Collaboration with St Paul’s Girls’ School

We strongly believe in the value of a single-sex education while preparing our pupils for life beyond school. With our sister school St Paul’s Girls’ School (SPGS), we believe we can provide our pupils with the best of both worlds.

We have a long history of working with SPGS through joint off-timetable days, academic and co-curricular opportunities, joint trips and our partnerships programme.

At St Paul’s, we know that with the privilege of this exceptional education comes responsibility. We are a school with over 500 years of history and a strong sense of our founder’s vision. Together with our counterparts at St Paul’s Girls’ School, we are turned firmly to the future with an ambition to guide pupils to successful and purposeful lives.

‘Choosing the right school for your child is not about better or worse approaches but about the right fit – and I always think that’s more important than either single sex or co-education for its own sake.  Having said that, I am fiercely proud to be running an all-boys’ school, where all colleagues, whatever their own gender, can be specialists in raising young men and I feel that there’s a serious place for that given the challenges facing young men at this stage in the twenty-first century.  Of course, we are uniquely placed at St Paul’s as we work so closely with St Paul’s Girls’ School and provide ‘the best of both worlds’ – the specialist nature of a single-sex environment with a thorough programme of both academic and co-curricular activities where the two schools work together and pupils make friends and meet as equals.  It’s an exciting offer for families to see the highest performing boys’ school in the country partnering with the highest performing girls’ school.’

Sally-Anne Huang, High Master

Shared activities for every year group

The programme for the pupils of St Paul’s and SPGS starts from our younger year groups, beginning in Year 7 with a joint trip for the whole year group. In Year 8, there is a second whole-year-group trip, as well as other opportunities such as Philosophy Society, Music concerts and Drama productions.

Our Year 9 pupils take part in a joint Diversity Day, discussing issues such as gender and race together in small groups, before taking part in some sporting activities, led by older pupils from both schools. The Year 10 pupils have a joint Management Day and, continuing the entrepreneurship theme, Year 11 pupils from both schools can attend the SPS three-day Entrepreneurship Course after their GCSE examinations.  Alongside these activities, pupils in Years 9, 10 and 11 are invited to participate in joint quizzes and film nights to enjoy meeting in more relaxed circumstances.

As pupils join Year 12, there is an SPS/SPGS programme of joint electives. Pupils from both schools can choose to attend courses at either school on a wide range of topics including American New Wave Cinema, An Introduction to International Relations, and Cryptic Crosswords, among others. Classroom activities are enhanced by a range of friendly academic competitions such as a warm-up round in preparation for the annual Hans Woyda Mathematics competition, the Pauline Perspectives debate, a Joint Symposium with selected participants from both schools, and a joint Hackathon. Finally, the pupil leadership teams from both schools come together to plan and lead the Joint Conference for Year 13 pupils, featuring a wide range of topics such as Gender in the Workplace and Freedom of Speech.

Co-Curricular Collaboration and Partnership Programme

As well as the whole year group activities, there are many regular joint events between St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Girls’ School, including music, sport, drama and debating, and trips within London and further afield. Many of the schools’ joint societies run shared events, which this year have included a BioMed Society talk, a Joint Politics event, a translation masterclass and a Maths battle.

Pupils from both schools bring along their shared interests and skills for joint music concerts and drama productions including this year’s outstanding presentation of the classic musical Kiss Me Kate and cultural activities such as the African and Caribbean Societies of both schools’ joint trip to the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton.

Pupils came together for a Medical Networking Event, joint quizzes and maths and cooking competitions. In December, a group of pupils from both schools travelled to Fort William, Scotland, for snow and ice climbing and learning winter skills.

St Paul’s School has developed an extensive community partnership programme, which not only has a positive impact on the wider community but also provides opportunities for pupils from both St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Girls’ School to volunteer alongside one another and to learn new skills.

One of the highlights this year was a joint presentation and discussion with the St Paul’s School Values Committee, the St Paul’s Girls’ School Consent and Respect Committee and both schools’ Feminism Societies with the Year 8 pupils of St Paul’s Juniors. The older pupils spoke about what feminism means and how it has affected their lives, as well as how stereotypes have impacted their time at school and what we can do to create a positive culture in all three schools. They then broke into small groups to allow for questions and debate. Here are some of the comments from the St Paul’s Juniors boys after the talk:

“I think the talk was really helpful because it helped us understand things from all angles.”

“I found the talk very informative, especially when we broke into groups as we could ask our own questions to find out the proper answer.”

It is in opportunities such as this, where the energy and enthusiasm provided by the older pupils inspires the younger ones and creates an environment where understandings of all sorts are born. We believe it is these understandings which ensure that our pupils are prepared to take their place and contribute positively to society.