PROSPECTUS
Uniquely St Paul’s Juniors
A unique setting on the banks of the Thames stpaulsschool.org.uk FOR 500 YEARS ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
In many ways, our aim at SPJ is a simple one: to enable each boy to be the best he can be.
We know that the boys who join us have incredible potential. Our ambitious, broad curriculum promotes scholarly rigour and sparks critical thinking. From individual, research-led assignments to collaborative projects, the boys are encouraged to push their intellectual boundaries. Calculated risktaking as well as mistake-making are celebrated as it is from these acts that the most exciting discoveries are often made.
LEADING THE WAY ACADEMICALLY
If your appetite has been whetted and you are curious to find out more, do please arrange a visit. I would be delighted to welcome you.
From the Head St Paul’s Juniors is a remarkable school full of remarkable people. It is a wonderfully inspiring place to learn. Our values underpin all that we do. The friendly, nurturing atmosphere engenders a rich sense of belonging, and we are all tremendously proud of our community spirit. Indeed, it is this overarching connectedness which enables the boys to flourish individually as well as collectively. We strive to develop in the boys a strong emotional intelligence, a character based on kindness and integrity, and an appreciation of the context in which they are learning. Thus, not only are the boys happy and confident but also service-oriented in their desire to be a force for good in the world.
OVER
Oliver Snowball Head
St Paul’s occupies 45 acres of its own green, open space on the banks of the Thames, giving our pupils the opportunity to play a wide range of sports all year round. Our campus is unique amongst London schools for the on-site facilities it offers – from boat club to theatre, art gallery to swimming pool, concert hall to engineering workshop. We encourage parents to book a tour of the school to see the range and quality of activities and facilities we offer, many of which have been recently upgraded.
Theory is put into practice. Whether it be through their experience of engineering, their participation in the Forest School or their support of charities, the boys are constantly building a set of practical skills to equip them for the future. Their days at school are varied, with art, sport, music, drama and a range of lunchtime clubs all featuring heavily. Regular adventures beyond the school gates also bring learning to life.
As you will see, the array of opportunities for active learning is truly vast.
Pupils joining the school in Years 3 and 4 have their own dedicated classrooms where the majority of their lessons are taught by form tutors. Two classroom assistants are available to support the youngest age groups. Through our house and ‘buddy’ systems, new pupils soon feel part of the whole St Paul’s Juniors community, and they quickly get to know daily routines. Pupils visit dedicated teaching spaces for science, sport and the arts, using the superb on-site facilities.
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
About St Paul’s Juniors
St Paul’s was the largest school in England upon its foundation in 1509, with 153 pupils. Uniquely St Paul’s
St Paul’s Juniors attracts bright, enthusiastic boys who are inquisitive and eager to learn. Boys may join at 7+, 8+ or 11+. St Paul’s Juniors shares facilities and expertise with the senior part of the school, and offers a secure and nurturing environment in which to develop and grow. St Paul’s pupils are talented, possess intellectual curiosity and have many interests outside the classroom. They have energy and zest. We want any academically able boy to come to St Paul’s Juniors on merit, regardless of family financial circumstances. Free and subsidised places are available every year for which the parent of any successful candidate may apply.
At the start of Year 5, lessons move to a senior school model, with pupils benefitting from teaching by subject specialists in all areas of the curriculum. Pupils meet their form tutor daily in their form room base, but they travel to lessons and take on more responsibility for keeping themselves organised.
Pupils joining at 11+ quickly settle into life at St Paul’s Juniors, supported by the ‘buddy’ system and by an adventurous residential trip at the start of the academic year that helps to develop new friendships across the expanded year group. Pupils at St Paul’s Juniors hold a place at the senior school and transfer at the end of Year 8, subject to good work and conduct.
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR
Meet a future medic. With his sights set on a future career as a doctor, this caring boy loves St Paul’s because ‘there are lots of clubs and activities and there’s something for everyone’. He enjoys cricket, playing in the orchestra and break time with his friends. He says that ‘the teachers are very helpful’, adding that if he’s ever finding anything difficult ‘they go more slowly to explain. They will even give up their break times to help you if you need it.’ Meanwhile, his parents feel he has developed many strong friendships and great communication skills. PROSPECTUS
Our values Kindness & Mutual Respect
The cornerstone of our core values: when consulting pupils, parents and staff, kindness was consistently chosen as the most important attribute of the school community.
A Junior boy is referred to as a ‘Coletine’, which helps keep in mind John Colet, our founder. Uniquely St Paul’s
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
Pastoral Care & Wellbeing
Boys of all types and from all backgrounds are looked after by a team of enthusiastic, talented and caring staff. Our pupils flourish under the individual attention we offer at St Paul’s Juniors, forming close bonds with their fellow pupils, staff and their form tutors who guide them through all aspects of daily life.
Pupils need to be happy and confident to enjoy life at school and to do their best, which is why we put such emphasis on pastoral care of the highest quality. We listen to pupils, valuing their opinions and respecting their feelings. We nurture our pupils’ emotional development, and encourage them to support each other, through our school’s six core values. These are: Kindness & Mutual Respect, Curiosity, Integrity, Perseverance, Scholarship and Humility. These key attributes were selected from a much longer list after extensive consultations with current pupils, parents and staff. These and related values are regularly featured in school assemblies, newsletters and in displays around school. They provide focal points for discussions around character traits we aim to foster in all our pupils. Break and lunch times are opportunities to make new friends and develop existing relationships as pupils play, relax and chat together. There are dozens of activities and clubs to choose from, and a range of play spaces, so it is almost impossible to be Therebored.aretimes, however, when a little additional support is required and our teachers are trained to look out for any problems or difficulties, no matter how small. The school is a beacon for safeguarding within the independent sector and is proud to support ‘Time to Change’, a campaign to change the way we think and act about mental health. The form tutor is always the first point of contact for pupils and parents. In addition, there is a large back-up team of supportive adults, including the classroom assistants, senior pastoral leaders, the nurses, school counsellor and Head of Learning Support.
We encourage pupils to ask questions confidently and analyse the subject matter. We want them to express opinions freely and to respond with reason, but also with empathy, when they are in turn challenged.
Academic Curriculum
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
Pupils are extremely successful in a wide variety of academic pursuits. Nationally, many win medals in the Junior Mathematical Olympiad, and there are regular successes in the Townsend Warner History Prize and the National Geographical Society’s Young Geographer of the Year. While we are guided by the National Curriculum in our academic planning, we are not restricted to it and we routinely plan for our pupils to go deeper and broader than national guidelines stipulate. The teaching staff at St Paul’s Juniors are highly qualified, engaging and inspiring subject specialists. We believe pupils learn best when they are actively involved in lessons, discovering, questioning and understanding for themselves. For our pupils, the curriculum is just the start. We want them to be fascinated by the process of discovery.
Whilst pursuing high academic standards, the school takes seriously its role in developing personal and social skills, and an understanding of the world beyond school. PSHE & Citizenship and Theology & Philosophy lessons help prepare pupils for their place in the adult world and a wide range of themes is covered in assemblies, which provide a communal start to most school days. Computing, Music, Art, Engineering, Forest School and Drama broaden and enrich the curriculum, and opportunities are taken to engage in co-curricular and interdisciplinary projects.
He also loves time with his classmates: his parents have noticed how much he has grown in independence, friendship and leadership skills.
The value of perseverance encourages us all to keep trying when success is not immediate, and to accept that we may need to tweak our approach to achieve the goal.
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS Our values Perseverance
Meet an open-minded all-rounder. ‘I find St Paul’s a really enjoyable place to be’, says this talented musician, scientist and mathematician who wants to keep his options open when it comes to future subjects and career. He appreciates the friendly atmosphere amongst pupils and teachers, and outside the classroom he enjoys solo and orchestral music, swimming, chess and drama. ‘The lessons are really interesting: when we did freedom of speech in English recently it was actually like studying philosophy. The teachers clarify each step and get me to understand stuff that might be difficult at first. In music ensemble practices we get better because our mistakes get picked up while they are still small.’
St Paul’s was a founding member of the Rugby Football Union – established on 26 January 1871 at a meeting attended by representatives from 21 clubs and held at the Pall Mall Restaurant, Regent Street. Uniquely St Paul’s
All pupils have Games twice a week, and there are PE lessons in addition. By fielding as many teams as possible across the ability range, we aim to ensure that every pupil has the opportunity of representing the school at least once a term. Rugby and football are played in the Autumn and Spring Terms with cricket and athletics on offer in the summer. Tennis, fencing, squash, badminton, table tennis, basketball, water polo and swimming are available either as part of PE lessons or within co-curricular clubs. St Paul’s Juniors organises a range of sports tours during the holidays. Recent examples include Barbados for cricket, Biarritz for rugby, NorthWest England and Spain for football and the French Alps for skiing.
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The sports programme serves to reinforce many of the traits and values we believe are important, including: commitment, honesty, leadership, resilience, respect, responsibility, self-discipline and teamwork.
ST SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
Sport
Throughout their time with us, pupils are encouraged to explore their creative sides by participating in a rich provision of concerts and plays. There is a wide range of performance and display spaces available and there always seems to be something going on in each of them. As part of our all-round education, we foster a strong interest in the arts. We encourage musical, dramatic and artistic endeavour from the earliest years here. Through specialist teaching of the arts from a young age, we provide opportunities for each pupil to develop to his full potential in a learning environment that is both challenging and enjoyable.
Arts
The ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
Meet a young volunteer. This pupil has helped to fundraise for the Canadapura orphanage in Sri Lanka – and was lucky enough to visit recently to see how donations were helping children there. He enjoys maths, inventing mechanical things and the Forest School programme, but his favourite thing about school ‘is that we are a community –everyone knows each other and says ‘Hello!’ in the morning. When we’re playing sport, there is really good teamwork.’ Our values Humility We aim to foster humility in our pupils – a realism about being a small part of a greater whole, and an appreciation that we can all learn from those whose experiences have been different to our own.
The breadth of clubs and activities on offer is extensive, even for a large independent school, and ranges from history to coding and chess to gardening. The wide variety of sport offered within the curriculum is supplemented through co-curricular options, and there is much on offer outside lessons in terms of drama and music too. Pupils are able to take individual music lessons on a wide range of instruments and there are orchestras, several ensembles and three choirs for pupils to experience the pleasure of communal Asmusic-making.wellasourregular concerts and dramatic productions, annual public speaking and playwriting competitions, St Paul’s Youth Theatre (SPYT) caters for those who like to be in the spotlight – and for those who prefer to be backstage doing technical things. Many of our clubs take place at lunchtime. The St Paul’s Juniors lunch break is long, giving everyone the opportunity to eat well, to play with friends, to just read in the Library, or to choose a more structured activity before returning for afternoon lessons. Our Dining Hall offers a freshly-cooked selection of hot and cold food each day and special diets are individually catered for. On many occasions during the school year, there are those special one-off events and visits that are remembered well into the future. Exhibitions of pupils’ work, visits to galleries, field trips and teambuilding expeditions, residential trips abroad, guest speakers at assembly, author talks and book signings – all these and more enrich school life a little further for pupils at St Paul’s Juniors.
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
The House system divides the school vertically into four groups. Within their houses, boys collaborate across year groups and strive to earn house points for good work, effort and behaviour. There is a spirit of friendly rivalry between the houses and there are several house competitions ranging from football to Christmas tree decorating. Three house names, Ash, Oak and Thorn, are taken from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, A Tree Song Beech was added later as a reminder of a particularly fine copper beech tree in the grounds of the place where pupils were evacuated during World War II.
Uniquely St Paul’s
Co-Curricular
Exploration beyond the classroom enables boys to relate what they learn in lessons to the world outside.
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS Our values Integrity Integrity is another of the school’s core values. We want our pupils to choose what’s right over what is simply easy.
Meet a fledgling reporter. From creative writing to rock music, science to reading, and football to geography, this future sports journalist’s favourite thing about St Paul’s is ‘the amazing sporting facilities and plenty of room to play at break time’. He likes the ‘great buddy system which helps you settle in at school’ and he is proud of having won the Personal Social Health Education & Citizenship award at the end of his first year. He also loved being able to take to the stage in the live final of the SPJ Factor talent show!
We encourage pupils to understand that with opportunity comes responsibility, and we place great store by the values of tolerance, understanding and service. Within school, and from the very beginning, we encourage pupils to take on roles of support and leadership. Each form elects a School Council representative and existing pupils buddy with new joiners. Members of ‘House Families’ look out for each other across the year groups and our older pupils apply for positions of responsibility such as School Captains and Heads of Houses. Digital Leadership, the Anti-Bullying Ambassador programme and captaincy of sports teams are all ways in which pupils may share in taking care of their community. We aim to be in touch with the outside world too. All characters, backgrounds and faiths are celebrated and welcome here. Our diverse society reflects the multi-cultural and international city to which we belong and prepares pupils for a future of work and service in the modern, interconnected world. Through our charitable initiatives, pupils are actively encouraged to give of themselves in the local community and raise money for charity. These are an important part of increasing awareness among pupils of those who are less fortunate than themselves and an ideal way of helping pupils to appreciate that there is life outside their school.
The junior and senior parts of the school work closely to ensure the transition is smooth. Several members of staff teach in both parts of the school and Heads of Departments co-ordinate schemes of work across the 7-18 age range under the academic leadership team. Progress through the whole of St Paul’s School depends on a pupil’s ongoing good work and conduct. There is no particular exam or hurdle that he must pass. A number of scholarships are awarded at the end of Year 8 based on a pupil’s performance over the previous two years and in the Year 7 and Year 8 end-of-year exams.
Social Responsibility Transition to the Senior School
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
General enquiries: spjreceptionist@stpaulsschool.org.uk
Our values Scholarship
What we learn with pleasure, we never forget.
State-of-the-art theatre swimming pool Forest School tennis courts cricket pitches all weather cricket nets rugby and football pitches
At the heart of our school culture is a commitment to academic excellence; we encourage pupils to make the most of a dynamic and stimulating curriculum that ignites imagination, challenges and inspires a lifelong love of learning.
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Our facilities include:
ST PAUL’S SCHOOL JUNIOR PROSPECTUS
Engineering
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All our school policies, along with terms and conditions, can be viewed or downloaded at stpaulsschool.org.uk/about/policies
St Paul’s School is a charitable company, limited by guarantee, registered in England. Registered office at Lonsdale Road, London SW13 9JT. Registered Company Number 6141973. Registered Charity Number 1119619.
© St Paul’s School, 2022.
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Postal address: St Paul’s School, Lonsdale Road, London SW13 9JT Telephone: 020 8748 3461 Website: Thisstpaulsschool.org.ukprospectusdescribes the ethos of St Paul’s School along with some additional information about current facilities, curriculum and co-curricular activities. It should be read in conjunction with the Further Information booklet. The prospectus is not part of any agreement between the parents and the school. Although believed to be accurate on 1 August 2022, some content may be subject to change.
How to Apply
World-class concert hall and technology suite
Alfred Mercier stpaulsschool.org.uk
Contacts Admission enquiries: 11plusentry@stpaulsschool.org.uk7and8plusentry@stpaulsschool.org.uk
Further details on arranging a visit, application deadlines, or how to apply can be found within the Further Information booklet or on our website. Our online application form can be found at: stpaulsschool.org.uk/admissions
byDesigned haime-butler.com
4G multi-use pitch sports hall and gym Dojo
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stpaulsschool.org.uk