St Paul's Girls' School

File:GUSTAV HOLST - St Paul's Girls' School Brook Green London W6 7BS.jpg

St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part of the endowment of the foundation set up by John Colet, to create a girls' school to complement the boys' school he had founded in the sixteenth century. The governors hold proprietorial responsibility, and some are representatives of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London.

The buildings for the school were designed by the architect Gerald Horsley, son of the painter John Callcott Horsley and one of the founder members of the Art Workers Guild.

The school has had several distinguished directors of music, most notably Gustav Holst (1905–34) and Herbert Howells (1936–62). Holst composed his St Paul's and Brook Green suites for the pupils at the school. Holst also composed what is arguably his best known work, "The Planets", while teaching at St Paul's. John Linton Gardner held a part-time position as director of music at the school.

St Paul's girls regularly perform extremely well in the GCSEs and A Levels.{{cite web|title=Results|url=http://www.spgs.org/what-we-offer/results|publisher=Spgs.org|access-date=14 October 2017|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116235145/http://www.spgs.org/what-we-offer/results|archive-date=16 January 2012|df=dmy-all}} In 2014, 99.3% of GCSEs were graded at A*s or As with 93.6% graded at A* alone. This was the highest ever A* percentage achieved by the school and in the country. In 2016, the school achieved the highest A Level results in its history with 60.0% of entries achieving an A* grade and 93.8% of entries achieving A* or A grades.

File:St Paul's Girls' School in London W6, spring 2013 (3).JPG

In 2023, 80.5% of GCSE entries were awarded a 9 grade and 94% of entries gained an 8 or 9 (which are equivalent to the old A* grade). This is the eleventh consecutive year that the proportion of A* equivalent grades has exceeded 90%.

In the 2023 A level and Pre-U results, 53% of entries attained an A* grade (or the Pre-U equivalent D1 or D2). 87.04% of entries achieved an A* or A grade and 97.1% a B grade or higher (or the Pre-U equivalent of M1 or M2).

Gustav Holst was director of music at the school from 1905 to 1934 when he died, including the period he composed his orchestral suites, including St Paul's Suite and The Planets. He was succeeded by Herbert Howells before John Gardner followed in the 1960s. Gardner wrote many memorable pieces for the school, including his popular Christmas carols Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day and The Holly and the Ivy. Hilary Davan Wetton was director of music from 1979 to 1994. In 1988 a CD with Children's favorite songs was released on the label Spectrum records.

File:St Paul's Girls' School in London W6, spring 2013 (5).JPG

The school's main theatre, where most school productions are staged, is named after alumna Celia Johnson. Other productions are staged in the drama studio which is a smaller space.

The school has an active rowing club called the St Paul's Girls' School Boat Club which is based on the River Thames. The club is affiliated to British Rowing (boat code SPG){{cite web|url=https://www.britishrowing.org/club/st-pauls-girls-school-bc/|title=Club details|website=British Rowing}} and has produced four British champion crews at the 1992 British Rowing Championships,{{cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0503330879/GDCS?u=oxfshlib&sid=GDCS&xid=d0e89336|last=Rosewell |first=Mike |title=MacLennan's attack pays off |newspaper=The Times|date=20 July 1992 |page=25 }} 2002 British Rowing Championships,{{cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0502445903/GDCS?u=oxfshlib&sid=GDCS&xid=5a02c165|title=The results service |newspaper=The Times|date=22 July 2002 |page=26 }} 2003 British Rowing Championships{{cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0501617650/GDCS?u=oxfshlib&sid=GDCS&xid=5a0eda47|title=Today's fixtures |newspaper=The Times|date=21 July 2003 |page=32 }} and 2011 British Rowing Championships.{{cite web|url=http://britchamps.org/sites/default/files/resultsarchive/res11sun.html|title=2011 Championships – Results of Sunday Racing|website=British Rowing Championships|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206040415/http://britchamps.org/sites/default/files/resultsarchive/res11sun.html|archive-date=6 December 2016}}

The headmistress of St Paul's Girls' School is known as the High Mistress.

• Frances Ralph Grey (d.1935), High Mistress 1903–1927
• Ethel Strudwick (1880–1954), High Mistress 1927–1948, daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Melhuish Strudwick
• Margaret Osborn (1906–1985), High Mistress 1948–1963
• Alison Munro (1914–2008), High Mistress 1964–1974Janet Gough, 'Munro , Dame Alison (1914–2008)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2012; online edn, May 2012 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/99742, accessed 31 Dec 2016]
• Heather Brigstocke, Baroness Brigstocke (1929–2004), High Mistress 1974–1989
• Helen Elizabeth Webber Williams (born 1938), High Mistress 1989–1992
• Janet Gough (born 1940), High Mistress 1993–1998
• Elizabeth Mary Diggory (1945–2007), High Mistress 1998–2006
• Clarissa Mary Farr (born 1958), High Mistress 2006–2017
• Sarah Fletcher, High Mistress 2017–present

{{See also|Category:People educated at St Paul's Girls' School}}

{{alumni|date=July 2024}}

Alumnae of the school, known as "Old Paulinas", include:

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• Gillian Ayres – artist
• Mischa Barton – actress
• Nicola Beauman – publisher, founder of Persephone Books
• Helen Binyon – artist
• Lesley Blanch – author
• Justin Blanco White – architect
• Celia Brayfield – author
• Sophie Hunter – theatre and opera director
• Brigid Brophy – dramatist
• Lucy Briers – actress
• Margaret Calvert – graphic artist
• Miranda Carter – biographer
• Edie Campbell – model
• Cecilia Chancellor – model
• Joan Cross – singer
• Emma Darwin – author
• Monica Dickens – author
• Suzi Digby – conductor and musician
• Flora Fraser – author
• Justine Frischmann – retired musician and artist
• Gluck (Hannah Gluckstein) – artist
• Francesca Gonshaw – actress
• Imogen Holst – musician
• Sarah Hobson – travel writer
• Ursula Howells – actress
• Celia Johnson – actress
• Rachel Johnson – journalist and editor
• Jane M. Joseph – musician and composer
• Amy Key Clarke – poet and author
• Marghanita Laski – author
• Nicola LeFanu – composer
• Amanda Levete – architect
• Alice Lowe – actress/author
• Jessica Mann – author
• Yvonne Mitchell – actress/author
• Emily Mortimer – actress
• Lucy Moss - playwright/director
• Santha Rama Rau – author
• Joely Richardson – actress
• Natasha Richardson – actress
• Georgina Rylance – actress
• Katherine Shonfield – architect
• Dodie Smith – playwright
• Catherine Storr – author
• Imogen Stubbs – actress
• Emma Tennant – author
• Angela Thirkell – author
• Mary Treadgold – author
• Salley Vickers – author
• Samantha Weinberg – author
• Rachel Weisz – actress
• Antonia White – author

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• Isabel dos Santos – wealthiest woman in Africa as of 2020{{cite news |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/luanda-leaks/from-colonization-to-kleptocracy-a-history-of-angola/ |title=From Colonization to Kleptocracy: A history of Angola |work=International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) |date=January 2020 |access-date=27 January 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Garside |first1=Juliette |last2=Burke |first2=Jason |title=Isabel dos Santos: president's daughter who became Africa's richest woman |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/isabel-dos-santos-president-daughter-africa-richest-woman-angola |access-date=19 February 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=19 January 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Burgis |first1=Tom |title=Lunch with the FT: Isabel dos Santos |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6ffd2edc-955e-11e2-a4fa-00144feabdc0 |access-date=19 February 2021 |work=The Financial Times}}
• Grace Beverley – founder of Tala and Shreddy

• Thomasina Miers – chef and founder of Wahaca restaurant chain
• Henrietta Lovell – founder of the Rare Tea Company

• Eleanora Carus-Wilson – economic historian
• Sheila Forbes – former principal, St Hilda's College, Oxford
• Henrietta Harrison – professor of Modern Chinese Studies, University of Oxford
• Jessica Rawson – warden, Merton College, Oxford
• Barbara Reynolds – scholar[http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6111760]{{dead link|date=May 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}
• Joan Robinson – economist

• Myrtle Solomon – pacifist and former chair War Resisters' International
• Ruth Wyner – homeless charity director

• Sonia Proudman – High Court Judge

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• Emily Buchanan – BBC World Affairs correspondent
• Clemency Burton-Hill – broadcaster and author
• Edie Campbell – model and socialite
• Victoria Coren Mitchell – presenter, poker player{{cite web|url=http://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/tournaments/ept/2014/ept10-sanremo-salute-victoria-coren-mitc-147838.shtml|title=EPT10 Sanremo: Salute Victoria Coren Mitchell – the EPT's first two-time champion|date=21 April 2014|publisher=Pokerstars.com|access-date=14 October 2017}}
• Daisy Donovan – TV presenter
• Stephanie Flanders – BBC Economics editor
• Amelia Gentleman – journalist
• Bridget Harrison – journalist
• Bronwen Maddox – senior journalist at 'The Times' newspaper
• Veronica Pedrosa – Al Jazeera English correspondent
• Sophie Raworth – news reader
• Susanna Reid – news presenter
• Anne Scott-James – journalist and editor
• Alexandra Shulman – editor-in-chief, Vogue 1992–2017[http://www.vogue.co.uk/biographies/080422-alexandra-shulman.aspx Alexandra Shulman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206022753/http://www.vogue.co.uk/biographies/080422-alexandra-shulman.aspx |date=6 December 2010 }} Vogue UK, 22 April 2008
• Carol Thatcher – journalist
• Erica Wagner – author, critic, and literary editor of The Times
• Eirene White, Baroness White – journalist and Labour politician
• Petronella Wyatt – journalist

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• Jane Bonham Carter – Liberal Democrat peer
• Vicky Ford, Conservative MP and formerly MEP
• Harriet Harman – Labour MP, former Acting Leader of the Labour Party, former Leader of the Opposition and former Cabinet minister[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7094652/Harriet-Harman-I-dropped-my-cut-glass-accent-to-fit-in-with-Labour.html Harriet Harman: I dropped my cut-glass accent to fit in with Labour - Telegraph]
• Susan Kramer – former Liberal Democrat MP
• Mavis Tate – Conservative MP and women's rights campaigner

[http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6200768]{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}

• Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Conservative MP
• Jo Valentine, Baroness Valentine – member of the British House of Lords
• Eirene White, Baroness White – Labour Minister of State then life peer
• Shirley Williams – former Labour Education Secretary and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_2005/ai_n19141236|title=FindArticles.com – CBSi|publisher=Findarticles.com|access-date=14 October 2017}}

• Kate Bingham – venture capitalist
• Ruth Bowden – anatomist
• Caroline Deys – doctor
• Rosalind Franklin – scientist, research led to discovery of the structure of DNA
• Jean Ginsburg – physiologist, endocrinologist
• Christine Hamill – mathematician
• Kathleen Kenyon – archaeologist
• Irene Manton – botanist
• Sidnie Manton – entomologist
• Onora O'Neill – philosopher
• Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin – astronomer
• Catherine Peckham – doctor and scientist
• Joan Beauchamp Procter – zoologist, herpetologist

• Kitty Godfree – tennis player
• Lara Prior-Palmer – equestrian
• Cecilia Robinson – cricket
• Zoe de Toledo – rowing

• Margaret Cole – socialist politician, former Classics teacher
• Gustav Holst – composer, pioneer of music education for girls
• Nicola LeFanu – director of music during the 1970s
• Clara Taylor – chemist and science teacher, 1913-1921

The school was in the news in November 2017 with allegations of sexual abuse between the 1970s and 1990s.{{cite news |first=Sally |last=Weale |title=St Paul's Girls' School in London at centre of sexual abuse claims |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/14/st-pauls-girls-school-london-historical-sexual-abuse-claims |date=14 November 2017 |access-date=4 December 2018 }} One teacher resigned on 22 November 2017 amidst these allegations.{{cite news |first=Sally |last=Weale |title=Teacher at London girls' school resigns after claims of sexual abuse |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/22/teacher-at-st-pauls-girls-school-in-london-resigns-after-claims-of-sex-abuse |date=23 November 2017 |access-date=5 December 2018 }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|St Paul's Girls' School (London)}}

• [http://www.spgs.org Official School Website]
• ISI Inspection [http://www.isi.net/schools/7035/ Reports]
• [https://www.isc.co.uk/schools/england/london-area/hammersmith/st-pauls-girls-school/ Profile] on the ISC website
• [https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/schools/st-pauls-girls-school-london Profile] at The Good Schools Guide
• [https://www.tatler.com/article/st-pauls-girls-tatler-school-guide Profile] at Tatler Schools Guide

{{Schools and colleges in Hammersmith and Fulham}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul's Girls' School}}

Category:Private girls' schools in London

Category:Educational institutions established in 1904

Category:Private schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Category:Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association

Category:History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Category:1904 establishments in England