St Paul's Girls' School

St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England.
History
St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part of the endowment of the foundation set up by John Colet, to create a girls' school to complement the boys' school he had founded in the sixteenth century. The governors hold proprietorial responsibility, and some are representatives of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London.
The buildings for the school were designed by the architect Gerald Horsley, son of the painter John Callcott Horsley and one of the founder members of the Art Workers Guild.
The school has had several distinguished directors of music, most notably Gustav Holst (1905–34) and Herbert Howells (1936–62). Holst composed his St Paul's and Brook Green suites for the pupils at the school. Holst also composed what is arguably his best known work, "The Planets", while teaching at St Paul's. John Linton Gardner held a part-time position as director of music at the school.
Exam results
St Paul's girls regularly perform extremely well in the GCSEs and A Levels. In 2014, 99.3% of GCSEs were graded at A*s or As with 93.6% graded at A* alone. This was the highest ever A* percentage achieved by the school and in the country. In 2016, the school achieved the highest A Level results in its history with 60.0% of entries achieving an A* grade and 93.8% of entries achieving A* or A grades.
In the 2020 GCSE and IGCSE results, students were awarded the higher of their centre-assessed grade and the statistically adjusted calculated grade. 86% of entries were awarded a 9 grade (1% point higher than the 2019 outcome) and 97.9% of entries gained an 8 or 9 (which are equivalent to the old A* grade).
In the 2020 A level and Pre-U results, 64.6% of entries attained an A* grade at A level or the Pre-U equivalent D1 or D2, while 92.4% of entries achieved an A* or A grade and 98.4% a B grade or higher (or the Pre-U equivalent).
Music
Gustav Holst was director of music at the school from 1905 to 1934 when he died, including the period he composed his orchestral suites, including St Paul's Suite and The Planets. He was succeeded by Herbert Howells before John Gardner followed in the 1960s. Gardner wrote many memorable pieces for the school, including his popular Christmas carols Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day and The Holly and the Ivy. Hilary Davan Wetton was director of music from 1979 to 1994. In 1988 a CD with Children's favorite songs was released on the label Spectrum records.
Drama
The school's main theatre, where most school productions are staged, is named after alumna Celia Johnson. Other productions are staged in the drama studio which is a smaller space.
Bursaries and scholarships
Bursaries
The school awards means-tested bursaries to students who join in Y7 and for students arriving in Y12. Bursaries fund up to 100% of tuition fees on a sliding scale depending on family income and assets, plus exam entry fees and a grant towards textbooks. Holders of 100% bursaries entering in Y12 also receive an extra package to cover additional expenses, such as the cost of sports equipment and music tuition.
Scholarships
Year 7: The school awards up to four academic scholarships and, usually, about three or four music scholarships to 11+ entrants (worth £100 a year; the music scholarship also includes free tuition in two instruments).
Year 12: The school may also award music scholarships to current students and to new joiners (worth free tuition in two instruments), and two art scholarships (worth £250 a year) to internal and external candidates. The Nora Day music scholarship (worth up to 50% of school fees plus free tuition in two instruments) is awarded every other year to a new joiner who shows exceptional musical potential. The school also awards scholarships worth £250 a year for academic distinction in the "Senior Scholarship", a dissertation written by students in the summer holiday following Y12.
Sport
Rowing
The school has an active rowing club called the St Paul's Girls' School Boat Club which is based on the River Thames. The club is affiliated to British Rowing (boat code SPG) and has produced four British champion crews at the 1992 British Rowing Championships, 2002 British Rowing Championships, 2003 British Rowing Championships and 2011 British Rowing Championships.
High Mistresses
The headmistress of St Paul's Girls' School is known as the High Mistress.
Frances Ralph Grey (d.1935), High Mistress 1903–1927
Ethel Strudwick (1880–1954), High Mistress 1927–1948, daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Melhuish Strudwick
Margaret Osborn (1906–1985), High Mistress 1948–1963
Alison Munro (1914–2008), High Mistress 1964–1974
Heather Brigstocke, Baroness Brigstocke (1929–2004), High Mistress 1974–1989
Helen Elizabeth Webber Williams (born 1938), High Mistress 1989–1992
Janet Gough (born 1940), High Mistress 1993–1998
Elizabeth Mary Diggory (1945–2007), High Mistress 1998–2006
Clarissa Mary Farr (born 1958), High Mistress 2006–2017
Sarah Fletcher, High Mistress 2017–present
Old Paulinas
Alumnae of the school, known as "Old Paulinas", include:
Arts
Gillian Ayres – artist
Mischa Barton – actress
Nicola Beauman – publisher, founder of Persephone Books
Helen Binyon – artist
Lesley Blanch – author
Justin Blanco White – architect
Celia Brayfield – author
Sophie Hunter – theatre and opera director
Brigid Brophy – dramatist
Lucy Briers – actress
Margaret Calvert – graphic artist
Miranda Carter – biographer
Edie Campbell – model
Cecilia Chancellor – model
Joan Cross – singer
Emma Darwin – author
Monica Dickens – author
Suzi Digby – conductor and musician
Flora Fraser – author
Justine Frischmann – musician
Gluck (Hannah Gluckstein) – artist
Francesca Gonshaw – actress
Imogen Holst – musician
Sarah Hobson – travel writer
Ursula Howells – actress
Celia Johnson – actress
Rachel Johnson – journalist and editor
Jane M. Joseph – musician and composer
Amy Key Clarke – poet and author
Marghanita Laski – author
Nicola LeFanu – composer
Amanda Levete – architect
Alice Lowe – actress/author
Jessica Mann – author
Yvonne Mitchell – actress/author
Emily Mortimer – actress
Lucy Moss - playwright/director
Santha Rama Rau – author
Joely Richardson – actress
Natasha Richardson – actress
Georgina Rylance – actress
Katherine Shonfield – architect
Dodie Smith – playwright
Catherine Storr – author
Imogen Stubbs – actress
Emma Tennant – author
Angela Thirkell – author
Mary Treadgold – author
Salley Vickers – author
Samantha Weinberg – author
Rachel Weisz – actress
Antonia White – author
Business
Isabel dos Santos – wealthiest woman in Africa as of 2020
Grace Beverley – founder of Tala and Shreddy
Culinary arts
Thomasina Miers – chef and founder of Wahaca restaurant chain
Henrietta Lovell – founder of the Rare Tea Company
Education
Eleanora Carus-Wilson – economic historian
Sheila Forbes – principal, St Hilda's College, Oxford
Henrietta Harrison – professor of Modern Chinese Studies, University of Oxford
Jessica Rawson – warden, Merton College, Oxford
Barbara Reynolds – scholar
Joan Robinson – economist
Humanitarianism
Myrtle Solomon – pacifist and former chair War Resisters' International
Law
Sonia Proudman – High Court Judge
Journalism and media
Emily Buchanan – BBC World Affairs correspondent
Clemency Burton-Hill – broadcaster and author
Edie Campbell – model and socialite
Victoria Coren Mitchell – presenter, poker player
Daisy Donovan – TV presenter
Stephanie Flanders – BBC Economics editor
Amelia Gentleman – journalist
Bridget Harrison – journalist
Bronwen Maddox – senior journalist at 'The Times' newspaper
Veronica Pedrosa – Al Jazeera English correspondent
Sophie Raworth – news reader
Susanna Reid – news presenter
Anne Scott-James – journalist and editor
Alexandra Shulman – editor-in-chief, Vogue 1992–2017
Carol Thatcher – journalist
Erica Wagner – author, critic, and literary editor of The Times
Eirene White, Baroness White – journalist and Labour politician
Petronella Wyatt – journalist
Politics
Jane Bonham Carter – Liberal Democrat peer
Vicky Ford, Conservative MP and formerly MEP
Harriet Harman – Labour MP, former Acting Leader of the Labour Party, former Leader of the Opposition and former Cabinet minister
Susan Kramer – former Liberal Democrat MP
Mavis Tate – Conservative MP and women's rights campaigner
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Conservative MP
Jo Valentine, Baroness Valentine – member of the British House of Lords
Eirene White, Baroness White – Labour Minister of State then life peer
Shirley Williams – former Labour Education Secretary and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party
Science
Kate Bingham – venture capitalist
Ruth Bowden – anatomist
Caroline Deys – doctor
Rosalind Franklin – scientist, research led to discovery of the structure of DNA
Jean Ginsburg – physiologist, endocrinologist
Christine Hamill – mathematician
Kathleen Kenyon – archaeologist
Irene Manton – botanist
Sidnie Manton – entomologist
Onora O'Neill – philosopher
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin – astronomer
Catherine Peckham – doctor and scientist
Joan Beauchamp Procter – zoologist, herpetologist
Sport
Kitty Godfree – tennis player
Lara Prior-Palmer – equestrian
Cecilia Robinson – cricket
Zoe de Toledo – rowing
Notable former staff
Margaret Cole – socialist politician, former Classics teacher
Gustav Holst – composer, pioneer of music education for girls
Nicola LeFanu – director of music during the 1970s
Controversy
The school was in the news in November 2017 with allegations of sexual abuse between the 1970s and 1990s. One teacher resigned on 22 November 2017 amidst these allegations.
References
External links
Official School Website
ISI Inspection Reports
Profile on the ISC website
SPGS at The Good Schools Guide
Tatler School Guide
Private girls' schools in London
Educational institutions established in 1904
Private schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association
History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
1904 establishments in England