited)audience were the guys behind physicaltheatre company Stan Won’t Dance whoapproached me about six years after that to rework it for the stage, and ittoured the UK. That was about six yearsago. In January, Edward Williams, Head of Drama at my old school, St Paul’s,suggested these performances. And here we are.”

BABEL, by Patrick Neate OPThe Lyric Studio, Hammersmith, 7.30pm, 19-22 July 2017.

Please come and support us.Tickets available from the Lyric website: www.lyric.co.uk

economics essays reach a global Audience

eCOnOMiCS

Economics students in the Lower Eighthhave used a new University-leveltextbook and online resources (COREecon) as inspiration for an essaycompetition comparing policy responsesto the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 and the Great Depression.

Essays were required to address theextent to which policy makers hadlearned lessons from the 1930s in theirresponse to the recent financial crisis.

Adam Treger, Ignacio Diaz-Pascual andAvanes Khachaturov (pictured, left toright) each produced some outstandingpieces of work and were selected by theEconomics Department as the jointcompetition winners.

The three were the focus of a recentarticle on the CORE econ website, shared with leading economists acrossthe world.

More information and links to the essays can be found by accessing this link: www.core-econ.org/the-st-pauls-essay-challenge/

AtHLetiCS

04 05

Middlesex track and Field ChampionshipsFive boys from SPS represented the Richmond BoroughAthletics Team at the Middlesex Track and FieldChampionships in Hillingdon. All the boys excelledagainst a strong field with three boys achieving personalbests on the day. Particular mention should go to HarryGrindle who won the U17 200m final with a time of 22.9 seconds.

The results are as follows:Tom White – U15 200m – 4th place 24.5 (PB)Harry Grindle – U17 200m – 1st place 22.9Greg Zoppos – U15 300m – 2nd place 39.3Ben Tatters – U17 1500m – 2nd place 4:22.7 (PB)Philip Kastner – U17 long jump – 4th place 6.19 (PB)

A fantastic performance by all five boys, particularly considering a very strong headwind up the home straight.

St Paul’s Athletics Club 2017At the Medley Relays hosted by RadleyCollege, the Junior team of Louey Horler,Seon Shaw, Tom White and GregoryZoppos won the 4x100m relay in a timeof 48.7s and came third in the MedleyRelay in a time 4:21.6s. The Senior teamof Oliver Hill, Nicky Crompton, MaxBuckley and Paul Calderon came secondin the 4x400m relay at the AchillesRelays held at Oxford University’sfamous Roger Bannister AthleticsStadium, only losing out to first-placedMilfield by 0.8s.

St Pau’s Athletics Club earned creditableoverall third and fourth at the Guy ButlerShield (Harrow) and the Lord BurghleyTrophy (Eton) respectively in spite offielding significantly under strengthteams due to injuries and GCSEcommitments. In the individual agegroups, the Seniors put in a superbperformance to secure first equal placeat the Guy Butler Shield, which isarguably one of the most competitiveschoolboy fixtures in the country. The Seniors maintained the same highstandard by finishing in second place

overall at the Lord Burghley Trophymeeting held at Eton College.

Special mention must go to PaulCalderon, Martin Noé-Nordberg, DavidNartey, Nicky Crompton, Oliver Hill, MaxBuckley, Gian Tosti Di Valminuta, BenTatters, Will Palmer, Philip Kastner,Gregory Zoppos, Harry Grindle and SeonShaw for winning their respective eventsat both meetings. Nicky Crompton, MaxBuckley, Oliver Hill and Paul Calderonalso excelled in the 4x400m relayfinishing in first place by a very

comfortable distance at both Harrow and Eton.

The two outstanding performances ofthe term so far have come from HarryGrindle and Gregory Zoppos. At the LordBurghley Trophy, both Harry and Gregorybroke the school records in the Inter200m and Junior 300m with times of 22.3seconds and 38.9 seconds respectively.Congratulations to them both.

Paulines and Paulinas toPerform in the Lyric Studio,Hammersmith

DrAMA

Paulines Selected forPhilosophy Conference

PHiLOSOPHY

Three Paulines, Adam Rachman, ZacharyMichaelis and Thomas Phillips, are topresent a paper on research carried out by the Theology and PhilosophyDepartment on the meaning of weaknessof will. The Joint Session of the Mind and

the Aristotelian Society is aninternationally renowned philosophyconference, and they will be presentingtheir work on 15 July alongsideundergraduates, graduates and academics.

06 07

Having won their regional final in earlyMarch, the combined team from St Paul’sand St Paul’s Juniors of Aidan Choi,Thomas Magalhaes (Fourth Form),Johnny Cubbon and Ali Imam-Sadeque(Upper Third) competed in the NationalFinal of the UKMT Team MathsChallenge on 19 June 2017.

By qualifying, they were already in thetop 88 (from 1757 entrants). Across fourrounds, the team did exceptionally welland were quick and accurate in theiranswers, remaining in contention

throughout the day. They eventuallyfinished seventh overall, which is afantastic achievement. Furthermore, in aseparate poster competition on the topicof polyominoes, they were only one oftwo teams to successfully incorporateand answer the challenging question:

“Prove that it is not possible to fill an 8x8 square with a 2x2 square and fifteenL-shaped tetrominoes (which can berotated and flipped).”

Many congratulations to all four boys.

team Maths Challengenational Finalists

ACADeMiC

Paulines Destined fortop Universities

UniverSitieS

In autumn 2016, 189 Paulines starteduniversity undergraduate courses, someafter a gap year. Of those starting in theUK in 2016, 95% went on to RussellGroup universities, including 53 enteringOxford or Cambridge. The highest evernumber of pupils (34) chose to study inAmerica, at Ivy League or equivalentschools.

A remarkable 45% of these university-bound pupils in 2016 are studying atinstitutions ranked within the top 10 inthe QS 2016 World University Rankings,rising to 57% if we include thoseuniversities within the top 20.

The news of offers currently received byPaulines for university entry in 2017 iseven more encouraging and better thanin recent years. Headlines include 72Oxbridge (40 Oxford and 32 Cambridge)offers, the highest figure since 2009 and one of the best-recorded results inrecent history. Offers from other highlyranked universities are also impressive:for example, 97 Paulines have receivedoffers from Bristol, 86 from Durham, 76 from UCL and 63 from Edinburgh.

Interest in attending universitiesoverseas continues to grow: 40 pupilsare holding offers at top American

universities, with no fewer than fivepupils securing places at Yale. In addition,three offers have been made each byPrinceton and Columbia. Two meritscholarships were awarded by BostonCollege and Fordham University, NewYork, while one of our successful Yaleapplicants was a finalist in the USNational Merit Scholarship Competition.This ranks him in the top 15,000applicants worldwide out of a grand totalof 1.5 million candidates! Canada hasalso featured prominently with 12 offersmade by McGill and two by Toronto. Twooffers were made by universities inHolland while one Pauline, who reallywants a break from London, may betempted by his offer to attend theUniversity of Queensland!

The pupils deserve enormous credit for all their hard work in achieving suchsplendid successes, but they have alsobeen very fortunate to have a dedicatedteam of UCAS/US/Global Universityadvisers who have provided expertguidance and assistance all along theway. Special thanks to our superbCareers and Universities officer, SallyKirkham, who has dealt so deftly with all the administration involved inprocessing a record number of 211 UCAS applications.

U14s MiddlesexChampions

CriCket

St Paul's U14s Cricket team have had astellar season – they continued a run of12 consecutive victories to win the finalof the English Schools County Cup. Thisqualifies them to represent Middlesexin the National Cup next year. En routeto the final, St Paul’s had a tough runwhich included beating Hampton and

Harrow. The final was against MerchantTaylor’s and the whole team performedsuperbly to lift the trophy at the end ofa remarkable season, that has alsoincluded tremendous wins against verygood teams in Cranleigh, Dulwich,Reeds and KCS Wimbledon.

It has been a busy first year for meat St Paul’s Juniors and I never cease to be amazed by the boys and theirachievements. Whilst we clearlyhave many talented individuals inthe pupil body, the most powerfulimpressions that have been madeon me this year have been by themany rather than the few. As agroup of young men, the pupils havetalents, emotional strengths andgrowing confidence in all kinds of situations.

The 3x3 challenge that the boyscompleted was an amazing exampleof this and the staggering amount ofmoney raised for Age UK, nearly

£10,000, was testament to theirinnovation, drive and gumption. The summer term is always verybusy with exams, sports fixtures andconcerts. In amongst the businesswe were fortunate enough towelcome Peter Higgins, one of ourgovernors, to School. Peter’s careerhas seen him teach at Harrow, set up Charles Tyrwhitt and thenbecome CEO of Cath Kidston.

The focus for his visit was teachingthe boys about enterprise, firstly aspart of our assembly programmeand then in a further discussion withthe older boys. He is now veryinvolved with the charity Mary’s

Meals. His message to the boys wasrefreshing. He gave them four clearmessages about his journey: makemistakes, work hard on the rightthings, recognise opportunities, andwork out what is really important inlife... in his eyes it is not money.

What came across from themoment that he started talking wasthat he was a thoroughly decenthuman being. I feel that this is themost important attribute we shouldaim for as we work with parents toshape the boys in our care.

Maxine Shaw, Head of St Paul’s Juniors

ST PAUL’S JUNIORS neWS

Foreword from the Head of St Paul’s Juniors

Summer Festival 2017

COMMUnitY

triPSWhipsnade 11PArentS’ grOUP

SPJ Factor 10SPOrtSwimming Champs 08

Over 2,000 pupils, parents, staff andmembers of the extended Paulinecommunity joined us for this year’sSummer Festival. On the mostbeautiful sunny day, everyone was in fine spirits as an exceptionalprogramme of pupil talent adorned the two distinctive stages with music,drama and a spot of improv comedy!

Notable moments included the

fantastic compère duo, Will Saunter(Captain of School) and George Davies (Head Boy), opening the show, the rousing chorus of Junior and Senior choirs, plus bands, and thesuperbly focused drama extracts, which were performed with greatgusto to packed out audiences.

Parents, pupils and teachers werefound wanging wellies across the lawn,

competitively jumping in hessian sacks,bouncing on Space Hoppers and whizzing around the Helter Skelter. Pauls4All raised more than £1,200from the Vintage Fairground, withanother £8,500 raised from ticketsales, which all goes to the School’schosen charities.

It was a most wonderful way to end another productive academic year!

St Paul’s Juniors Sports Day 2017 wasblessed with some incredible weatherand on a baking hot Monday, the boys in U2, L3 and U3 competed for theHouse Cup in the morning, whilst theboys from the lower years competed inthe afternoon. As officiating staff andparents slowly melted in the sun, theboys were simply superb as they triedtheir very hardest to win for their houses.

There were many outstandingperformances on the day but the most impressive aspect was the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie that always characterises a boy from SPJ. Well done to all those who took part: almost every boy in the schoolbarring the odd absentee due to illness or injury! The Junior Cup was won byThorn and the Senior Cup by Ash.

Sports Day

Few could argue that 2016/17 has notbeen a good year for sport at SPJ.Those of you who keep up with theGrapevine will be well aware of thehuge variety of sporting endeavourthat occurs on a week-to-week andterm-to-term basis. Not just themajor games either, but a whole hostof sports both team and individual.

The picture give only a flavour of whathas happened but as a snapshot, it ispretty impressive. The Under 11 boyswon the Richmond Borough CrossCountry Championships; the 1st teamin rugby won 23 out of 24 matches;the 1st team in football wereunbeaten; the IAPS swim team were

second overall at the National Finalswith the U10 boys ranked first in thecountry; and finally the U11 rugbysevens squad won the Rosslyn ParkNational Sevens title.

Finally, the IAPS Athletics Squad hada great showing at the Thames Valleyand London Regional Championships,meaning that we will be sending atleast seven, possibly nine, athletes(depending on other qualifiers aroundthe country) to the Nationals inBirmingham at the beginning of July

Given that we compete on the finestcircuits, our boys deserve a heartywell done! Roll on 2017/18!

Sport at SPJ in Fine Fettle!

The annual SPJ Pentathlon was heldafter school on Thursday 18 May, withteams of six boys each from U2, L3and U3 competing over five eventsagainst Dulwich Prep and ShrewsburyHouse. The wet weather conditionsmeant that the high jump events were cancelled for reasons of safety;however, it is to the huge credit of allthe competitors (and some very stoicparents!) that the competition ransmoothly and that some excellentperformances were recorded.

In the U11 competition, SPJ capturedall the individual medals: Emerick

McMahon and Charlie White sharingbronze, Thomas Evans-Alcantaragaining silver and Max Bishop gold.SPJ also won the U11 team trophy. Inthe U12 competition, bronze went toCameron Capper, silver to Alex Pamaand gold to Hayden Hunt. The teamtrophy also went to SPJ. Finally, in theU13 competition gold and silver wentto athletes from Shrewsbury Houseand the bronze to DPL, who also wonthe team trophy.

The overall totals saw ShrewsburyHouse come third, Dulwich Prepsecond and SPJ first. Well done boys!

Pentathlon

SPOrt

08 09

In early May, a team of 16 SPJ boystravelled to Crawley, Sussex to competein the IAPS National Swimming Finals.The School had the highest number offinalists competing on the day – 16 outof 250 – and the SPJ boys performed well once again.

Individual medals went to Malachi Cohenwho secured a bronze, Cameron Nelsonwho won silver and Kynan Tallec-Botos, whose gold made him National Champion.

Relay medals were secured by the U12medley relay team with silver; a silver

was also won by the U12 freestyle relayteam; and both U10 relay teams earnedgolds. The performances on the day wereso good that the SPJ team overall took asilver medal and the U10 team took gold,crowning them National Champions.

This was quite an amazing day for the School, showcasing the wealth of aquatic talent we have but alsohighlighting the huge amount of time put into the programme by Miss Roman. Well done to the whole squad!

iAPS national SwimmingChampionships

SWiMMing

It was a real delight to be able to scriptthis year’s Upper First play and have thewhole year group perform it with suchenthusiasm. Seeing the boys take hold of their characters and bring them to life with extraordinary detail for such ayoung age, was a joy and a privilege towatch. The piece lent itself to the terrificensemble & puppetry work and closeattention to detail from Miss Bower,whom the boys have loved working with this term!

With all 72 boys doing a sterling job, it isdifficult to pinpoint specific, standoutperformances, so I applaud them all oncemore: well done boys, and well doneMiss Bower, Mr Duke and Mr Squire formaking it such a tremendous experience.

Jonathan Boustead,Director of Juniors Drama

PunchinelloDrAMA

It has been a great first year for St Paul’sYouth Theatre (SPYT), which currentlyprovides extra drama for 70 childrenfrom SPJ and beyond. We’ve had visitsfrom West Yorkshire Playhouse,Chichester Festival Theatre, AlmeidaTheatre and a terrific touringperformance of Oyster Boy byHaste Theatre Co.

We are also pleased to announce that15 youth theatre members successfullycompleted their Bronze Arts Award.Congratulations to Oliver Tanner,Richard Griffiths, Aaron Reyes-Bordado,

Michael Bryceson, Nicholas Haas,Giancarlo Ramirez, Joseph O’Keeffe,Federico Stock, Alex Adams, JamesLawson, George Davies, BenedictHarrison, Arsh Parekh, James Trotman& Hayden Hunt. Well done boys!

We are looking to expand SPYT and run an extra senior group for ages 14-19. Anyone interested in joining the Youth Theatre or taking part in the Arts Award should contact JPB@stpaulsschool.org.uk.

Arts AwardSt PAUL’S YOUtH tHeAtre

On Friday 16 June our Lower Second Yearboys presented their annual PlaywritingCompetition, and what a success it was!With 13 plays and a total cast of 72, theboys really did themselves proud. It wasan excellent showcase of ability in writingand performing, and our guest judge,Mrs Rachel Barnett, was hugelyimpressed with everyone.

Congratulations to Nico Weeks forearning first place with his hilariousscript Killer Grannies! and to Levi Cadman(The Two Ballerinas) and Kam Baghai(The Last Gig) for being the worthyrunners up. Of course, a huge round of applause is due to everyone involved – it was a huge task, but one we enjoyedfrom beginning to end.

Lower Second Playwriting

DrAMA

10 11

On Saturday 13 May, three St Paul’s Juniorsteams – two U9 and one U11 – headed toBristol Grammar School to compete in theEnglish Primary Schools Chess Association(EPSCA) Semi-Finals.

All the boys who came along played somevery high quality chess. It was a long daywith five rounds of matches against qualityopposition. Congratulations to HenryHuang and Nicolas Behroun on managing to win all five of their matches!

In the U11 competition the boys startedvery well, leading the competition afterthree rounds, but they dropped somecrucial points in the last two rounds whichmeant they missed out on qualifying for the finals.

The U9 B team did extremely well, leadingthe whole competition after three rounds,and the U9 A team finished second overall,qualifying for the finals in Birmingham this July.

U9 & U11 ePSCASemi-Finals at bristolgrammar School

CHeSS

Author visitsLiterAtUre

It was perfect weather for outdoorscience as the Upper First Year set off for Whipsnade Animal Park on 15 June.Arriving as the doors opened, the boysyomped out into the furthest reaches of the park and were rewarded withclose-up action from lions, cheetahsand zebras, for whom they were thefirst visitors.

Strolling back towards the centre of the Park, the boys spotted otters, redpandas and squirrel monkeys, andwatched an amazing display of colourfulbirds. Then it was down to work, and in groups they learned about classification,giraffe behaviour and animal adaptations to their habitats from some veryinformative and helpful Whipsnade staff. This set them up very well to present their new-found knowledge to each other back at school in science lessons.

After a packed lunch and a scramblearound the huge adventure playground,the boys caught sight of a tiger, beforefinally enjoying a well-deserved rest ona train ride around the outer regions ofthe park. En route, elephants, camels andwallabies were spotted, accompaniedall the while by the gentle sounds of thelittle steam locomotive. It was a hot andtiring, but very enjoyable, day.

Upper First go Wild at Whipsnade

triPS

105 boys auditioned for this year’srevamped SPJ Factor. On the night wehad dancers, singers, musicians,comedians, sketches, stand up comedyand even a hop, skip and a flip from MrYoung. Adjudicated by the esteemedjudging panel of Emily Phillips, IonaHolland and Jeremy James Taylor, theshow was a great success. The in-housetechnical crew, led by Mr Duke, wassensational in providing us with sound,

special effects and lots of smoke, jazzingup each act with a professional look thatwould sit well on an arena tour.

One of our winners said: “To win SPJFactor was incredible!...I was extremelynervous but, when I started dancing, I overcame that… I’d recommend toeveryone to give it a go next year!” Amir Dudhia (2 for 1)

the SPJ FactorPArentS’ grOUP

Early May saw an author visit to SPJ’sFirst Years with Ciaran Murtagh, a funny and enthusiastic screenwriter, actor and author providing the boys with someexcellent writing tips. An exhilaratingassembly was followed by a workshopexploring character development.

Following Ciaran’s visit, successfulchildren’s author Marcus Alexander came to talk to SPJ Second Years in June. He spoke about his many travels andexperiences that combined to inspire him to write. This was followed by a workshop with L2Y who learnt more about fleshing out a fantasy

protagonist by exploring his or her past,understanding his motivation anddescribing clothing and actions.

The Third Years were treated to Adisa the Verbalizer, a performance poet whoengaged his audience to think moredeeply about poetry, whilst still enjoyingthe fun of playing with words and ideas.

A very intense but extremely enjoyableworkshop followed for some of the boyswho came away with their own poemsand a better understanding of creatingpoetry. As one of the boys said “Adisamade me think about poetry differently.”

12 © St Paul’s School, July 2017. St Paul’s School is a charitable company, limited by guarantee, registered in England.Registered office at Lonsdale Road, London SW13 9JT. Registered Company Number 6141973. Registered Charity Number 1119619.

Boys, parents and staff from otherschools sometimes ask me what I do as Director of Studies. I usually respondalong the lines of, “I’m responsible for the curriculum in the Juniors, ensuring it’s as lively and creative as possible, that it engages bright minds and that the transition between the Junior andSenior parts of the School is as smoothand as easy as possible in terms of a boy’sacademic well-being.” To which manyreply that my job sounds incrediblybroad and interesting. And indeed it is.

Every year at this time, I am reminded ofthe subtler reasons why I work here andwhat has motivated me to stay so long at St Paul’s.

As Director of Studies I’m lucky enoughto attend Senior Apposition. This is the senior school prize giving held in the second week of May. Annually, itdemonstrates the range and talent whicha school such as St Paul’s produces. The quality of the four declamations(speeches from the leavers before theaward of the prizes) never cease toamaze and this year was no exception.They were lively, entertaining and showedincredible breadth and sophistication ofthought. Quite rightly, they ensured therenewal of the High Master’s contract foranother year by the Master of theMercers’ Company. I’m pleased to saythat three out of the four speeches camefrom talent fed and watered in the

Juniors. After the ceremony, I conversedwith eloquent, thoughtful, compassionateindividuals, many of whom I had beenfortunate enough to interview for a placeat Colet Court when they were six orbarely seven years old.

In May this year I met up with the oldL1G-ers, the 7+ class of 06-07 graduates,all of whom had stayed the full durationof 11 years at St Paul’s. We reminisced,shared memories and discussed careeraspirations. Following A levels, they areheading around the globe to pursuepassions which have been fostered anddeveloped here, taking with them strongfriendships which will last a lifetime.

Secretly, I admit to being quite pleasedthat at least three are going off to studyHistory at venerated institutions.

It’s a privilege to see these young peoplegrow into confident, well-rounded young men.

Jayne Gordon

What it Means to Work at St Paul’s

This year’s Spring Fling was anotherwonderful and very special evening atThe Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

Among the highlights were performancesby the SPS Jazz Quartet and the SPJ AcaFellas group. Guests were also dazzled bythe beautiful display of the boys’ artwork.This year’s new origami tree of wisheswas also a great success raising nearly£3,500! There was an incredible selectionof silent and live auction items, includingtickets to U2, a tour of the new DysonResearch Centre and the chance tomeet David Beckham!

Turnout at the event was fantastic, with over 275 parents, staff membersand governors attending.

The support received from the schoolcommunity was overwhelming and itmakes a profound difference to theschool’s bursary program.

The Spring Fling raised over £150,000,which will enable the school to continueto fund its current bursaries and further broaden its access.

Spring FlingbUrSArY FUnDrAiSing

500 Club April draw winners1st prize Mr & Mrs J A Skoulding2nd prize Mr K F Y Barnfather3rd prize Mr & Mrs R Jindal4th prize Dr R Puritz5th prize Mr R Firth

500 Club May draw winners1st prize Mr & Mrs G Blanning2nd prize Ms E Marino3rd prize Mr & Mrs S Arunan4th prize Mr M J Benson5th prize Mr A Lewis & Ms B Mjaaland

Summer term Winners

tHen nOW

DAteS FOr tHe DiArY

Start of 2017-18 Academic Year Friday 1 September

reMeDYMonday 16 October – Friday 27October; Monday 4 December

end of Autumn term thursday 14 December

Dates and times correct at time of print