Uniquely St Paul’s High Master’s Blog HOME > ABOUT ST PAUL’S > HIGH MASTER’S BLOG Term-time weekly blog from the High Master, Sally-Anne Huang Thursday 18 November 2021 This week is the Independent Schools Council’s Partnership week and I am glad to be able to take that opportunity to draw your attention to our own work in this area. The West London Partnership continues to grow and flourish and, of course, we are extremely proud of Colet Mentoring and other virtual and in-person volunteering programmes, and the commitment pupils have shown in this area. This term, we have also relaunched our Primary School programme, Primary Professors, more details of which are given here. Continuing the theme of giving back to the community, we are delighted to have launched our Christmas Appeal in support of our bursary programme this week. Further details about the appeal and also the festive events that are planned are also included in today’s newsletter. Please note the St Paul’s Christmas bauble – a must for every tree this year! Tonight at 7pm the Thomas Gresham Committee are hosting their annual quiz in support of the Thomas Gresham Bursary Appeal and we are looking forward to an evening of challenging fun! As we draw closer to the end of term, I’m delighted that we are once again able to experience the live arts on site. Yesterday evening saw the Ensembles Concert which featured many of the school’s talented ensembles at various stages of their musical journey. Over the coming weeks, we also have the annual Winter Concert featuring the school’s Symphony Orchestra, and the senior production of King Lear to look forward to. I hope to see many of you in person at one of these events. Finally, I would like to wish the very best of luck to the seven pupils from the Sixth and Eighth Form who are taking part in the GB Rowing Team Trials in Boston, Lincolnshire this weekend. Thursday 11 November 2021 This morning, we held our annual Act of Remembrance at the school’s cenotaph. This ceremony was led by the school’s Chaplain, with the Last Post and Rouse played by Eashan Shah. It was a poignant moment for the school community to come together to remember all those who have lost their lives in conflict, including the 490 Old Paulines who fell during the first World War. It was first time the whole community has gathered in one place since the start of the pandemic and the clear respect shown by all pupils was extremely moving. Each year our Kayton Library team display the collection donated to the school in 1934 by Digby La Motte, a former Master of the Upper Eighth. He asked that this collection of photos of Paulines and staff who fought in World War I could be displayed on Armistice Day each year as ‘I hold them, one and all, in the most hallowed regard and in sacred affection’. Please do encourage your sons to visit this display before the 18th November if they haven’t yet had the opportunity to do so. Continuing with a sense of remembrance, we are pleased to host History Hit Live at St Paul’s next Wednesday with Dan Snow OP, as we mark the birthday of Field Marshal Montgomery OP. Although the in person event is now sold out, you can join us remotely for this event via the live stream. I enjoyed meeting with the Parents’ Group committee earlier this week, to discuss their plans across this academic year and a range of aspects of school life. We are all grateful for all the time that parents dedicate to the school in so many unseen ways and I am excited about the plans being discussed for Christmas. In terms of the wider community, our Colet Mentoring programme continues to develop and we are currently trialling Latin homework support with SPJ and also asked some of our Lower and Upper Eighth to trial maths support with some of our Fourth and Fifth Form maths classes. If you have received an email about this, please can you complete the consent form so that your child can participate in the trial. Thursday 4 November 2021 I hope you and your family had a healthy and restful Remedy and your sons have returned refreshed and ready for the second half of term. I send my best wishes to all who are celebrating Diwali in the Pauline community today. As you are already aware, the Independent Schools Inspectorate contacted us on Monday about their school inspection from Wednesday this week; we welcomed the team on site this morning. Thank you to those of you who took the time to complete their survey. A number of pupils will be involved in interviews with the inspectors today and tomorrow but, other than this, it’s very much business as usual. Over Remedy, you should also have received a copy of the school’s Community and Philanthropy Report, which provides further details about the impact of our fundraising activities including the ‘year of firsts’ with initiatives ranging from the first Telethon and Giving Day to the launch of our US bursary appeal to our alumni community. We are delighted that we have raised £14.5m towards the Shaping our Future appeal so far, with the vast majority of funds directed towards our bursary programme, supporting the 143 pupils currently in receipt of awards. We are very grateful to everyone who has supported this campaign – I am humbled by the fact that this includes 44% of parents who are supporting from £1.50 a month upwards. You may have also seen in the press that St Paul’s School was part of group of independent schools and leading academies that commissioned a report into the effectiveness of interventions to support teenage mental health. Further details on this are given below. As always, if you feel your son would benefit from any additional support, please do encourage him to speak to his Tutor, Undermaster or the wider pastoral team who are always happy to help. Thursday 14 October 2021 As we head towards, Remedy, I do hope that you, like me, will feel that this has been an enormously successful half term where the school, if not entirely out of the shadow of the pandemic, has at least been able to demonstrate all aspects of its full character. Being able to attend events and speak to those involved is a privilege of any headship, but especially of being High Master at St Paul’s, and I have been very fortunate during September and October to engage constantly with the pupils and to learn more about their interests and achievements. This week, I congratulated the winners of the High Master’s Essay Prize and the Internal Symposium and tonight I am delighted to be attending the Joint Symposium at St Paul’s Girls’ School which will showcase the incredible levels of scholarship at both schools. From there, I will be heading onto the Old Pauline Club Annual Dinner, which this year is the launch celebration for their 150th Anniversary of alumni relations. There will be many further events across the year to celebrate this milestone. Yesterday I went to see the Sixth Form play, Talk Show, written by Alistair McDowell. It was absolutely extraordinary – both funny and intensely moving – with powerful and mature performances. I recommend it most highly. May I thank you once again for your support of the lateral flow testing in the school community. We will be distributing supplies of self-tests to all pupils before the end of the week so that (in line with Government advice) they can continue to self-test twice weekly over the half-term break (unless they have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 90 days in which case they should not carry out any self-tests). We would particularly like all pupils to self-test the day before they return to school after half-term, in order to help us form a fuller picture of the situation at that point. At present, positive case numbers are fluctuating, as can be expected given the local and national situation, although the percentage of pupils affected remains very low. We are not therefore planning to change any of our current measures in place after Remedy. As always, please can you ask your child to record their test result with NHS Test & Trace and the school. Finally, pupils will also be returning home this week with their copy of our annual school magazine, The Pauline. I hope they enjoy reading it and my thanks go to Suzanne Mackenzie, Teacher of History and Editor of The Pauline, and her editorial team for putting this together. I wish you and your families a very happy, healthy and restful Remedy. Thursday 7 October 2021 As I watched the rugby fixtures in the pouring rain last weekend, I certainly concluded that autumn is definitely underway now. However, as you might expect, the enthusiasm of the pupils here at School remains entirely undampened. Not only did I witness the unbridled joy of the 4th XV beating Radley that day in a triumph of mutual support and collaboration, but, at the other end of the age range, I have also enjoyed visiting a number of Fourth Form lessons this week and seeing first-hand how well that group have settled into Pauline scholarship and how much they are enjoying their lessons. Over the last few weeks, I have also had the privilege of presenting our Junior and Senior Scholars with their silver fish, a uniquely Pauline award, and a reference to the number of fish caught by Peter towards the end of the gospel, which we believe our Founder John Colet had in mind when he stated that ‘There shall be taught in the school children of all nations and countries indifferently, to the number of 153’. Very many congratulations to every pupil who received a fish. Praise is also due to all applicants for the High Master’s Essay prize. It was an enormous pleasure to read the entries and to once again be reminded of the range and depth of research at the top of the school. This coming Sunday is World Mental Health Day and, on Tuesday, our Topical Tuesday talk was by Tom Hayhoe OP, who spoke about mental health from his perspective as chair of West London NHS Trust. The talk was hosted by Sam Madden, Deputy Head Mental Health, Wellbeing and Life Skills and you can listen to it here. Sam has also trained a further group of new tutors, teaching and support staff in Youth Mental Health First Aid Training this week. As you know, we understand that our pupils’ mental health and wellbeing is paramount, and this seems a good opportunity to ask you to encourage your son to speak to their tutor or a member of the pastoral team if they have any concerns or feel they need extra support at any time. Many of them will be tired now after such a busy half term and with Remedy a week away so do remind them that the School is here to support them in their struggles as well as to celebrate their triumphs. It’s perfectly normal to experience something of both. Thursday 30 September 2021 This week we begin our annual celebration of Black History Month led by our new Head of Inclusion, Dr Malcolm Cocks, the Head of Character Education, Dr Phil Gaydon and Dr Amrita Shravat, Teacher of Mathematics. I am grateful to all of them for creating such a rich and celebratory programme of events, speakers and activities, which began today with our guest speaker, Professor David Olusoga OBE, who spoke to pupils on the topic ‘Black and British: A forgotten history’. This week has also seen a celebration of European languages, including taster sessions in languages from Europe and further afield, as well as enthusiastic games of pétanque outside my window in Founder’s Court. Continuing the global theme, we were also delighted that Dr Carlos Gane, Teacher of Physics, and has joined Puzhong Yao, Teacher of Economics, in being recognised by the University of Chicago in their Outstanding Educator Awards 2021. Congratulations to him. Closer to home, I am grateful to members of the Sixth Form who have been undertaking daily lateral flow tests following the rise in positive Covid-19 cases about which we wrote to parents last week. This seems to have had a positive impact and we are, therefore, requesting that the Fourth Form and Lower Eighth also begin daily tests at this point, reporting their results to both the school and the NHS. We will be distributing further self-testing kits to them later this week. On the whole, numbers remain stable but we are continuing to monitor the situation. Although it is certainly the case that the weather is now getting colder, and the evenings darker, there is still a very positive buzz about the school as pupils are involved in so many activities. Can I remind you that parents are now welcome on site for fixtures and I hope that I may see many of you over the coming weekend. Thursday 23 September 2021 In spite of my communication earlier in the week concerning the rise in Covid cases at the school, we have continued to maintain as full a programme as possible for the community. Although we are still able to welcome parents on site, Public Health England have asked us to consider protocols around large gatherings and we will be asking audience members and visitors to wear masks at events indoors. I would be grateful if parents visiting the site could also follow this guidance. I cannot express how heartening it has been to meet so many of you in person during events in September and, on a personal note, I sincerely hope that this continues without interruption. I would like to express my thanks to colleagues who have been risk assessing activities and also to the pupils for their help with face coverings and lateral flow tests; it’s very important that they continue taking and logging these tests as we monitor the situation. If your son has tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 90 days we ask that he does not continue testing. At present, the number of cases does not appear to be climbing but I will keep you informed on this matter as ever. Also related to events on site are our new protocols around alcohol. Those of you who have attended events already this term will have noticed that we are no longer serving alcohol at events where pupils are present. This is in line with recommendations to all schools by Kingston and Richmond safeguarding teams, following the Serious Case Review into St Paul’s which was published last year. We are also working closely with our school caterers around supply chain difficulties. You will know from the news that this is a national problem and we are grateful to the teams at CH&Co and on site for working round the challenges presented. I am afraid we may need to seek a little patience from pupils and families if menus are diminished or altered while this situation continues. Even with this background of challenges largely beyond our control, there remains a real buzz around the site as pupils move freely and enjoy a full range of activities. It was a delight to see so many rugby fixtures last weekend and we have the Young Directors’ showcase this week. Today has been a particular joy in that I have had the pleasure of listening to some of the entries in the High Master’s Internal Symposium based on the essays the Upper Eighth submitted over the summer. The quality and thought-provoking nature of the scholarship across so many subject areas has been simply outstanding and we are very proud of all those involved. I was also invited to speak at the inaugural meeting of the Feminist Soc and was hugely impressed by the thoughtful discussion taking place there too. St Paul’s is a truly exceptional place and I am glad that we are now able to share more of that with our parent body first hand. Thursday 16 September 2021 It’s a great joy to have reached the stage where, in writing to you weekly, I have met enough of you in person to be able to imagine those on the receiving end of these letters. This week will live long in my memory in that it contained so many events that could not have happened twelve months ago. On Monday evening, I had the opportunity to meet many of our new parents at the New Parents’ Welcome Supper, kindly hosted by the Parents’ Group. It was wonderful to be able to welcome families back onto the school site and I do hope that everyone found it an enjoyable and informative event, emphasising as it did the sense of community that is central to the school. Feedback from the Fourth Form induction programme, details of which can be seen below, was incredibly positive. On Tuesday evening, I had the great pleasure of attending the joint concert between St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Girls’ School – my first live event in the Wathen Hall. The quality of the music-making was simply inspiring, as was the genuine and equal collaboration between the two schools. Many congratulations to the Directors of Music, Mark Wilderspin (St Paul’s School), Leigh O’Hara (St Paul’s Girls’ School) and the wider team, and especially to all of the talented young musicians from both schools involved. As September continues, so does our events programme and I hope that I will be able to meet many more of you in person soon. At present, although we do have positive cases of Covid-19 amongst the pupils, we are following Public Heath England’s guidelines and advice and have not been required to adjust our arrangements. I understand that the boys are taking their Lateral Flow Tests in good numbers and would encourage them to continue to do so in order to help us manage the present situation. Thursday 9 September 2021 Any pupils visiting the library this week (and, for the first time in eighteenth months they are indeed all able to visit the library) will be able to see on display two books donated to the school by diarist and Pauline Samuel Pepys in 1675. Our wise library team, led by Hilary Cummings, have chosen these particular objects from the archive to remind us that the school has survived prolonged closure and disruption before. In the 1600s, it endured complete closure through plague followed by the destruction of the buildings in the Great Fire of London. Our existence as a thriving and successful community, three and a half centuries later, is testament to the success of our predecessors in coming back from disaster with confidence and determination. Remembering this presents us with an opportunity to celebrate our own re-emergence back into a world and community where we have renewed freedom to move around the site and run lessons and activities in the best possible way. On a personal note, I have been delighted to see the younger pupils claim their space in the new buildings where I have my study. The Atrium is already a hive of activity and the pupils have also been outside enjoying the sunny weather. I want to offer a particular welcome to anyone new to the school this year – both pupils and staff. The induction programme for the new pupils has been in full swing but please do not hesitate to contact tutors or undermasters if your son has any concerns or worries. I am also very grateful to the pupils for their helpful and sensible behaviour during the on-site testing on Friday and Monday. We did have a small number of positive results amongst the pupil body. We have reported our findings to Public Health England who have confirmed that our numbers are in line with expectations. The school has followed positive case guidance and no further action is required at present. Please do remind your sons to continue to take their lateral flow tests twice per week at home and to report their results to both the school at CovidManagement@StPaulsSchool.org.uk and the NHS. It is very important that this is done regularly as requested to keep all of the community as safe as possible and to enable us to continue to operate in this more open way without year group bubbles. As ever, we have news of pupil success to share with you. Over the summer holidays, our First VIII made the final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, beating the US Champions along the way; many congratulations to all our rowers. Also to Krish Patel, who played for the English Schools Cricket Association team against MCC at Lord’s earlier this week, Derin Acaroglu, who represented the Independent Schools Tennis Association team in their victory against the All England Lawn Tennis Club in July, and to Harry Rimmer, who recently won a BAFTA in the Game Concept category. We are also delighted that we can hold in person events again, including a concert next week in conjunction with St Paul’s Girls’ School. In addition, tonight at 7.30pm is Imp Soc: The 15th Anniversary Show, in the Samuel Pepys Theatre. Our improvised comedy society will celebrate their anniversary with a one-night gala performance featuring previous Imp Soc captains and committee members, including now professional comedians. All proceeds are being donated to the school’s bursary fund. I hope some of you will be able to join them for what I am assured will be a riotous evening of mirth and merriment! Wednesday 7 July 2021 In some ways it does not seem as though a whole academic year has passed since I first wrote to you as High Master. However, so much has happened since September, that I feel that I have known the school community for very much longer and, although I have met so few of you in person, I am grateful for your warmth and support this year. In the final days of term, there is still much to share. The Upper Eighth Leavers’ Ceremony yesterday was a true celebration of the pupils’ achievements during their time here. I want to thank publicly out-going Captain and Vice-Captain of School, Isaac Wighton and Vivek Raman; they have offered me great insight and wise counsel in my first year. And as we look to the future, you may wish to read more about their successors, George Davies and William Shackleton below. I am also pleased to announce a new post for the school, Head of Character Education. Dr Phil Gaydon will be taking on this role and will be working to ensure that school values are embedded into pupils’ lives and experiences, and that this is given focus alongside the Academic and Co-curricular programmes such that Paulines leave the school entirely ready to lead purposeful lives in the wider world. Also looking to next term, you will have read headlines over the last day about the removal of bubbles in schools from September. This is very welcome news and will enable us to make positive adjustments for the pupils. Unfortunately, we are still required to be able to return to bubbles part way through the year if asked to do so therefore we will, as a team, be looking at options over the summer to lift as many restrictions as possible while keeping bubbles a possibility. For this reason, we will be remaining with the plans for one more year of horizontal tutoring, which also offers continuity of tutoring from this year for most boys. However, we are delighted that we can also put in opportunities for vertical interaction between pupils as often and soon as possible. It will be a real joy to see year groups mixing and older boys able to lead groups and act as role models once more. On a similar note, we had already agreed with St Paul’s Girls’ School not to hold Colet Day in its customary form this October. During this period where to plan an event for 1000s still seems extremely optimistic, we will be working with them and other members of the school community to determine how best to reflect our founder’s significance in the future. Finally, may I take this opportunity to thank all of the St Paul’s staff, (whether they work in teaching, administration, operations or any other area) for their hard work and commitment during what has been without doubt the most challenging school year in any of our memories. And, to quote a newsletter sent to the Junior School in 1941, which Mrs Shaw and I have been sharing with the pupils: ‘A tribute to the courage and cheerfulness of the boys who went through this disturbed time is due.’ The St Paul’s pupils have been inspiring in their optimism, co-operation and resilience over the past academic year. Term finishes for them at 11.15am tomorrow and I wish each and every one of them a wonderful summer. Thursday 1 July 2021 As we draw closer to the end of term, our newsletter is once again full of the achievements of your sons in so many different fields. That they have managed to do so much despite all the challenges of this very unusual year is a testament to their strength of character and commitment, as well as due to the support of our talented staff. Junior Prize Giving on Tuesday (although it did clash with a certain football match) was a shining example of this. We heard spoken Latin, enjoyed an extract of a radio play, and imagined eating 1000 donuts, amongst other experiences. OP Charlie Fraser, Co-Founder of TERN, the Entrepreneurial Refugee Network, spoke to pupils and encouraged them to aspire to change the world. Further inspiration was also available this week when the new First VIII boat was named Doug Perrin, after our Head of Languages. Our grateful thanks go to Doug for all his support of the SPS Boat Club and to all our teachers who give up their time at weekends and in the holidays to support our co-curricular activities. I would like to offer particular congratulations to our athletes who won 5 out of 5 races at the Achilles Schools’ Relays. On a less cheerful note, you will have seen that there was a further Covid-19 positive case today, this time within the Sixth Form. After discussion with Public Health England, we are reintroducing face coverings in all communal areas. Please may I ask you to ensure that your sons bring a face mask to school from Monday to wear when moving about the school in corridors. Thursday 24 June 2021 As you will be aware, positive cases of Covid-19 amongst young people have been rising this week. At the moment this has been minimal at St Paul’s but we have had one more case, this time in the Upper Eighth. I am very grateful to those concerned for their help and speedy communication; please may I request that you continue to encourage your sons to self-test using the lateral flow devices distributed in school and to report their results. We all have a responsibility to do as much as we can to ensure the majority of pupils can remain in school through to the end of term. All year groups will have access to further supplies of lateral flow devices this week. In addition, we will be distributing a PCR test to all Lower Eighth pupils. This is part of a Government directed quality control exercise that is being run nationwide in the effort to monitor the effectiveness of the self-testing programme. Parents of Lower Eighth pupils can access further information about the PCR quality control initiative here. Sadly, we have had to cancel or re-think a number of events planned this term in the light of continued restrictions around Covid management. For those parents who are affected by the continued closure of Hammersmith Bridge, the planning applications for the ferry have now been validated by the boroughs and further information about how you can comment on these plans has been provided. Please rest assured that the shuttle buses are booked to continue next term and we are also increasing flexi-boarding which may benefit some pupils. On a more positive note, I continue to be so impressed by the range of activities available and with the engagement and talent of our pupils and staff, in spite of the restrictions around bubbling. This week, our Theology and Philosophy Teacher, Miss Ramsay-Overall, gave a thought-provoking and informative talk on the continued significance of Windrush Day, and our Fifth Form were able to learn valuable business skills through the school’s entrepreneurship programme, Start It. On the track and river, our athletes and rowers continue to excel. Tomorrow, some of our Eighth Form music students will be able to enjoy a private recital by one of the visiting music teachers, pianist Ivana Gavric, with renowned cellist, Matthew Barley, before their appearance at the Cheltenham Festival, and next week our Fourth and Fifth Form will be taking on Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a live streamed performance. We move towards the end of this most unusual year at a pace and in a positive way. Thursday 17 June 2021 As those of you with younger children at the school will be aware, we were sad to announce earlier this week that, after over five years as Head of St Paul’s Juniors, Maxine Shaw will be leaving us in September 2022 to take up the post of Head of Danes Hill and Bevendean. She will leave us with our heartfelt thanks and best wishes. I already knew Maxine from both of our first headships and it has been a delight to work with her during the past academic year as colleagues at St Paul’s. Her influence here has been considerable and I truly value her pupil-centred approach and her personal warmth – qualities that have moved St Paul’s Juniors forward during her tenure. Along with the Governing Body and the school executive, I will lead the very important process of finding her successor and we will keep you informed of our progress. This week we were also in touch with Fifth Form parents after a confirmed Covid-19 case – our first for some time. May I please take this opportunity once again to remind you how valuable it is for pupils to take the Lateral Flow Tests twice a week and report their results to both the school and the NHS. Please ensure that you keep your child away from school if they have any symptoms of Covid-19 and that you notify covidmanagement@stpaulsschool.org.uk as soon as possible in the event of a positive test result. On a much happier note, we were able to run our virtual Apposition yesterday. I was extremely impressed by the quality of the school’s Declaimers and with the beautiful musical interlude. As you know, Apposition dates back to the school’s foundation in 1509 and was originally intended as the means by which the Mercers’ Company could assess the teaching staff and the High Master in particular. Although it is now purely ceremonial, it showcases the very best scholarship and academic curiosity of our pupils and I am very glad that their speeches would have allowed me to keep my job! I was glad to see some parents on Saturday spectating at the cricket matches. Parents who wish to come and watch their son playing from any Saturday going forward are welcome to attend, but please do register your visit once on-site using the QR scanner and follow spectators’ guidance that was sent to parents last week. I’m also delighted to announce that we are launching a new school merchandise range today. I would like to draw particular attention to ‘London in Silence’, an impressive and striking collection of photographs taken during the height of the pandemic by Hugo Berman in the Lower Eighth. Thursday 10 June 2021 I hope you are all having a good week so far and the return to school after Remedy has been smooth. Many of you will be aware that Ofsted published their report into sexual harassment within schools earlier today and their full report is available to read here. We welcome the report and are encouraged that most of their recommendations were already included in our action plan, shared with you last term. Our work in this area is very much underway but we will now take time to review the full findings of the report and take any further appropriate measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children, keeping you updated as we do so. You can also read my statement as Chair of HMC here. As you may know, Children’s and Adolescent Literature is a personal passion of mine as well as an area I have researched in the past. I am delighted, therefore, that St Paul’s School is the Education Partner of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival which opens next week. There will be a free programme for state primary schools in Tower Hamlets, followed by one for primary schools in Richmond, Wandsworth and neighbouring boroughs the following week. The public programme is over the weekend of 26 – 27 June and more information is given below. Please do consider getting involved. Friday 28 May 2021 I hope that your sons are looking forward to a well-earned Remedy and, now that May seems to have decided to give us a few warmer days, that the weather will be kinder to them than it has been recently. Pupils have all received further Covid-19 test kits this week and please can I remind you once again, that it is important that they continue twice-weekly testing and reporting their results to both the school and the NHS throughout the upcoming break. As ever, our thoughts are with pupils in the Upper Eighth and Sixth Form who have had such an unusual experience this year. We will be offering two bespoke programmes of events for when they return after the break. The Sixth Form’s activities are centred around the Entrepreneurship course which has been run very successfully over the last three years. For the Upper Eighth, we will be offering a varied co-curricular programme on the themes of ‘what you’ve missed’ and ‘try something new’; there will also be a choice of 40 University Foundation Courses as well as various life skill programmes (selection form to follow on Tuesday). The aim is to allow pupils to have some of the experiences that have been disrupted during the pandemic, as well as giving them the opportunity to try some new things in which the school excels. Sixth Form parents have already been contacted by Dr Gilks and will receive a more detailed programme of events the week after Remedy. Parents with sons in the Upper Eighth will receive a further detailed communication about this today. I do hope that these opportunities will be inspiring, useful and enjoyable. I also wanted to let you know that we have been giving a great deal of consideration to the tutor structure for 2021/22. Although we are well aware that many have missed the usual vertical tutoring this year, we feel it necessary to maintain operational flexibility next year in case the need to bubble by year group remains or returns. In order to avoid creating vertical groups which then need to be unpicked we will, therefore, retain a horizontal structure in September. We will be finalising the allocation of tutors after half-term, and considering any potential improvements from this year’s model. Both you and your sons will receive further information on this before the end of term. In the meantime, may I wish you a positive week ahead. It’s hard to believe that we will be beginning the final half of the final term of this extraordinary academic year but it will be June by the time I write to you again. I am very much looking forward to experiencing St Paul’s in the true summer months. Thursday 20 May 2021 It has been another very busy week at St Paul’s with a whole host of weather to contend with too. The hailstones on Monday and Tuesday were certainly spectacular but none of this seems to have dampened the spirits of our pupils. This week we celebrate their achievements in athletics and tennis as well as their continued enthusiasm and commitment to our partnership programmes below. I was also delighted that St Paul’s was able to host the Music Teachers Association Annual Conference at the end of last week and thanks go to our Director of Music, Mark Wilderspin, and our Music Centre Manager, Karenne Mills, for all their work on this event. It was a privilege to welcome the conference, albeit largely virtually – to our site. The MTA is the largest and longest established association of music teachers in the UK and the conference indicated that St Paul’s is well respected in this area and very much part of their family going forward. Personally, if I thought I understood the value of music education before the pandemic, how much more do I appreciate it now? It has never been clearer that music is innately human and, therefore, a basic human right, and there has never been more work to do to make sure it is delivered in schools in a way that benefits all. I cannot wait to hear your sons perform at live concerts as soon as possible but, in the meantime, I am grateful to the jazz groups who participated in a recorded event for the conference. They were brilliant. Thursday 13 May 2021 I would like to begin this week by paying tribute to both the pupils and the teaching staff as we continue with the assessments for GCSE, A level and Pre U. The word ‘unprecedented’ has been overused over the past twelve months but it is hard not to employ it when focusing on the experience of this cohort and the workload of their teachers at this time. I do have faith in the resilience and expertise of the St Paul’s community but it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge all that is being achieved by all parties this term. Perhaps appropriately, this week is Mental Health Awareness week and this Friday’s tutor group meetings will be discussions around this year’s theme of ‘connecting with nature’. I hope that your sons find the sessions useful. As always, if they need any additional support – whatever their year group but not least if they are in the Sixth Form or Upper Eighth – then please do encourage them to chat with their Tutor or our wider pastoral team. Given this context, I am especially proud of all that the school continues to achieve beyond the classroom. Last weekend saw the first athletics club meet of the term with the team finishing in a credible third place overall and with eight individual victories. Many congratulations are due to the Fifth Formers who filled every track and field event in the intermediate age group while the Sixth Form are on study leave. I am also very proud that our pupils continue to offer dedicated support to students at other schools through the Colet Mentoring programme and many thanks go to our mentors of the week, Arav Patel for covering sessions at short notice and Ali Imam-Sadique for working carefully on complex extension materials, week after week. Stepping up to help others must always be central to the Pauline experience. Finally, you will have seen the Government’s latest guidance regarding Covid-19 management in schools. From Monday 17 May, all pupils over the age of 11 will still be required to wear a face covering when travelling on school or public transport but they are no longer required to wear face coverings inside or outside the school buildings (including within classrooms and all corridors). Your child may continue to wear a face covering if he chooses to do so; all pupils must continue to bring a face covering to school as these may be required at short notice in exceptional circumstances (for example, if a positive case is identified within their year group). These new face covering rules do not replace any other measures in place, including social distancing, year group bubbles and hygiene requirements, which all still apply. In addition, we will be sending further Covid-19 testing kits home with the pupils this week. Please can I remind you that testing continues to be important and pupil results should be logged with the NHS and the school. Further details of how to report testing, along with our updated Risk Assessment, are available on the Parent Portal. If you have any concerns or questions about these changes, please email covidmanagement@stpaulsschool.org.uk Thursday 6 May 2021 I hope that you and your families enjoyed the long Bank Holiday weekend. On a personal note, the weekends now seem much improved by the advent of fixtures on site. It is a great shame that parents are not yet able to attend but we look forward to changes in the guidelines which will make that possible and give me opportunity to meet so many more of you in person as we support the teams. I would like to offer my congratulations to the 1st XI cricketers who, through a combination of patience and skill, were victorious over Dulwich College on Saturday! The school has also enjoyed great success in other areas this week. St Paul’s teams won five out of seven awards in the first round of the Young Enterprise Company of the Year competition. I also look forward to hearing how Project Eden get on in the second round of the competition in due course. The school site during the working day is quiet by contrast now the Upper Eighth and Sixth Form are on study leave; we wish them all the best during this time. As always, if you feel your child needs additional support with their wellbeing during this time, please do encourage them to speak to their tutor or our wider pastoral team who will be able to help. Friday 30 April 2021 I hope that your sons enjoyed the Giving Day activities on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Giving Day finished at 9pm on Wednesday and has raised over £335,000 for our bursary fund and partnership work. This is an amazing achievement and we are so very grateful to all of you who donated and supported this event to ensure that we can extend and support this valuable work. Thank you. Parents will have received my email on Monday with the school’s action plan in response to Everyone’s Invited. I hope that you find the document comprehensive and reassuring that we continue to take this matter extremely seriously. As mentioned in that communication, there will be moments of consultation with parents this term and beyond and you will be receiving more information about these in the coming weeks. As you know, we were visited by two Ofsted inspectors this week as part of their national review into sexual violence amongst school aged children. This was not an inspection and, as such, I do not have formal findings to share with you. However, the team were grateful to staff and pupils at St Paul’s for the welcome they received and the positive and open way in which everyone engaged with the topics discussed. These conversations will now contribute anonymously to the overall review and we are pleased to have had this opportunity to be part of this process. Once again, we share with you the talent of your children in so many different fields and we are so proud of all that they achieve. This included victories in the first block Cricket fixture for over a year and a half and success for our rowers in the Hammersmith Regatta. As the Upper Eighth head off on study leave today, I want to thank those of you who attended the Upper Eighth Parents’ Information Evening with James Gazet, Deputy Head – Academic, and Hannah Warner, Upper Eighth Undermaster, last night. I hope you enjoyed hearing about our plans for their final term. Thursday 22 April 2021 I hope that you and your families had a restful and relaxing Easter Remedy and were able to start to visit family and friends again outdoors. The sun is out over the school playing fields today and the pupils have returned to the site filled with optimism. It has been wonderful to see the resumption of sporting fixtures and cricket success. We were also delighted to see two Old Paulines in the winning Cambridge Crew in the Boat Race this year. Next week, we will be celebrating St Paul’s School’s first ever Giving Day on 27-28 April to raise funds for our bursary places and partnership work. We hope the pupils enjoy the activities on site during the day and that you are able to participate in our digital campaign and events, including a talk by Sir Lloyd Dorfman CBE (OP), Travelex Founder and Spear’s Philanthropist of the Year 2019. Further supplies of Covid-19 self test kits will be distributed to pupils tomorrow and we would appreciate your ongoing support in encouraging twice weekly testing and reporting of results in line with the information circulated at the end of last term and available on the Parent Portal. Thursday 25 March 2021 I hope that you and your families are looking forward to the Easter Remedy at the end of this week and that your sons have a restful and relaxing break. I would like to remind you all that the Department of Education recommends that Covid-19 testing continues twice weekly during the holidays and you should have received an email with further details. For those in the exam years, you should have received an email earlier this week regarding the plans for assessment during May. Although we are still awaiting final information from the exam boards, we hope this outline gives some sense of direction and reassurance for your sons, as well as the opportunity for them to have a proper break from studying at the beginning of the Easter holidays. If your son has any concerns, his tutor, subject teachers and the pastoral team are here to help so please do encourage him to speak to them. Despite the many challenges of this term, it has been wonderful to see the school site full of pupils this month and to share in their many achievements. After the Easter break, we will be celebrating St Paul’s School’s first ever Giving Day on 27-28 April to raise funds for our bursary places and partnership work. There will be fundraising activities on site for the pupils during the day and we will be encouraging all parents, alumni and friends of the school to get involved with our digital campaign and events. We are very grateful to those who have already agreed to support Giving Day with match-funding pledges, and I do hope we can count on your support and involvement during the day. I remain sorry that parents cannot come on site at the moment. The cherry trees in Founder’s Court are absolutely beautiful. I know this time last year everyone was leaving the school site and we could not enjoy them, but this year we look forward to the summer with optimism. I hope you and your family have an enjoyable Easter. Thursday 18 March 2021 As we approach the Easter Remedy at the end of next week and the opportunity for your sons to have a well-earned break, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say how impressed I have been with the mature way they have all adapted to the return to the school site and to the Covid-19 procedures which are in place. As of today, there hasn’t been a positive Covid-19 test result since our return to school, but please do encourage your sons to continue to self-test for Covid-19 every 3-4 days, i.e. two tests per week. They must record the results with both NHS Test and Trace and with the school. We have recently received advice from the Department of Education that pupils and staff will be strongly encouraged to self-test throughout the Easter break and further self-test kits will be distributed next week. I have received a number of letters this week regarding our response to the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ email sent last Thursday and I appreciate the thoughtful feedback provided. I wish to reassure you that the assemblies and tutor group meetings held this week are only the starting point in the journey towards lasting cultural change. We have a very strong safeguarding culture within the school and our designated safeguarding leads and tutors are always available to pupils. We were already reviewing our PSHE structure and will be further examining what we need to review around the teaching of relationships and consent. We will be taking all of these recommendations forward over the coming weeks and months. Thursday 11 March 2021 It has been wonderful this week to see all our pupils return to the school site and the corridors and classrooms become alive with learning, debate and the chatter of friendship again. Monday was also International Women’s Day, which we have celebrated across the week with a number of events. I hope that our pupils have found them interesting and enlightening. This evening, we host another key school event with the biennial classics lecture in memory of former members of staff Cotter and Cruickshank, and there is still time to join this event if you are interested. We are delighted to announce that Start it Pro, our incubator programme for new start-up businesses, has chosen two young companies for this year’s scheme. Further details are given on our news pages. In addition, we are very pleased to announce that St Paul’s School is running two Physics summer schools again this year for state school pupils in Year 10 on Particle Physics and the Magic of Materials. If you know of any children who have an interest in studying this subject at A Level and beyond, please do encourage them to apply. On a more sombre and serious note, parents may well be aware of information shared by Everyone’s Invited, a movement committed to exposing rape culture and inappropriate sexual behaviour. You will be receiving a letter later today with more information, which will also provide sources of advice and support for any pupils affected. Thursday 4 March 2021 I hope that you and your families are keeping well and are looking forward to the return to site on Monday. All the information and the revised risk assessments for your son’s return to school are available on the Parent Portal. I realise there is a great deal of information to digest, but please do take the time to read those documents carefully and make your son aware of the operational processes that will be in place from Monday 8 March. The Covid-19 testing programme has run smoothly this week and I am grateful to my colleagues for their efforts in managing this logistical undertaking. In assembly on Monday, I spoke to pupils about how, in my view, a school is about people not buildings and how the St Paul’s community has worked so hard to remain a school even though we have not been housed on one site this term. I feel enormously privileged to be writing to you from our new state of the art teaching block. However, beautiful as this building is, the beating heart of the school depends upon pupils and I cannot wait for our site to burst back to life next week. Once again, we celebrate a number of achievements by your sons, as well as a couple of school-wide events. That the pupils continue to flourish and engage under such trying circumstances is a testament to their talent and positive attitude. However, I realise that there may be some pupils who may be apprehensive about returning to the school site after over half a term away, and would encourage them to speak to their Tutor or Undermaster about any concerns. This evening, I am looking forward to hosting Pauline Perspectives, our annual debate organised by the SPS Parents’ Group, which this year is on the very topical issue of ‘Free speech trumps all: Twitter tantrums should be tolerated, not terminated’. There is still time to join this event if you would like to. Thursday 25 February 2021 Parents will have received earlier today an email with information about the Covid-19 testing programme which we are required to undertake before your son’s return to school on Monday 8 March. As I am sure you can understand, it is a huge logistical undertaking, so please do return the form included in that email to us by return. I am greatly looking forward to having all our pupils back and the school site becoming a hive of activity again. Although continued communication about the management of the school during the pandemic has been necessary, I did still want to celebrate pupil achievements and all that the St Paul’s community continues to do, even in the current circumstances. Once again I am so very proud of the talent of your sons and hope you will enjoy reading about their endeavours. We had considerable success this year in the United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad and four distinctions in the second round of the British Mathematical Olympiad. Many congratulations also to Christian Duetoft who has joined Malachi Cohen in qualifying for the GB Olympic Trials in swimming. An amazing achievement. Finally, may I express my gratitude to those of you who took the time to complete the parent questionnaire. We were very touched to receive so many positive comments, thank you, but we also take your constructive suggestions on board and are currently looking to address some of these areas of concern. SAH Thursday 11 February 2021 I am delighted to be writing to you once again and grateful to Dr Clough for providing the weekly newsletter while I have needed to pace my workload during my recovery from Covid-19. I have certainly learnt a great deal about what the disease can do but also about the support of the St Paul’s community and I now feel almost entirely back to full capacity. I have continued to speak to the pupils every week through assembly and, as we approach Remedy, I congratulated them on all they have achieved in spite of the challenge of not being able to come on site. This week’s newsletter showcases many of the pupils’ amazing achievements over the last few weeks as their scholarship and talent continues to shine through. Our musicians will be releasing their excellent Spring Term Recital later today, there have been successes in Philosophy and French, prize-winning essays in International Relations and, in particular, many congratulations to Malachi Cohen who has qualified for the GB Olympic trials in swimming. Equally, I am proud of the way our pupils continue to contribute to the community beyond St Paul’s. The Colet Mentoring scheme reached its 1000th mentoring session this week, the Thomas Gresham Committee were absolutely delighted by the way St Paul’s Juniors embraced the Readathon Challenge to raise over £10,000 for the Thomas Gresham Bursary Award, and the sponsored games half this week has already raised over £5,000 for Beyond Ourselves, our partner charity in Zambia. Thank you very much to all of you who have completed the parent questionnaire about our remote learning provision which closed earlier today. It will provide us with very valuable feedback to inform the second half of term and we will provide you with further information after the break. I very much hope that we will be able to welcome your sons back to the school site soon and we await the latest Government announcement scheduled for 22 February to give us an indication of when and how that may be. We also continue to await Government updates regarding assessment for GCSE and A level this year and we are mindful of the pressure such uncertainty must be placing on those in exam years. As ever, we will be in touch as soon as we know more and do encourage your sons to get in touch with us if they need support in any way. They may not have mentioned it, but I did ask the pupils to pass on my thanks to their families for all you have done to support them and their learning this term. A school community is built on the triangle of school, student and home and I am very grateful for the support of the St Paul’s families whilst we all continue to live in challenging times. I do wish you all a very healthy and restful Remedy. SAH Thursday 4 February 2021 I hope you are keeping well and that your children continue to enjoy their remote schooling. The High Master continues to focus on a full recovery from Covid-19 so once again you are hearing from me and we send Sally-Anne all our best wishes. This week, we have been celebrating LGBT+ History week, which began on Monday with an assembly by the High Master about how to be an LGBT+ ally and a very well received talk by world renowned rugby referee, Nigel Owens MBE, who gave an inspirational overview of his life. One message that stood out for me was ‘It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what country you come from, or what the colour of your skin is, or your sexual orientation or your religious beliefs. None of that should matter one bit. All that should matter is that you are a decent human being.’ Aye to that. The whole country was saddened this week by the loss of a truly decent human being in the inspirational figure of Captain Sir Tom Moore who raised both the spirits of the nation and millions of pounds for NHS charities. Tuesday night’s Topical Tuesday was a talk from the NHS frontline by Dr Matthew Barnard OP who has been working in intensive care at St Bartholomew’s Hospital throughout the pandemic. He spoke about how treatment for the virus had moved on from the first wave and he finished with an uplifting video of NHS staff linked to the Dickens’ quote ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’ to underline the astonishing way in which NHS staff have pulled together. In its own way the St Paul’s School community has also drawn closer during these unprecedented times and Dr Barnard’s words were an important reminder to us all to continue to look out for each other. Once again, we would like to remind you that if your child needs any additional support or you have any concerns about their wellbeing, please do contact their tutor or Undermaster. We will also be sending out a survey to all Senior School pupils and parents before Remedy to gather feedback about how remote learning has felt so far this term. Those of you with sons in the examination years yesterday received another update from James Gazet, Deputy Head Academic. Ofqual’s consultation closed last week and they have announced they will publish their findings and ‘next steps’ during the week commencing 22 February. In addition, Edexcel, one of the IGCSE exam boards that the school uses, has also announced that it will not be holding IGCSE exams this summer. Hot off the press, our other IGCSE exam board announced this morning that they too are looking into alternatives to examinations this summer. The picture is slowly becoming clearer. As we approach Remedy, next week’s Club competition will be a school-wide sponsored games half. Pupils will be encouraged to participate in a meaningful amount of exercise while asking their family and friends to sponsor them in support of Beyond Ourselves, the school’s partner charity in Zambia. We hope you will support their endeavours. Dr Fran Clough, Surmaster Thursday 28 January 2021 I am delighted to have the opportunity to provide the introduction this week as the High Master is scaling back on some duties in order to continue her full recovery from Covid-19. I hope that you and your families are keeping safe and well, and perhaps managed to get some brief enjoyment from the fleeting snow last weekend. It was a nice change to arrive on the school site on Monday morning to be greeted by four snowmen. We are grateful for our continued sense of community which gives strength and support in these difficult times. Our pupils report that they are enjoying their lessons and the daily engagement with their teachers and peers. These interactions have been further enhanced now that pupils are expected to have their cameras on. Over recent weeks I have been holding remote meetings with groups of pupils that received impressive reports at the end of last term and it has been enormously heartening to learn how positive the boys are about the provision they are receiving and grateful for their teachers’ efforts under these challenging circumstances. We do, of course, remain mindful about the amount of screen time experienced by pupils, and we are actively looking at strategies to strike the right balance without reducing the quality of our provision. We were very pleased by the positive response of Sixth Form parents to last night’s virtual parents’ evening. My thanks to those of you who have made contact with colleagues to offer feedback. As always, we are monitoring Government announcements as they come and putting into place plans to react to them in the best interests of your sons. Those of you who have pupils in examination years will have heard again about the developing picture. We hope you find these communications helpful and supportive. As the UK passed the tragic milestone of 100,000 Covid-19 related deaths earlier this week, we were grateful to Rory Kinnear OP, award-winning actor and playwright, for sharing his personal experiences in our Topical Tuesday event. Rory lost his sister, Karina, to Covid-19 in May 2020, and is very grateful to those who attended the talk and supported his fundraising activities to provide a sensory garden at Roy Kinnear house where she lived. You can listen to a recording of his talk below, alongside details of our future events. Rory also talked about his life on the stage and this week’s co-curricular article focuses on the wide range of arts societies currently available to pupils during this lockdown – from watercolours to music tech club to play reading societies, there is plenty for pupils to get involved with and enjoy. All these activities are advertised to the pupils daily and staff are continually coming up with inventive ways to transfer what we would naturally do face to face into an engaging virtual setting. Please do encourage your sons to take part. The latest Club competition also focused on art this week and the results of the Paint-a-Picture are detailed below. Next week, we celebrate LGBT+ History Week, with a variety of talks and events led by the school’s diversity society, Spectrum, and an assembly by the High Master. I am particularly looking forward to the keynote speech by rugby referee Nigel Owens MBE, a passionate advocate for LGBT+ awareness within sport. I hope that you and your families remain well and the school continues to provide your sons with a sense of stability, scholarship and support during these uncertain times. Dr Fran Clough, Surmaster Thursday 21 January 2021 Although we continue to live in difficult times, and the presence of your sons on site at school is sorely missed, I have been heartened this week to come across several examples which demonstrate that our sense of community is as strong as ever. Speaking online to some of our younger senior school pupils, I was moved by their advocacy of the teaching body. They are feeling connected through lessons and enjoy the content and the pace. They told me that even subjects which might not seem to lend themselves to remote teaching, such as Art and PE, are going well. One complaint was that online provision gives access to even more clubs and it’s difficult to choose! Whilst I don’t want to look at the current situation through rose coloured spectacles and we do know that in-person teaching is best, I am still proud of how our pupils and their teachers are responding to the current challenge. Other reasons to be cheerful include the continued success of our pupils in a number of areas. I was thrilled to see other Heads sharing results of Secondary School Online Chess Battles on social media in that we found ourselves top of the table. Huge congratulations to all pupils who participated. We have also been sharing news of extraordinary success in the British Olympiads for both Maths and Physics. Equally, our pupils continue to contribute to the community beyond St Paul’s. This week we launched ‘Colet Mentoring‘ with EasyA – an app which supports peer mentoring and is being taken up by other schools nationally. Members of the Eighth Form have also been volunteering with the vaccine rollout in Barnes. I am always impressed by the manner in which Paulines care about the bigger picture in this way. The commitment of the pupils who run EcoSoc has been commendable and their recent blog draws attention to how they are feeling positive about several world stories, including the US’s return to the Paris Climate Accord. I have written before about how I draw enormous hope from the attitudes and resilience of young people, and of the current Paulines in particular. I suspect many Heads are writing about the performance of Amanda Gorman, the Youth Poet Laureate who wowed the world at the Presidential inauguration this week, so please forgive me for following a trend. However, her assertion that ‘there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it’ really struck a chord with me. There is no doubting that there is darkness in our current situation but I am very grateful for the pupils and staff of St Paul’s School who continued to provide so much light. SAH Thursday 14 January 2021 I hope that you and your sons managed to have a restful Christmas break and are enjoying the start to the new term. As you have heard from my colleagues, I had the full 2020 experience, contracting Covid-19 as term ended and I have had a phased return to work this week. I cannot express my gratitude to members of the school community in strong enough terms, given their wonderful support over this period. You will have seen first hand how senior colleagues stepped up during a time of great uncertainty in education and I had so many kind messages from staff and parents. The experience has only cemented further how fortunate I feel to be here at St Paul’s. Equally, I am conscious of the stresses upon us all during this strange period of history. The global news cycle alone can be distressing and, like people the world over, the St Paul’s community are relieved that democracy has held in the USA. However, it’s a world where young people might easily be unsettled and the hope of the team here is that school can remain a place of stability, inspiration and support, even though we are operating remotely. It is really encouraging that our attendance at the beginning of the first week of term stands at 99.7% as our pupils return to remote learning and this clearly indicates how connected they remain to their peers and teachers. For those in the Sixth Form and Upper Eighth in particular, we recognise that the ongoing debate and indecision around public exams is unhelpful for pupils’ mental health. We will keep you fully updated of any further developments as the situation evolves. Our pastoral team is always available to any pupil who may need extra support, and I would like to remind all pupils to speak to their tutor or Undermaster if they feel they need additional help or just a friendly ear. We also appreciate the importance of co-curricular activities for the pupils’ wellbeing at this time, and in particular, the opportunity to exercise. We are delighted to offer up to five different live staff-led sporting sessions in each of the games halves, supplemented by Monday and Friday lunchtime circuits and sport specific programmes from a variety of sports, as well as online PE lessons as part of the curriculum. Pupils will be able to view all these activities, alongside Societies and music, on the Co-curricular Hub. We continue to offer our well-received virtual events programme to our wider community and I am looking forward to the return of Topical Tuesdays and the Entrepreneurship Network taking place next week. The first Topical Tuesday features Shanker Singham OP discussing the emerging UK trade and domestic regulatory policy in the wake of Brexit. Please do encourage your sons to sign up for these events too as they offer a unique form of academic enrichment. Closer to home, although the school site is currently closed to the majority of staff and pupils, we continue to work on the feedback received from the Hammersmith Bridge survey. Those parents who expressed an interest in flexi-boarding once we return to the school site have been contacted and we will continue to update you on other proposals over the coming weeks. It only remains for me to wish you and your family good health in these difficult times and to thank you for your continued support. SAH Thursday 10 December 2020 At the time of writing, I am looking forward to this evening’s Music Concert, listening to the Sixth Form’s radio comedy, Jack Sheppard, and experiencing a socially distanced version of The House of Bernarda Alba at the end of this term. It is my sincere belief that the experience of Covid-19 and the inability to access creative experiences which we previously took for granted, have only underlined the importance of the performing arts in all of our lives. I am thrilled, therefore, that the staff and pupils at St Paul’s have found innovative ways to create and perform this term. I have been visiting tutor groups in the last few weeks and will continue to do so in the New Year. I have been heartened and inspired by hearing all that the pupils value about the school. I know that an element of freedom over how they use their time and the importance of sports, clubs and performance are a priority to them and I am grateful to Dr Tom Killick, Deputy Head Co-Curricular, and all of my colleagues who contribute to the co-curricular programme for providing so much this term. We will continue to work on this in the months ahead. I also know from speaking to the pupils that the closure of Hammersmith Bridge is impacting many of them. Thank you to all those parents who completed the survey we sent out recently. Looking at your feedback, there is no single, clear solution that is consistently favoured – other than the repair of the bridge which is beyond our control! However, my colleagues and I are looking at changes we can make to improve things for the pupils next term. They are adjustments rather than wholescale change but I hope they will help. In terms of Covid-19 management, the Department for Education has confirmed that ‘track and trace’ remains the responsibility of the school for any pupil who has a positive test and was symptomatic within the last 48 hours of term. Therefore, if your child has symptoms during term time and subsequently has a positive test, then please contact the school even after term has ended. This remains a huge responsibility for the school but one which we take seriously. I am grateful to Matt Nicholl, Director of Operations, and Greg Cook, Compliance Officer, for their work on this and for the consistent high standards they have applied to control measures throughout this term. We now keep our fingers crossed for a smooth end to the term so that your sons can enjoy the events we have planned and start the holiday fit and well. SAH Thursday 3 December 2020 I am very aware that Advent is a Christian season and that our community is made up of those of all faiths and none. However, I can never help but feel that 1st December drags us out of dark Novembers into a more optimistic time, where celebrations are on the horizon and, good food, good company, and a chance to rest seem a lot closer than they did last week. And never has there been a year that needed its festive season more than 2020. My colleagues at St Paul’s have reinvented the school more than once this year; in the Spring they went remote successfully and since September they have run new tutor arrangements, re-designed clubs and sports and coped with ‘blended’ teaching with a proportion of their pupils learning from home. The pupils themselves have faced as many challenges with uncertainty around public exams, new rules as they move around and, for many, enforced periods away from the school site. We are so proud of how they have responded to all of this. With hopes of a vaccine, a holiday and perhaps even a ferry on the horizon, we have never deserved December more. And I have to admit to being uncharacteristically excited by the arrival of the Christmas trees in the last few days, especially in that the year group ‘zones’ mean that there are trees in every section of the school. It has proven impossible to welcome as many pupils into my study this term as I would have hoped (although we have done our best to make arrangements where we could) but I am at least able to have a large Christmas tree in my window which overlooks Founder’s Court, so I hope many of them will look up and feel that we are sharing the joy of the approaching holiday, as we have all shared so much this term – together whilst apart. With every good to wish to you and your families at this time. SAH Thursday 26 November 2020 It was great to ‘see’ so many parents at the ‘Meet the High Master’ event earlier this week and I am grateful to the prefects who joined the session to share their experiences. I am sure you will agree with me that they are a credit to the school and I hope that many younger pupils were able to listen in and hear their views. Thank you to everyone who raised interesting questions during the event. We were able to address most of them on the night but some were very specific and will be answered elsewhere; they have all been captured. As you are already aware, we had a further positive case of Covid-19 in the Upper Eighth this week. We are very aware of the pressures upon that year group at this time and we understand the frustration that this causes to many of them. We continue to work closely with them to offer as much academic and pastoral support as we can during these uncertain times and they will be receiving further guidance on the assessment programme from their subject teachers within the coming weeks. If there are any specific concerns, please raise them via your son’s tutor in the first instance. This also applies to any pupils in the Sixth Form who are worried about the uncertainty around public exams. In spite of all these challenges, Paulines continue to thrive and to achieve in a number of areas. I am delighted to let you know about the school’s success in the Senior Mathematical Challenge, with 35 students qualifying for the first round of the British Mathematical Olympiad, the school’s highest number of entrants in at least eight years. I am also greatly looking forward to watching our creative and talented actors and musicians in the virtual performances of drama and music over the coming weeks. As the new High Master, I have been able to attend lessons, societies and extra-curricular activities at the school in recent weeks. I am only sorry that parents do not have the same experience of being on site. However, I know you would be very proud of your sons if you could see them in action on an average school day. It only remains for me to wish you and your family good health in these difficult times and to thank you for your continued support. SAH Thursday 19 November 2020 I hope that this finds you well and that you and your families are surviving the colder weather and darker evenings. At school, we have continued to roll out outdoor heating to the covered awnings we have in every year group ‘bubble’ and the pupils seem to be taking advantage of those so that they can still get outside. The introduction of recreational games and Futsal has also proved popular this week. Many of you will be aware that the state of UK education during the pandemic continues to make headlines. Exams have been cancelled in Wales, with suggestions for addressing the regional inequalities in experience being debated here in England. At St Paul’s we are keeping a constant eye on this situation and doing all we can to ensure that your sons have every opportunity to provide evidence of their ability. The Sixth Form and the Upper Eighth are especially in our minds and we are continuing to work hard to give them as much academic and pastoral support as we can in these uncertain times. We are hoping that Government announcements will occur within the next few weeks to give them the clarity and certainty they so richly deserve. We will keep in touch with you and them as the situation develops. Next week, I will be taking part in another ‘Meet the High Master’ event via Zoom. Whilst parents cannot come on site, we thought you might want to hear more about the pupil experience this term and I will be chatting to prefects about their views and life at school. I know that many parents will wish to discuss the continued challenges posed by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge and, whilst this will be covered in the Zoom call, we will also be surveying parents and staff next week to have an up to date understanding of the impact of the closure and to learn more about what we at school might do to mitigate that. We hope as many of you as possible will find time to respond. SAH Thursday 12 November 2020 This has been a memorable week in school as we have marked Remembrance Day. Yesterday, our Chaplain, Reverend Matthew Knox, conducted no less than nine outdoor services in order to allow the boys to come together in their year group bubbles, not just to pay their respects to those in the armed services, past and present, but also to contemplate how we can all make a commitment to peace. As he said, it was an act of coming together in spite of the need to remain apart. In the evening, I was privileged to conduct an on line interview with Graham Seel, Head of Humanities, in which he shared his experiences of researching the lives of the 86 Old Paulines who fell in the Ypres Salient 1914-1918. If you did not get to listen live, I fully recommend it – you can find it here. Last week, I wrote to you about the new government guidelines for school during the second lockdown. At the time we were still seeking clarification and knew that schools could interpret them in a number of ways. In the last few days, we have taken advice from teacher associations and lawyers and now feel more comfortable in reversing some of the changes we felt we might need to make. Therefore, I am pleased to let you know that all weekend activities, including sport and drama, will resume as normal from this Saturday. We do appreciate, however, that some families may wish to keep their sons at home at the weekends for Covid-19 related reasons and therefore, whilst we are in national lockdown and until 2 December in the first instance, these activities will be optional. Please let your son’s coach, activity leader or, in the case of Fourth Form rugby, Director of Sport, Nigel Briers, know if you would like your son to be excused. I am also delighted to let you know that we will be offering recreational games at lunch time for all year groups from next Monday. I am extremely grateful for the work of my colleagues in risk assessing and offering to supervise this in order that it can be made possible under current restrictions. I know the pupils will appreciate it! It only remains for me to wish you and your family good health in these difficult times and to thank you for your continued support. SAH Friday 6 November 2020 It has been a pleasure to welcome pupils and teachers back to school following the much needed Remedy. It is clear that the boys’ enthusiasm for life has not been dampened by all the external challenges we face. With further news of their successes as well as information about an architectural award for our new building; there is much to celebrate. In fact, as the nation enters lockdown for the second time, school feels like an oasis of near normality. It will be a privilege to continue to come into this unique place of work every day and, although I know opinions around the potential closure of schools are divided, I, for one, am delighted that we have been allowed to continue to support our pupils on site. We do not underestimate, however, that the second lockdown will put increased pressures upon families. If you are concerned about family members who are extremely clinically vulnerable, or the measures we have in place, then please contact us via the Covid-19 management email address. Similarly, if your son is finding that this is an anxious time and requires additional support, do let us know via his tutor or Undermaster. We are especially aware of the uncertainty still surrounding public exams and we will continue to plan as best we can for potential decisions and to keep you informed when we know more. You may be aware that the Department of Education has also issued new guidelines for schools with regard to clubs and extra-curricular activities out of normal school hours. In responding to this, we have, with regret, decided to cancel all Saturday sport for the time-being and starting tomorrow. Other co-curricular activities during the working week will remain in place, details of which can be found here. The GCSE Drama rehearsals scheduled for Sunday will also be going ahead as an activity related directly to the academic curriculum. As I am sure you will understand, it is counter-intuitive for us to remove any opportunity from the pupils however we are trying to meet the requirements made of us in a national lockdown and feel that the guidance does not permit extra journeys for extra-curricular activities. It might also be said that this guidance is open to interpretation and, therefore, you may find that different schools have made other decisions and we will certainly be reviewing things on a regular basis. I remain impressed (but not surprised) by the sensible approach that Paulines have taken to Covid management. The vast majority have been excellent at remembering to wear their masks, in particular. With the new restrictions in place, you may also want to remind them that parties and social events outside of their family bubbles are not allowed and may result in complications for their peers who will become close contacts in the event of a positive Covid test. May I take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued trust in St Paul’s during this global pandemic, and to hope that this second lockdown does not pose too many difficulties for you and your families. SAH Thursday 16 October 2020 As we approach the two week break for Remedy, my first thoughts are ones of gratitude for all that has been achieved over this half term. I cannot express how thankful I am to the teaching staff and support teams at St Paul’s who have worked so hard to keep everyone safe whilst continuing to deliver a first class education to their pupils in all subjects. I am also grateful to the parent body who have worked with us in the face of a number of challenges including positive test results and the lack of Hammersmith Bridge – and impressed by the good sense and undaunted enthusiasm of Paulines. Seeing them in lessons and enjoying extra-curricular activities in recent weeks has been my greatest joy as High Master and I am looking forward to being able to do that more often as the term progresses. In recent days, we have also been making plans to open up more activities in a safe and secure way. However, I know parents will be aware that the new Tier 2 announcements may impact upon our ability to do all we would wish and I will be back in touch with you during Remedy if we have to make adjustments to the current provision in any way. You may also be aware that the Government announced this week that, with the exception of mathematics and English Language GCSE, all regulated GCSE and A Level examinations would be delayed this summer until the start of June and conclude in the first week of July. The timing is designed to give pupils up and down the country more time to prepare for these examinations whilst still allowing time for the results to be processed without delaying the start of the Autumn term for either schools or universities. As with any announcement, it does leave some questions unanswered but we are expecting further clarifications in the next two months. Some of our IGCSEs and international A levels are not covered by this announcement, but we are following this up with the relevant examination boards. In response to this, we are reviewing our examination preparation programme to ensure we are able to offer the best support we can for our pupils. We will of course keep you informed as the situation develops. It only remains for me to wish you a happy and healthy Remedy period with your families – and we look forward to welcoming our pupils back in November. SAH Thursday 8 October 2020 I hope that this finds you well and that your sons are continuing to enjoy the term, in spite of our need to cope with some positive COVID-19 tests in recent weeks. Please may I re-iterate my thanks to the boys for their sensible conduct at this time and to the families immediately impacted for their rapid support which has made handling these situations so much easier. As you may know, I have been hosting the virtual HMC Conference over the last three days; I am hugely grateful to my colleagues for their support which has allowed me to do this. As Chair of HMC (the Headmasters’ & Headmistresses’ Conference), I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to reflect upon the current situation in schools through my speech to members. This gained some media attention, most focused on my request that the younger generation be afforded some respect. Therefore, I thought that parents might wish to have sight of the entire speech – not in that I feel you have need of my views, but more because it makes reference to the positivity of our fantastic pupils at St Paul’s. In other positive news, I am delighted that Walters and Cohen, the architects of our new General Teaching Buildings, have been shortlisted for an award for design excellence. The virtual awards gala of the American Institute of Architects UK Chapter, is due to happen on 28 October. Finally, may I thank you for your continued patience as we continue to cope with the lack of Hammersmith Bridge. We are as frustrated as you are by the lack of progress by those in authority over this problem and we continue to look for options which might make life easier for you and your children. SAH Thursday 1 October 2020 This week has obviously presented challenges to the school given our first positive Covid-19 diagnoses of the term. With the national picture, this was always probably when rather than if. The boys who have been affected – and indeed the whole year group – have been entirely sensible and helpful which is pleasing but in no way surprising. I am hugely grateful to the teams on site for professional and prompt action and to the teachers for delivering remote learning to the Lower Eighth. In spite of this, the school continues to flourish – the Club competitions are up and running, our talented pianists are preparing for a virtual piano recital in October and the Thomas Gresham Committee is hosting the annual fundraising quiz next Thursday to raise funds for the Bursary Appeal. Today also marks the beginning of Black History month and there are a number of events planned over the coming weeks which will reflect this year’s theme of “Dig Deeper, Look Closer, Think Bigger.” Whilst inclusivity should be part of all we do and is addressed throughout the year, we still feel it’s important to mark this moment in the calendar. On a personal note, many of you will be aware that I am the current Chair of HMC. I will be hosting the association’s conference from Monday- Wednesday next week. It is an enormous privilege to represent the independent sector at this time, when everyone in education is working so hard; we will also be discussing topics specifically relevant to St Paul’s, including arts and music education and the future of the curriculum. The ‘virtual’ nature of the conference will mean that I will remain very much in touch with the school during this period. However, as you know, we have exceptionally strong leadership on site at all times and I am grateful for the support of my colleagues at this time. SAH Thursday 24 September 2020 Many thanks for your continued support as we operate in the world of Covid-19; the boys have continued to respond to guidance and – at the time of writing – we have had no positive cases. Obviously, our lives are still full of hand sanitiser and risk assessments but there is an increasing sense of normality around the school too. It was fantastic to see so many boys playing touch rugby in their year groups on Saturday, and I have also had the privilege of beginning lesson observations as High Master this week. This has been a pure joy, with both teaching and learning at exceptional standards, even with restrictions in place. We are acutely aware that recent headlines may be contributing to anxiety for our pupils. Please do let us know if you feel your son needs any kind of increased support. I am especially aware that the Sixth Form and Upper Eighth must be concerned about public exams – or the potential lack thereof. I know the academic team have stressed that pupils should not feel that every piece of work is life changing. Their teachers will guide them on this and balance the need to provide evidence of standards with the importance of wellbeing. With every best wish to you and you families. SAH Thursday 17 September 2020 We have had another positive week in school and I remain grateful for the cooperation of the pupils and the hard work of the staff. It has certainly been a joy to see so much sport happening on site and I know the societies and club activities are growing too. It has been a remarkable achievement to get things up and running so smoothly. When Caroline Gill, Fourth Form Undermaster, told me that some of her new pupils had declared that school was ‘fun’, I knew we were succeeding in overcoming the limitations of the world in which we currently live. Sadly, we are still having to make choices we would rather not make and find the best possible outcome when the ideal scenario is not possible. Thus the parents email had from Dr Killick yesterday regarding Colet Day. We are disappointed not to be meeting in the cathedral but I am grateful that Rev. Knox has come up with an alternative to mark the day and still join in with St Paul’s Girls’ School. As the term goes on, we continue to re-invent ways of keeping our community as vibrant and engaged as ever. Amongst other events, we have had a virtual open day, an online event for new parents and (a particular highlight for me) a ‘Topical Tuesdays’ lecture from Professor Bailey. Do let us know how you think these things are going and if you have suggestions for other ways of communicating. In the meantime, I hope this finds you well and that your sons have enjoyed all that has been going on so far. SAH Thursday 10 September 2020 This has been an interesting week for me as I have settled into life at St Paul’s. Of course, it is an enormous privilege to be joining this exceptional community and I have had a long time to look forward to it. However, many of those I meet expect me to be somehow disappointed or anxious given the numerous curve balls and hospital passes that are landing on all school leaders’ desks this month. Yes, we are opening in the middle of a pandemic. Yes, the A level and GCSE experience was like no other. And yes, to add to all of that, there is a closed bridge. Yet, at the risk of sounding too Dickensian, if these are the worst of times, they are definitely bringing out the best in people. And, in many ways, I have been fortunate to arrive at the school at this precise moment since there can have been few times when the professionalism and care of colleagues, the respectful and considerate approach of pupils have been more on display. I am sorry that parents cannot come on site right now but, if you could, you would be so impressed by the hard work of the support teams (the cleaners, caterers, estates and security teams have been the backbone of all we are doing), the flexibility of the teachers and the positivity of the pupils. I am aware that you have concerns, as we do, arising from the limitations of these times. There are lots of separate voices speaking loudly about Hammersmith Bridge and many different ideas for a possible solution. Please trust that the school is exploring all possible avenues with local and central government and other local schools. We are also in touch with the project team working on the bridge on a regular basis. We will keep you in the loop as we know more but please trust that we are as concerned as you are regarding the present situation. You can find more information about the shuttle bus service below, but we are adjusting this service in these early days in response to the feedback coming in, and I am glad that this is supporting so many families. We are, however, aware that lengthier commutes are impacting on boys’ time in the evening and the academic teams will adjust homework expectations in the short term to balance this. We have also had some parents get in touch with regard to the co-curricular programme given the limitations imposed by Covid-19 control. This has been up and running since Tuesday and our intention is for it to grow as the term progresses. Dr Killick has provided more details. We are aware that many families would like to see greater provision for music and that is also on our agenda. I do know that some of our decisions around Covid-19 may seem draconian but, as schools around the country are already being partially or wholly closed, we must do all we can to limit exposure to the virus and to keep the pupils at school, where they belong. I would like to thank those of you who participated in the Zoom ‘Meet the High Master’ event on Monday. That was a new experience for me! However, it was certainly very useful as a two way means of communication and it is now our intention to repeat the event at suitable times during the year. In the meantime, I would not want you to feel that we underestimate the challenges before us as school community – but I am confident that we will be able to face them. SAH Thursday 2 July 2020 We have finally reached the end of the most disrupted term in British educational history since World War II. A skeletal staff has kept the school site open throughout lockdown; the transfer to remote learning has been very successful; and the shift to phased relaxation of lockdown has been navigated as best we can, in order to welcome as many pupils back to site as possible. We have also attempted to keep the community active in lockdown. This monumental exercise in adaptation has required flexibility, commitment and goodwill right across the community: for which, thank you. Many pupils and staff have struggled with the lack of direct social interaction, and some have been denied the opportunity to say farewells as they would have wished. The departing Upper Eighth Form have been exceptionally cohesive and friendly as a year group, and have consequently set a consistently positive example to the rest of the school. A clutch of academic staff are leaving, and we thank them for their service and wish them well hereafter. The quality of the relations between staff, pupils and parents—informal but purposeful, more akin to a university than a school—is one of the defining characteristics of a Pauline education, and it is founded upon the contributions of such colleagues. Richard Girvan has been here since leaving Cambridge University, and he returns to the fenland capital as Principal of the Stephen Perse Foundation. He has influenced the lives of many in 17 years here, and—on top of all else he has done—he has been a central figure in creating the outstanding safeguarding and pastoral systems and culture that are unrecognisable from those when he became Surmaster in 2012. We wish him and his family well. Paulines are independent, smart, savvy, sassy, and fun, and those who are also self-aware are supremely well equipped to serve society. Working with and for them has been a delight. Schools are highly complex institutions, with multiple human interactions, so leading them is an inexorable mixture of unpredictability, challenge and reward. St Paul’s is an exceptional school—by history and acclaim—and consequently these characteristics are amplified. The last nine years have been the most challenging and rewarding of my professional life. I have been grateful and humbled to have been tasked with steering the most impressive super tanker of its type on the educational oceans. The quality of the people on the vessel, and their manifest belief in, and passion for, the school have rendered the task much easier. Thank you. I look forward to following its progress and continued success. MDB Thursday 25 June 2020 As we come to the end of this school year, the last for our departing Upper Eighth and for me, I am struck by what a surreal term it has been for all of us. Disorienting, confusing, anxiety-inducing, and in many ways dissatisfying. I think all of us have shown incredible resourcefulness and resilience, and responded as well as we possibly could to the circumstances and I particularly wish to thank my colleagues for all they have done to ensure continuity of teaching and learning and school administration since 20 March. It has also highlighted for me, shortly before I leave, the things I will miss about St Paul’s. The face-to-face contact with pupils and colleagues, the atmosphere in the atrium, the lively debate around the dining tables, the camaraderie and connection on the sports fields, the sounds from the Pepys Theatre and the Wathen Hall, the bonhomie around the site. For our Upper Eighth, I hope, it has been a brilliantly enjoyable and wonderfully enriching 5 years (or two for those who joined us at 16). For me, it has been 17 years of exactly that. I am hugely grateful to all of those I have had the chance to be alongside during that time, and will remember St Paul’s with great fondness. I wish the school community every success as it continues the work to overcome the challenges presented by our present situation, and then to use what we have learned through this process and over recent years to remake an even better school in the future, continuing the work already begun to make us more diverse, more inclusive, more environmentally conscious and sustainable, more equitable, more supportive. I look forward to returning from time to time for OP and community events and hope to see you there when I do. Have a fantastic summer and all the very best in the months and years ahead. Richard Girvan – Surmaster – Head of the Senior School Thursday 18 June 2020 This week we have welcomed back onto site small groups of Fifth Form and Lower Eighth pupils, while remote teaching continues for the majority of Paulines. The government has prioritised the return of primary age pupils, and we will increase the number of SPJ pupils on site further from this coming Monday. All of this is subject to compliance with the government’s strict guidelines, which requires the school to produce risk assessments for each section of the school, to preserve 2m social distancing, and to confine pupils and teachers within small ‘bubbles’. Most of the teachers onsite have volunteered to return, and I am most grateful to them for their willingness to do so. As a result of the government guidelines, our onsite capacity is greatly reduced. We have considered the prospect of some return for other year groups before the end of term, but the numbers and groups could only be small, and the logistics are impossible within current guidelines. A reduction to 1m social distancing for September would make a material difference to our operational capacity. Meanwhile, the recent national protests to raise awareness of racism are understandably a trigger for self-reflection, heightened awareness and institutional action, and members of our community have been active in offering a varied range of perspectives. Our responses will be well-considered, enduring and aligned with our values. A Pauline education teaches pupils how to think, not what to think, and also promotes tolerance and self awareness. Such qualities are essential to addressing inequality. They are the qualities that Thomas Clarkson, Old Pauline, possessed. These are also the qualities which, I hope, contributed to the remarkable achievement of having two OPs on the shortlist for the Wolfson Prize for History this year. The winner, David Abulafia, is from an ethnic minority background, and the other OP, Toby Green, has re-written the history of pre-colonial Africa, and written a new A Level module for OCR History on the same subject. This is not a boast, but a genuine expression of pride: and also a recognition of our continuing and future responsibilities. MDB Thursday 11 June 2020 Next week, we look forward to welcoming the first group of Fifth and Lower Eighth pupils back on to site, in line with government guidance. The R rate in SW13 is low by national standards, and we have extensive risk mitigation measures in place, so we are confident in these tentative steps. We have no hint yet on what will happen in September, because that will be determined by the unfolding trajectory of the pandemic and the government’s response. It seems likely that much more onsite activity will be permitted—we certainly hope so—and that would be greatly aided if the social distancing measure is reduced from 2m to 1m. We are already planning for a range of scenarios, and we will keep you informed as the government guidance is released. The sports programme will also be influenced by the evolving advice from the relevant sport governing bodies, but, again, is likely to be curtailed. We expect that a good deal of other co-curricular activities can go ahead with appropriate risk mitigation. Over the last week, we have received a number of letters and petitions from OPs and Paulines urging the school to tackle the societal issue of systemic racism, and we have posted our response on our website and social media channels and the statement is available below. The response underlines what is already available to Paulines, and what else we intend to do. Yet this is not a matter that we have suddenly begun to address, although the appalling events in the US are a powerful reminder of the need for action. We do encourage all Paulines to attend existing school societies, such as BAME or Spectrum, which seek to celebrate diversity of identity and offer a platform for conversation on feminist, BAME and LGBTQ issues. We also encourage them to participate in our volunteering programme. Finally, the cultural building blocks for tackling inequality are the behaviours that we actively promote: kindness, tolerance, compassion, and self-awareness. There is still much to do, so the sooner we are all back onsite together, the better! MDB Thursday 4 June 2020 I hope that you enjoyed the Remedy break, and are keeping well and safe. As I write, all pupils are adjusting to the new post-Remedy timetables, the Sixth Form are starting their A Level subjects, and the Upper Eighth can choose from a menu of University taster courses. I am especially grateful to staff for constructing the latter programme from scratch, and for creating such an enticing range of options. In line with government guidelines, this week we welcomed back the U2s into SPJ for lessons: around 80% attended. The government also recommend that Years 10 and 12 return to schools from 15th June, so we are preparing a programme of activities for these year groups at SPS (the 5th Form and L8th) from then until the end of term. The government are clear that these pupils should not return to a full timetable, and only one quarter of each senior year group can be onsite at any given time, but we will be offering a mixture of activities, instruction (e.g. career, universities) and face-to-face time with teachers. Parents have been surveyed, and, like SPJ, we expect about 80% of the pupils will be onsite. Detailed risk assessments are constructed, and have been shared with staff and relevant parents for comment in advance of the pupils’ return. Just before Remedy we surveyed parents about the online provision to date, and the results were very pleasing. Well over 90% of 270 respondents were positive about the pastoral support, about their child’s engagement with the teacher and other pupils, and about teacher responses to requests for help with learning. Heads of Department report that progress through course material has been good, so there is little sense that pupils are behind because of the shift to online teaching and learning. There were some areas of improvement for us to concentrate upon, especially online co-curricular provision, as a result of which we have just launched an online hub and other initiatives. We all acknowledge however that there is no substitute for us all being gathered together onsite. Meanwhile, we have a variety of virtual community events to keep you connected this half term. Dr Ben Still, a Physics teacher here, kicked off a very well attended session on Tuesday evening, and details of future events are given below. We will of course keep you informed of our plans going forward when we know what is happening. Thank you for your understanding in this fast changing and novel situation. MDB NEWS TERM DATES GETTING HERE CONTACT US WORK WITH US FACILITIES & HIRES SCHOOL UNIFORM SHOP SCHOOL MERCHANDISE COOKIES TERMS OF USE PRIVACY POLICY ST PAUL'S SCHOOL LONSDALE ROAD LONDON SW13 9JT RECEPTION 020 8748 9162 GENERAL ENQUIRIES reception@stpaulsschool.org.uk ADMISSIONS 13+ admissions@stpaulsschool.org.uk ADMISSIONS 16+ 16plusentry@stpaulsschool.org.uk ST PAUL'S JUNIORS LONSDALE ROAD LONDON SW13 9JT RECEPTION 020 8748 3461 GENERAL ENQUIRIES spjreceptionist@stpaulsschool.org.uk ADMISSIONS 7+, 8+ 7and8plusentry@stpaulsschool.org.uk ADMISSIONS 11+ 11plusentry@stpaulsschool.org.uk © St Paul's School 2021 School website design by mso.net