- This article is about the school in London. For the school in Edgbaston, Birmingham, see St Paul's School for Girls
| St Paul's Girl's School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1904 |
| Type | Independent all-female |
| High Mistress | Ms. Clarissa Farr |
| Grades | 7-Sixth Form |
| Location | Hammersmith, , England |
| Website | St Paul's Girls' School website |
St Paul's Girls' School (or SPGS) is an independent school, located in Hammersmith, London, England.
Contents |
History
In 1904 a new day school for girls was established by the trustees of the Dean Colet Foundation (founded by John Colet), which had run St Paul's School for boys since the sixteenth century. The buildings for the school were designed by the architect Gerald Horsley, the son of the painter John Callcott Horsley and one of the founder members of the Art Workers Guild. The school has had several distinguished directors of music, most notably Gustav Holst (1905-34) and Herbert Howells (1936-62). Holst composed his St Paul's and Brook Green suites for the pupils at the school.
Present Day
Students range from 11-18 years old, with approximately 680 pupils in total. The school emphasizes both academic and extracurricular activities. It has a firm musical tradition. Gustav Holst was Director of Music at the school during the period he composed his orchestral suite, The Planets. He also named his St Paul's Suite after the school. John Gardner followed in his footsteps, writing many memorable pieces for the School, including his popular Christmas carol Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day. Most students progress to university after their secondary education, with 35-40% gaining entrance to the Oxbridge Colleges. Former and current pupils are known as Paulinas (rhymes with 'lip-liner'). The school, in common with many independent schools, employs an idiosyncratic nomenclature for the different years:
- Year 7 is known as the Middle Fourth
- Year 8 is the Upper Fourth
- Year 9 is the Lower Fifth
- Year 10 is the Fifth
- Year 11 is the Sixth
- Year 12 is the Seventh
- Year 13 is the Eighth
The current High Mistress is Clarissa Farr, who replaced Elizabeth Diggory in the Autumn Term of 2006. Miss Diggory died on March 18th 2007, only 8 months after retirement, following her third recurrence of breast cancer.
High Mistresses of St Paul's Girls School
The headmistress of St Paul's Girls School is known as the High Mistress.
- Frances Ralph Grey OBE (d.1935), High Mistress 1903-1927
- Ethel Strudwick CBE (1880-1954), High Mistress 1927-1948
- Margaret Osborn (1906-1985), High Mistress 1948-1963
- Dame Alison Munro DBE (b. 1914), High Mistress 1964-1974
- Lady Brigstocke CBE (Heather Renwick Brigstocke, created Baroness Brigstocke 1990) (1929-2004), High Mistress 1974-1989
- Helen Elizabeth Webber Williams (b. 1938), High Mistress 1989-1992
- Janet Gough (b. 1940), High Mistress 1993-1998
- Elizabeth Mary Diggory (1945-2007), High Mistress 1998-2006
- Clarissa Mary Farr (b. 1958), High Mistress 2006-
Notable alumnae
Old girls of the school, known as Old Paulinas, include -
- Lesley Blanch - writer and author of The Wilder Shores of Love
- Jane Bonham Carter - Liberal Democrat peer
- Emily Buchanan - BBC World Affairs correspondent
- Miranda Carter - biographer
- Joan Cross - singer
- Emma Darwin - novelist
- Monica Dickens - writer
- Daisy Donovan - TV presenter
- Stephanie Flanders - BBC correspondent
- Sheila Forbes - educator
- Rosalind Franklin - scientist
- Gluck (Hannah Gluckstein) - artist
- Kitty Godfree - tennis player
- Harriet Harman - Labour MP and Cabinet minister
- Imogen Holst - musician
- Ursula Howells - actress
- Celia Johnson - actress, star of Brief Encounter
- Rachel Johnson - writer, sister of Boris Johnson MP
- Kathleen Kenyon - archaeologist
- Susan Kramer - Liberal Democrat MP
- Marghanita Laski - writer
- Nicola LeFanu - composer
- Emily Mortimer - actress
- Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin - astronomer
- Sophie Raworth - broadcaster
- Jessica Rawson - Warden, Merton College, Oxford
- Barbara Reynolds - scholar[1]
- Natasha Richardson - actress
- Joan Robinson - economist
- Georgina Rylance - actress
- Alexandra Shulman - magazine editor
- Imogen Stubbs - actress
- Dodie Smith - playwright
- Mavis Tate - Conservative MP and women's rights campaigner[2]
- Emma Tennant - novelist
- Carol Thatcher - journalist, daughter of Margaret Thatcher
- Angela Thirkell - novelist
- Samantha Weinberg - writer
- Rachel Weisz - actress
- Eirene White, Baroness White - Labour politician and journalist
- Kit Whitfield - novelist
- Shirley Williams - former Labour Education Secretary and co-founder of the SDP[3]
- Petronella Wyatt - journalist
Footnotes
- ^ REYNOLDS, Barbara at Who's Who online (accessed 26 November 2007)
- ^ TATE, Mavis Constance at Who's Who online (accessed 26 November 2007)
- ^ Shirley Vivien Teresa Brittain Williams from UXL Newsmakers (2005) (accessed 27 December 2007)
