Admissions Newsletter: Co-Curricular News

Outstanding Volunteers

We had some outstanding volunteers generously giving their time to worthwhile causes throughout the Spring Term. Eighth Form pupils, Samuel and Michael volunteered at a care home, while Lachlan worked tirelessly to help young people engage with exercise through the Gymrun programme. Jamie volunteered at the Lowther Library and Xavi displayed both kindness and professionalism during his service visit to Windham Road Nursery.

Surrey Schools Bridge Cup

In February, Henry (Upper Eighth), Gijs (Sixth Form), Anango (Sixth Form) and Adavya (Sixth Form) won the Surrey Schools Bridge Cup, beating ten other teams at a Bridge tournament in New Malden. This is the second year in a row that the school has been crowned surrey schools bridge champion.

In Chess News…

ECF School Blitz Tournament

In the Spring Term, St Paul’s travelled to Harrow School to participate in the ECF School Blitz tournament, securing first place after 12 gruelling rounds throughout the day.

The first half of the tournament went smoothly, after a slow start by some in the first round. Quickly picking up steam, rounds two, three and four went quite smoothly though pupils faced some stronger opponents during the fifth and sixth rounds. They were able to keep losses at a minimum and successfully maintain second place with three points behind Wilson’s, one of the best chess schools in the country. Unfortunately, due to a certain rule by the organisers, they were paired against their own teammates for the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds, which slightly set pupils back as they couldn’t gain many points. Thankfully, in the last two rounds, that issue was left behind, securing the team a decent amount of wins. In the end, St Paul’s won with two points ahead of Wilson’s.

Team Chess Challenge regional final

In February, the St Paul’s chess team competed in the 2024 regional finals of the Team Chess Challenge.

While the chess team put up a strong performance in the initial three rounds, with the majority of the team remaining undefeated, the team unfortunately did not perform as well in the final round, losing 1-3 to Highgate A – the team which ultimately won the tournament. Despite this setback, the team had lots of fun, and a special shoutout to Richard (Fifth Form), who won the Board Prize as he was undefeated throughout the entire tournament, winning all four of his games.

Masterchef

Following their success in the internal school Masterchef competition, Seb (Fourth Form) and Niko (Upper Eighth) competed in the final held at St Paul’s Girls’ School.

Competing against the Girls’ School team, Niko and Seb demonstrated their culinary skills by preparing a set menu for a panel of expert judges. In a tightly-contested competition, both Niko and Seb emerged as the winners. This marks Niko’s third Masterchef victory, earning him an invitation to return as a guest judge next year.

European Youth Parliament South-East Regional Competition

SPS hosted this year’s South-East Regional heat of the European Youth Parliament competition. SPS/SPGS had two joint teams taking part. Working in committees, they debated issues that ranged from job protection in a world of AI, tackling youth violence and the cost of living crisis in the EU, protecting marine biodiversity and making cities safer.  Dhruva, Aleksa, Ben and Zac’s committee was selected to go forward to the next stage of the competition, and they will be attending the UK National Final at Liverpool University in July.

Monologues Competition

The St Paul’s Monologues Competition took place in the Dorfman Theatre, judged by actor, director and filmmaker Andy Mcloud.

In the Junior category (Fourth and Fifth Forms), Vansh was awarded runner-up, with an extract from The Importance of Being Earnest, whilst Luca took the prize for his comic masterclass in a piece entitled DANGER! BULLS!! DO NOT ENTER!!!. In the Senior category (Sixth and Eighth Forms), Cillian took runner-up, with his extract from I have no mouth and I must scream, with Enyu selected as winner, for his moving performance of a speech from Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Jazz at the 606 Club

Our jazz groups gave their annual set at the legendary 606 Club in Chelsea on Mothering Sunday.

The packed club heard from our four groups, including the Swing Band and Big Band with a range of traditional and contemporary jazz styles on offer. The venue gives Paulines a taste of being in a proper jazz club, much to the delight of many a mum and the odd grandmother!

First LEGO League

Our inaugural First LEGO League teams, the Hammersmith Pythons and the 1509ers, competed in the London regional final last weekend. The Fifth Form, the 1509ers, finished first in the robot game and were awarded the school’s first LEGO trophy. The Fourth Form, the Hammersmith Pythons, came fourth, which led to a nail biting head to head with the Fifth Form in the final robot match.

Barnes Young Musician Competition

Nayan (Fifth form) was the runner-up in the Barnes Young Musician competition in March.

The trumpeter was one of 11 competitors in the final, which included two other SPS music award holders. Nayan, who recently won both the Junior Woodwind (on flute) and Brass sections (on trumpet) of the St Paul’s Music Competition, is heavily active as a musician. In addition to the school’s two senior orchestras, Big Band and Senior Jazz Combo, he is performing with a number of external orchestras and ensembles, including the National Youth Orchestra, Amersham Band (a competition brass band in the Championship tier) and Chineke! Junior Orchestra.

Young Enterprise London Trade Fair

At the annual showpiece Young Enterprise event, the London Trade Fair at Old Spitalfields Market, St Paul’s entered a record six companies and competed against 50 of the most enterprising schools from across the city. Radians, led by Jacob (Lower Eighth) won the best product category with their innovative maths card came, Ace-Off, while the ‘best customer service’ award went to MetroGro, led by Maxim (Lower Eighth), a company selling grow-your-own herbs and spices. This is the first time St Paul’s has taken both the two most prestigious awards at Spitalfields and is illustrative of the depth of quality of young entrepreneurs at St Paul’s at the moment.

STEM Saturdays

Our regular offering of Saturday Science courses for partner schools returned in the Spring Term. During the last three weekends, students from ten maintained schools, spanning not only our local West London Partnerships but also across London, engaged in practical work that stretched beyond the classroom syllabus.

Year 12 Biologists made bacteria glow eerily green by transforming bacteria to use genes from a jellyfish. Year 12 physicists modelled the superposition of waves and observed musical standing waves in the fire of a Ruben’s Tube. Year 10 physicists used LEGO bricks to chart the 14 billion (plus) year lifetime of our Universe, through to the creation of the chemical elements of life as we know it. Next term, Year 12 chemists will tackle a complex set of organic syntheses before creating luminescent glow sticks.