The Pauline 2021-22

2021-22

255 END MATTER

Editorial

When I first started teaching at St Paul’s and attended my very first whole school assembly, I was flabbergasted by the list of pupil achievements read out. Sure, I was aware of the school’s reputation, but that still left me unprepared for the lengthy roll-call of accomplishments. Five years later, and, as I take up the editorship of The Pauline, I am astounded once again. We have a remarkable student body who do remarkable things. This can and does mean prestigious and enviable silverware, prizes, and awards. But it is also about how Paulines enjoy so many different things for their own sake: the passion, the enthusiasm, and the adventure. Editing the many reports that go to make up The Pauline, I am astounded not only by the many impressive victories and successes humbly recorded within, but even more so by the breadth of activities going on and the sense of participation, fellowship, and élan that shines through. To take just one example, consider the U14C football team. By their own admission, they lost every match – but look at how they came together as a team, never lost heart, gave it their all, and enjoyed every last moment. Their season report is an inspiration to us all.

If there is a theme for the year, then it is unsurprisingly the fact that almost everyone is happy to return to a fuller programme of activities now that COVID restrictions have been eased. There is renewed appreciation for things that might have been taken for granted before. And it has felt good to brush off the cobwebs, shake off the dust, and get stuck in again.

Acknowledgement and enormous thanks go to Suzanne Mackenzie, who steps down as editor this year. Suzanne’s first edition of The Pauline came out in 2014, and during her tenure she has overseen expansion in its coverage and professionalisation in its design. By all accounts, she has done a fantastic job and provided an important and valued service to the St Paul’s community. Our thanks also go to Katy Waterfield, who steps down from her role as assistant editor as she leaves for a new school. This leaves me with the altogether unenviable task of following in Suzanne’s footsteps without Katy’s support – though assistant editor Guy Larlham’s continued presence re-assures.

Daniel Brigham Editor of The Pauline

Editor: Daniel Brigham

Design: Haime & Butler

Print: Lavenham Press

SCHOOL LIFE

From the High Master

Sally-Anne Huang

The academic year 21/22 might be seen as one of transitions. We started in September still very much in a period of uncertainty. Testing for COVID was part of our routine and the Sixth Form and Upper Eighth were still waiting for clarification regarding examinations. Even over the Christmas period, we wondered about the announcement of another lockdown.

It is, therefore, with exceptional joy that we reached June and July of 22. We can look back on seasons filled with fixtures and a full programme of concerts and theatre. We have even begun to reinstate school trips. A special event held for the Class of 2020, whose St Paul’s journey had been cut short so abruptly, only highlighted the celebrations performed in full for the class of 22. They themselves deserve special mention for facing public exams with poise and determination after a two-year gap including the cancellation of examinations for their own GCSEs.

Whilst the pandemic may have dented social skills in some areas by imposing forced isolation, my own feeling is that the St Paul’s community have, if anything, come to value interaction more. Never again will we take for granted the chance to have activities crossing year groups or partner schools. Never again will we assume that access to live sport or music is a given. And, although the pages of The Pauline quite rightly celebrate the successes of the participants in activities, I would also like to pay tribute to the supporters – the many, many pupils, parents and staff who turn up to cheer and to share in the

passion and talents of others. We are a community well known for producing independent individuals but the pandemic has also emphasised the value of gathering together as much as possible.

And The Pauline itself is also undergoing a period of transition this year. I would like to thank Suzanne Mackenzie for her eight years at the helm of this wonderful publication which shares and preserves every Pauline year with such enthusiasm. She hands over to Dan Brigham who will now steer its course fully into the next stage of St Paul’s history and a post-pandemic world. I hope you enjoy reading about the year of 21/22 as much as the pupils enjoyed living it.

I hope you enjoy reading about the year of 21/22 as much as the pupils enjoyed living it.

Captain’s Address

It sometimes feels impossible to stand out when you are surrounded by such unrelenting excellence. In these pages lie reams upon reams of international sporting successes, Olympiad victories, community collaborations, and far, far more. Indeed, the thick stack of ‘The Pauline’ magazines sat in front of me as I write only makes clear that this excellence is very much a historical continuity. Over my five years here, St Paul’s has been and remains a place of total application, scholarship (Prof. Bailey’s favourite), and creativity. You only need look at the rows of – shall we say unorthodox – poster designs lining the school hallways to prove that last one. So how does the curious beast that is the Pauline do it? How do we find our place in such a labyrinth of virtuosity?

Ultimately, you have to buy into the community. Drilled into us from the early days of Fourth Form History and English is the necessity of the critical eye – and the Pauline’s approach to the dining hall often seems to prove our penchant for cynicism. Yet to stand out, you must have hope, and believe that your work can make a change. Indeed, the last year saw the development of new groups helping to make that change: the Values Committee, new Equalities societies, ACS Network, and the Inclusion Alliance. They may not immediately bring the school to utopia, but they indicate the massive strides that school students and staff are taking towards producing an ever more inclusive and thoughtful environment, and events like the Joint Conference on misogyny provided a concrete and enriching addition to the year. They only happened because students and staff believed that

it was worth it and were willing to give up their time to help: it is this selflessness and commitment to the community that characterises the truly stand out Paulines.

And yet all this talk of flagship events glosses over much of the mundane reality of Pauline life. Your reputation may not be made by your performance on your most recent German vocab test but it is certainly down to how you behave in daily life. Your interpersonal skills – being kind to the support staff, figuring out the correct way to word that last-minute extension request email before your English essay is due – will take you far. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of one classmate I had last year, teachers are now rarely fooled by the classic ‘corrupt file’ submission on a Google Classroom task. To succeed, you must be able to navigate the complex world of other people, and ultimately give them the respect that they deserve.

Plenty of things will remain the same next year: Erasmus will still be mentioned in every speech possible; Paulines will still never do anything before the last minute; and St Paul’s will continue to produce excellence. But as the club system crumbles and houses rise in their place, you all have a chance to shape the future of the school over the next year. I may fade into irrelevance, consigned to the foreword of this magazine, but the same qualities of commitment and kindness will remain the surest way to stand out among the talent and skill that characterises St Paul’s, and shape that future for the better. Good luck with the coming year –and thank you for allowing me the pleasure of being your Captain.

Over my five years here, St Paul’s has been and remains a place of total application, scholarship and creativity.

George Davies

It sometimes feels impossible to stand out when you are surrounded by such unrelenting excellence.

Friday Briefings

George, Benny and Shack

Best of Briefings

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of… that’s right, the Friday Briefings! Over the past year, myself, Shack, Benny, and a host of characters have graced the screens of your 2:15 Friday tutor sessions with a three-segment show: a series of congratulations to check up on the school’s activity over the week, an interview with a member of support staff to appreciate the work they do, and a segment of whatever mischief we can come up with in the hopes of entertaining you all. It has taken us from Hammersmith Bridge gate to the science building roof, and it has been fun every step of the way. To commemorate this year’s briefings, we got together and came up with a few favourite memories for each segment – time for a trip down memory lane!

Congratulations

1. Kicking it off with some Fleetwood Mac, we agreed that the infamous dancing episode by far wins the most embarrassing segment of the year. Despite our painful lack of moves, we saw some committed guest dance appearances from Fourth Formers to members of the 1st XI football squad – a testament to the greatness of Stevie Nicks.

2. Our second favourite congratulations came while (and perhaps because) George had been mysteriously given COVID, to the glee of a newly appointed VC Benny Harrison. The ensuing mime and choral singing from the Shack-Benny partnership in the Colet Hall was as inane as you’d expect.

3. A final favourite moment during our weekly roundup came at the end of the Winter term, where George and Shack toured the school to find out who was naughty and who was nice before Christmas. We heard from all corners of the school, and even got exclusive access to the D&D society! Navigate a new system of learning but there should be no fear about making them, and even less about learning from them.

Interviews

1. It would be remiss of us not to bring up one of our earliest interviews, which saw Benny don a beekeeping suit and learn about the inhabitants of the science building roof, with the help of Mr Carter and Andreas. This interview particularly stands out for a massive fail on our behalf – after filming Mr Carter’s 30 minute tour of the beehive, we realised that we forgot to record the audio! After a very kind opportunity to re-interview Mr Carter, it all worked out okay, but it was still a heart-stopping moment.

2. Present throughout all of our interviews was Benny’s endless penchant for mischief. It’s hard to single out any interview in particular, but Will Shine from catering, Justin from the services team, and Steve from the groundskeepers had a particularly cheeky interviewer to deal with – and all handled the jester admirably!

3. A final behind-the-scenes fail came at the end of the Spring Term, when Benny asked various members of the school about their favourite moment of term. All was going swimmingly, until Ms McLaughlin pointed out to us the very loud profanities going on in the background of an interview… some rapid editing followed.

Intros, Outros, and Everything Inbetween

1. It may have taken YONKS to edit together, but our version of The Office seemed to be a fan favourite, with even the Deputy Head Academic commenting on his enjoyment of the show. Perhaps a mockumentary at the school is in order?

2. With the smiling faces of the 1st XV rugby front row stepping in for Rudolph and his crew, we thoroughly enjoyed putting our English skills to the test for our Pauline rendition of “Twas the night before Christmas” at the end of the Winter Term. The coveted Pulitzer Prize for Poetry unfortunately did not appear, but it was good fun nevertheless.

3. And ultimately, our favourite japes had to involve YOU, the average Pauline. When Shack and Benny disappeared, your enthusiasm for the camera kept the show going with some excellent auditions for the role of host coming through, which no doubt will keep the Friday Briefings strong for years to come. ❚

These 156 minutes or so of Friday briefings could not have happened without the support of staff, and particularly Ms McLaughlin, co-ordinator and content advisor for the year – thank you. A massive thank you also to all those who were generous enough to be interviewed throughout the year, as well as to Miss Ryan, for her regular help in navigating the endless departments of the school system. Finally, a thank you to all viewers, for indulging our madness and for your support. This was a true privilege. From all of us here at the Friday Briefing… see you next time!

Boarding House

What is the boarding house like? Are you allowed out? What do you even eat? All of these questions, and others which are most likely unsuitable for publication, are common questions which we often have to field from our friends.

Contrary to popular belief, the boarding house is not a totalitarian regime. In fact, whilst it is in the unusual position of being a very small section of the school as a whole, the relatively small numbers is what makes boarding at St Paul’s so special. A core group of around forty, with the addition of flexi-boarders, means that people of different nationalities, interests, and even age groups all come together in a unique sense of community – where else are you going to find an unofficial karaoke night? The school facilities are readily available: from the music school, to the gym. If you enter the common room, you will undoubtedly come across a fiercely contested game of FIFA, or perhaps a group of pool playing boarders. For us, sleep depravity is a thing of the past: no longer do we have to trek across London, and no longer do we have the unbridled horror of 6.00am alarm. Our schedules revolve around that of the school, but on the other hand, independence and self-organisation is an invaluable lesson which we all learn very quickly.

For the majority, who do not go home over the weekends, there is a plethora of activities to undertake. The pizza nights are always a great laugh, with the current debate raging around the various merits of Basilicos vs Dominos, and the shoddy defending of a certain Harry Maguire. House trips are also a particular highlight, certainly one of the best parts of boarding life, with the pre-trip sceptics being silenced each time. This year, we’ve been treated to many fantastic house trips, such as clay pigeon shooting at the prestigious Holland & Holland, where our new Vice House Captain failed to hit a single clay. Our annual trip to Daytona Go-Karting remains a fan favourite, with Mr. Passmore often seen flaunting his winner’s medal. Our trip to Leith’s Cookery School taught us to make Michelin-quality steaks, with authentic Chimichurri and Hollandaise sauce, although the House Captain’s Hollandaise tasted like a biochemical

weapon. The boarding house even managed to get some complimentary tickets to a Brentford game, albeit against Burnley. The most recent addition to our trips programme was a high speed boat trip down the Thames: a brilliant suggestion from Julie, our wonderful matron, whose invaluable contributions are essential in helping to keep the boarding house afloat.

In terms of our daily routine, we have a choice of a full English breakfast with cereal and pastries, before going into school for morning tutors. During lunch, boarders can return to the boarding house to relax, or to work, and are free to bring in guests as well. After school, we have plenty of free time where we are able to go out as we wish, albeit facing the silent disapproval of the Duty Master upon returning with yet another bubble tea, followed by dinner and our two hour prep session.

While everything else that has been mentioned plays its part in making the boarding house the place that it is, ultimately, living with your friends has got to be the best part of the boarding house experience.

I hope that this has given you a small taster into boarding life. ❚

Under arrest after attempted escape from Guantanamo Bay

A well stocked fridge ft. Jujube tea and lemon meringue pie

Inclusion and Character

Paulines in Conversation with Dr Malcolm Cocks, Head of Inclusion and Dr Phil Gaydon, Head of Character Education.

N B-C: Can you tell us about your roles: what does it mean to be a Head of Inclusion and Head of Character Education?

Dr Gaydon:

My role is to ensure that the school is providing enough high-quality opportunities for pupils to actively and thoughtfully develop their character across our academic and co-curricular programmes. What those opportunities should look like though is shaped by answers to other questions such as “What values do we think we should promote?” So, a big part of my work this year is consulting across the Pauline community and reviewing our current core values of Faith, Scholarship, Humility, Charity and Character.

Dr Cocks:

I want to help foster a culture in the school where diversity is valued and where every member of the community finds belonging on equal terms. I work to ensure we all have equal stakes in the community and enjoy equal access to the school’s resources, that every pupil sees themselves reflected in our policies and protocols, as well as what and how we teach in the classroom. I try to facilitate conversation in the school and perhaps disrupt normative ways of thinking so we arrive at a culture that is restless where we are constantly refining and testing our ideals and values.

N B-C: Dr Cocks, inclusion is often mentioned in the same breath as diversity – are they the same thing? What’s the difference?

Dr Cocks:

Diversity is a descriptor and a value that we aspire to whereas inclusion is the collective work we need to undertake to ensure that the benefits of diversity are leveraged for the whole Pauline community. Diversity isn’t always a guarantee that we find belonging or feel included – but it’s the starting point.

N B-C: Dr Gaydon, what are the priorities that lie ahead for us as a school in terms of values and character education?

Dr Gaydon:

In the short-term, I think that we need to get a clear understanding of why the school has the core values it does in order to make sure that the foundation we’re building our character education programme on is as solid as it can be. From there, it is about asking what these values look like in each aspect of school life and systematically targeting the best places for long-lasting impact. For example, the expanded PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) curriculum will be the perfect place for embedding a lot of active reflection and values-based teaching and learning. Another key target will be the continued support of the new student-led Values Committee and providing it with more opportunities to run school-wide initiatives, be part of discussions with pupils from outside St Paul’s, and head-up inter-year peer-to-peer learning.

But as current members of the Values Committee and as people who have taken an active role in a variety of school groups, what do you think are the most urgent priorities?

F O’B:

A key focus at St Paul’s should be the nurturing of a culture in which students feel safe challenging the potentially hurtful words and actions of others.

I am determined that students should feel safe in the knowledge that –when engaging in those more difficult conversations – they have the backing of the wider school community. More engagement between older and younger pupils can potentially provide a strong means of cultivating a greater sense of community, solidarity, and allyship among students. Ideally, I would like students in the Fourth Form to feel just as safe in helping their friends find the right words with which to articulate themselves as students in the Upper Eighth do.

N B-C:

My education at St Paul’s has been extremely rewarding, but I do feel that at times its focus has been too narrow. Academic qualifications are undoubtedly important, but the school should also emphasise character. Service to a wider community, whether that be Barnes, London or the world, rather than a restrictive individualism, needs greater emphasis. Recalibrating the school’s priorities, with a more rounded approach, emphasising kindness, tolerance and an awareness of pupils’ position within a wider system, as well as of their privilege, would be very welcome.

N B-C: Dr Cocks, what do you think are some of the most urgent priorities for schools in terms of inclusion?

Dr Cocks:

This is a hard question to answer because inclusion is tied up with well-being and safeguarding and ensuring that vulnerable groups feel safe is always a priority. It’s not possible to identify all our needs here without leaving people out and that’s against the spirit of inclusion!

But if I limit myself for the moment to three things: Inclusion and representation of Black students and staff is a priority. Sexism is a contested discourse and sometimes the debate can feel alarmingly polarised or alienating for many in our community. We have work to do also to secure better inclusion for gender nonconforming students and staff.

A challenge for us in all of these areas is how to have open and productive debate in a world where difference can often feel like conflict. We need to re-imagine the role of education in helping us to navigate an increasingly polarised media where we view, share, circulate, bear witness to, and sometimes just ignore a panoply of images and ideas that code sometimes troubling narratives in terms of sexism, or racism, or homophobia.

F O’B:

Your point that we need to be able to recognise, resist, and call out these insidious cultures is really urgent. We all need to recognise our roles in shaping the kind of future we want for ourselves and each other and the work we need to do to ensure we are an open, diverse, inclusive community.

I think we also need to think about our community in a demographic sense: how do our recruitment and admissions processes support our aims? Can we say with integrity to future teachers and pupils who have been historically under-represented here that this is a place where they will find welcome and belonging. What do you think?

NL:

We are already beginning to do a good job through the Equalities Societies that we have built up and combined in the most recent year. This creates a group of people who get together to talk about issues in the school community in a regular and comfortable situation. I think that the next step is to expand to the wider pupil body, such as with the recent Holocaust Remembrance presentation in Friday Tutors. Increasing opportunities like this normalises open discussion on these issues for the wider Pauline community.

N B-C: What difference has the establishment of the African and Caribbean Society (ACS) made to St Paul’s?

Dr Cocks:

We recognise that Black students remain under-represented in the school. Isolation is one of the biggest challenges we face as a minoritized group. The ACS is great because it’s part of a wider network of ACS Societies at universities and increasingly in schools that gives small or isolated communities of Black students a collective visibility and a wider network of support. Schools in general can be really tough spaces to navigate for Black students because

they remain largely white spaces: our histories but also pedagogies, our assumptions about the goals and even the methods of acquiring knowledge and its applications are steeped in a culture that has not been decolonised. So the ACS also allows us to explore and express aspects of our African & Caribbean identities and histories that are often suppressed in schools and crucially to share them with the wider community and to say, this also has value, this is also our collective culture: let’s learn to value it.

NL:

Making people think about their actions can have a great effect as most of the sexist attitudes that people have are unconscious and when you challenge someone they will often realise they have caused harm. This should not be done in an aggressive way as this leads most people to end up in a defensive state where they are not open to learning. Constructively informing someone on the negative results of their actions is the best way to respond to sexist attitudes.

F O’B:

All sexist remarks should be responded to in some way – awkward silence is the least desirable response, as the offending sexist attitudes remain unchecked or reinforced. I think that inadvertently sexist attitudes and remarks, within the context of a school, should be approached firmly, but with constructive learning in mind. It must, however, always be made clear that making harmful sexist comments is fundamentally wrong.

Dr Cocks:

NL and F O’B, I really agree that context is important here and that silence can never be an option. I also don’t think a kind of universal humanism that says let’s all just be nice people is not always helpful right now, even if it’s well-intentioned. Nor is a kind of hazy laissez-fairism the right approach. Yes, it would be lovely if we could all just be

good human beings and never mention masculinity again. But not talking about or not addressing the issue would be irresponsible. Understanding the cultures that have enabled genderbased violence and sexism is important so we can disrupt them because they undermine us all.

N B-C: Given the greater visibility of gender nonconforming people, is the concept of a single sex school now a contradiction in terms?

N B-C is Chair of the Values Committee, a Committee Member of FemSoc and a Member of the Inclusion Alliance.

NL is Co-chair of FemSoc, a Committee Member of Pride Soc and on the Values Committee.

F O’B is Head of PrideSoc, on the Values Committee and a Member of the Inclusion Alliance. ❚

Careers and Universities

Universities update

It has been another excellent year for the Careers and Universities Department. Even with the changing landscape of the higher education market, our pupils have worked phenomenally hard and have been expertly guided by our advisers to achieve some outstanding results.

Our UK university offers have been impressive. Headlines include that 98% of UK university applicants hold at least one offer from a Russell Group university (including St Andrew’s) and an increase in Oxbridge offers to 42 places (22 Cambridge and 20 Oxford). Furthermore, 63 pupils received offers from Bristol, 63 from UCL, 53 from Durham, 49 from Imperial, 48 from Edinburgh and 24 from LSE. We have also celebrated the success of our artists who have gained places at Central Saint Martins, a world-renowned arts and design college, and the Architectural Association.

UCAS and Durham University, as well as subject specific sessions focused on personal statement writing and summer preparation for their applications. Finally, our Careers and Universities Fair returned for the first time since 2019. We welcomed 25 institutions – a combination of universities, employers and gap year providers – to take over the Sports Hall. Fifth Form, Sixth Form, Lower Eighth and partnership pupils were able to chat to the delegates, pose questions, and most importantly grab some excellent prospectuses, pens, and tote bags! We look forward to being able to expand this event in future years in collaboration with SPGS.

From our US section, the results have also been excellent. In an extremely competitive year, pupils gained places at some of the most prestigious universities and colleges such as Stanford, Brown, Yale, Duke, Brown and Chicago. Our Non-US International applicants have also had similar success with offers from institutions such as Bocconi University, McGill University, Queen’s University Ontario, University of Toronto and the University of Hong Kong.

Moving to the incoming cohort of university applicants, our Lower Eighths completed a course of five university lessons during the spring term. In the summer term, we hosted a series of university preparation events such as our medical conference and US bootcamp. Our annual SPS and Partnership University Day was another highlight and included talks from

Our pupils are hugely well served by our wonderful team of university advisers and counsellors who once again have offered brilliant support, advice and guidance to all pupils. The team has been superbly aided by Mrs Jill Richards, our Careers and Universities Administrator, who joined us in September and has already improved the department greatly. We have also been extremely fortunate to have two outstanding Colet Fellows this year; Amy Henry and Nitin Rao. We thank them for their hard work and creativity they have brought to the whole team and wish them all the best for their future endeavours.

Careers update

Designed to allow pupils to explore possible career pathways, university courses and build their portfolios, the platform has been integrated into school life successfully. Fourth Form have been completing careers scavenger hunts aiming to familiarise themselves with the programme, whilst Eighth Form have been using it to conduct higher education research.

Of course we had our usual National Careers Week celebrations, this year in a hybrid format with talks both online and in-person. This meant we were able to invite our partner school pupils to attend from afar and increase the scope and variety of our speakers. From talks on ‘careers in F1’ and options trading to Marketing and Law – we had it all covered! The week coincided with International Women’s Day which presented a perfect opportunity for an ‘all-female’ speaker programme and a special Topical Tuesday with Natasha Pope, Goldman Sachs MD.

Our Sixth Formers completed their one-to-one careers interviews with our advisers, after a series of personality and interests profiling, allowing them to carefully select their A Level choices for the following year. A huge thank you must go to our team of careers advisers who have supported their advisees through this process.

Our student-led careers society, ‘FutureSoc’, continued throughout the year. Sessions included ‘How to find work experience’, ‘Planning your gap year’, ‘Building your network’, and pupil-led talks on ‘Careers in Tech’ and ‘Careers using Psychology’.

The summer term was jam packed with university and careers events. We were delighted to invite Executive Director and leadership coach, Carrie Coombs, back to St Paul’s to deliver our annual CV workshop to Lower Eighths.

We were also able to award Myles Howorth with an AitkenRadermacher Bursary Gap Year Award. The award enables Paulines to undertake expeditions concerned with aspects of conservation or with scientific research projects related to the management and understanding of the environment and we look forward to hearing about Myles’ experiences on his return.

Looking ahead to next year, I am thrilled that Dr Dan Brigham will be taking over as Head of Careers who will bring fresh perspectives, ideas and new energy to the department. ❚

This year was the year of Unifrog! After careful consideration, we were really excited to launch the award-winning careers and destinations platform, Unifrog, to all years groups.

Glenn Manoff Chief Marketing Officer at Riverlan

Entrepreneurship

Nick Troen – Founder of Start it and Head of Entrepreneurship, St Paul’s School

In addition to the HFX business strategy game in February, several Lower Eighths have spent the year taking part in the Young Enterprise company programme, making a successful return to in-person selling.

The top performing companies Nutree (MD Charles Calzia) and Ceintury (MD Sabeer Sahwney) accomplished impressive feats this year, winning the Euronext Blue award and the Richmond and Kingston area final respectively. Nutree are a FoodTech startup which helps people find healthier and more sustainable food products via a chrome extension and app, while Ceintury hand-manufactures sustainable cork belts which are carbon negative due to the CO2 absorbing abilities of re-growing cork trees.

For younger years the Fifth Form Restaurant Design challenge was a huge success with CEO Frank Yeung of the Mr Bao restaurant chain judging Austin’s Kebabs to be the best of an impressively professional field. Sixth Formers were also excited to return to school after GCSEs to embark on the Y11 Summer Entrepreneurship Course, working with partner school students to create sustainable business concepts that solved one or more of the UN Sustainable Development goals. Every morning of the course saw students treated to a variety of inspiring speakers including Peter Higgins, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt, Andy Shovel, founder of THIS, Rob Gardener, Director of Investments at SJP Wealth, Stephen Rockman of Merism Capital, Rahil Patel of Kreos Capital, and

Under the Start it Entrepreneurship Programme, a St Paul’s initiative created back in 2018, the spirit of enterprise has returned with a vengeance in the Pauline community despite almost two years of various restrictions.

Francesca Tanza Lans, CEO of The Alexander Partnership. A judging panel of Check Warner (Ada Ventures), Paul Traynor (VC investor and author) and Jessie Frahm, CEO of Planet One point five, had to make a tough call but eventually agreed that Mevan Wijayatilake and Fergus Walsh’s Chemetric, a concept that recycles food waste into biofuels, had the best all-round idea, business plan and financial projections.

The year was rounded off by the annual St Paul’s Entrepreneur Forum which saw serial investor Lars Tvede, Anil Stocker, founder of Market Finance, and John Ramsay, founder of Sociability, discuss the innovations and trends of the future in a variety of business sectors. Next year the Start it programme is looking to further expand its offering amongst partner schools as well as developing the Start it PRO incubator to help support and nurture student and alumni business ideas. If you are interested in being involved in any capacity please don’t hesitate to get in touch as we enter an exciting chapter in entrepreneurship education and development. ❚

Upper Eighth Leavers

Adams A

Aggala V

Ahilan A

Ahmed-Mekky A

Akyol K

Al-Killidar H

Amsellem C

Atkinson E

Averre J

Ayub S

Bailhache S

Bailo T

Baines A

Banit J

Berman H

Beverley J

Bidwell J

Bird M

Bonas B

Bose M

Bottomley S

Bowman M

Boyd-Carpenter N

Brandreth-Stroud K

Bretherton J

Brown M

Burhanuddin O

Butt H

Buxton D

Cahill-Patten J

Catmull J

Chan K

Chandwani J

Chappell-Pike T

Chen R Chilkoti M

Ching G

Chohhan S

Coates E

Cohen M

Collins H

Corcoran L

Cubbon J

Davies G

Davies J

Demol E

Direnzo I

Dominjon E

Doughty E

Dougramachi M

Dubey Y

Elder C

Elliot-King F

Elmasry K

English T Enukidze A

Fakih G

Fakiolas S

Fenner L

Fielding J

Fizesan E

Garcia Rodenas R

Garzarelli C

Gonsai K

Gordon L

Grimstone C

Gupta K

Haas N

Hamid A

Haralambous Z

Harker B

Harrison B

Hatfield O

Henke A

Hill J

Hitchcock W

Horsell B

Howorth M

Hunt C

Hussain A

Imam-Sadeque A

Iskandar M

Jacob B

Jain A

Jelassi Z

Jensen T

Ji L

Jian E

Kafton C

Kahane L

Karim S

Kenny A

Kim K

Kirdar-Smith S

Kirkpatrick L

Klein Wassink L

Kobrin J

Koo Y

Langer T

Lavington F

Law B

Lawson J

Lawson S

Leung C

Leventis J

Levy T

Lim E

Lim-Faghihi J

Lit R

Livesey G

Lloyd F

Mahony T

Manoff M

Marks J

Marshall A

Marson S

Marsoner S

McAleer A

McDowell R

McFie E

Moghanchi-Zadeh K

Monferrer D

Moras J

Nightingale R

Noubir S

Nwoko K

Odgers L

Onillon O

Oomer R

OsmanA

Oudkerk J

Patel A

Pattem D

Pavey O

Pervez M

Petter B

Pilnik R

Popat A

Ramanan D

Ramirez G

Richards A

Ridley A

Roberts B

Roberts J

Ryklin T

Saldanha-Blackwood A

Samarasinghe H

Sarin R

Sartori di Borgoricco N

Saunders F

Sciamma J

Shackleton W Shah E

D

Stalbow Z

Stanger T

Stock F

Stokeld T

Sun R

Takhar A

Tandon A

Taylor D

Taylor J

Thomas O

Thompson O

Thomson W

Thorogood T

Trotman J

Turley J

Turner H

Usai L

Vicente N

Vitou O

von Bismarck B

Warshaw T

Weil B

Wheeler C

Whitham A

Williams S

Wilson L

Wrench M

Yuan C

Zezza N

Zhao J

School Prefects

Alexander Adams

Kaan Akyol

Eddie Atkinson

Senan Bottomley

Nikolas Boyd-Carpenter

Jago Cahill-Patten

Kangzi Chan

Mrinaank Chilkoti

Hari Collins

George Davies – Captain

Callum Elder

Jamie Fielding

Ramón Garcia Rodenas

Carlo Garzarelli

Benedict Harrison

William Hitchcock

Charlie Hunt

Arthur Kenny

Finn Lavington

Sebastian Marsoner

Kelechi Nwoko

Ben Roberts

Haren Samarasinghe

William Shackleton – Vice-Captain

Eashan Shah

Matthew Smith

Toby Thorogood

James Trotman

Julius Turley

Harry Turner

Lorenzo Usai

Louis Wilson

Joshua Zhao

Leavers’ Destinations

for 2021 Leavers

Leavers Destinations

Europe/non US International University Destination for 2021 Leavers

University / Destination Subject, College

Canada: McGill

Canada: Queens

Canada: University of British Columbia

Canada: University of Toronto Biological sciences

Canada: University of Toronto Psychology

Italy: Bocconi University International Economics & Management

USA University Destination for 2021 Leavers

University / Destination

USA: Bates College

USA: Boston University

USA: Brown University

USA: Carnegie Mellon

USA: Columbia University

USA: Columbia University

USA: Columbia University

USA: Duke University

USA: Duke University

USA: Harvard University

USA: Harvard University

USA: Harvard University

USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

USA: Middlebury College

USA: Stanford University

USA: Tufts University

USA: University of California at Berkeley

USA: University of California at Los Angeles

USA: University of Chicago

USA: University of Chicago

USA: University of Chicago

USA: University of Chicago

USA: University of Pennsylvania

USA: University of Pennsylvania

USA: University of Pennsylvania

USA: University of Southern California

USA: Yale University

USA: Yale University

Flexibility and adaptability are crucial qualities all teachers must possess. Not only do curricula, exam specifications and subject knowledge change, but so to, and most crucially, do the pupils.

Continual professional learning needs to be at the heart of the teaching profession. Over the 2021/22 academic year, St Paul’s school trialled the adoption of a new set of professional development materials that have become increasingly popular. These are known as the Teaching WalkThrus. These deceptively simple resources are underpinned by a number of premises, including:

 Educational research, as well as our own individual and institutional experience, should inform our practice

 What constitutes classroom excellence is known, agreed upon and remembered within the profession

 The best of the profession’s practice can be compiled in one place

 That practice can be learned by anyone if it is broken down into a step-by-step linear model

 Visual representations of the models are more powerful than text alone

Each WalkThru breaks down a proven technique into five simple steps.

SPS teachers have engaged in a process known as the ‘Solve the Learning Problems’ cycle. The cycle involves reviewing pupil performance, identifying points where they can improve, considering strategies that would help them improve, choosing one of those strategies to enact, and reviewing whether it has had an impact. The

overriding benefit of this approach is that it starts with the pupils rather than the teacher. For too long, teacher training has been delivered in the ether without consideration of the precise needs of the pupils. Moreover, the approach respects the teacher’s professionalism. They use their professional judgement to determine the pupils’ learning needs and what strategies may help, rather than following a decontextualized checklist of what makes, for example, ‘the perfect lesson’. No such template exists. The perfect lesson is the lesson that meets the pupils’ needs at that given time, and that will look very different from one lesson to the next. At one point a more traditional lecturing

approach might be most appropriate, at another it won’t. However, this doesn’t mean that ‘anything goes’ depending on the individual teacher’s assessment of the situation. The WalkThrus advocate the use of the researchbacked proven techniques. They attempt to strike the balance between ‘a pessimistic view that teaching is an art that can’t be communicated, and the overly optimistic behavioural checklists that over-specify teacher actions’ (10). SPS will develop this approach to continual professional learning throughout the 2022/23 academic year, making maximum use of the benefits, whilst critically evaluating and reviewing its effectiveness. ❚

Like all skilled professionals, expert teachers constantly review and adapt their practice. The notion of the ensconced lecturer recycling their lessons year after, barely changing a thing, has long gone.

Staff Leavers

Amy Grogan

Amy Grogan joined St Paul’s with a degree from Bristol, a teaching post in northern Sicily and a PGCE under her belt 8 years ago. It is with great sadness that we bid her farewell.

Amy’s contribution to our school has been immense: teaching Italian, Spanish and General Studies, Oxbridge classes, F club president, assistant head of charities, co-chair of the Paul’s 4All Committee, residential languages trips to no fewer than six destinations, Eurosoc talks on translation and Italian masculinity, editor of Métro, and a committed tutor. Amy is a teacher who has always sought to help her pupils really understand and master her subjects. ‘Miss Grogan was perhaps the most understanding and supportive teacher I have had when someone did not understand something – she would quite happily pause a lesson to patiently explain something no matter how easy it may have seemed to other students.’

Amy has been an inspirational teacher. Her pupils tell me that Amy always treated them like adults. She introduced our A Level pupils to Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet and its sometimes difficult subject matter, challenging them to debate the most weighty issues and always encouraging them to question their own and each other’s viewpoints.

‘Miss Grogan is one of the best teachers that I have ever had. As a teacher, her passion for languages always shines through’. From the start, Amy has been a collaborative, supportive and positive person to work alongside in the languages department. With her dedication and creativity as editor of Métro and her fascinating Eurosoc talks, Amy has always gone the extra mile to

help her colleagues with their homework and to promote modern languages in the school. Amy has also given up weeks and weeks of her holidays to accompany teenagers on residential trips to exotic locations: Alghero, Siena, Seville, Malaga, Barcelona, Bordeaux, and East Grinstead. Sunday lunches on Alghero’s bastioni and department outings will never be quite the same without Amy. Amy has been a committed member of the staff netball team and her goal shooting abilities are unrivalled (and somewhat better than her softball). Amy’s conviviality manifests itself too in an openness with her pupils, and a genuine interest in her tutees. One Upper Eighth pupil told me, without a whiff of cynicism, that Miss Grogan ‘is genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve come across at my t ime at SPS’. Another told me that ‘Miss Grogan can put a smile on our faces at a moment’s notice and cheer us up during even the hardest of times.’ Chatting to Amy has been described by one colleague as ‘like having your own personal cheerleader’.

Amy is a compassionate soul. Not only is she a kind and thoughtful friend, she also works hard to make a difference in the world. Since she first burst onto the charities scene in a breathtaking Bocelli/ Bieber dance remix with Beckie Rahim in St Paul’s Got Talent, Amy has continued to do her bit for good causes. I am reliably told that she has been instrumental in raising £100,000 over the last 4 years as Chair of Paul’s4All Committee and Assistant head of charities. This is done in her usual unassuming manner, without fanfare, whole-school emails or powerpoint presentations. Her character is such that she has quietly and assuredly gone about promoting an ethos of kindness, generosity and charity among students and staff. Amy and her beloved fiancé Pietro leave Barnes to start a new life in Cheltenham, where they will be closer to Amy’s parents and her sister’s young family. Amy is also preparing to say ‘Sì lo voglio’ for when she and Pietro get married in Pietro’s hometown of Castelbuono in August. I know that planning a Sicilian wedding from London (or from hotel COVID quarantine in Sicily) has been a somewhat long and torturous

road, but if anyone can pull it off with style it’s you Amy. I’m sure everyone would like to join me in wishing you both a very long and happy marriage. Amy has made an outstanding contribution to the life of the school. She will be greatly missed. Future Spanish and Italian classes really won’t know what they’re missing. She has a lot of friends at St Paul’s who hold her in high regard and even higher affection.

Joe Rocca

Joe Rocca joined the school as a short term maths teacher in October 2017 to provide some cover, but quickly impressed and when the opportunity arose to offer him a permanent role, we were only too happy to keep him. With a degree in Maths from Waterloo, he had written software professionally and these computing capabilities came known and the Department of Computing recruited another mathematician to see the light.

After a period of having a foot in both camps he moved wholly across to computing where he has made a solid reputation for getting stuck in, whether with a 4th form Monday activity on JavaScript, leading Get Creative courses using imaging apps like Blender or just seeing boys to answer questions. His slightly leftfield view on making useful work meant giving his sets genuinely interesting tasks, definitely preferring to ask the boys to learn by doing, not just by reading about the theory: installing Linux in a virtual machine on their laptops, exemplifying graph theory through the medium of a criminal network, actually having a class install industry tools to crack an (old) Wi-Fi

protocol. He was always happy to answer questions, bringing a solid practical knowledge to his lessons. A reliable presence and a nurturing one in his classroom. He took his classes for a journey and they loved him for it.

It is regret that we bid him farewell, but he leaves us to return to industry and, possibly, a chance to return home to his native Canada.

Chris Harrison

of even the most elusive and eccentric aspects of school history”.

Ginny has achieved many things over her time with us: making the early issues of The Pauline publicly available online; her display highlighting the records which never entered our collections; her materiality session with Dr Ruddick’s history extension class; the Old Pauline Club’s donation of arctic explorer and OP George Murray Levick’s book so that all displays since have included his comments about ‘hooligan bands’ of Adelie penguins, and his dreadful Greek. However, her most important achievement has been making the role of Archivist indispensable, being enthusiastic about our collections, and passing that enthusiasm on to others. We will miss Ginny very much. We wish her only good things in her new role with Bart’s Hospital.

HKC

Ginny Dawe-Woodings

Ginny joined us in May 2019 and promptly set about what I now understand to be the main job of an archivist – buying expensive silver cardboard boxes. Within weeks all the odd, interesting items sitting on the shelves had been corralled into one of these boxes. Previously a walk along the shelves meant a view of everything from scarab beetles to gas masks all in no particular order. After many hours of boxing and sorting you are now faced with a wall of silver cardboard. It’s much more professional and items are safe from dust and bugs, and of course we can find things much more quickly, but it isn’t quite as much fun.

Ginny was never happier than when proving that someone’s great-great grand-uncle had attended the school and finding that piece of information that really brought the ancestor to life. Shouts of ‘found him’ or ‘he was only 6 stone!’ would ring out and she would happily copy the proof into emails. Dr Brigham asked about the school’s ceremonial chairs and said that the briefing note he received proved Ginny was “always happy to go the extra mile in exploration

Basil Strang

Basil Strang joined St Paul’s in 2018 as a rugby coach for the 1st XV. Educated at Royal Grammar School, Newcastle he moved to Durham University to complete his BSc in Zoology. With a developing passion for teaching, he decided to study at Oxford University for his PGCE and MSc in Learning and Teaching.

During his time at University his talent in rugby was recognised, and whilst at Oxford, he became a Blue in 2014 and 2016. He moved into professional rugby in 2017, playing for London Scottish, having previously represented Henley Hawks and Worcester Warriors.

Basil’s previous teaching post was at Kingham Hill School where it offered

him a truly comprehensive experience of secondary school teaching. On arrival at St Paul’s, it was clear that his expertise lay far beyond the rugby pitch and in 2020 he became a member of the teaching staff in the Biology department.

Throughout Basil’s time at St Paul’s he has provided the pupils with outstanding rugby coaching. His technical and tactical knowledge of the game is vast and he has the intellect to connect with pupils. He has been hard-working and dedicated to both individual and team development, always putting pupils first. Being a great rugby player and a top sportsman, he also gave time and attention to coaching rugby sevens, cricket and athletics. Roles and responsibilities that he did enthusiastically and always with a smile on his face.

Inside the classroom, Basil has been a dedicated, dependable and inspirational teacher. He dealt with the novelty of remote lessons with professionalism, and his passion for teaching and learning was admired and respected by the pupils. He has also been a caring tutor, providing outstanding pastoral care. He has taught PSHE and has been an influential EPQ mentor.

Basil has provided invaluable support to the Co-Curricular program. This has included supporting and organising rugby trips to Italy and his hometown, Newcastle. He has been thorough and organised with an eye for detail. He has been very positive and always looked to evolve and modernise current practice.

He has been a very sociable colleague, often playing football on Friday evenings, or golf and cycling. He was also keen on his personal fitness, and as a Strength and Conditioning coach, he would regularly be educating the pupils on their own journey.

Basil leaves St Paul’s after 4 years and it will be very difficult to replace someone with such a unique skill set. He has been a great teacher, coach, colleague and friend to the St Paul’s community and will be missed. We wish him the very best of luck as he moves to Harrow School where he will inevitably be a great success.

Linda Johnson

Linda joined the Geography department at St Paul’s in 2015 after a career in the practical application of the subject working as a Geographical Information systems expert, specialising in Oil and Gas. With this wealth of experience in the professional world she was set up well to succeed in this subject and on arrival she threw herself into teaching the subject and to all that St Paul’s had to offer across the co curricular sphere.

During her time here she has contributed hugely to the offering of field trips and expeditions having been a core part of running DofE Bronze expeditions (2015-2020), Geography trips to Iceland and Botswana, climbing in Fontainebleau (2017 & 2018) and the school expedition to Borneo. But her exploration has extended within the subject as well as across the globe. In her role as Head of Geography projects Linda has carried out research into the pupils’ experience of studying Geography at St Paul’s and this has shaped the development of teaching and learning resources and provision of the department for years to come.

Linda leaves such a strong legacy here at St Paul’s: co-founding EcoSoc and raising environmental sustainability high on the school’s agenda; pioneering innovative data gathering methods for our Geography field trips, drawing upon her knowledge of GIS; and most recently heading up special projects for the department.

Linda is an inspiring Geography teacher and a caring and thoughtful form tutor and her tutees and pupils have hugely valued her energetic and enthusiastic teaching style alongside her pastoral care which is typified by her care and

thought for her tutees. Linda has been such a core part of the community at St Paul’s and she has made lifelong friends in the common room, she will be profoundly missed as a colleague but more so as a friend to so many. Linda now goes on to relocate to South East Asia and we know she will make a great success of the pursuits to come, we wish her the very best of luck and look forward to welcoming her back and hearing all about how her adventures have continued.

Matt Poynter

Paul Collinson

Paul Collinson left us in December after an outstanding 29-year career at the school. In that time he taught generations of Paulines French and German, he was an excellent boarding house master for thirteen years, a club president, head of General studies, gave Japanese lessons, and set up what was to become an extremely successful Japan exchange.

when to wish you many happy returns.

In the light of this, it seems rather reckless to even attempt to recall Paul’s life at St Paul’s for him, because he undoubtedly remembers better than any of us do. Perhaps better to concentrate therefore on Paul the man, the colleague, the friend. Many of us will remember his extraordinary good humour. He had a warm and natural relationship with his pupils and almost every time I saw him teach, he had his class laughing, brightening the mood and setting them at ease. He was always one to walk into your classroom with a friendly smile to make a little quip, or relate an amusing anecdote from one of his many travels. In fact travelling is very much one of Paul’s passions and many stories have arisen over the years from what happened on various school trips to places like the Cévennes, Le Pont de Montvert or Lourmarin. He accompanied countless trips to France and Germany, but would also use every opportunity in the school holidays to visit family homes in Ireland and Yorkshire, or escape to some exotic destination. Many trips included sending back to us photos of the quirky things he saw along the way, and as his retirement so far seems to have involved more travelling than ever, we can be fairly sure that these are things we will continue to enjoy.

One of the most impressive things about Paul, however, was the breadth and accuracy of his memory. Indeed, his memory has been described by one colleague as ‘elephantine.’ This gift was allegedly honed as a child when Paul would memorise the number plates of the cars on his road. He can no doubt still recall them. Latterly, Paul would impress us all by remembering birthdays – not just those of colleagues, but he somehow knew the birthdays of our family members too (had we ever actually told him?) and would locate them in his memory in relation to those of former colleagues. In short, if you have ever met Paul – and even if you haven’t

there’s a good chance he’ll know

Paul was always the unanimous choice for showing prospective teachers round the school, since he was guaranteed to create a good impression of the place with his warm and caring nature. This was where I first had the pleasure of meeting him, and he immediately struck me as someone who would be terrific to work with and drew me to the school. The subsequent twelve years did not disappoint, so when he revealed that on one of his many trips to Yorkshire, a chance conversation on the beach had led him to consider retirement seriously, there was a huge sense of disappointment. But I think that anyone who has worked with Paul will be able to agree that it was a great privilege, that we learned an enormous amount from him and always felt we had someone around who took an interest in us, was instinctively supportive and could always cheer us up. He goes into retirement having equipped and enthused reams of pupils in their

language study, and cared and guided even more. We are hugely indebted to him and wish him every blessing and happiness in his well-deserved retirement.

Nigel Briers

Juliet Latham

For just shy of 22 years, through the tenure of four different High Masters, Juliet demonstrated in her characteristically unflappable, seemingly effortless way not only the diversity of her role, but also the value of having such a consummate professional looking after the teaching staff. Her arrival coincided with St Paul’s embracing the digital workplace and there was nothing that Juliet didn’t know how to do at lightning speed. Which was just as well because the transfer of resources from paper, OHP film and in some extreme cases, Banda paper, to electronic copy would have proceeded at a glacial pace without her prodigious skills.

School trips (and the staff trying to organise them) would have suffered without her help: no one in the MFL department could enter over 40 sets of passport details onto an airline web-site within the 20 minutes cut-off time; the production, sending, and collation of permission forms, health forms and itineraries all happened seamlessly, and on top of the administration, she also accompanied trips – to Montpellier, the battlefields of Flanders and to the Galapagos Islands, amongst others. In her early days at the school, she carefully nurtured those nervous of electronic communication through the trauma of learning how to use email, followed some time later by helping countless teachers to get to grips with Firefly and iSams. Whether organizing

a staff party or taking minutes in a complex management meeting, helping Drama with their ticketing or producing name labels for parents’ evenings, Juliet got things right every time. The parties were great, no one ever contested the minutes, and parents were able to find the correct teachers.

Juliet’s true value lay not in the administrative support that she provided for teaching staff, notwithstanding how important that was, but in the ‘soft’ support that she offered. Discreet, sympathetic and with an endlessly patient ear for colleagues with worries to unburden, with frustrations to vent, or just in need of a chat, Juliet quickly became the unofficial common room counsellor. Several generations of teaching staff benefitted from her sense of humour and her empathy. The real value of her contribution to the smooth running of the school is immeasurable and unquantifiable. Juliet will be greatly missed and she leaves with the very best wishes of the teaching staff for her retirement. SMac

Gary O’Brien

Gary O’Brien first came to St Paul’s School in September 2015 as a sports graduate assistant and Head of Tennis; he had previously been a sports graduate and assistant rackets professional at Harrow School. During the seven years that I have known him I witnessed his willingness and infectious enthusiasm to tackle a variety of new challenges, and with much success. He became a more rounded individual having made varied and significant contributions to school life in general. In addition

to his input into school sports teams, he delivered PSHE and EPQ courses and delivered sports science content at the Avni Lectures.

His passion for teaching PE was very apparent and he completed his teaching training through the Buckingham University scheme whilst at St Paul’s. It was only a matter of time before he looked to move on to fulfil his hunger for the subject by teaching it on a full time basis; he has been able to do this at Oakham School in the last couple of terms. However, he did leave several holes to fill when he departed in January of this year and his efforts and input should certainly not be underestimated. He produced successful 2nd XI football teams and enriched the 4/5 XVs. He galvanised and promoted Squash and Tennis as Head of both sports; his proudest moment in the latter was seeing two tennis teams recently reach the Nationals.

Having been promoted to managing the sports facilities he also inherited the responsibility of outside lettings. Combining this role and his leadership in squash, he managed to attract Middlesex junior squash coaching to the school courts. As a very accomplished squash player himself he enjoyed playing for the Roehampton Club and now represents Leicester Squash. He kept the pupils active in this sport during the COVID lockdown by posting coaching and fitness videos and also contributed to football too in a similar fashion.

Arguably his most important role was overseeing the sports options for all the pupils in the school. This is a painstaking but critical role and I was most grateful for his endeavour and input into this area during my tenure as Director of Sport.

Gary has long wanted to travel to New Zealand to teach and coach and this will probably be realised this coming October where snow-boarding and an active lifestyle really appeal to him. He will also continue to take squash seriously as a player.

I would like to wish him well as he continues his journey and thank him for all he did for St Paul’s sport.

Nigel Briers

Katy Waterfield

Katy Waterfield joined St Paul’s in August 2016, Peter King’s replacement in the Classics department. A daunting prospect to live up to the classical powerhouse that is PJK; but Katy immediately showed herself to be a formidable classical scholar in her own right – as her ex-Head of Department Simon May, has pointed out, she knows her Greek accents – praise indeed (just take my word for it – praise indeed!).

It was soon clear that Classics at St Paul’s would never be quite the same again. Department meetings, for example, became much more fiery occasions –Katy would scrutinise Simon’s every word, and Simon’s desperate attempts to tell us that, of course, “this reminds me of the time when everything was not quite oojah-cum-spiff between Madeleine Bassett and Gussie FinkNottle” wouldn’t quite wash…

Katy took over from Simon as Head of Department in 2019. It is incredible how hard she works and how much she does, and yet she apologises for not doing enough. During last year’s TAGs, she kept saying to us, “I’m sorry that you have to do so much work with this”, when she had done literally everything she could to help us. And even after the last half term, she commented to Tom Carter, “I haven’t done much work this half term – just put together all the set text booklets for next year…” Now, for any other Classics teacher this is a huge amount of work, as she produces twenty or thirty page booklets for both Latin and Greek, prose literature and verse literature, at both GCSE and A level – that’s A LOT of different booklets…

During last year’s TAGs, grades needed to be finalised soon after

summer half term, so Katy thought, why not have a meeting in half term –on bank holiday Monday?… Strangely she and I disagreed on this one, but no one else in the department seemed to be too phased by it, even though Alex Stewart had to join from holiday in Portugal. But in the end Katy was, of course, right – the final grades were sorted out early in the week, leaving the rest of half term week much more relaxed; and also meaning that, when other departments were in back-to-back grading meetings in exam week, we could be free to focus on marking… Which brings me neatly to another of Katy’s innovations which I think has become semilegendary amongst some staff –Marking Club!

Yes, Katy likes us to gather in her classroom during exam week, to mark scripts together, so that (in her words), “we can iron out any inconsistencies in marking and make sure the marks are standardised between us” Now some might say that this is a chance for Miss Waterfield to keep an eye on her naughty Classics boys and make sure that they are prioritising their marking, but in reply I would say that that can’t be the case, as Hannah Mervis is also included in the Marking Club, so it can’t possibly be about Katy keeping an eye on us… Can it?...

Katy has been a brilliantly supportive and nurturing mentor to Classics PGCE students, and every Wednesday she can be found in Room 122 teaching GCSE Latin to the Hammersmith Latin Outreach pupils. But her Pauline life is not just about Classics.

Katy has been an extremely efficient and totally professional Universities adviser. Neville Sanderson adds that “her trade mark was a very welcome instant reply to any emails I sent her”.

As a co-editor of the Pauline too, Dan Brigham writes that Katy is a consummate professional, fearsome when it comes to deadlines, and a pleasure to work with. Dan can find only one fault: that she’s leaving!

And Katy is a valued member of the Staff Netball Club: Kate French, Amy Grogan and Keri Cloete have all said lovely things about her involvement –

they will miss your enthusiasm and eye for the rules; and my favourite comment, “Katy wins the prize for most talented netball player who plays in flip-flops –not something most would even attempt, but seriously impressive!”

Katy can also be quite a private person… Back in February when the whole department except Rob Taylor was off with COVID, Katy and I were having what I thought was a fairly boring what’s App exchange about COVID, which went as follows:

• Katy: I’m just worried that Supratik (Katy’s boyfriend, or so I thought…) will develop positive COVID test results next week with serious knock-on effects for my wedding plans in half term.

• Me (thinking she must mean that they are going to a friend’s wedding over half term, but naively thinking I would play on the comedy of the ambiguity of her message, even though it can’t possibly be her wedding…) YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED IN HALF TERM??!!!

• Katy: Yup.

• New message from Katy: How did you miss me fiddling with my ring all this term?

BECAUSE I’M VERY UNOBSERVANT. And, in my defence, Hannah Mervis didn’t know either… Though apparently Rob Taylor and Alex Stewart had noticed the ring, and the PGCE student knew too… So I obviously am pretty unobservant – though it’s the first time that finding out about a colleague’s engagement and wedding has been a pass/fail test – I’m not sure, Katy, if this is going to catch on as a teaching and learning walkthru technique…

So, what have we learned about Katy? Consummate professional, super-super organised, unbelievably hard-working and dedicated, a formidable Classicist, multi-talented, hugely competitive, but most importantly, hugely thoughtful, and kind (all right, Katy will probably say that the competitive bit is the most important…!).

But Katy is an incredibly thoughtful and supportive HoD, who will drop everything to help if a member of her department is struggling (I say, “drop everything”, but being Katy she will DO

everything and still be there to help) –I have benefitted personally from this on many occasions, and am hugely grateful to her for her patience, her thoughtfulness and her support when I have been struggling with things. Her thoughtful end-of-term notes to each member of the department always strike just the right note, and the croissants she buys for us are always a perfectly timed pick-me-up.

Katy is off to Magdalen College School in Oxford this September. She is relocating to Oxford to be closer to her husband Supratik’s work, and to be with her family who live in Oxford. We wish you and Supratik all the best in your life together in Oxford. And do keep in touch.

Robert Breslin

Robert leaves St Paul’s after eight years in which he has had a significant impact on the development of teachers and pupils across the school. He has organised and managed a highly effective induction programme for all new teaching staff helping every new teacher make the most of their first year at St Paul’s. He has been central in organising and guiding PGCE student placements and the NQT process, helping both mentors and teachers hone their skills and expertise. Insightful and effective, he never shies away from supporting other members of staff. He has been influential in raising the profile of teaching and learning and creating a positive and constructive environment in which genuine discussion and improvement have both been enacted.

He will be remembered by many people who have worked with him in coaching rugby for several years and touring Japan with his team. Always professional in his duties, he would expect the same from his team.

He also taught drama where he was known for his dynamic and inspiring lessons, encouraging many young Paulines to take their first steps into the world of SPS Drama. He co-directed a number of productions including Zero for the Young Dudes! and Much Ado About Nothing

In his work in the mathematics department, he leaves a lasting impact on all of us, not only professionally but personally. Robert is an inspiring person; he is well organised and untiringly professional with all colleagues across many disciplines. I’ve seen him develop into one of the most respected teachers I’ve ever met, and he now goes on to share his wisdom and experience at Eastbourne College. He will lead their mathematics department and will no doubt have an effect upon many other departments across the school. They are very lucky to have him, and he will be missed at St Paul’s.

Rupert Fitzsimmons

Rupert arrived at SPS after achieving a First-Class degree in History from Cambridge. Over three eventful years, he has contributed a great deal to the History Department and the broader life of the school.

It is difficult to do justice to all the contributions Rupert has made in his time here. He has involved himself in so many areas of school life. He loved coaching Rugby, working in the Boarding

House, coaching Cricket and latterly taking two weekly sessions of climbing. I think the administration behind the scenes when running a Duke of Edinburgh trip tested even his patience, but it stands as yet another example of his commitment to the life of SPS. He has enriched the opportunities pupils have here and he brought an unrelenting enthusiasm to all his work.

In the classroom he was an outstanding teacher. His lessons afforded the opportunity for pupils to express themselves, although he was wise enough to prevent dominant voices. For this Head of Department, confronted with the revolting CAGs and TAGs process, I could not have found a more supportive and generous colleague. His industry, enthusiasm and level headedness helped me get through a process that I found genuinely difficult. He also had a knack of knowing how to obscure my inadequacies; on a ten-day trip to the United States, Rupert was quick to appreciate that I cannot read a map. He would get up ridiculously early and, on his run, he would plan the route for the day.

He moves to Uppingham where CCF, shooting and comedy trousers are the norm. He will fit in well, and I am convinced he is perfectly suited for the major pastoral role he will take up. I think, as teachers, we always try to improve pupils in many different areas of their life. Although young and relatively inexperienced, in three years Rupert made the History Department (and the school) better. I am so grateful that he cut his teeth here.

Staff Joiners

Physics

Louis joins us from Bancroft’s School where he has been a physics teacher for the last five years, combining this with the role of Head of Sustainability and teaching some maths. Prior to this he taught physics for a year at Brentwood School. Louis has a broad range of interests, which include, playing squash, swimming outdoors, puzzles and quizzes, and playing chess.

Williams Learning Support

Kemi joins the Learning Support Department having been employed at Dulwich College for the last two years teaching a combination of learning support and English. Other schools in which she was worked include: JAGs, Alleyn’s, The Harrodian, and Kingswood School. Kemi will also complete her research Masters in Teaching and Learning alongside her learning support role at St Paul’s.

Classics

We are delighted to welcome Tom from St Edward’s School, Cheltenham where he has been Subject Lead, Classics since 2018. Prior to this, Tom taught classics at City of London School for Girls, Wimbledon High, and Chiswick Community School.

History

Having completed his degree in History in 1991, Daragh embarked on a career within the legal profession across a number of industry sectors. Daragh maintained his passion for history, however, and sought a career change to teaching having tutored an A Level student since October 2020 via The Access Project charity and completed work experience in the History Departments of Hampton School, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Bedford School, Harrow School, and St Paul’s School.

Colet Fellows

Mathematics

We welcome Dan from Kew House School where he has been Teacher of Mathematics & School Data Manager since 2018. Prior to this he taught both maths and computing at The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe for two years. Dan is a freelance watersports instructor (powerboating, windsurfing, and sailing) during the holidays.

Musa Modern Foreign Languages

Erica began her St Paul’s career as a Language Assistant two years ago but returns this term as a Teacher of Modern Foreign Languages. Erica is a native speaker of both Italian and Spanish and is currently learning French, in addition. Her interests include art, literature, and sport.

Computing

Natalie brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience gained during her career as a software developer and engineer primarily within the financial services industry Natalie is joining the Computing Department after successfully completing a PGCE in Secondary Computing this year and her interests include: creative writing, travel, and outdoor activities such as hiking.

Louis Pollock

Kemi

Tom Preece Smith

Daragh Fagan

Spencer Goldberg

Natalie Dillon

Erica Schirripa

Daniel Druce

Joseph Barile

The Values Committee

Modern Language Assistants

Taking inspiration from last year’s pioneering Values Committee members, the 2022/23 Values Committee got off to a racing start at the end of the last academic term.

We, the new Values Committee, knew early on that we wanted to continue the legacy work of the previous committee in combating the behaviour exposed in the Everyone’s Invited campaign and promoting the respect of women and girls in Paulines.

To these ends, Values met with SPGS’s Consent and Respect committee (CAR) to discuss how best to engage younger years in our respective efforts. These discussions yielded a very successful programme of interschool PSHE sessions – with Values members talking to Year 10 Paulinas and vice-versa. It was quickly established that we wanted to take our roles one step beyond last year’s brief, and so set about testing the bounds of the committee’s seemingly infinitely broad remit. Among other things, we have so far explored St Paul’s compulsory PSHE Talks programme, pronoun policy and school trip policy.

We think that the Values Committee is an invaluable tool in both promoting greater pupil involvement in school policy creation and ensuring current policy transparency for the benefit of students and school alike. St Paul’s being as large an institution as it is, its complex inner workings can feel removed from day-to-day life on the grounds.

The Values Committee of 2022/23 aims to nurture a better school culture while keeping its work, and the work of other leadership groups, accessible to the Pauline masses. We’ve achieved a lot so far, but it’s not yet time to take our foot off the pedal. We look forward to a productive year working towards a brighter future –as generic as it sounds, it’s the truth. ❚

Emma Leconte French

Maxim Skupsch German

Clara Normand French

Abimaer Arias Guillen Spanish

Silvia Tanzini Italian

The House System

From the Deputy Head Pastoral Nick Watkins

Comments from the new undermaster team

A major feature of this school year was our consultation about our tutor system, and the way we support our pupils through their time at the school. The views of staff, parents, and both current and former pupils were sought on how we might best learn and move forward from two years of ‘bubble-proof’ year-group tutor forms. The outcome was a powerful endorsement of our traditional vertical tutor system, with many interesting thoughts on how to make this hallmark of the school even stronger.

The new House system that has emerged marks a powerful commitment to the pastoral care and tutorial support that we offer each of our pupils. The constancy of tutorial relationships central to our vertical system will now be augmented by a constancy of relationship with the Undermaster too, and valuable new supportive relationships between tutors and Undermasters within Houses. Two new Heads of Section will oversee the progression of each year group as they move through the school, meaning each individual pupil will receive superb personalised support from skilled adults charged with helping them to flourish.

The House system also brings our former club competition into alignment with tutor groups and Undermasters – something that will give our in-school competitions greater prominence and support within the school, and help ensure the broadest opportunities for participation and leadership for all pupils, including enabling the older to lead and rolemodel for the younger.

The pastoral efforts made by staff during the pandemic were extraordinary. Great time and care was spent building relationships with and among new tutees, and supporting pupils through the challenges of this crisis. The winding down of the horizontal form groups brings some sadness as pupils now move on (or back!) to their vertical tutors. But it is right that vertical tutor groups, the small families that enable so much mature communing between older and younger pupils, return to take their place at the heart of our school. We are excited at how our new system can help each group, and each individual child within, to thrive.

Douglas

Perrin

The Middle School is an important pathway between prep school and A-Levels, and the new house system will help us bring greater cohesion to these three crucial years. Whereas Undermasters have previously focused on one year group, I am excited by the opportunity to shape pupils’ journey as they move through their first three years at St Paul’s, from induction in the Fourth Form to GCSE examinations in the Sixth Form. I am hoping that in the younger year groups we will be able to reinforce and strengthen the inquiring, proactive and enterprising spirit that is the hallmark of Paulines, as well as building a sense of humility and community.

Sarah

Field

I am very excited about being a part of Field house: leading this incredible community of talented tutors and pupils is a privilege. I hope to foster an atmosphere where staff and pupils can learn from each other and look forward to seeing the community grow together.

The final two years at school are an incredibly rich and exciting time. In my previous role as Lower Eighth Undermaster I enjoyed supporting our pupils – those from SPS and those joining us at 16+ – as they make the exciting and significant transition into A level study and engage in all the extra and super curricular opportunities that are available. This new role as Head of Upper School allows the opportunity to oversee the combination of challenge and support across the two years from the first days in newly selected subjects to the many ‘lasts’ – last lesson, exam, match, performance… before results days and farewells. It is a real honour to be working alongside Undermasters in the new house system as well as the Careers and Universities team to support Eighth form pupils in their educational journey. I very much hope that it is a happy, fulfilling and successful experience for all pupils.

The new house system provides enhanced pastoral, academic, and co-curricular support, offering our pupils the best care. I am looking forward to overseeing this and guiding pupils throughout their school journey. I am also excited about how our house spirit and culture will develop as the house competition and commitment to the wider community progresses.

Caroline Gill

One of the best things about being the Fourth Form Undermaster has been helping new pupils settle into life at St Paul’s, build new friendship circles and feel fully equipped to begin their journey throughout the school. However, one of the downsides with this horizontal system was that, apart from corridor conversations and quick chats when on lunch duty, I would often lose touch with the boys and their parents. Therefore, I am really excited about moving to this new House structure as it will enable me to support pupils and their parents throughout the entire five years and see pupils develop into young men ready to embark on the next exciting chapter in their lives. From their perspective, this will hopefully provide a superb continuity of care and a building of strong and purposeful relationships.

As a firm supporter of the clubs system, I am so excited to see this being aligned with pastoral care through the new house structure. There are so many things I am looking forward to next year; but I am especially looking forward to getting to know the pupils in my house and work with them throughout their time at SPS as well as working with the Upper Eighth student leaders and tutor team to foster a sense of community in our house!

The second part I am excited about is providing greater opportunities for leadership and mentorship for the boys at all levels. All the pupils at St Paul’s are so talented and I know they are proud to be a part of the school. At the end of the day, a Fourth Former who is struggling with friendships or juggling co-curricular commitments is far more likely to listen to the friendly, avuncularstyle advice of an Upper Eighth who has successfully navigated the sometimes tricky adolescent years.

Naomi McLaughlin

James Blurton

Kerilynne Cloete

James Gilks

I am very excited about the new house system. The houses will provide the opportunity to develop smaller communities within the larger school community. It will strengthen links between pupils in different year groups and will provide older pupils more opportunities to act as mentors and role models to younger pupils. It’s something that pupils will be able to identify with, get involved in and feel an important part of.

Glenn Harrison

I am looking forward to working with the Senior boys to enhance a sense of community – I know they will help the tutors set the right tone and be fully involved in supporting and helping younger pupils enjoy school. The new club competition structure will create opportunities for all pupils to enjoy a wide range of activities and develop some club spirit. I look forward to supporting all pupils in Harrison House by promoting good standards of behaviour in line with the school values – I would like kindness and inclusivity to be at the centre of creating a happy environment.

Hannah Warner

I am really looking forward to getting to know all of the pupils in Warner House over the course of next year and beyond, and I’m confident that the new house structure will significantly enhance the school experience for everyone. As T.S. Eliot observes in ‘Little Gidding’ from the Four Quartets (my favourite poem), ‘We shall not cease from exploration’. And that is what I want for all the Paulines in my House: a continued commitment to exploring who they are as young people and the world around them and their place within it. Exciting times lie ahead…

The new house system brings with it myriad opportunities to enhance the educational and pastoral experience for Paulines. Aside from ensuring pupils in House Nilsson are politically aware and are preparing for their roles as active citizens, I am most looking forward to fomenting a strong sense of community amongst our house members.

Hugo Nilsson

Apposition

On a glorious spring morning, Apposition returned to St Paul’s. Following Matins in the newly consecrated chapel, prizewinners, their guests, staff and dignitaries were treated to an exhibition of Hugo Berman’s (Upper Eighth) photography, including some spectacular aerial shots of London during lockdown, before taking their seats.

You can read declamation abstracts from Finn Lavington, Omar Burhanuddin, Eamon Coates and James Lawson. The Apposer, Professor Charles Swanton, Old Pauline and eminent cancer researcher, responded in great depth – taking as his unifying theme that of peer review. There could have been no more apposite Apposer for Finn’s declamation on the medical challenges of a journey to Mars.

On the basis of Professor Swanton’s favourable remarks about the state of scholarship at St Paul’s, Master Mercer and governor Chris Vermont saw fit to reappoint the High Master for the coming year. Between the speeches and the prizes, Calvin Leung thrilled all present with an electric rendition of Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 8, complete with a piano that threatened to get away from him in his more forceful moments.

Ninety-one prizewinners then collected 118 prizes ranging from The Female Eunuch (Truro Prize for mathematics) to Spirited Cocktails from Around the World (OP Club Prize for outstanding service to the school) before the High Master concluded the ceremony and everyone went for lunch.

Overcoming our nature on the journey to Mars

Finn Lavington

The 20 July 1969 was a seminal date in history. The grainy images of Armstrong’s “one small step” united a polarised US, fractured by the Vietnam War and captured the imagination of the world, with even the Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev sending his congratulations. But NASA saw the moon landing as a stepping stone and not the end of the Apollo era.

They dreamt of a module much like the space station orbiting the moon by 1978, a large 50-person station orbiting Earth by 1980 and a lunar surface base that same year.

They even had detailed plans of landing humans on Mars by 1983. However, along with Nixon-era budget cuts, the race into space slowed because the challenges of long-term exposure to the cosmic environment became better understood. Yet this obstacle is not an engineering problem, but a medical one. The human body, we have discovered, is just not adapted for long-distance space travel; our own immutable biology is holding us back. So how can we use the recent advances in modern medicine and technology to surmount this obstacle and overcome our nature in the journey to Mars?

One of the most significant risks to the crew’s health comes from the high dosages of cosmic radiation they would experience on the journey to Mars. Throughout this 21-month long voyage, the astronauts’ cells would be bombarded with thousands of heavy charged ions contained within these cosmic rays. When these ions penetrate the nucleus, they can

form reactive oxygen species (ROS) which can interact with our DNA, causing it to break. In most of these cases, this damage is recognised and, if irreparable, the cell undergoes programmed cell death in a process known as apoptosis. Here, in this cellular mechanism, is where the crux of the problem lies: if more cells are being killed by this radiation-induced apoptosis than are being created, the astronauts’ tissues would begin to waste away. Whilst this would be most visibly obvious in the astronaut’s shrinking muscles, atrophy would be most lethal in their central nervous system tissue – the collection of neurons in the brain and spinal cord that control all aspects of the mind. The ensuing neurodegeneration would likely result in a progressive decline in cognition, memory and fine motor skills in a manner similar to an accelerated dementia.

In my declamation, I suggest two methods of treating this radiation-induced atrophy. The first one I propose is using the antioxidant glutathione to neutralise the reactive oxygen species before they can damage the DNA. The second, more risky method, would be to inhibit apoptosis altogether by interfering with its cellular signalling pathway.

Should we tell history like we tell stories?

Omar Burhanuddin

Should we tell history like we tell stories? Does literary historical narrative –the tradition of Gibbon – enrich our understanding of the past?

George Dangerfield’s seminal 1935 work, The Strange Death of Liberal England, would suggest so. On the surface, it appears intrinsically ahistorical. Dangerfield explicitly referred to the ‘stage’ set up, and the ‘curtains’ pulled back, drawing attention to the fictive theatricality of his work. A deeper reading, however, reveals how Dangerfield exposed the turbulence of Edwardian political life. He gave the lie to the prevalent myth of the pre-war English Belle Époque in an accessible manner. In this way, artistic license facilitated a greater historical understanding.

But this is not the end of the story. History-as-narrative is acutely vulnerable to exploitation to serve ulterior, presentist motives. Consider the misuse of the ‘Century of Humiliation’ interpretation of Chinese history. The original interpretation argues that, in the long view of Chinese history,

the Maoist regime did not represent an aberration, but a restoration. Mao supposedly ended the traumatic century between the First Opium War and the 1949 Revolution – the real aberration in the history of China – and reclaimed China’s historic independence.

Now, by itself, that argument is illuminating. It explains why, for all his evil, Mao remains the most revered figure in Chinese national memory. And yet, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to appropriate this narrative to legitimise its rule and practices, from the genocide in Xinjiang and their abandonment of the ‘One Country Two Systems’ principle in Hong Kong, to broad claims in the South China Sea and denial of Taiwanese sovereignty. From this and so many other examples – Vladimir Putin’s essay of August 2021 comes to mind – it is clear that historical narratives never stand alone. They always run the risk of serving cynics.

Poststructuralists would deride the supposedly naïve moderation of this judgement. Narrative is not simply ‘vulnerable to exploitation’, they would claim, but is in fact always an exercise in the deployment of power. To this, I can only respond by appealing to Dangerfield’s good example. By rejecting preachiness and embracing theatricality, Dangerfield preemptively withdrew the sting from any potential weaponization of his narrative. He demonstrated the supreme good faith required for the fusion of history with literature.

The resources of a clean future

Eamon Coates

All the problems of humanity and most of the problems of individuals have clean energy in their denominator. I will discuss why an entirely renewable grid is impractical, and how a material called monazite can deliver carbon neutrality.

The cleanest and most versatile sources of renewable energy – wind and solar – are a poor choice as the foundation of our electrical grid due to their intermittence. If we wanted to supply all our energy needs through wind and solar, we would have to overbuild by 4 to 5 times the size of the grid, essentially paving the country. Further, while renewables are getting cheaper, the resources they require are too geopolitically contested, and too monopolised. Were we to commit to a grid of renewable energy, we could find ourselves dangerously vulnerable to supply shocks.

The solution to these issues is one often regarded with caution. It is nuclear power, albeit revamped. Nuclear power is not strictly ‘renewable,’ as it requires resources which we have to dig up out of the ground. Large third-generation (standard tech) nuclear power plants, and their enriched fuel, are expensive. The word ‘nuclear’ has dangerous associations, because of nasty waste products and weapons projects. New technology, however, known as fourthgeneration nuclear power, can correct these drawbacks, using small modular reactors (SMRs), ‘breeder’ technology, and new safety features like molten salt cores. Breeder reactors could not only vastly improve energy output per kilo of fuel but also run on existing nuclear waste, reducing existing inventories to negligible amounts, as well as creating elements which can be repurposed for use in medicine. SMRs could transform the grid with a net positive environmental impact.

Best of all, fourth-gen tech makes use of thorium as fuel, which is four to five times more abundant than uranium (meaning even more bang for the buck) and whose waste is clean and cannot lead to proliferation. The ore of thorium is a mineral called monazite, which also contains rare earth metals. It is hugely abundant, as it is a component of heavy mineral sand. THIS is the resource of a clean future. Not only would a widespread focus on monazite spell the reclamation of secure rare earth production, but it would supply enough fuel for thousands of years of clean energy. There are deserts full of it everywhere: in India, Australia, and even the United States, all countries which can provide a sustainable and secure flow of material.

The fourth-gen thorium reactor can offer up to 250 times the energy of third-gen nuclear per unit currency. And it takes up 80 times less space than solar or wind. The necessary resources are secure, abundant, and convenient. Nothing is handed to us on a silver platter, but monazite comes quite close.

Consent in the data economy: the perils of clicking ‘I agree’

James Lawson

When the internet was in its infancy, the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley promised a utopian world in which our daily lives would be transformed for the better, where total knowledge and freedom were available to all. At the same time, science fiction writers warned that our daily lives may become a nightmare where all knowledge and power is concentrated in the hands of a privileged few.

Such views of a digital future seem contrasting, but for many they are one and the same. In 1967, Herman Kahn published his book, The Year 2000, in which he predicted the rise of automated systems of surveillance and control where individual behaviour was constantly monitored and directed by machines. He described these systems as “a twenty-first century nightmare.” In contrast, behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner described similar systems in his book, Walden Two, which he interpreted would help build a “utopian community.”

Despite seeming futuristic and far out of reach, this world may soon be realised. After the ‘dotcom bubble’ burst in the early 2000s, Google, in desperation, discovered a new business model: behavioural data produced by users on the internet could be utilised to target advertisements to a more accurate degree than ever before. Since then, this practice has extended across both the online and offline world and has led to the formation of the ‘data economy’, a term that encompasses the processes employed by firms to collect, analyse and use personal data in order to predict and influence behaviour. In the last twenty years, the data economy has spread across the globe, encompassing the vast majority of the 4.7 billion people that currently use the internet. It pervades across and throughout our lives, mediating virtually every transaction as well as most of our communication, entertainment, work and private lives. Despite its ubiquity, the practices of the

data economy have been continually contested and questioned: in response to Google’s Street View controversy, WIRED Magazine boldly declared “Google is Evil”; in 2016, Mark Zuckerberg was made to testify in Congress about the Cambridge Analytica scandal that shocked democracies across the world; and Shoshana Zuboff, in her seminal work on the data economy, described it as “a different kind of challenge… one that threatens the existential and political canon of the modern liberal order defined by principles of self-determination that have been centuries, even millennia, in the making”.

Therefore, given its potential danger, the data economy clearly needs to be examined. In my EPQ, I sought to understand the full costs and benefits of the data economy, which I then assessed against a range of ethical criteria. Here, I shall focus on the most important aspect of this: the way we are coerced into giving “consent” to the exploitation of our personal data, and my talk will be in three parts. First, I will illustrate the harmful consequences of the data economy. This includes the ways that data companies record our movements, moods, habits and preferences on a near-constant basis, and subsequently advertise to exploit our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It also encompasses how banks, insurers, employers and landlords regularly buy and sell this data, using it to potentially deny us access to housing or a job. Second, I will explain why the data economy fails to respect informed consent, an important concept in

medical ethics which requires that we fully comprehend a thorough disclosure, voluntarily giving our affirmative, explicit consent. Third, I will propose my solution to this problem. In particular, I suggest that on an individual level, we should all aim to use privacy friendly alternatives wherever possible. However, this is not enough on its own. A large-scale approach is needed, such as regulating, breaking up or nationalising the data economy. Whichever approach is taken, it should prioritise robust models of informed consent, allowing us to weigh the costs against the benefits of giving up our data. This would reliably safeguard our autonomy whilst promoting our well-being, so that we might reclaim our actions and begin to reshape our lives, our communities, and our democracy.

‘Consent’ given by four billion people every day

By clicking ‘I Accept’, you agree to our terms and conditions”

Senior Prizewinners 2022

FACULTY OF CLASSICAL AND MODERN LANGUAGES

BEDFORD PRIZE – Ancient History

T U Siri Heath

KYNASTON PRIZE – Greek

J M W Davies

CYRIL BAILEY PRIZE – Latin

F A Stock

FRITSCH PRIZES – French

A D M Baines, C M Garzarelli

BENTWICH PRIZE – German

F A Stock

GWYNN MIELL PRIZE – Italian

A Popat

MARCUS PRIZE – Spanish

N D Boyd-Carpenter

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

HAMILTON PRIZES – Geography

K Akyol, G G B Davies

CLEMENTI PRIZES – Geography

J G J Thomas, R J G Wight

CHIBNALL PRIZES – Economics

K Chan, F D H Saunders, J W Trotman

BARNETT PRIZES – Economics

J Abuzayyad, C G E Bulmer, W Huang, M Jian, A Kochhar, S Sivarakulan

MORGAN PRIZES – Politics

C A B Grimstone, L A I Odgers

WALKER PRIZES – Politics

L G Cadman, C F Traynor

ISAIAH BERLIN PRIZES – Philosophy

M Bose, H T G M Collins, A H Whitham

LUPTON PRIZES – Philosophy

N R Martin

BEDFORD PRIZE – History

A H Kenny

WEINSTEIN PRIZE – History

C M Garzarelli

SABUROV PRIZE – History

C Robertson

TRURO PRIZE – History

A N Gong, N T Leach, C F Traynor,

A T P F Vecchioli

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

MILTON PRIZE – English

H T G M Collins

BUTTERWORTH PRIZE – English

N D Boyd-Carpenter

SABUROV PRIZE – English

N O Pavell

TRURO PRIZE – English

T M W O’Donoghue

FACULTY OF CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS

JOHN WATSON PRIZE – Art

L R G Gordon, J W Oudkerk

SADIE PRIZE – Music

C D Leung

MILLER PRIZE – Theatre Studies

L A I Odgers

LIDWELL PRIZES – Extended Projects

H O Berman, J W Trotman

FACULTY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING

CREE PRIZES – Biology

A A Apkarian, A O Ball, Z S Farazi, R Kusakari, K S Philipose, A M L R Richards

PERKIN PRIZES – Chemistry

J J B Abbosh, S S Arora, P J Baker, D F I Buxton, E Coates, E D T Doughty, A Durantel, R Kusakari, F O J Lavington M D S Smith

HALLEY PRIZES – Physics

V Bhamre, R Chen, H (Danny) Cui, E Fizesan, O S Hiorns, N J Land, J Leventis, S Noubir, E J Shah

RENNIE PRIZE – Engineering

R H Pilnik

GLUCKSTEIN PRIZE – Computing

M J Bowman, Y Dubey, T P Langer, D Pattem

FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS

BURKHILL PRIZES – Further Mathematics

A Ahilan, M J Bowman, K Chan, R Chen, G D H Ching, J W Cubbon, T P Langer, S Noubir, R Oomer, J J Roberts, M H L Wrench

TRURO PRIZE – Mathematics

S J Bottomley, E Coates, E J Shah, M D S Smith

JOHN COLET PRIZES for outstanding academic achievement

O M Burhanuddin, S Fakiolas, A Imam-Sadeque, S A Karim, L C Kirkpatrick, J E Lawson

HALDANE PRIZES for declaimers

O M Burhanuddin, E Coates, F O J Lavington, J E Lawson

THE BLUMENAU PRIZE for philosophy

I W A Throsby

THE GRITTEN PRIZE for International Relations

D Fitzpatrick

THE ANDRE FU PRIZE for an outstanding work of art

C E H Hunt

THE VIITA PRIZE for a piece of new writing or composition

T Bailo, E J Patterson

THE PROFESSOR TONY CROOK PRIZE for an outstanding essay for geography related to a public policy

M S Howorth

HIGH MASTER’S PRIZES for outstanding summer essays

S J Bottomley, O M Burhanuddin, R Chen, E Fizesan, C M Garzarelli

THE REYNOLDS PRIZES for all-round achievement

L P D Wilson

THE VERMONT PRIZE for outstanding service to the school

B T G Harrison

THE WATHEN PRIZE for outstanding contribution to the school

T Thorogood

THE BLAIR PRIZE for thinking creatively and laterally across disciplines

H T G M Collins

THE OLD PAULINE CLUB PRIZE for outstanding service to the school

W J Shackleton

THE JOHN WEITZ AWARD for outstanding service to the school

G G B Davies

Junior Prizegiving

It was wonderful to see Junior Prizegiving spring back to life with a full complement of staff, parents, and guests now that COVID restrictions have been lifted.

My warmest congratulations go to all the prize winners listed here for their fantastic achievements. I would be remiss, however, not to also note the fabulous presenters and performers that the audience were treated to. Altan Mardin played the cello beautifully, to what can only be described as a professional standard. Quentin Glänzer, Aleksa Djakovic, Maxim Buyanovsky, and Dermot Christmas highlighted the opportunities on offer at SPS to get involved with real experiments in our science societies, as they expertly presented back on their exciting research into biofuels. Lachlan Murray managed the astonishing feit of seamlessly discussing Arsenal and Quine in the same talk about the existence of changing objects over time, be it football clubs or people. Enyu Hu gave a powerful monologue and had the audience enrapt with a gripping performance. Timothee Brian, Thomas Hill, James Sahota and Zach Tydeman did an excellent job of opening our eyes to the omerta surrounding the Sicilian mafia (in Italian, of course!). And Samuel Christie, a Fourth Form pupil, gave a subtle and insightful analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’ with aplomb. Stephen Walker OP (1975-78) capped things off with an entertaining and inspiring address. His secret advice to Paulines? Take up fencing.

DJB

MATHEMATICS

B L Atkinson

A Choudhury

D Daneshvar

H H Huang

G M Jacobson

N Prabhu

A Rowland

S Shukla

L Vamadevan

BIOLOGY

M V Buyanovsky

F K Delaney

A Djakovic

Q M Glänzer

R A F Hibou

W S C Inglis

K Seif

H Shivakumar

L Vamadevan

CHEMISTRY

A Chaudhary

A Coondapoor

R K de Silva

C T Nelson

A Niedinger

L V K Razumovsky-Hough

S Shukla

S Thobhani

J Williams

PHYSICS

B L Atkinson

N A J O Dahl

D Daneshvar

N V Dembo-Shah

R G Eichhorst

W S C Inglis

D Jorge-Bates

A Macrae

A C M Mitchell-Thomson

ENGINEERING

L A Metcalf

A C M Mitchell-Thomson

A Niedinger

W Pyper

Z Tydeman

J Williams

COMPUTING

I K Averre

A Macrae

L A Metcalf

C C P Shaw

HISTORY

P Barry

R K de Silva

J J Marks

S Mewawalla

J F Moretti

J D Wilson

A Wong

GEOGRAPHY

K Chandaria

R K de Silva

N V Dembo-Shah

T M Homes

N F Tredre

R Vashisht-Pigem

THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY

S Bhatia

N Robertson

R Todd

MORAL PHILOSOPHY

L Murray

ART

P H G Bennison

E Hall

D R W Pandey

A P Tully

MUSIC

D Daneshvar

K Hunt

C C P Shaw

DRAMA

P Barry

R O Goodman

H Smith

ENGLISH LITERATURE

P Barry

N Bowman

T Casimir-Lambert

R O Goodman

E Hall

D L M Harden

L Leventis

S Mewawalla

A Rowland

F Walsh

A Wong

ENGLISH CREATIVE

WRITING

N A Jinadu

GREEK

D M Christmas

T Wong

LATIN

D Choi

A Meadows

A P Read

A Rowland

C C P Shaw

ANCIENT HISTORY

L T Jeffries

J B Young

FRENCH

A Chaudhary

R G Eichhorst

H Helsen

H H Huang

J F Moretti

J A Morris

L S Walton

GERMAN

R G Eichhorst

A Meadows

O L Rose

ITALIAN

N A J O Dahl

J A Morris

L S Walton

SPANISH

K Chandaria

D R W Pandey

D J Peachey

FOURTH FORM PRIZES

A M Andreichuk

A Barea

D Brown

V Chamaria

G M S El-Guindi

D Ghaffarpour

A Goyal

S J E James

T K Mardin

Z Maudgil

D O’Sullivan

L M Orlandi

A Parekh

C T Pilcher

R Rodger

O K Tange

J F Tans

M L Wiseman

M Zubarev

FOURTH FORM ICT PRIZE

J Ferro

JOHN COLET PRIZES FOR OUTSTANDING

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

R Lakha

V Liu

A L Mardin

L Murray

H Zhao

DEPARTMENTS

Charlie Taylor Augmented reality

Art Annual Review

MRG

It seems to be universally agreed that the year flew by. This is I think due to a readiness for a return to lockdown in the Spring Term that never happened. At the end of the first very nearly normal year since 2019 we are very much focused on a full set of co-curricular events planned for the coming academic year, the first of which will be the Architecture Weekend in September followed by the postponed talk by Idris Khan and the Creative Faculty trip to Paris in October.

This year saw the return of the GCSE and A Level exhibitions in the Milton Gallery with both exhibitions being then reinstalled in the school, GCSE final pieces framed and displayed in the

dining hall, and the complete A level show occupying a new showing space on all four floors of the stairwell between GTB1 and Science.

SPARTA set up a Parents and Students meeting at the Paula Rego show in October which was one of the standout shows of the year; it is very sad to be writing this just a week after her passing. In our November Zoom event, art historian and broadcaster James Fox talked about the impact of digital technology on Fine Art. In late February, staff from the art departments of SPJ and SPS put on a group show in the Milton Gallery. It was a show of works so different it was hard to imagine how it could possibly hold together; it did and was a testament to the exceptional

I am very proud of the work achieved in the department which as ever is marked by its breadth, originality and independence.

talent of the staff working on both sites. At the start of the Summer Term Mr Page led a London Gallery Weekend tour of the West End commercial galleries for the Lower Eighth. The tour included artist talks with the painter Vivien Zhang and American sculptor Lonnie Holley. Jon Williams brought back our RCA student link up with the ceramicist Sofia Christoforou, who joined us to deliver a three-week workshop for the Lower Eighth. SPARTA invited the artist Shubha Taparia to give

a lunchtime talk about her installation Crescent. Mr Flint continued the development and fun of Get Creative which gets bigger every year.

I am very proud of the work achieved in the department which as ever is marked by its breadth, originality and independence. Charlie Taylor made St Paul’s history as the first student to produce a stunning one-man show of sculptures through augmented reality in the Atrium. This year we celebrate the

success of our Upper Eighth as we send Charlie Hunt to Glasgow School of Art and Joseph Oudkerk to City and Guilds for foundation courses; Laith Gordon will continue his painting at Stanford, and our architects Benjamin Von Bismarck and Joshua Marks have been offered places at Belfast, Newcastle, and the AA. ❚

Lonnie Holley talks to the Lower 8

A Level Art 2022

André Saldanha-Blackwood

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Grimstone

Ben Von Bismarck

Charlie Hunt

Laith Gordon Finn Lloyd

Joshua Marks

Joseph Oudkerk

GCSE Art 2022

Aaryan Patel

Alexander Tulley

Emerick McMahon

Daniel Harden

Archer Hitchcock

Christopher Tombolis

Davide Forni

Dan Lam

Darshy Pandey

Enzo Beattie

Maximilian Bishop

Elwen Cameron

Esa Dhanani

Euan Lim

Jonathan Brown

Jack Morris

Joshua Brown

Leonard Walton

James Marks

Gianpaolo De Costa

Leonardo Boothman

Conrad Gardey

Frederick Katzenellenbogen

Karim Seif

Thomas Evans Alcantara

Eshan Hall

Krish Patel

Laurenz Orlando

Nicolo Marcello

Luke Leventis

Oliver Rose

Oscar Dyble

Riccardo Sartori Di Borgoricco

Westye Hoegh

Torgua Lee Imnadze

Lucian Mandic

Thomas Owens

Philip Bennison

Yuli Vasiliev

Sebastian Harker

Syed Hasan

Sawyer Dougall

William Freebairn

Interview with Bella Freud

Laith Gordon

Born in London, Bella Freud studied in Rome, launching her own fashion label in 1990. She gained a devoted following as a storyteller who uses design as her vehicle. Bella skilfully appropriates serious ideas about the subconscious in a playful manner in her clothing.

Bella is known globally for her knitwear. Her highly popular “Word” jumpers have been worn by the likes of Kate Moss, Laura Bailey, Salma Hayek, Eddie Redmayne, and Keith Richards. Her collection is not limited to jumpers, however: she is also well-known for her tailored suits and dresses. A recent release was “The Wedding Edit”, Bella’s take on the glamour of the King’s road weddings and rock and roll marriages.

I took the time to ask her some questions to find out more about her process and what advice she would give to aspiring designers.

What do you think about sustainability in fashion?

Apart from design itself, sustainability is the only way fashion can continue to be viable. Fashion depends on being able to reinvent itself endlessly, and now it’s life depends upon it. When there are threats to ways of life, those are the moments when fashion accommodates and responds creatively, giving people other ways to show how they are part of this. Sustainability has demanded a new level of inventiveness in fashion as ultimately the idea of new things is viewed as part of the problem. Things that were associated with poverty, like reusing fabrics and even garments, is now considered to be forward thinking and highly desirable. Fashion can bring joy and innovation to all these limitations. People need an incentive to be part of the huge changes in attitudes to live a sustainable life and help preserve our planet. Fashion is a catalyst for that change.

Did the pandemic give you any opportunities to be more creative or find new creative processes that otherwise might not have materialised?

Yes. I never imagined it would be possible to produce work that depends so much on touching bits of fabric, trying things on in the studio, or just being in the studio where all that happens. But the drive to keep working drove us all along. I worked at strange times of the day; there seemed to be no particular beginning or end but there were still deadlines. Thank god for them. Collections emerged, things got made, people bought things. I had imagined I needed the feeling of having terrifying mythological creatures snapping at my heels just to come up with an idea, and I found that I could come up with stuff without that.

Bella Freud ‘Word’ Her jumper Rock and roll weddings

How do you view the balance between costume and clothing in your own work?

I would say costume is the enemy of fashion. Costume is to create a spectacle, fashion is to create an entrance.

What advice would you give to young people interested in fashion to help them find their design and thematic identity?

Be patient. Learn to make things with your own hands, to be able to craft something gives you so much information. It helps a person to literally feel their identity.

Where do you see the connection in your work between media such as film, literature, and visual art compared to the consumer fashion industry?

I get a lot of my ideas through reading. I get a strong feeling about something and then I want to make that atmosphere into something 3D and tangible. When I was still at fashion

school I read a biography about Coco Chanel and how much she loved the colour of sand and used it in her work and for her interiors. I became obsessed with the idea of this colour; I had my fabric dyed specially to make the colour Sand. It had such a strong mood attached to it, it made me know what to do next.

How has your experience changed your outlook on fashion, design and the way you view ordinary clothing?

Some of my adverse experiences in the past have shaped the way I work now. Having periods with very limited resources made me more creative; it has made me a good editor. ❚

Bella Freud ‘Word’ Art jumper

Sustainability has demanded a new level of inventiveness in fashion as ultimately the idea of new things is viewed as part of the problem.

Content Warnings and Controversy: Understanding Philip Guston’s Klansmen Paintings

Joseph Oudkerk

The lexicon that has developed to discuss the later work of the American painter Philip Guston is led by ‘controversy’ and followed by the adjectives ‘provocative’ and ‘satirical’. One could be forgiven for labelling Guston a politically motivated painter, given how forcibly some newspapers and magazines attempt to promote the idea that Guston was on some noble quest to vanquish white supremacism in America through his painting. However, a closer examination of his practice suggests otherwise.

At first glance, his paintings do come off in this way: Klansmen in bloodspattered robes make their way around the streets of 1970s America, smoking and driving with an air of jaunty self-satisfaction. The sinister presence of the figures themselves is only outdone by the cartoon-like style in which these malevolent figures are painted. The decision to create caricatures out of Klansmen might be interpreted as an attempt at belittling them, perhaps in the hope that in satirising figures who represent pure evil, he is able to reduce them, or at least has the feeling of gaining some power over them at a personal level. Some believe that such a portrayal is not his to make, and that in these paintings he has ‘appropriated images of black trauma’. However, one judges Guston’s decision to paint Klansmen, the fact remains that the white robes of the Klansmen are instantly recognisable as a symbol of hatred, and are considered politically charged, owing to their association with the movement of white supremacism.

For African Americans of the present day, images and depictions of the robes serve as a painful reminder of the persecution, lynchings, and physical torture endured by their ancestors at the hands of the KKK.

Given the sensitive nature of this symbol, galleries are naturally careful to ensure that the work is exhibited in an appropriate context, and that visitors are warned of the content of these paintings. But, as a major retrospective on the artist’s work approached in 2020 (‘Philip Guston Now’), the murder of George Floyd took place, causing global outcry at the continual problem of excessive use of force by American police officers when dealing with POC citizens. Shortly afterward, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and the National Gallery of Art in Washington took the decision to postpone the retrospective, citing concerns that Guston’s ‘powerful message of social and racial justice’ might not be ‘clearly interpreted’ amongst the aftermath of the Black

Lives Matter movement. The decision to postpone the retrospective is a logical one, seeing as one false step by the galleries in the exhibition of Guston’s work could result in a digital barrage of criticism levelled by the public, ruining their respective reputations. Whether or not their decision was appropriate is not something I wish to judge. Rather, a far more worthwhile question presents itself from this work: why paint the Ku Klux Klan?

To answer this question, one must first of all understand Guston’s relationship with his paintings. Though the subject of his Klansmen paintings is undoubtedly politically charged, it is not necessarily true that his motivations in producing these works were political themselves. The language of the articles that denounce the postponement of Philip Guston Now implies that he made a personal decision when taking it upon himself to make these paintings. This is a misjudgement of his practice –the process of creation with which he

grappled was one which frequently wrestled itself from his control, the plane of the canvas guiding the painter rather than vice versa. He describes this as a feeling that he exists in the process as a ‘medium through which a rhythm is passed’ by dint of a ‘third hand’, an otherly force expressing itself through him (Guston implies heavily that this hand may be God).

Rather, the true answer to this question lies in what he called ‘the only reason to be an artist’, a duty, if you like, of the artist: ‘to bear witness’. Guston’s words suggest to us that his Klansmen paintings were not the result of a conscious decision to draw attention to the scourge of white supremacism, but the result of his observation of the world around him. In his paintings, he neither presents commentary nor passes judgement on the Klansmen figures he depicts. He is not painting the Ku Klux Klan; he is painting the society in which he lives, as he observes it. Arguably, this realisation renders his

paintings more horrific: looking at paintings such as Riding Around anew, one realises that these works reflect the banality of evil. In Guston’s mind, the perceived distance that the average American citizen may feel between himself and the perpetrators of abhorrent acts of violence and hatred does not exist, a distance which his paintings seek to dismiss. White supremacists smoke, go for walks, drive around and even paint around in much the same way that any other citizen might. In fact, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that the evil Guston paints he also sees in himself. His paintings hold up a mirror to society as a whole, a mirror which shows our society its own wicked reflection; a reflection so repulsive we have deemed it too worrying to look upon. Guston’s mirror serves to remind us that the evil we seek to eradicate in society often lies much closer than we might hope. ❚

His paintings hold up a mirror to society as a whole, a mirror which shows our society its own wicked reflection; a reflection so repulsive we have deemed it too worrying to look upon.

Olympiad News

JRB

This year was notable for the unprecedented success of the Eighth Form biologists in the British Biology Olympiad. Paulines frequently win the largest number of medals in the competition and this year 90% of Paulines who entered won medals, 25 of them gold – substantially more than in previous years.

Additionally, five Upper Eighth formers were invited to Warwick University to compete for a place in the UK Olympiad team. Monty Brown and Senan Bottomley took up the challenge and Senan was selected as one of four members of the UK team to travel to Armenia later this year for the International Biology Olympiad competition. Senan talks about his experiences at Warwick below. Fifth formers took part in the Biology Challenge competition, winning 112 medals, 28 of them gold which are awarded to the top 5% of competitors.

The biological sciences has a long history of popular scientific writing, from Darwin’s Origin of Species to more recent works by Richard Dawkins. This year, some of the Fourth and Fifth form were encouraged to read contemporary works by biologists and three have written short reviews below. In the Summer term as part of the Get Creative week, a group of Fourth formers attempted to create pictures using bacteria that produce various coloured pigments which were grown on agar plates to produce the image. Some examples of their work are shown here. ❚

Fifth formers took part in the Biology Challenge competition, winning 112 medals, 28 of them gold which are awarded to the top 5% of competitors.

The British Biology Olympiad

Senan Bottomley

A Planet of Viruses

by Carl Zimer, reviewed by

Leo Lenhard

What did the selection process at Warwick University for the UK International Biology Olympiad team involve?

SB: We had one day of training in biochemistry, dissections and botany, followed by a day of exams which involved both theory papers, lab-based practicals and a bioinformatics practical using BLAST searches.

Which practicals were the most interesting?

SB: The maggot dissection – the maggot was about 10 mm long and had been etherised so it was still alive. We pinned it out on a dissecting plate and used very fine forceps and pins to remove the gut, fat bodies and tracheae to expose the dorsal vessel which was still beating. In the training session I attempted the dissection with three maggots – all of them unsuccessful. However, in the practical exam I managed to get an intact dorsal vessel in ten minutes. We then added different chemicals to the maggot – adrenaline, saline and dopamine and had to identify which chemical was which based on its effect on the rate of contractions of the dorsal vessel. Adrenaline was the trick one – in fact it doesn’t change the rate of contraction!

What was the department at Warwick University like?

SB: We did all of the practicals the undergraduate teaching and had access to all of their equipment. We were of the high-tech microscopes that undergraduates had made from scratch which enabled them to visualise microtubules being assembled and broken down. One of the demonstrations we had on the final day was with Dr Timothy Saunders, a mechanobiologist studying heart tube formation in Drosophila, which linked nicely with the larvae dissection. He showed us a video of 3-dimensional heart development in mice.

Senan Bottomley becomes the fourth Pauline to represent the UK in the International Biology Olympiad. ❚

A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer, goes into detail about many different viruses and their discovery. He does this through the use of stories as well as facts to explain how these viruses have impacted life.

In one case, Zimmer explains how Rhinoviruses, usually known as the common cold, are actually one of the most effective viruses due to keeping a human in bed for around a year throughout their whole life. He also describes how the common cold appeared in the oldest known medical text describing multiple diseases, one called Resh perfectly matching the symptoms for the sickness now known as the common cold. Another story told by Zimmer, portrays the first time the West Nile Virus appeared in the Western Hemisphere in Bronx Zoo, New York, after multiple animals there died.

This book conveys the information of viruses well, but also does this in an interesting way. I would highly recommend this book to others. ❚

The fourth Pauline to represent the UK in the International Biology Olympiad

Secret Life of Flies

by Erica MacAllister, reviewed by Henrik Helsen

This book opens with an astonishing statistic: there are 17 million flies in the world for every single human. And yet, despite the fact that there are so many of them, flies have long been overlooked by scientists in favour of bigger, ostensibly “more human-like” animals. But flies have an important role – they are the only known pollinators of the cacao tree – so no flies, no chocolate!

The book covers the different life stages of a fly, larva, pupa and adult, and the different types of fly by their function (pollinator, detritivore, coprophages, necrophages, vegetarians, parasites and sanguivores). Each section is chock-full of interesting facts and figures, and also highlights interesting and unusual examples of flies in each category.

The narrative is witty and well-paced, although sometimes it can be dense and filled with biological terminology, which sometimes requires re-reading.

Nonetheless, the information generally is well-presented and accessible (complicated terms are usually explained in good detail), even for those with only a little knowledge of biology, and so offers something for everyone regardless of their level of interest.

I would definitely recommend this book for those seeking something outside the mainstream of non-fiction literature, or those who simply want to be fascinated, astonished or even just learn something new. ❚

by Thor Hanson, reviewed by Raphael Hibou

Buzz by Thor Hanson is more a book of popular science than an academic study, a story of sorts. However, it manages to explain everything you could possibly want to know about bees while staying an enjoyable and light read, filled with personal stories and beautiful photographs.

Hanson talks, for example, about bees in our culture: our fear of them, our art depicting them, medicinal uses, and their role in stories and mythology. He also discusses the interconnected evolution between bees and flowers, as most flowers require pollinators to spread pollen, bees being the most important of these, and bees require flowers to get their nectar. Therefore, not only have bees undergone adaptations to make the most out of the nutrition provided by flowers, but plants have developed flowers with more and more specialised features to attract bees.

One of the things that struck me was the sheer variety of bees in size, colour and behaviour, as this book looked at a myriad of bees such as the digger bee, the cuckoo bee or the mason bee to name a few, which went against my existing idea of bees simply being the common honeybee Apis mellifera. A large part of our food production, which could be up to a third of all our food, is produced thanks to bees. Hanson even dissects a Big Mac to find how much of it was grown with the help of bees.

Finally, he explains the uncertain future for bees, with decreasing bee populations due to pesticides, climate change and a strange disorder known as colony collapse disorder, which is still poorly understood.

Overall, this book gave me a great insight into all things bees, a subject which may at first have seemed uninteresting, but that I in fact found very insightful. ❚

Ferroptosis

Ynon Weiss

Each week the Biology department’s journal club meets in which a pupil leads the discussion of a recent scientific paper. Here Ynon discusses the concept of ferroptosis.

Ferroptosis, a term only coined in 2012, is the iron-dependent form of programmed cell death, and has been the focus of an exciting research paper on a potential new gene therapy for cancer.

Morphologically, ferroptosis differs from other forms of programmed cell death, such as apoptosis and autophagy, and is characterised by accumulation of iron and lipid peroxidation leading to membrane damage. The iron is utilised through the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) via the Fenton Reaction, in which Fe2+ catalyses the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide forming, among other products, hydroxyl radicals. Free radicals lead to the damaging oxidation of lipid molecules, such as those in membranes, and particularly affect polyunsaturated fatty acids. Additionally, iron can increase lipid peroxide levels through the activity of lipoxygenases, iron-containing enzymes that oxidise polyunsaturated fatty acids into lipid hydroperoxides. Under normal cellular conditions, ferroptosis is inhibited by antioxidants such as glutathione peroxidase 4, which reduces the toxic lipid hydroperoxides in membranes into non-toxic lipid alcohols. Ferroptosis has also been shown to propagate among cells, like a wave, causing killing in neighbouring cells, which is one of the attractions for research into its possible uses in treatment.

Recently in Biology Journal Club, I presented a research paper in which scientists designed a therapy based

on the cancer-cell specific induction of ferroptosis, killing tumour cells while potentially overcoming problems with current cancer treatments such as chemoresistance (Nature Communications 12: 5311 (2021)). The paper proposed a combination of iron nanoparticles and gene interference to cause lipid peroxidation in cancer cells, triggering ferroptosis. The gene interference vector consisted of a Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) decoy sequence and a minimal promoter, resulting in the cancer-cell specific nature of this treatment as the NF-kB transcription factor is proven to be over activated in cancers. Furthermore, the vector contained downstream effector genes coding for either microRNA or CRISPR/Cas13a and guide RNA. Of course, the microRNA and Cas13a would only be expressed in cancer cells, where NF-kB is present and can bind to the promoter allowing transcription to occur. Both of these systems knock down the expression of the target genes by targeting specific mRNA molecules before translation takes place. The Ferroportin and Lipocalin-2 genes were decided as the genes of interest, with the former coding for a transmembrane protein which exports intracellular iron, while the latter codes for a protein that sequesters iron, preventing the accumulation of excess free iron in the cytoplasm. Halting expression of these genes would stop the cancer cells from exporting excess iron, eventually inducing ferroptosis. Excess iron was provided by treating the cells with iron oxide nanoparticles, which release the Fe2+ ions inside the cells needed for the Fenton Reaction. Therefore the combination of the iron nanoparticles and the inhibition of iron metabolism genes only in cancer cells should result in the accumulation of iron ions, and thus an increase in ROS levels, resulting in cell death via ferroptosis.

Impressively, the human leukaemia cells which were transfected with the gene interfering vector and treated with iron nanoparticles showed significant cell death, with this result being repeated in different human and mice cancer cells. The team then wanted to explore the anti-tumour effects of this treatment in vivo, so they transplanted mouse leukaemia cells into mice. The gene interfering vectors were also cloned into adeno associated viruses (AAV), which could transfect the mice. Again, tumour growth was significantly inhibited, and survival time of mice with lung metastatic melanoma was improved when they were treated with this therapy. In order to increase the effects of the treatment, they suggested to prepare nanoparticles with tumourspecific ligands which would result in greater accumulation of nanoparticles in the tumour cells and an even more effective treatment, yet this would be difficult to produce as there are few highly specific biomarkers on tumour cell surfaces. ❚

Free radicals lead to the damaging oxidation of lipid molecules, such as those in membranes, and particularly affect polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Chemistry

ChemiSTEAM 2021

We may not have fancy equipment or specialised techniques in secondary school science labs but we do try to expose students to the beauty of science and in particular chemistry. Science technicians like myself play a fundamental role in this area. We are willing to try new things and share our enthusiasm with students and teachers. So, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, technicians stepped up to the challenge and offered a more practical way to study and appreciate science.

Most practical work in the lab was out of bounds, inaccessible, or otherwise completely closed for the majority of people. So, armed with smartphones, USB microscopes, and visualizers, technicians all over the world including myself started filming chemistry practicals, demos, and science experiments for the benefit of teachers and students. An article reflecting on our experiences was published in Chemistry World magazine in September 2021 and in last year’s issue of The Pauline

Microscale chemistry is slowly but surely gaining traction in UK schools. After decades of repeating the same experiments over and over again with the same equipment following the same recipe, microscale has opened a door of wonder, curiosity, and understanding – sparking a new interest in learning. We knew microscale was the way forward so we included quite a range in our videos: precipitation reactions “in a puddle’’, gas formation and halogen displacement reactions contained in a petri dish, acid-base neutralisation reactions, etc. All were ready to be performed by students once they returned to the school lab and it was safe to carry out their investigations.

The benefits far outweigh the preparation and time taken to build new apparatus, buy new plastic dropping bottles and laminate a few instructions sheets. For starters, the amount of chemicals used is vastly reduced as are potential hazards, complying with the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry. Students can work individually and focus on the reaction taking place with spectacular detail and finish in a surprisingly short period of time leaving time for questions and discussions at the end. The cleaning up is straightforward. Suddenly, metal displacement reactions as the one shown in the photo come alive with exquisite definition and artistic flamboyance when viewed under the microscope at its lowest magnification (40×). A single piece of copper wire about 1cm in length was placed in a cavity glass slide and three drops of 0.1 M silver nitrate solution were added. A few seconds later fragile metal ferns or dendrites started growing on the copper metal surface. Copper is more reactive than silver so it displaces the less reactive silver from the solution forming a copper nitrate solution.

The beauty of those fern looking metal crystals is mesmerising. You can tell by the silence and awe experienced by

children when they observe this reaction for the first time. They see them growing in real time and at a much faster rate than in the more familiar ‘’silver tree’’ demonstration usually reserved for the period approaching the Christmas holidays. Afterwards, questions kept pouring in, can we grow other metal ferns? Is it possible to form metal crystals out of solutions using other methods e.g. electricity?

Fractal patterns such as these are very common in nature. So immediately, comparisons are drawn to lightning strikes, electrical discharges on powder coated insulators, snowflake crystals, etc. Science has become art and art has become science. Both are interchangeable and both are inspiring and beautiful.

Thank you to the organisers of ChemiSTEAM, Louise Dawe, Vance Williams for his stunning liquid crystal photographs, and in particular Brian Wagner for being a continual source of inspiration and for sharing my undying love of all glowy fluorescent things. I am honoured to have been selected to be a contributor to their series of posts. ❚

Andres Tretiakov – Science technician and recipient of an honourable mention at ChemiSTEAM 2021 run by the Chemical Institute of Canada

Images of silver dendrite crystals produced as copper displaces silver from a solution of silver nitrate

Chemistry Competitions

In recent years, St Paul’s has had fantastic success in two national problem solving competitions for senior pupils: the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Olympiad and the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, organised by the university. The Pauline cohorts of 2022, however, have surpassed all previous triumphs.

In January, 149 Paulines drawn from the lower and upper eighths sat the Chemistry Olympiad and they managed to set three new school records, enjoying, unambiguously, the school’s best-ever year in the event. More awards than ever before were won (135 this year beats 128 in 2021), more silver awards than ever before were won (65 beats 63 in 2021); and, most excitingly, and more gold awards than ever before were won (25 beats 24 in 2019).

Additionally, Eamon Coates (Upper Eighth), qualified for the second round by scoring more marks than any Pauline has ever done before in the first round: he was ranked 4th of the 8,668 competitors, only 34 of whom went on to contest round 2, aiming to gain national selection for the International Olympiad, which was held in China in July.

In the paper, competitors tackled some topical questions, including analysing the mechanics of lateral flow tests and the thermodynamics of vaccine storage,

as well as more novel chemistry, such as methods of synthesising molecules with the same structures as Chinese knots.

In June, the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge rolled around, but this time, it was the job of the lower eighth chemists – with a little help from a few

Sixth Formers who had stayed in school after a morning GCSE chemistry exam – to put themselves to the test, counting up double bond equivalents and contending with some poor humour on the part of the question setters. The results bore out the promise of the Olympiad earlier in the year: more awards than ever before were won (89 beating 87 in 2021), including a spectacular 42 gold awards (smashing the previous record of 37 in 2021). Jash Jhaveri, who announced himself last year by earning a gold award in this event as a Sixth former, finished in the top 15 of the 8,400 entrants in this year’s national competition, earning himself an award of the most rare of the coinage metals, roentgenium, plus an invitation to a residential camp in Cambridge during the summer. ❚

Molecules can form knots, and sometimes very complex ones

The abundance of precious metals continues to increase

A reaction scheme through which pupils had to navigate, in which every molecule has six carbons, but where the number of hydrogen atoms dictates the structure and the number of double bond equivalents (DBEs)

An example of academic humour that fell planar, despite the character’s multiple sp3 centres

There is just a little bit of gold in every lateral flow device

Junior Chemistry Projects Club

Simple Experimental Techniques

We spent the beginning of the year mastering simple experimental techniques, such as measuring volumes using a burette, with a focus on precision and technique, as we competed to make the most accurate measurements. We then practised extractions: first of limonene from orange peel and then clove oil from cloves. This made use of several pieces of equipment we had not already encountered in our Chemistry lessons, and we also had to set up a far more complex arrangement of the equipment than we were used to. We then applied other techniques of mixing and filtration to make pure silver from a silver compound through reaction with ammonia, which produced beautiful, silver coated test-tubes.

Esters

In the second half of the autumn term, we produced esters, which are used in perfumes and as sweeteners, from carboxylic acids, with different amounts of carbon, and alcohols, which also had different amounts of carbon.

The general trend was that as the number of carbons within each reactant decreased, the more pungent the resulting smell was.

Our smells were Ethereal (which was so strong smelling that it clung to our nostrils for several days) in addition to PVA Glue, Pears and Bananas (which was our preferred smell).

Colours

In the Spring Term, we explored how the properties of chemicals affected the colours they produced in reactions. We started by designing ‘chemical clocks’, aiming to produce a solution of reactants which would start colourless before changing colour after thirty seconds. This required very accurate measuring, building on the skills we learnt in the autumn term, to ensure

the reaction took place at exactly the right time. This proved to be very challenging and it was soon clear that our chemical clocks were not the most reliable. We then applied this method to the acid and base reactions we covered in the Fourth Form, aiming to produce a variety of colours by varying the levels of the acid and base across multiple attempts. To complete our colour-based investigation, we constructed a full rainbow, ranging from crimson to lilac by lighting various metals, including copper (blue), calcium (orange) and our favourite, strontium (crimson).

Dyes

At the beginning of the summer term, we experimented with mordants for the Fourth Form Get Creative Week. We used mordants such as alum and alazarine with the hope that these would

bind the dyes onto the fabrics and cause a colour change. The dyes that we used included malachite green and beetroot. Our success with these dyes and mordants was limited but we still very much enjoyed trying to make the Fourth Form creative.

Appreciation to AXJ

Those of us who have attended Junior Chemistry Projects Club have really enjoyed the opportunity to improve our experimental skills and have always relished the interesting, mentally stimulating and engaging aspects of developing our practical understanding of the subject. Ms Jeffery has been remarkably dedicated to the running of the society every week and never fails to propose novel ideas of what to explore and investigate. ❚

The ester odour matrix Source: https://jameskennedymonash.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/infographic-table-of-esters-and-their-smells/ (NB permission to reproduce granted)

Techognition MJPS

Friday 4 March was Techognition day – a day to celebrate the work of science technicians and the enormous contribution they make to science education.

The technicians’ prep rooms at the school are particularly busy places with over 400 A Level pupils and nearly 600 GCSE pupils to cater for. In the lead up to the day, the chemistry department asked A Level chemistry pupils to write about how practical work had contributed to their experience of learning chemistry. The department’s teachers then posted these comments all over the chemistry corridor for the technicians to see. A large cake was also involved. Thank you to all of our superb technicians! ❚

Get Creative MJPS

As part of Get Creative week, Ms Jeffery and the Fourth Form experimented with dyeing using mordants, which are compounds that change how dyes stick to fabrics at the molecular level.

The patterns below were created using a single dye, alizarin, and several different treatment conditions using the mordant tannic acid. Alizarin on its own is a rich purple colour, but does not necessarily stick fast to cotton. When treated with tannic acid, however, it sticks well, but its colour changes to a gentle pink. Different orders of treating with the mordant, treating with the dye and tie-dyeing were explored. ❚

As is proper for such a subject, Classics has maintained its traditional activities. The Classical Society this year has looked at the Classics staff’s favourite ancient poets, heard talks from pupils and staff on politicians ancient and modern, and together with the Philosophy Department held a seminar-series on the existence of the historical Jesus. Similarly Pegasus leapt up from the COVID-ashes, rejuvenated under the guidance of Mr Stewart (watching films based on ancient myths and history) and Mr Carter (Escape from Troy – a DandD inspired game).

Internal competitions have continued unabated. In the Fourth Form Poetry Speaking Competition, Jacopo Tans, Louis Ferro, Ravi Walker, Adavya Goyal, Freddie Hammond Giles, Elyas Efthimiou, Gabriel El-Guindi, Adrian Chau, and Dariush Ghaffarpour all made it through to the final, where Gabriel was able to pip the others to the post despite strong competition.

Dara Daneshvar’s fantastic essay on Cambyses won the Fifth/Sixth Form Ancient History prize, Dermot Christmas produced a nuanced version of a passage from Vergil’s Aeneid 7 to win the Fifth/Sixth Form translation prize.

In the Eighth Form, Tom Merton won the King and Clementi prizes for Greek and Latin translation, and Sam MonroDavies and Tommaso Bailo the Sleath for Latin prose competition.

Externally, SPS classicists have also impressed: Jack Davies, Tommaso Bailo, and Seb Chohhan won silver medals in the UKLO; Christian Bulmer, Tom Merton, James Wilson, Shyam Thobhani, and Jack Morris bronze.

For the first time this year, SPS pupils also competed in the Euroclassica ELEX and EGEX, European-wide competitions

for those studying Latin and Greek. With no preparation at all they won 11 bronze certificates and 30 silver.

Special mentions go to Altan Mardin and Nat Dembo-Shah in Sixth Form, and Raphael Hibou in Fifth Form for the highest performances in the ELEX and EGEX respectively.

Most impressive, however, was SPS’s entry to the annual London Latin and

Greek Reading Competition, the various competitors rigorously coached by Mr Taylor. Muhammad Husan gave a charismatic reading of a tricky passage in the voice of Creusa, Aeneas’ wife, and won gold; Altan Mardin, competing in a category meant for Eighth Formers, also won the gold for his rendition of Catullus 8. Altan again, along with Tom Merton, performed a dialogue between Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra for the Greek Dialogue, winning bronze.

London Speaking Competition – competitors

Finally the Greek Chorus, composed of Dermot Christmas, Adi Coondapoor, Felix Henderson-Stewart, Kanyin Ishmael, Archie Rowland, Fred Websper, Christian Bulmer, Alastair McFarlane, and Tom Merton, gave a truly imposing performance, again winning the gold medal.

Perhaps most exciting for the Department, however, was the ability once again to take trips. Starting small, with the previously annual AH trip to the British Museum, we once again visited our favourite artefacts: the Assyrian lion-hunt friezes (blocked off!), the Nereid Monument (closed for renovation!!), and the Artemisia vase (removed for study!!!). Nevertheless, pupils still got to see the Elgin marbles, the Cyrus Cylinder, the blackened fragments from the Acropolis burnt by the Persians, and arrow-heads from Marathon, and it was agreed all round that the trip had been a resounding success. A group of about 20 pupils led ably by Mr Carter,

Mr Harrison, and Mr Fitzsimmons also visited Hadrian’s Wall, now celebrating its 1900th anniversary! To round off a Classics-filled year, we look forward to the Junior Play for which Mr Pirrie is directing ‘The Last Days of Troy’. ❚

For the first time this year, SPS pupils also competed in the Euroclassica ELEX and EGEX, European-wide competitions for those studying Latin and Greek. With no preparation at all they won 11 bronze certificates and 30 silver

Fourth Form speaking competition

Young Directors’ Showcase: DIARY OF A DIRECTOR

Will Shackleton

Over the course of twenty-three days in September 2021, I had the immense privilege of participating in the Young Directors’ Showcase, an opportunity for pupils in the Eighth Form to have a stab at directing a twenty-minute piece of theatre. Being involved in this event three times now has been a highlight of my time here at St Paul’s and I urge anyone who is on the fence to take that leap of faith – you will not regret it. I have attempted to document the processes, thoughts, and feelings that encompassed taking this on. I hope you enjoy it.

Thursday 2 September

An email just in. It’s from Mr Dormandy. He’s put out an open call to the Eighth Form: does anyone want to learn to be a theatre director? Do I? Is the sky blue?

Friday 3 September

I have recruited my team. The play is fabulous, the actors even better. An amalgamation of scenes and speeches from Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to be performed by two of St Paul’s’ most in-demand actors: Mr Benny Harrison and Mr Elijah Patterson.

Saturday 4 September

Now begins the process of script editing. This is gratifying, but tedious work. Due to the nature of the play, there are many moments where the two principal characters are left alone onstage to… ruminate… and gesticulate… and search the depths of their souls and comparatively less deep brains to… fill the time… and end the monotony. The audience is allowed to see the human condition when subjugated to the single worst feeling on earth: boredom. By the evening, my script edit has been completed. My homework, however, has not fared so well.

Sunday 5 September

I am emailing. “Dear Mr Dormandy,” I begin. A pretty good start. Some purple prose follows that expresses my desire to be a part of the Young Directors’ Showcase, detailing my play choice and cast. By ten o’clock he has responded: we’ve got the green light. An exuberant “WOOOHHHOOO” is sent to the WhatsApp chat, a sentiment quickly echoed by my equally keen cast. Young Directors’ 2021 has started.

Monday 6 September

Let’s get organised. I ask Benny and Elijah’s tailors what sizes they wear. They respond “large? maybe? It depends. Let’s go with medium.” It would appear Saville Row has lost its touch.

Tuesday 7 September

I need a concept. Something intriguing, cheap, and well suited for the play. The action takes place as the pair are undertaking a quest on a royal summons

to attend the King’s castle. How do I show this? I give the brain a squeeze and a few creative juices drip out. I have this strange concept of the Teddy Bear’s Picnic in my mind. No. That’s silly. Think of something better.

Wednesday 8 September

Teddy Bear’s Picnic it is! I’d like a blanket, basket, pillow and… dungarees. Fun, colourful, wacky, unconventional dungarees. It has that unusual, intriguing quirkiness that I appreciate aesthetically and seems apt for the characters’ dispositions.

Thursday 9 September

I send an email to Cait, our Theatre Technician, who is very kindly helping us. I am rapidly realising that directing is 90% admin. In this instance, the admin in question is a list of props and costumes. I am a great fan of plays with things: stuff to look at and be intrigued by.

Friday 10 September

The deadline to enter Young Directors’ has officially shut. I wonder who else is performing?

Saturday 11 September

Cait has secured our props and costumes; they are waiting in one of the iconic plastic containers. The one outstanding item are those wacky dungarees – those bright, bold, garments that will make the characters really pop onstage.

Sunday 12 September

I spend the last day of the weekend re-reading the play. I forgot just how intelligent and witty it is. Then I watch the 1990 movie adaptation directed by Stoppard himself and starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth. Delight turns to dread: how are we ever going to match that duo? Dungarees are still missing.

Monday 13 September

Dungarees are secured. I sleep easy.

Tuesday 14 September

Another email, this time from Mr Anthony. The task? Produce a poster to advertise the showcase that hasn’t even begun rehearsals. Something vague enough that it captures Theatre as a whole, but not too vague so that no ➦

one knows what is actually being advertised. Obviously it had to be in artsy black and white, that’s a given. But something eye-catching… Hmmm.

Wednesday 15 September

Update on the poster: it isn’t quite monochrome. A focal point of red from a theatre ghost light – if you don’t know about these, look them up. I promise they’re interesting.

Thursday 16 September

To add to the fantastical style I am aiming for, I think I need to be bold with my lighting and sound choices. A kaleidoscope of fuchsias and cyans. Obnoxiously positive calliope music to set the tone. Gorgeous!

Friday 17 September

After school in DR3. Be there or be square. We three directors (Leo Odgers is doing The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh and Harishan Ganeshan is tackling Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar) are treated to a crash course in directing by Mr Dormandy. Covering both the practicalities of production and creative side of the role, we go through three years of training at RADA all in one evening.

Saturday 18 September

Bright, but not too early, directors and cast descend on the Milton studio. We are lucky enough to have two theatre professionals coming in. The morning is spent with Anna Healey, who uses the four natural elements (fire, water, air and earth) as a way of creating instant characters. From dance to stylised movement to caricature to realistic people, Anna is amazing, providing an alternative and more intuitive perspective from which to approach creative work. Following a meal deal lunch (I have chicken Caesar wrap, salted popcorn and a coke –anything else is objectively wrong), Roberta Zuric leads a workshop teaching us how to approach blocking a scene. The two main points I take away are that you must be willing to experiment and that the best blocking is so well justified that if the play was suddenly muted, the audience would still understand the dynamic between

the characters. Roberta does say we are allowed one thing just because it’s cool though.

Sunday 19 September

Independent rehearsal time. Six hours of work. Well… more like one hour of work, two hours of chat, and three hours looking for those dratted coins – we use at least fifty in the show – that decide to plunge themselves into only the tightest of crevices.

Monday 20 September

I realise now that perhaps rehearsals on Sunday might have been best spent rehearsing, not chatting. Panic sets in.

Tuesday 21 September

It is in these final few rehearsals that everything starts to come together. Little details are added that colour in the sketch we have created thus far. My actors are beginning to get nervous. I am not. They’re going to smash it.

Wednesday 22 September

Now we tech! With lights, sound, costume, and props it doesn’t look half bad. Cait has done absolute wonders with the lights; the stage has that dreamy, mystic quality that I had wanted since the very beginning.

Thursday 23 September

AAAAA EEEEE IIIII OOOOO UUUUU

Don’t mind that; we’re just warming up our voices and bodies. Tonight is the night: show number one! I can see the determination in Benny and Elijah’s eyes. (And stretch down to the ground ). I am so proud of everything they have put into this showcase. Utter professionals.

True friends. (red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry) Never a dull moment, it’s just been fun fun fun and continues to be so all the way to the finishing line.

Friday 24 September

Following last night’s success, I cannot wait to watch them do it all again. It went perfectly on Thursday, what could go wrong…? Ping… Ping… PING Who’s messaging me? Oh… Ah… Oh… Hm… Benny has lost his voice. I wait till he gets into school to hear the damage. It would appear that overnight he has run several marathons and smoked a forty-year supply of cigarettes. After much honey, Lemsip, and hot water, his voice is as clear as it ever will be. This is what I love about theatre: the unpredictability. Something always goes wrong and the joy is in finding the solution. Having sneaked hot water onstage in a hip flask stowed in his picnic basket, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern step out on stage for the final time. Take your bow, gents. You deserve it.

I’d like to use this column space to briefly pay tribute to everything that SPS Drama has done for me over the past five years. I could not have asked for a more enjoyable experience. Both in academics and extracurriculars, the entire department has been phenomenal. Christian Anthony, Simon Dormandy, Dan Pirrie, Alex Kerr, Edward Williams, Tilly Woodhouse, Alberto Lais, Tom Chamberlain, Natalie Evans, Dan Staniforth, Darren Mitchell, Cait McGregor, and Natalia Alvarez – THANK YOU SO MUCH. There is no doubt that I will treasure my days in the Pepys for the entirety of my life. ❚

Imp Soc

Elijah Patterson

Like the little lamb in the spring fields, ImpSoc has bounced back this year with a completely new committee, after two long years of COVID restrictions. We started with the hysterical ImpSoc 15th anniversary show, involving a series of classic ImpSoc games, such as Party Quirks, an entirely Improvised twenty minute play, and a superb free-style from none other than professional Improviser ‘MC Hammersmith’ himself. However, the most important achievement of the evening was proving to disbelievers that ‘orange’ is in fact rhymable.

In our weekly ImpSoc session, we have continued our tradition of extremely thorough planning beforehand, as opposed to making up games on the spot, which would be quite ridiculous and chaotic. Despite the rigid order, each session has nonetheless produced a broad range of the good, the bad, and the ugly jokes, as well as recurring old ImpSoc classics, such as ‘moon’ and ‘why are you naked?’ The former is certainly an inside joke, that may not be funny to most of you, but trust me when I say that it is, in fact, very, very funny.

The committee has been hard at work, 24/7/365 in fact, coming up with new roaringly-successful games. Starting with the ‘Huh?’ game, birthed from the genius of Ryan Davey, which involves participants wearing headphones during an improvised scene, such that

they cannot hear each other and rely on lip-reading to decipher the meaning of the scene, and ending with the ‘Object Manipulation’ game, which is selfexplanatory. To some this may seem as though we have not come up with much, as there are only two; they would be wrong, however, as all good things come in pairs. Wings, for example, are better in pairs, and as such, with this badly constructed metaphor, ImpSoc will continue to soar into the stratosphere of satirical sophistication. Quite proud of that one actually.

To end this rather waffly and badly written (one could say it is improvised, ha) piece, and push this over the required word count, ImpSoc has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience this year, and the highlight of many a week. ❚

King Lear: Director’s Notes

CPA

King Lear begins and ends with a cautionary note on the dangers of speaking. Cordelia, realising that the currency of language has been debased by her sisters’ inflated rhetoric, refuses to extemporise on her love for Lear and instead explains that it is Goneril and Regan who have used language to say “nothing”. At the play’s close, Edgar advises those still standing to “speak what we feel, not what we ought to say”, reminding us that language is always performative, that social context often strangles self-expression, and that the spoken word is, like Wilde’s truth, “rarely pure and never simple”.

And who would know this better than a community of aristocrats knelt anxiously at the feet of a king whose capriciousness precedes him? In this, Shakespeare was merely reflecting the mechanics of the Stuart court, an obsequious sequence of metaevents in which courtiers were repeatedly called upon to demonstrate their proficiency in what they “ought to say”, in exchange for patronage and influence. James I was notorious for promoting handsome male favourites, men such as Robert Carr and George Villiers, who publicly flattered the king; for his efforts the previously cash-strapped Carr was gifted Sherbourne Castle and the post of Lord Chamberlain, whilst Villiers (when Carr fell out of favour) was made Earl

of Buckingham and referred to by the monarch as “my sweet child and wife”.

No wonder, then, that emotional honesty and the very act of speaking is so frequently policed in King Lear Indeed, the play is bloated with the conversations its characters fail to conduct: Lear provides scant reasoning for his abdication and refuses to explain his rejection of Cordelia to either France or Burgundy; Oswald denies Lear conversation, following Goneril’s instructions to ignore him; Lear discourages both Kent and the Fool from voicing ideas he does not wish to hear; Edgar is prevented from communicating with his father and godfather during his time as Poor Tom; Edmund refuses to confirm his romantic and political allegiance to either sister (when Goneril raises the subject, she then instructs him not to respond); Regan and Goneril repeatedly refuse to discuss their poor treatment of Lear with Albany (who, when his wife openly demonstrates her love for Edmund, threatens to stopper her mouth); and, at the play’s climax, Lear baulks at his daughter’s suggestion that they debate their fate with her sisters.

This reticence even permeates the theatrical experience itself: unlike Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Othello, Leontes, Timon, or the Duke in Measure for Measure, Lear never addresses the audience directly, never entrusts us ➦

with his thoughts. It is left to the subplot’s warring brothers to keep us posted on their position within the play’s fractured cosmos (Edmund, like Iago before him, swells with Machiavellian pride whenever he breaks the fourth wall but is often circumspect in dialogue with others) for, when it comes to the groundlings, Lear refuses to “cleave [his] heart into [his] mouth” and instead says “nothing”.

On the heath however, shorn of social context and the responsibility of public performance, Lear loosens his tongue to voice a series of political and personal truths but is, ironically, condemned to monologue. Surrounded by a cast of characters adopting falsified voices (the disguised Kent, the performing Fool, the possessed ‘Poor Tom’) dialogue becomes impossible; the stream of words spewed forth by each speaker is exposed as a dislocated tributary, unable to pool into a communal conversation which could replenish their emotionally arid kingdom. The storm is awash with wasted words and it is not for nothing that Shakespeare personifies the source of the tempest as a human mouth.

In transposing King Lear to the London of the 1970s, I hoped to tap into the spirit of an age in which communication between a government and its populace was strained to breaking point. From rising unemployment to the random atrocities of the Irish Republicans, from trade union strikes to the three-day

week, Britain in the 1970s became a country “as governable as Chile” in the populist view of one US politician. Inspired by the images of bin bags piled high in London’s Leicester Square during the ‘Winter of Discontent’, I sought to place Lear in a visual context where his shortcomings as a ruler were made abundantly clear, whilst also forcing him to haunt the fringes of the metaphorical scrapheap on which his daughters are so determined to discard him.

Lear never addresses the audience directly, never entrusts us with his thoughts.

In her 2004 study of classical and Shakespearean tragedy, Mocked with Death, Emily Wilson suggests that the idea of ‘overliving’, living beyond the point where life has any value, is an experience common to many tragic heroes. King Lear, she argues, uses “parodic and perverted versions of the Resurrection to suggest the horrors of an unending life in the body” so that “excessive life is presented as a kind of living death”. On our dilapidated stage, choked with litter, Lear begins the play in a state of frustration and is soon propelled to exhaustion by his inability to communicate with those around him; this verbal stalemate is indeed a kind of “living death” or, to put it another way: When the feeling’s gone and you can’t go on, it’s tragedy (Bee Gees). ❚

SPS Film Competition

Elijah Patterson

Having made a whopping total of three short films before going into this year’s SPS Film Competition, I knew I wanted to give myself a bit more of a challenge and try something completely different to what I had done before. This meant I had to temporarily abandon my bizarre, nonsensical sense of humour, and instead embrace my bizarre, nonsensical sense of, well, something else. With this completely clear and coherent plan at the ready, I set forth again on a tumultuous voyage across the ocean of filmmaking towards… that metaphor really doesn’t make sense.

As I had learnt from my other short films, the best way to approach making a low-budget short film is to start with what you have access to and work backwards to create a story. This meant taking into consideration all my limitations (of which there are many), such as sourcing the actors, and finding locations, props and equipment I had access to, before coming up with the story idea. I thought about the most interesting and unique things that I had access to, and the first thing that came to mind was my uncle’s models, which he builds from scratch, so I knew I had to incorporate them into the story somehow. It was specifically the piece in the photo above, the small town on an island, that inspired the central idea to the story. There was so much detail in this model that made it feel as though it had a tragic backstory: the desaturated,

dark brown that was used to paint the houses, the tiny, opaque windows, and the lone boat on the shore all created a strong sense of foreboding, of an abandoned village with a dark secret. The other main piece of inspiration I had was from the well-known piano piece (‘Gymnopedie No. 1’), which provided the right mournful, tragic atmosphere I wanted for the film.

With this inspiration, I then wrote a very brief draft of a story: a man goes into his house covered in blood, cleans off the blood, sits down and tries to paint a miniature werewolf, but gets interrupted by a bloody hand smacking his window. On paper, this story seemed rather uneventful, but I wanted to bring out the subliminal ideas and context through the cinematography and sound, rather than explicitly. This context was that the man was a werewolf, who had just transformed back into a man after involuntarily killing someone, and is struggling to come to terms with what he has done, using model making as a way of coping with his ‘condition’.

At the end of the story, he is interrupted by the person he thinks he has killed hitting the window, therefore providing the opportunity for redemption. Whether or not this context was conveyed effectively enough in the short film is up for debate (I have had many comments that go along the lines of ‘amazing, what actually happened?’), but nonetheless, I believe a certain macabre atmosphere was created that kept one hooked.

When I sent this story idea to my uncle, he was very enthusiastic about it, allowing me to use the model, his house, his camera and light. He even offered to act as the ‘model maker’, which was very convenient, as he had been method acting as a model maker for about two years preparing for this role. Having effectively killed all my birds with one stone, we set aside time on a Saturday evening, after my little cousin had gone to sleep, when we could film it. Unsure if this was going to be our only chance, we worked surprisingly efficiently, due in part to the fact that we had experience working together on his YouTube videos.

One of the main things I learnt from this process was to take other people’s advice, as they almost certainly have thought of things that you have not, and my uncle’s advice certainly contributed a great deal to certain shots in the short film. I think the short film, although far from perfect, really came together after editing and adding the music, provoking interesting feelings and ideas, even if it did not provide a coherent story. ❚

Party Time Review

Nik Boyd-Carpenter

2021-22 was an historic season for SPS Drama, as exemplified by the Spring production of Harold Pinter’s Party Time. A packed Milton Studio (including Lady Antonia Fraser, the wife of the late, great playwright and a celebrated author herself) was treated to a wonderful 45 minutes of dark comedy, with latent threat and social satire combining to great effect.

After the triumph of King Lear, it was no surprise that Mr Anthony turned to his favourite playwright, Harold Pinter, opting to stage Party Time – one of his later, shorter, and more political texts. The play depicts a genteel evening of upper-class platitudes and flattery, with typical Pinteresque comedy of menace. In the author’s own words, “the speech we hear is an indication of that which we don’t hear’” and this is especially true of Party Time Throughout the play the subtext threatens to overwhelm the actual dialogue as eight guests at a dinner party wade through the evening, carefully navigating oblique references to ‘the street’ and ‘soldiers’, all the while

ignoring Dusty’s panicked questions about the whereabouts of her brother Jimmy. However, as the production’s clever use of sound and lighting between scenes revealed, all is not well; the party guests are members of the privileged elite of a repressive autocracy, but the cries of dissent from outside get louder and louder as the play progresses. In a stunning culmination, Jimmy finally appears, his bewildering monologue a bitter depiction of injustice and abuse of power.

Acting in a Pinter play requires a particularly sophisticated understanding of language and subtext, and the cast of Sixth Form and Lower Eighth actors more than rose to the occasion. Julien Abbosh was an excellent Terry, caught between being an anxious flatterer and pugnacious husband, creating moments of wonderful comedy. Evan Burks was similarly impressive, oozing sleek, bureaucratic brutality in his role as Gavin, the party’s oleaginous host. Will Freebairn excelled as Douglas, a caricature of self-satisfied propriety,

and his comic dialogues with Fred (Yusuf Baig) were particularly funny. Yusuf’s performance as Fred was just as compelling, and his conversations with Charlotte brilliantly brought to life the ambiguity that is so typical of Pinter’s work. In a post-COVID first, the play featured actors from SPGS, each of whom performed with verve. Ondine Gregory and Natasha Sweeting were fantastic as Charlotte and Liz ➦

respectively, bringing great humour to their interchanges. As Dusty, Alexa O’Leary successfully presented a character of great complexity, simultaneously acting the victim of authoritarian oppression and using comic wit as a tool for female resistance in the face of male dominance. However, special praise must go to Hebe Legge in the role of Melissa. Acting a character many years older than she was, Hebe showed fantastic control of tone and facial expression to capture her character’s haughty affectation, but also her underlying insecurity. It was an outstanding performance. Finally, Enyu Hu, fresh from victory in the SPS Monologues Competition, was deeply unsettling in his masterful delivery of Jimmy’s speech at the close.

The production benefited greatly from its lighting, sound, costume, and set. Comfortable armchairs, smart suits and dresses and a soft yellow wash all helped create the impression of a comfortable living room, only for the back door to swing open at the close to reveal a bruised Jimmy in tattered rags, shattering the illusion of peaceful control. Similarly, the juxtaposition between the interludes of dancing, to a variety of Broadway jazz standards, and the use of recordings of public disorder and unrest, emphasised the

latent violence lurking behind the party’s icy decorum. The contrast between the party’s lighting and the eerie purple used in between scenes also accentuated the sense of threat to good effect.

In all, the play was a truly impactful performance; the ensemble cast worked brilliantly to bring out moments of genuine comedy throughout, more than earning the right to enjoy some famed ‘Pinter pauses’ while keeping

the audience engaged throughout. There was certainly an additional immediacy to the play given its context. Watching, in March 2022, just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, a play in which the ruling class blinds itself to the violence that sustains it felt extremely timely. It also points to the relevance of live theatre to both illuminate and provide solace from our world – having lost this privilege during the pandemic, Party Time was an excellent reminder of why we need it so much. ❚

In a post-COVID first, the play featured actors from SPGS, each of whom performed with verve.

Talk Show: Review

Marco Sicheri

As the audience took their places around the Milton Studio, the lights began to dim and concentrate on the production ahead. Upstage was a creaking window, rimmed in sleazy aquamarine light and set high on a dirty wall, with its paint peeling and beer stains scattered across its surface. A ragged desk lay in the middle of the studio, in front of an ageing swivel chair. These two pieces of furniture would prove pivotal in explaining the development of the protagonist Sam. Across the carpet, litter was dispersed, suggesting disorganisation and a lack of cohesion, which was soon revealed to be symbolic of the family dynamic within the household. Mr Chamberlain, the director, had made the decision to present this play in a thrust arrangement, with the audience on three sides; this increased engagement, giving the production the same sense of immersion as a film.

Talk Show is a play about the complete breakdown of communication within a family, a family torn apart by grief, loss, and a lack of hope for the future. Sam is desperate to find a way to express himself and, alone in his father’s basement, he turns to the American talk show format to fill the void within himself. However, the chaos of his uncle Jonah’s return forces the family to confront their grievances and attempt to move on from the past. The play also depicts the story of three generations of men, all of them struggling to survive

financially, emotionally, and existentially. The more they need each other, the more they drift apart. Through pride and stubbornness, they barely keep their heads above the water.

Sam (Rufus Goodman) holds onto his talk show as if it is a lifeboat. Jonah (played with raw recklessness by Felix May) has faced the worst anyone can face and struggles to connect. Bill (Paddy Barry), working class and out of work, refuses to acknowledge this brave new world might not have a place for him. Ron (Enyu Hu), wearing a vintage shirt and old enough to know that

hardly anything makes sense, calmly focuses everyone’s thoughts on what’s important and true. The play’s energy seems effortless, with subtext swimming in and out of view. The humour, often very funny, oozes desperation. Interesting theatrical devices add to the tension (the baby monitor for overhearing and mishearing conversations), and playfulness comes in unexpected forms, such as the use of the snake when Steve is presented (Theo Westcott). In addition, Daryl’s lack of desire to interact and enjoy the talk show (played by Liam Metcalf) allowed for a great scene scattered with crude humour. ➦

Light and sound in this production were used to their fullest potential, bringing to life the relentless energy and discombobulation of the household. This was most effectively portrayed in the scene in which Jonah enters, with a stark and sinister shift in lighting levels, providing a glimpse into the dynamic of the characters and personalities that would soon emerge. The lighting director, Ben Swartzentruber, controlled the atmosphere of each scene superbly, manipulating the tone and focus of the lights in order to guide the audience’s attention. Moreover, the use of sound effects in transitions and in the scenes where the talk show is live, allowed us to get a real sense of the context of the story and the effort Sam went through in order to present his show and keep it on air, even in the face of dire financial constraints.

Finally, the whole cast must be applauded for their ability to adapt to the difficult circumstances (including a much-disrupted rehearsal schedule) brought on by COVID. Throughout the play, all the actors showed immense interest in their specific characters, leaving the audience spellbound. The controversial ending of Jonah’s arrest, with his father (and ultimately Jonah himself) believing time to reflect in prison would help him to heal, was an emphatic full stop to an incisive and highly entertaining piece of theatre, highlighting the themes of family unity and generational responsibility that ran through the production. ❚

The play also depicts the story of three generations of men, all of them struggling to survive financially, emotionally, and existentially. The more they need each other, the more they drift apart.

The Rivals

Julien Abbosh

As people gradually filled the Pepys Theatre, attention was immediately drawn to the grand and imposing set design: the stage was painted in a circular pattern of bright white and red, with a grey signpost centrepiece pointing in three directions. Upstage, four Colosseum-like columns stood; once the play began, these came to life, changing colours during transitions and adding to the energetic atmosphere. Mr Dormandy, the director, in his in-person debut in the Pepys Theatre made the decision to transport The Rivals – a classic comedy first performed in 1775 –to 1967 (the ‘Summer of Love’), and accompany it with all-time great songs from The Beatles, The Kinks and The Animals.

Dormandy’s Rivals is a play that tells the story of a young American soldier, Jack Absolute (Harry Hickles), stationed in England, whose romantic interests and ties are the central cause of strife and stress between all the characters. Communication completely breaks down and only Jack seems to (just about!) know what is going on. As the house lights first dimmed and the stage lights flashed on, we were introduced to the vibrant characters we would see throughout the play: the cast trickled on and off the stage, rushing from corner to corner, and the comedic tone became immediately apparent. Noticeably, the elderly Thomas’s (Benedict Harrison) distinct and hilarious hobble on and off the stage immediately engaged the audience.

The excitement caused by the high energy was obvious; one could feel the audience on the edge of their seats anticipating scene after scene. We really wanted to see each character’s story play out and reach the resolution of the tension.

Mrs. Malaprop (William Shackleton) attempts to direct the love between Jack and Lydia (Jasmine Bakhshi) and inadvertently becomes amorously involved with Jack’s father, Senator Absolute (Leo Odgers). This explosive combination of high-intensity, pretentious and overbearing Mrs. Malaprop with a traditional, short-fused Senator was a root of pure comedy throughout the play. Faulkland (Lysander Kahane) is a lovesick and ➦

paranoid young man, who is in almost disbelief about his engagement to Julia Melville (Ayoka Lawani), and we get a glimpse into his tumultuous mind when he questions if their love is genuine. Further comedy and dramatic irony were brought through the fighthungry and argumentative Sir Lucius O’Trigger (Elijah Patterson), whose actions threatened conflict between Jack and Bob Acres (Rufus Goodman). In contrast to Jack’s suave and secure aura, Bob is a somewhat naive and timid countryman with an impressionable personality. The Rivals was an extraordinary visual play due to the extent to which the actors understood their character’s physicality and were able to demonstrate it to the audience: David (Felix May), Fig (Ryan Davey) and Lucy (Eleanor Grant) all pushed their respective characters to their fullest comedic extent.

Light and sound truly enriched the production, adding colourful energy and highlighting themes of the ‘Summer of Love’. The multi-coloured lighting was present throughout, always illustrating the high emotions and comedy.

Suleyman Ansari, the lighting director, made sure all the lighting was smooth and perfectly timed, often adding to a line by adjusting the lights with comedic finesse. Harry Rimmer also executed the sound perfectly, complementing scenes with music that mirrored the emotions. Thanks to all the stage crew, transitions were incredibly smooth, allowing the play to take place in many different sets.

The Rivals received fantastic praise from all who attended; the High Master commented as follows: “It was a sheer joy to watch The Rivals and I was delighted to be able to bring Oliver Snowball, the next Head of the Junior School and a drama specialist, as my guest. We both felt that the performances would not have been out of place on a professional stage and the Shackleton / Odgers double act, in particular, was something remarkable. The Snowball family also met many of the cast afterwards and were struck by their humility and

desire to give credit to the whole team. I did bag a signed poster though in preparation for the Olivier Awards in the future so that I can say that I saw them on the Pepys stage first!”

Finally, everyone must be praised for their commitment and desire to make The Rivals into such an incredible experience for all that came to see it. Despite challenges from the pandemic, and both the Upper Eighth and Sixth Forms facing distracting uncertainty about their mock exams, the cast came together to produce something fantastic. ❚

This explosive combination of high-intensity, pretentious and overbearing Mrs Malaprop with a traditional, short-fused Senator was a root of pure comedy throughout the play.

The Hog: Review

Leo Odgers

William Shakespeare, Harold Pinter, Richard Sheridan – Elijah Patterson. These are not only the names of the playwrights who have penned the shows performed by SPS Drama this year but also four masters of their craft who defined the theatre of their respective times. For Shakespeare, it was the Elizabethan period, for Sheridan the Georgian, Pinter the post-war era and for Elijah Patterson: the A Level Politics syllabus of Summer 2022. Though written nearly a year ago, The Hog – the tale of a once popular megalomaniac desperately trying to hold on to power by any means as he rapidly falls out of favour with the public – found itself deeply pertinent, almost prophetic, by the time it premièred in late May.

However, this dictator or ‘Great Leader’, played expertly by Harry Hickles, chooses to distract the public from his sins not with convenient trips to Kyiv or historic Jubilees but with a giant, genetically engineered pig monster.

Indeed, the plot of ‘The Hog’ is admittedly a bit bloody bonkers, with progressively more emphasis on the bloody. The play opens in media res, or ‘in the middle of the action’ (for readers who have no knowledge of smug A Level Drama terminology).

The Great Leader has been shot by a disgruntled rebel in the street and is tended as he retreats, bleeding, to his fortified Palace by his chief General –excellently portrayed with a convincing

reticence by Julien Abbosh. Whilst the Leader hastily wraps a bandage around his open bullet wound, his regime begins to rapidly unravel. Wishing to quell the uprising, he orders the creation of a rapacious sewer dwelling ‘Hog’ which crushes and devours dissidents, inspired by an urban myth which has spread throughout his realm. However, as the Great Leader’s desperation and paranoia intensifies, so too does the resistance of his subordinates – the exasperated General and the lowranking Private Adams, a quiet schemer played with sinister subtlety by Yusuf Baig. As the Leader becomes more and more unhinged, soon trying to poison his own General, it is Baig’s Private who eventually topples the dictator, leaving the Great Leader with the morbid choice of shooting himself or being mauled by the rabid Hog.

Yet the story maintains a weight and tension, sustained unrelentingly by the virtuoso writing and direction of Elijah Patterson. His script paints a recognisably crumbling establishment held together only by fear and residual loyalty. Patterson perfectly captures the

neurosis of an autocratic state with Pinter-esque subtext and correspondingly macabre humour. At one point Hickles asks Baig ‘Am I a good leader?’ to which Baig’s Private responds, after squirming timorously in his seat, ‘You are a great leader, Great Leader.’ The response elicits a laugh from the audience but also speaks more profoundly to many autocracies which are tenuously consolidated by conditioned rhetoric rather than genuine enduring popularity.

The use of set in The Hog was minimal but effective. The stage consisted of a central mahogany desk, two leather chairs and door upstage. There was little suggestion of the wider palace it is presumably situated in. As in many dictatorships, greatness is assumed but not proven. The music was similarly sparse but nonetheless powerful. The story was punctuated by unsettlingly discordant instrumentals including a despondent track from Donnie Darko, the teetering piano of Radiohead’s “Deck’s Dark” (my personal favourite) and the dusky trudging guitar chords of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” which scored the Great Leader’s quiet contemplation of his uncertain future while lit in a suitably liminal dim green glow. The absence of familiar words in these recognisable instrumentals supported the sense of a void at the heart of the Leader’s regime and made it clear that his days in power were numbered. The audience was only left to speculate who shall inherit his empire of dirt. The play closed to Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again” which at once recalled wartime propaganda and suggested an eternal inevitability in the rise and fall of despotic regimes. We have met men like the Great Leader again and again throughout history and, though he is ultimately toppled, the cycle seems destined to continue as the Private assuredly seizes his tyrannical mantle. ❚

The Last Days Of Troy Review

Eli Joseph

The play is adapted from Homer’s Iliad as well as other epics from the Epic Cycle, taking you through the final year of the brutal war which ensued after Paris famously stole Helen from the Greeks. We see the frail Greek camp at the start, broken and battered, after the awful plague sent from the Gods.

Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, learns the nature of the plague and realises the only way to get rid of it is to return the daughter of a priest that he took after battle. In his anger, though, Agamemnon demands Achilles’ own slave girl as compensation. Achilles, furious, refuses to fight for the Greeks in response, which derails the Greek army further. The Greek commander Odysseus decides to go down another route, and convinces Patroclus to pretend to be his best friend Achilles, and rally the Greek army into battle. But Patroclus is struck down by Trojan prince Hector, which enrages Achilles. Achilles re-enters the war, turning the tides once more. The famous coup de grace comes when Agamemnon sends a fake horse into Troy as a gift with Greek soldiers hidden inside. This eventually leads to a gruelling victory for the Greek army and the desecration of Troy.

After a year of studying different stage types for GCSE drama, I am able to give an “educated” debrief on the exceptional set, costume, and lighting used during the production. The stage was split into three levels, allowing for both the gods to look down on the battle and feed their thoughts to the audience, and for the audience to be immersed in the intense discussions taking place between the generals and warriors. The chorus had a mixture of remarkable costumes, but the stand-out must go to Elijah Hountondji’s magnificent flowy dark orange dress while playing the role of Helen. The entrance of Fred Websper as Paris surely woke up any dozy audience

members, as the piercing white light emphasised the introduction of the incredible Trojan prince – Paris.

The hard work put in by the entire cast shone throughout the play, but I couldn’t write this report without mentioning some of the brilliant individual performances across the three nights. Nico Groeller and Max Swinnerton starred in the roles of Zeus and Hera, observers and commentators on the war. Max totally embraced his role as Hera, and Nico conveyed the wisdom of Zeus in an affecting manner. The emotion of the story was captured and delivered powerfully, in a mesmerising monologue from Alex Toledano as Sinon. Jasper and Austin also treated us to an epic fight scene between Patroclus and Achilles, which surprised us all, and

possibly had the audience worried for a second about Jasper’s safety! Theo Frankel excellently portrayed the elegance of his character in Andromache, and Henry Smith played the general Odysseus superbly, even taking it to the lengths of roping down onto stage from the ceiling!

Fred Websper had a truly memorable entrance as Paris and alongside Sam Steeden as Hector, they both played the Trojan brothers to near perfection.

All in all, it was a fabulous production and a true joy to watch. I’m sure the cast pay great thanks to Mr Pirrie and Miss Evans for their tireless work in directing the project. It was a truly superb evening and I could not think of a better way to end a brilliant year of SPS drama, after it was sorely missed during the COVID years. ❚

Jasper and Austin also treated us to an epic fight scene between Patroclus and Achilles, which surprised us all, and possibly had the audience worried for a second about Jasper’s safety.

This year saw much to be proud of in the economics department, with a number of outstanding pupil achievements some of which are detailed below.

Harvard International Economics Essay Contest

Three L8 pupils were finalists (top 10 internationally): Jad Abuzayyad, Arth Kochhar, and Frederick Dehmel, and their essays were judged by Professor Oliver Hart, 2016 Nobel Laureate. Kangzi Chan in the U8, was also highly commended for the second year running! Very well done to Frederick Dehmel, who was one of three overall winners, who wrote on ‘Revisiting antitrust: a modern perspective’. He opens by saying:

“Monopoly; a frolic, light-hearted board game for up to 8 players. Yet 7 of these players quickly find their enjoyment dissipating once one player inevitably becomes too strong.” ❚

Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge

SPS entered two teams into the HUEA for the first time this year. The competition tests knowledge of the US AP Economics course as well as its application to wider topics. Our Lower Eighth team of Dennis Jian, Arth Kochhar, Wentao Huang and Seyane Sivarakulan came top world wide in the first round and reached the quarter finals. They were also the highest placed UK school. ❚

Cambridge Marshall Society

Kangzi Chan, in the Upper Eighth, won Cambridge’s Marshall Society prize over the summer with his essay on ‘Has the Euro experiment failed?’ He writes:

A test-tube baby, named Euro, was officially born on 1st January 1999… within the newly built ‘Eurozone’ hospital…Euro is now a 22-year-old man. He is still recovering from the trauma from the GFC, European Crises and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. However, what does not kill him, only makes him stronger… ❚

Minds Underground™ Essay Competition 2022

1400 students from across the globe including students from South Korea, Nigeria, Russia, Pakistan, and the USA entered this competition and Arth Kochhar, in the Lower Eighth, was runner-up. ❚

HM Prize – Economics category winner

James Trotman, also commended in last summer’s Financial Times/Royal Economics Society Young Economist of the Year, combined two models (Cournot and kin-targeted altruism) to consider the extent to which cooperation may occur in the tech industry. ❚

Stock Soc

StockSoc, started last year by Kayyan Elmasry and Malachi Cohen, has been taken over by Howell Zhang and Andrey Orlov in the Lower Eighth. The highlight of the year was an interview with Nicholas Meer, a Managing Director at JPM, and Robert Perkins, Managing Director at ING. ❚

Economics Trading Day within West London Partnership

Lower Eighth Economics Research – internal essay competitions

The Lower Eighth were set two research tasks in their first year studying economics. Over Christmas, they were asked to examine why free markets fail to address climate change and so expected to research the idea of market failure for the first time independently. One excellent essay was written by Dennis Jian He finishes by writing:

In conclusion, it is clear the environmental toll on our planet is enormous. Government intervention accompanied by existing marketbased solutions have proven to cut emissions within the past decade. However, without decisive reforms and global cooperation, the world cannot become a cleaner place.

A second task was set over the Spring holidays and pupils had to research

whether policy makers had learnt from previous recessions. Most looked at responses to the Global Financial Crisis compared to COVID. Two excellent essays were written by Wentao Huang and Christian Bulmer, with different conclusions.

Wentao writes:

Hindsight suggests that we have much to learn from previous recessions, particularly with respect to public finances and inflation. Fixating on these blemishes, however, obscures the extent to which the response to COVID-19 has been a triumph of economic policy.

Christian concludes:

A recurring theme of 2008-2020 is that policy keeps becoming more expansionary…While policymakers might have dealt well with COVID as an isolated crisis, in the long term, continuing to expand policy risks undermining reserve currencies and future policies to deal with recessions, if they move closer towards fiscal dominance. ❚

Young Enterprise

The school had three Lower Eighth teams competing in the Company of the Year programme this year. Team Nutree, led by Charles Calzia, came runners-up in the Richmond and Kingston stage of the competition, whilst Ceintury, led by Sabeer Sawhney, were awarded first place. Both teams went on to compete in the South London Final. Nutree had further entrepreneurship success in the Euronext Blue Challenge in which they won the UK final. ❚

Mixed teams of six from our partner schools came together in an interactive trading game run by Deutsche Bank

Why this sudden interest in the Engineering department’s history, I hear you ask? Well, this year heralded the end of an era for the department. We were finally moved out of Old Science. But before we get to this point, let me tell you how the department came to be.

Engineering, or CDT as it was known back then, first started in the Centenary Building in the then Colet Court. It took over the ground floor of the building in the space that had previously held the minibus garage. It proved to be such a hit that the tiny department soon recruited Alan Goodridge in 1985 to help the department grow, and it started being taught to St Paul’s pupils as a non-examined subject. A new workshop was built on the ground floor of Old Science to accommodate this growth. Alan also worked with a small group of enthusiastic Coletines to build a

hovercraft, which was still in the department when I joined in 2010.

Kevin Campbell joined in 1988, and the subject gained a new name, Design & Technology. John Siviter from the Physics Department started teaching Electronics and became the overall head of the department. The need for new facilities was obvious, so work soon began on the Bernard Sunley Technology Centre, which opened in 1991 and is still our main workshop.

Once Design & Technology moved into the new workshop in 1991, the old workshop in Old Science was refurbished into a state-of-the-art Electronics lab. Dr Peter Bullett took over from John, and Okan Avni also joined to teach Physics and Electronics. David Emery joined as the new Electronics technician and soon-to-be teacher (and celebrated his 30 years of working at SPS this year).

Milling Machine

For almost all of us, it seems that Engineering, or a version of it, has been taught at St Paul’s for what seems like forever. So it was surprising for me to discover that the subject had only existed at the school since 1983, a mere 38 years in the school’s 513-yearold existence.

During the ’90s, the use of computers and coding became ever more important. So to respond to this, the department expanded to include Systems & Control. In 2000 they took over another room on the ground floor of Old Science to create a modern lab full of LEGO Dacta and Apple Macs. Now the department as we know it today was complete. Systems & Control and Electronics lived on the ground floor of Old Science and Resistant Materials (now Product Design) lived in the Technology Centre. But we were still called the Technology Department. It wasn’t until the arrival of Dr Alan Gardam and some careful subject renaming that our department became known as Engineering in 2012.

The department has had many other fantastic teachers and technicians over the years, including Derek Hardy, Shirley Rollitt, Gary Nava, Graham Collard, Chris Fry, Barry Brook, Richard Barker, ➦

Coding with Arduino

Plunge Routing

Oliver Rokison, Jacques Du Plessis, Ciaran Malik, Rob Humphrey, Sally Hamma, Matthew Holder, Jack Keech and Tomi Herceg. Not to mention the current team David Emery, Brian Clark, Steve Patterson, Ruth Afonso, Edd Bailey, Dom Boydell, Leigh Eadie, Arthur Jenkins, Simon Roberts, and of course myself.

So back to the present day, old Science is once again being repurposed. But this time, the Engineering department wasn’t able to stay put. Our state-ofthe-art classrooms aren’t quite as state-of-the-art any more. So it was time to sit down with architects to redesign existing spaces in the Milton Building. Electronics and Systems & Control would finally be in the same building as Product Design. As I write this, I can hear the noise of builders ripping out walls, tearing up carpets and cutting floor boxes into concrete. But come September, we look forward to welcoming everyone back to our new, hopefully, state-of-the-art facilities for the next era of Engineering at St Paul’s.

In writing this article, I wanted to ensure that I adequately documented the history of our department somewhere. Often it is too easy to look to the future without properly acknowledging the past and the hard work of our predecessors to get us where we are

today. So many wonderful photographs document the school’s illustrious history, but sadly, almost none of the Engineering department. I would like to ask the Pauline community if they have any photos from the past 38 years that they would like to share so that I can properly enter them into the school’s archive.

As we enter the 39th year of teaching Engineering at St Paul’s, at least now I know I have a year to prepare for the 40th anniversary celebration… ❚

Electronics Lab (photo by David Emery)

Pillar Drill

FF03: A First Year of Racing

Ishan Madhok, Vyom Chamaria and Daniel Cheung

Team Firefly is the school racing team that builds battery-powered racing cars and participates in F24 (and F24+) races across the country. There are many of such events, but in this article, we will mainly focus on Goodwood and Lotus Hethel – the two we have participated in so far. As Fourth Formers, we took control of FF03 which is the kit car in the team – FF01+FF02 being scratch builds.

Our first project entailed putting together a spare Greenpower kit car chassis, which took a few weeks. During this time, we learnt a lot about the structure of the car, and familiarised ourselves with the practical element of engineering, the physics behind the car, and had some vital team-building time.

Our next main project was focused on the steering of the car. Firstly, we removed the side panels from our existing car and added a steering damper. This would remove any undesired oscillation in the steering system and in general make the driving more smooth – in turn reducing energy consumption. Finally, we looked at what

setup would alter the steering sensitivity to the optimum amount, by altering how the track rod was fastened to the steering plate on the steering column, and at the other end, changing where the track rods connected to the steering arms (part of uprights) until a suitable value was found.

After this, our first race at Goodwood shortly ensued, so in preparation, we installed a new horn in our car, removed our old sponsors’ stickers from the exterior, and reattached the side panels. Also, it was vital that we were able to transport our batteries (the fuel for our car) safely, as well as keeping them at the optimum temperature so they performed well on race day. To do this, a housing for the batteries was first digitally modelled to fit in the space at the back of the trailer, and then created with wood and foam to provide insulation and padding in time for the upcoming race. For context, the trailer is where we store the cars and the batteries while travelling to the race location.

Furthermore, in preparation for the race, we did work on the simulator to allow us to learn the track and did pit stop practice, which enabled us to save time during the race. We also calibrated the corner weights on our car; by making sure that the corner weights are equal, the weight of our car is split evenly among the four wheels which provides stability and in turn conserves energy.

On the 8 May, St Paul’s school F24 and F24+ teams had their first race of the season and it was at one of the biggest events of the year, Goodwood.

It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear and the sun lit up the racetrack – ideal racing conditions. We had to wake up early for an 8am start at Goodwood. We prepped the cars by setting up the batteries and making sure everything was working and then we had a race ➦

FF03 at Goodwood

briefing. We had practice from 9:30am until 11:00am. During this time, we practised pit stops and drove around the circuit, getting used to the car and familiarising ourselves with the layout of the track. At 11:30am we had our first race in which we had to drive as far as we could in 1 hour 30 minutes. We also had two mandatory pit stops per race in which we changed the driver; this includes strapping the next driver’s seat belt in, plugging in the radio and this pit stop would take 25-30 seconds (not including wheeling the car down the pit lane) on a good stop.

After the race, we had a break for some time while there was the F24 race. Subsequently, we had our second race at 3:30pm, and placed 34th out of 84, which is very impressive considering we started at the back of the grid, and our car was a kit car as opposed to a scratch build which is typically faster.

Since our car had performed well at Goodwood, the interlude between races was primarily focused on making small changes based on what we thought we could improve on. In particular, we noticed that the wheels created a lot of drag due to their positioning, so we installed fresh black wheel covers to them. This created a sleek and elegant look as well as better aerodynamics. The preparation for Lotus was mostly the same as for Goodwood, and entailed simulator practice, pit stop practice and car preparation.

Our race at Lotus Hethel was on the 19 June. The general structure of the day was very similar to Goodwood, and at the end, we were delighted with our result of 12th out of 33 out of all cars and 6th out of 12 kit cars. We also won the Siemens sustainability award due to an ongoing project about sustainably powering our trailer with solar panels.

So far, we are happy about our results so far and hope to do even better in our next races (Castle Combe and Dunsfold Park) in order to qualify for the finals. Currently we are changing our tyres to lighter and more efficient ones. We are also planning to create a new rear floor which will massively help our aerodynamics. These upgrades will boost our performance and should allow us to qualify for the finals.

All the work that we have done on the car would not have been possible without the assistance and expertise of the teachers, in particular Mr Jenkins, Mr Clark, and Miss Douglass, and we sincerely thank them for all their hard work.

Team Firefly win the Sustainability Award at Lotus Hethel

FF03 being pushed down the pit lane at Goodwood

The Firefly Trailer

James Williams

The Firefly trailer. You all have most likely seen it as you walk into school each morning or while playing on Bigside, but you don’t know what actually goes on inside it. Behind the scenes, a few Firefly members and I have been planning, designing, manufacturing, and installing a great deal of exciting features that will come into play on our racedays, which I will detail in this article.

At the start of the year, all the trailer was used for was to transport our three cars to races, and so it was almost completely empty when we got our hands on it. Our primary goal was to not only make transporting cars, batteries, and other equipment much easier, but we also wanted to turn the trailer into our own data-centre on racedays.

Looking for inspiration, we turned –as we often do in Firefly – to Formula 1. If you’ve ever watched an F1 race, you will have seen how teams control their races from the pit wall (see below). We wanted to try and replicate this on a smaller scale (inside the trailer) which would all have to fold away at the end of a raceday in order to fit the cars back in for transport.

Our technical director, Arthur, who helps us out in just about everything Fireflyrelated, drew up some plans for how we would populate the trailer interior.

The main features detailed here are: a folding table for data-engineers to be based during the race, with communications to the car available from the trailer; a compartment for batteries to be kept on the way to the race, which must be insulated as they must be kept as warm as possible; and full electrical power to the trailer, including interior and exterior lights, charging ports for devices, battery warming boxes, and anything else that we might need on a raceday.

That was in September. It is now July, and – even after an enormous amount of time and effort – we still haven’t finished everything that we had actually hoped to be finished in time for our first race of the season in May. However, I think I can speak on behalf of the ‘trailerteam’ when I say that we could not be happier with what we have managed to achieve this year. On top of having to work on the cars, we have managed to: fully install the battery compartments, which have made transporting batteries a great deal easier; fit two folding tables on each side of the trailer, which provide enough space during racedays but also fold away to accommodate the cars; and have almost finished the unbelievably complex project of providing electrical power, complete with two control panels, a lot of cable, and what appears to be half of the department’s components.

This has been an immense project, involving at least ten members of the team, which I can’t wait to try out at our next race at the start of September! ❚

Ideas for the interior of the trailer.

Top: Custom trailer control

Bottom: Battery warming boxes

English Literature

This year’s Junior Prizegiving saw fourth former Samuel Christie speak with eloquence and poise, leading the audience through his ‘dark and deep’ reading of Robert Frost’s seemingly innocent — but decidedly deceptive — ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’.

A Critical Appreciation of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping By Woods On A

Snowy Evening’

Samuel Christie, 4F

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ is deviously written. It pretends to be an innocent poem focused on the observation of a serene forest in Winter, but hides a darker meaning: that the death wish – otherwise known as l’appel du vide – is ever present within our minds, and one must resist it to return to the productive sensibility of life. Robert Frost achieves this effect through the way he outlines the nature of the various elements: the irrationality of the woods; the pleasant, enchanting atmosphere of the evening; the deadly cold of winter and the snow; and the sense of responsibility and rationality that comes with the horse, the village, and returning there.

To begin with, the poet brings in a feeling of connection to the village – and hence responsibility – in stanza one:

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

By emphasising the ownership of the land, and the fact that the owner is in the village (i.e. not ‘here’), Frost invokes a sense of urgency, and the need to return to various responsibilities. The first two lines rhyme; but this accord is broken by the third line, which starts a new idea: the speaker does not need to return to the village. ‘He will not see me stopping here’ almost shows that the speaker knows that his reluctance to return is wrong.

The rationality of the village is then carried through in the horse, which seems to represent a similar cause:

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

The horse shakes its harness bells, possibly a reference to divine intervention. It is clear that hesitation is not the logically correct choice, or even the morally correct choice, if even divine powers are against it. Also, the word ‘stop’ here makes the alternative to rationality seem still and calm. It supports the idea that the poem could be trying to express suicidal thoughts, or the still, non-productivity of procrastination.

Robert Frost, 1887-1963

In contrast with the logic of the horse and the village, the woods are portrayed to be irrational instead. They can be said to be a counterweight to the village, and society. Even though the woods are owned and they cannot be said to be wild, the owner is in the village, and so not there to manage and tame them. Possibly, then, the woods are feral and, while they are unmaintained, they ‘fill up with snow’. The poem emphasises the difference between the village – the good place – and the woods – the bad, irrational place which is ‘dark and deep’. The forest can even be said to be deadly. As it fills up with snow, it can be all too easy to fall asleep under the blanket of ‘downy’ flakes, on the ‘darkest evening of the year’.

However, it is clear from this poem that the woods are not all bad; at least, they don’t seem sinister to Frost. They are seen by the speaker as ‘lovely’:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

They are tempted by the woods to stay, and ‘watch [the] woods fill up with snow’. This is the temptation I’ve previously alluded to, l’appel du vide, which is taunting the speaker. There is a struggle in their mind, whether to stay and delight in the freedom and sleep that the forest promises, or to continue with life. Clearly, the pull towards death and relief is strong. The third stanza’s -ake rhyme is hard and sharp and possibly indicates the ‘ache’ of longing the speaker feels. It is interrupted by the softer -eep, which brings in the idea of the long sleep which has been brewing throughout the poem.

Towards the end of the poem, Frost signs off with a sense of duty, deciding to resist the temptation of the woods. This effect, of suddenly snapping back to reality, is brought about by the second line of the last stanza, which contrasts greatly with the first, as it suddenly switches the focus back to the village, and the speaker’s ‘promises to keep’. Interestingly, the repetition of ‘And miles to go before I sleep’, seems to signal to the reader that the poem is not all that it seems, emphasising that there is more meaning behind it than simply a pleasant evening ride in winter. This reinforces a sense of ‘sleep’ implying death, and validates the view that the poem describes Frost’s suicidal urges, or l’appel du vide. The speaker seems to reassure themselves here, repeating the line to calm themselves down after their mental struggle. For me, this is quite a moving ending, the affirmation causing the reader to realise quite how close to suicide the speaker actually was.

The poem is clearly not all that it seems at first. It appears as if Frost was trying to present the idea that everyone feels l’appel du vide, as the identity of the speaker is not revealed at all; and the orderly and calm nature of the poem makes it seem like a normal circumstance, meaning it could be anyone taking a ride through these woods.

It could also possibly be a message to anyone reading it to carry on with life, as the woods are represented as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a trap; the speaker has ‘miles to go’ before he sleeps, as also does the reader. ❚

Extended Projects

JMcL

This year’s Lower Eighth students produced EPQs that covered a challenging and fascinatingly diverse range of topics and approaches.

It was exciting to see an increasing number of students taking up the creative artefact option, including two creative writers – Tom Salter, who developed a historical novel set in twelfth century England, and Tom Lamont, who produced a series of inter-connected short stories in the fantasy genres – and four young film-makers – Elijah Patterson, Harry Hickles, Harry Hudson and Jack Rossiter – whose work explored horror, the impact of COVID on young people’s mental health, how colour can convey emotion and the style and themes of Martin Scorsese’s crime thrillers respectively (and thanks go to Filmsoc for letting us screen these films at the end of the spring term). Striking art projects came from Ben Swartzentruber, who designed, produced and marketed his own collection of jewellery, and Ryotaro Kusakari, who developed anime characters reflecting the street cultures of contemporary Tokyo. In one of this year’s most ambitious projects, Lucas Van Den Oever fused urban planning with map-making to design Naga, a new city in The Philippines, complete with its own crest, and districts named after pivotal figures in Filipino history and culture.

This year’s dissertations were no less impressive, covering a broad field. Innovative technology was a popular topic: Julian Amore and Will SauvelPorter looked at the role that AI could (but perhaps shouldn’t) play in the criminal justice system, while Daniel Zubarev assessed its impact on employment in the US transport industry. Freddie Dehmel looked at cryptocurrencies, and Caspar Robertson analysed whether blockchain technology could foster financial inclusion. Also in the field of Economics, Wentao Huang explored whether a Universal Basic Income could successfully tackle poverty and inequality, Christian Bulmer analysed models of market efficiency to discover whether or not George Soros’s suggestion that market prices are always wrong was actually right, and Alexandre Veccchioli considered who or what should be held to account for the 2008 Financial Crisis.

The issue of responsibility was also at the heart of several other projects, including Alex Gong’s analysis of the Mati Wildfires in Greece, which used blame ethics to work out where the culpability for this catastrophe lies, and Josh Thomas’s assessment of who is

responsible for dealing with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and how they might go about it. Carleo Zhu also looked at intriguing solutions to ecological problems, evaluating the potential in the UK for generating energy from municipal waste. In Philosophy, Daniel Hou assessed which conditions, if any, made it permissible to kill a healthy human being, and Varun Vashisht’s deeply humane and compassionate project considered whether conjoined twins should be separated, and what this tells us about how we define and value human lives.

Psychology projects included Shivan Arora’s consideration of how language might influence thought, exploring the evidence for and against the SapirWhorf hypothesis, while Victor Lazkani evaluated the effectiveness of different ways of treating depression and Will Cronshaw analysed whether grief affects everyone in a similar way, or whether it changes according to age, faith, culture or social relationships.

Hayden Hunt’s project lay on the cusp between psychology, anthropology and aesthetics, and covered a huge range of ideas, including physiology, rhythm, religious ritual and auto-tune, in his investigation of why humans find pleasure in music.

Ben Swartzentruber Wide Band Engraved Ring

American society, institutions and history came under particular scrutiny this year. Racial politics were at the heart of George Norris’s critique of the devastating impact mass incarceration has had on homelessness in AfricanAmerican communities in California, as well as pivotal to Alex Pama’s assessment of how environmental factors contribute to success in the NBA. Noah Leach took a radical hatchet to the US prison system, assessing whether or not it is actually fit for purpose, Victor Shao produced an extensive exploration of the country’s income inequality, and Noah Pavell analysed whether responses to US school shootings actually do more harm than good. American belief systems, whether faith-based or ideological, also generated some fascinating projects, including Max Melton’s examination of Scientology’s success in the States, and Corry Traynor’s astute assessment of the reasons for the increased polarisation of the US Senate. Felix O’Brien explored whether Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting contradicted his environmentalism, not only giving an illuminating account of American myths of landscape and masculinity, but also debating whether historical figures should be judged by contemporary moral and ethical standards. ➦

Ryo Kusakari final artwork

Extended projects

History projects included explorations of earlier eras, such as Alex Perkins’s assessment of Viking rule over England in the 11th century, and Edward Zhang’s re-assessment of the Ming Treasure Voyages of the 15th century, often regarded by Western historians as proto-colonial in nature, a claim Edward contested convincingly. Paul Emmett and Nicholas Martin straddled 200 years of European industrial relations, with Paul assessing to what extent high wages were a contributory factor in the Industrial Revolution, and Nicholas investigating the causes of Italy’s ‘L’autunno caldo’ in 1969. Post-war British history was the focus of Harry Mugisha’s study of the Attlee government’s role in forming the UK’s post-war consensus, while Yusuf Kundgold analysed the impact of the Falklands War on Mrs Thatcher’s premiership. Leo Pavell looked ahead, evaluating the strengths and possible weaknesses of the British Navy should a conflict develop in the Taiwan Strait, and Luke Buckland considered the impact of the National Security Law on post-handover Hong Kong.

This year’s science-based projects often focussed on issues linked to medicine: Sean Chong analysed how CRISPR might change the way we tackle cancer, Alex Apkarian considered whether genes should be patented, and Nao Matsushita assessed whether it’s better to invest in trying to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes, or in improving ways of treating it. Aiken Lau’s ingenious project, ‘The Parasite Puppet-Master’, analysed whether toxoplasma gondii re-wires the brains of its hosts in order to make them more receptive, using his family’s pet cat, Ares, as a case study. Ares, who has established himself as the dominant organism in the Lau family home, despite ‘having the personality and reflexes of a loaf of bread’ (according to Aiken), made a guest appearance during Aiken’s EPQ presentation, allowing us to witness the puppetmaster at work as he duly charmed the entire audience. Even without Ares’s scene-stealing cameo, the presentations would have been exciting enough, given that it was the first time they had taken place for three years, after COVID restrictions scuppered the presentations in 2020 and 2021. Watching the students

Lucas van den Oever – Boroughs and Final Map

TED-talking their peers through their achievements and discoveries was truly inspirational, and a welcome return to normality.

EPQs are independent projects, but the relationship between the student and their tutor-assessor is often integral to the student’s enjoyment of the experience, as well as the project’s success. Many thanks are therefore due to all the teachers who supervised this year’s EPQs: it was genuinely touching to read so many students’ acknowledgements of their support, inspiration and encouragement. Thanks are also due to Mrs Cummings and the librarians for all their help and guidance, and for introducing the students to some tips and shortcuts for navigating the labyrinth of online research resources. Copies of each year’s EPQs are deposited in the Kayton Library for reference, so if you’d like to read any of the EPQs described here in full, that’s where to look. ❚

Hudson

The Geography department is revelling in the emergence from the pandemic years and has wasted no time in making the most of getting back out in the field.

The department has run field trips to study the ecology of Richmond Park, the redevelopment of Nine Elms, the evolution of the City of London and the Docklands as well as tracing the course of the River Mole in Surrey with plans to relaunch international trips later in 2022 and to run fieldtrips more widely in the UK. The Geography Society goes from strength to strength under a strong new leadership team and the oversight of Mr Goldup, talks and events have

flourished involving some highly contested competitions and a huge variety of talks from the Geography of Surfing to the current state of European Food Security and is busily preparing for the next Geography Conference in October. This year the department is sad to say goodbye to Miss Johnson who has served the department so well and, as a true geographer, leaves us to relocate to South East Asia. ❚

The view from the Sky Garden as seen by the Lower Eighth on their field trip to the City of London and Docklands in February 2022.

Global Food Security

Rob Wight

Food security has long been an issue in the world. Every day we hear stories about countries where disease, floods and droughts have caused crop failure en masse. Think of the 2012 Sudan Famine, the ongoing famine in Yemen, and the current Tigray Famine in Ethiopia. However, the war in Ukraine has the potential to cause great food insecurity, not just in Ukraine itself, but in the rest of the world, having possibly disastrous consequences for some nations.

Firstly, it is important to lay out what food security and, by extension, what food insecurity is. There are four aspects to food security. The first is access, which lays out the basic requirement that people should be able to access a sufficient amount of food, in both mass and in calories. The second aspect is that of reliability, which is the stability of the food supply. Is the supply weather dependent? Does the price fluctuate in and out of a person’s purchasing power? These are all things which must be considered when assessing food security. Thirdly is safety – is the food

safe to eat? Has it been stored and grown properly? The final aspect of food security is nutrition. It’s no use having access to enough food if it doesn’t provide you with the nutrients which you need to live an active and healthy life. From these we can take the definition of food security – ‘To have reliable access to safe, nutritious food for an active and healthy life’’.

So how can the conflict in Ukraine affect this, not just on a local, but a global scale? Well, the answer lies in a commodity many forget about in modern life, where we see not the commodity, but only its product. The problem lies in wheat. Ukraine produces around 80 million tonnes of grain per year. This production is expected to be around half of that this year due to the conflict. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 13.5 million tons of wheat and 16 million tons of maize are frozen in Ukraine and Russia, which makes up 23 and 43 percent of exports in 21/22. In order to make up the lost calories, a population with a similar size to the UK would have to stop eating for

3 years. Between the two, Egypt, one of the world’s biggest importers of grain, due to their bread subsidy program, has already raised concerns. They claim they have enough wheat left to see the year out, but others are not so sure. The New York based food, climate and agricultural forecaster, Gro Intelligence, has suggested that the world has just 10 weeks left of wheat stockpiles. Although this does not account for the ongoing production in some areas, it is still a worrying statistic, when considering that if wheat production were to fail, we would run out in less than 3 months. The WFP has also stated that as supplies become limited and prices rise, they have already had to reduce rations for refugees and other vulnerable populations across East Africa and the Middle East. We are also seeing this in the UK, with the increased price of the commodity doing nothing to aid our ongoing cost of living crisis. Wheat is used in staples such as bread and pasta, and is thus affecting the people who do not have the extra to spend. On average, a white loaf (800g) of bread is costing 10p more, an increase of around 10%, according to census data.

So from what we can see, the Ukraine conflict is indeed posing a major threat to food security on many levels and across the globe. For some, such as those in the UK, it may be severely affecting their access to certain staples, as they can no longer afford such foods. However, in much of Arabia and North Africa, Egypt as an example, this conflict seriously threatens the reliability of their populations’ access to food. This could lead to far graver consequences, such as hunger, and mass unrest, or both. This would be a horrific consequence of an already desperately mournful situation in Ukraine, and must be avoided at all costs.

As this is an ongoing, fast moving and ever changing situation, the world as a whole and global and local organisations are battling with how to ensure that this does not result in an even greater global crisis. ❚

Who is Culpable for the 2018 Wildfire Tragedy in Mati, Greece?

Alexander Gong

The 23rd July 2018 is a day of immense importance for modern day Greece. As the sun started its retreat behind the Aegean sea, wildfires were scouring the Attica peninsula.

Just 30 kilometres from the ancient capital of Athens a small coastal town called Mati was devastated, killing 103 people. As the fire blazed throughout the night, the flags at the Berlaymont flew at half mast whilst the nation entered a three day period of mourning.

The immediate aftermath of the fire saw two prevailing emotions: Grief and anger. Whilst the former requires little explanation, the latter of these two observations is intriguing. The Greek people felt let down by their government, whose incompetence and mismanagement was highlighted as the reason for the Mati tragedy. Yet it seems counterintuitive to blame a natural disaster – something seemingly inexorable by its nature – on the government alone. Hence my EPQ focused on this question of blame and culpability. Were the Greek government truly to blame for the Mati wildfire or were critical factors outside of their control more significant?

To truly investigate where responsibility lies one must first be

grounded in a basic understanding of blame theory. My research led me to two distinct methodologies which I could use to allocate blame, both of which fit under the umbrella of causal responsibility. The first of these methods is an allocation of blame through causation by omission. This is the concept that blame can and should be allocated when the absence of an expected action leads to adverse effects. In the case of Mati, there was a normative expectation for the government to provide sufficient safety measures for the town – a lack of which proved fatal for many. Moreover, I also explored the idea of moral responsibility. This is especially pertinent when allocating blame towards a governing body given the nature of political legislation. Laws are often passed in order to benefit one aspect of society at the expense of another. There is always an opportunity cost when making policy decisions as governments choose to prioritise certain endeavours. In 1998 there was a policy decision to focus on fire suppression rather than fire prevention in Greece. Such a decision proved to be a pivotal mistake and in numerous ways led to the disaster at Mati. However, the question remains

as to whether the government can be exempt from blame. One might argue that this policy was so unreasonable that those adversely affected might blame the government on the grounds of culpable negligence. Yet this adds another layer of complexity: When assessing the extent of government negligence one must be careful to avoid the trap of hindsight bias (the concept of judging a decision based on information unbeknownst to the decision maker at the time).

With these concepts in mind we must assess both sides of the overarching argument: Was the Mati fire the government’s fault or the fault of factors beyond their control? Starting with the role of the government, one must naturally explore the use of suppression tactics in contributing to the events at Mati. Fire suppression is an approach based on managing a blaze once it has already begun. It involves costly deployment of both firefighters and equipment. Between 1998 and 2017 the budget for fire suppression rose significantly from 150 million Euros to 380 million Euros. Despite this substantial investment the average burned area per year actually rose from 44,805 ha between 1978-1997 to 45,017 in the years 1998-2017. Fire suppression was failing to deliver the results that its heavy costs had led many to expect. Fire prevention is the second strand of fire management techniques and focuses on reducing fire risk before they occur. This includes practices such as forest pruning and informing the wider public of evacuation plans. Both of these precautions were absent in Mati. Upon analysing the decision to adopt suppression over prevention tactics it is clear that this was an area of fundamental failure in the lead up to Mati, demonstrating key flaws in the government’s claims to innocence. Moreover, government incompetence on the day of the fire was another crucial factor for Mati’s outcome. Marathonas Avenue is a long stretch of motorway that forms a barrier between Mati and the fire’s origin point.

As the flames encroached upon the town the road became impassable, prompting officials to redirect traffic. The results were catastrophic. Government officials unknowingly ushered drivers back into the path of the fire, sending them down narrow streets that led to the heart of Mati. Upon realising their mistakes the drivers were already trapped between the encircling flames and jagged cliffs. It was in the small streets of Mati that most people died, stranded in their vehicles as they awaited a certain fate.

On the other side of the argument are the external factors outside of government control. The first external factor that I explored was the influence of geography and weather on the Mati fire. Most significantly, the rapid change in wind speed and direction suggest the inexorable nature of the fire. At 16:30 Mati was experiencing a light southerly wind. At 16:57 it is believed that the fire had started in the Penteli mountain range, a few kilometres east of Mati. By 17:01 the conditions had altered drastically, with windspeeds now increasing to 77 mph and direction changing to a strong westerly wind. Hence, just as the fire began the wind had started fanning it towards Mati at speeds which were almost impossible to predict. Thus there are grounds to suggest that it was nature’s extremities and not human influence which caused the Mati fire.

There is also a case to suggest a wider societal responsibility for the causation of the Mati tragedy. This can

be explained through a concept pertaining to ‘Unnatural Hazards’. This theory asserts that natural hazards are commonly occurring and unstoppable, but that disaster events are human induced. In the case of Mati there are many details that may point to this being true. For example, the area surrounding Mati saw numerous fires in the years prior to the 2018 blaze. In July 1995 fires burned across Penteli mountain, destroying 251 km2 of land. Two decades later in August 2009 further fires burned 850 km2 of land in Eastern Attica. Whilst neither of these fires brought many casualties, they demonstrated the imminent threat that Mati seemed to be facing. The 2018 fire burned just 14.9 km2 – a far smaller amount of land compared to previous infernos. This demonstrates the disaster’s sense of inevitability that many failed to recognise. Furthermore, the Mati residents could have done far more to protect themselves from the danger of wildfires – many did not prune their pine trees, allowing the fire to migrate rapidly through the town. This is due to a phenomenon known as place attachment, whereby residents felt so accustomed to Mati’s character and charm that they were reluctant to change its physical features. The voluntary decision to ignore an obvious threat for the sake of place attachment is a valid reason for attributing blame to society rather than the government. The final external factor to introduce is that of Greece’s wider economic and migration trends throughout the 20th

century. Between 1960-2000 there was unprecedented rural to urban migration occurring in Greece. Such movements are near impossible for a government to tightly control. The effects of this migration were twofold: Primarily, the movement of mainly farmers and agricultural workers to find employment in the tertiary sector left much of the countryside unprotected. As many farmers once pruned the land as part of their livelihood, the rural exodus left the countryside to grow freely. The result was a build up in fuel load and a far greater risk of large wildfires occurring. Moreover, many farmers moved into settlements on the fringes of urban areas. Such settlements became known as the peri-urban interface which is a category that Mati falls beneath. These areas are extremely dangerous given their high fire risk and dense populations. Thus the rapid rural to urban migration not only increased the risk of fires occurring, but also exacerbated the dangers that fires posed to humans.

In conclusion, it was indeed the government’s errors which proved to be most critical for the 2018 Mati wildfire tragedy. Whilst the external factors are numerous and important in isolation, the disorganised and futile attempts of fire suppression and prevention proved to be the most crucial aspects of the Mati fire’s causation and outcome. Whilst my final verdict resembles the popular opinion seen in the aftermath of the Mati fire, I still believe that a holistic analysis of blame was an important process. To ignore the multiple external factors that contributed to the fire is both simplistic and irresponsible. Whilst it is true that Greek fire management requires significant reform, there are also ways in which society could improve fire security. Although the macro objectives of government officials are often the defining factors of any major event, one should always recognise the power of the individual to impact any given situation. Through understanding the extreme nature of the Mati fire one can also appreciate that – to an extent – governments cannot be solely blamed for natural disasters. It is critical to ensure that we remain fair and judicious even when our instincts tell us otherwise, as without objectivity we will never find the most optimal solutions. ❚

As outlined in the Societies section, The St Paul’s History Review is a new venture from the History department. What follows is a selection of two articles from the issue showcasing Pauline scholarship at its finest.

THE MING TREASURE VOYAGES OF CHINA 1405-1433 AND ITS TRIBUTARY SYSTEM

Edward Zhang (L8)

One of the signature projects of the Ming Dynasty (13681644) was the launching of the Treasure Voyages, a unique effort in the history of China. They were seven large militarised maritime expeditions led by the fleet admiral Zheng He, appointed by the Yongle Emperor and the Xuande Emperor. The fleet visited locations in South-East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula and areas of eastern Africa. They were the main tool of diplomatic interaction, including receiving tributes and delivering gifts, between China and its maritime vassal nations.

The most important feature of the treasure voyages was the tributary system it established, which was the Ming court’s primary diplomatic method of engaging with the world. This system formed the main channel of the Ming court’s communication with South-East Asia nations. Under the system, foreign nations became formal vassals of China,

while keeping their independent economies, governments and militaries. The actual tributes demanded were minor and primarily symbolic in nature. The most important characteristic of the tributary system carried out by the treasure voyages was the legitimacy it could provide to the Yongle Emperor through the traditional belief of ‘the mandate of heaven’. The tributary system itself was more political than practical, because what the Ming court wanted was the legitimacy the tribute conferred rather than its intrinsic value.

From the Ming court’s perspective, the tributary system carried out by the treasure voyages was a form of establishing cultural influence to assert the Emperor’s legitimacy. The treasure fleets carried a large number of envoys from vassal nations with their tributes such as special local products, horses, luxuries and letters from their kings to China. Through this process, the Chinese nation and the Emperor were glorified to the citizenry.

Anonymous Chinese artist, 18th century: Ming Dynasty Company Officials at a well on the sea.

The special Kylin (Qilin) tribute was a particularly good example of the system. Giraffes were provided, along with other rare animals, as tributes to China through the treasure voyages by African vassal kingdoms and occasionally South-East Asian ones such as Bengal. The animals were misinterpreted by the Chinese as the mythical Qiling, a being whose appearance heralds a time of great strength and prosperity (similar to the way a Rhinoceros would have been misinterpreted by Europeans as a unicorn). This imbued the treasure voyages with an even more profound aura of success and heavenly prestige. For an emperor who got the throne through a civil war, having the ‘mandate of heaven’ on his side created legitimacy and national cohesion.

Moreover, the tributary system acted as a form of cultural expansion considering the fundamental ideas that supported this system: Daoism and Confucianism. As Professor J. K. Fairbank argues in his work, ‘Tributary trade and China’s relations with the west’, ‘the tributary system was a natural expression of Chinese cultural egocentricity.’ The dominance of Chinese technology, art, poems and other soft power created a sense of national self-pride which Fairbank refers to as ‘culturalism’. The harmony between human and nature was a crucial ideological responsibility of the emperor. Therefore, the emperor and Chinese people believed in their dominance and responsibility to spread their culture to help the less developed areas. The Yongle Emperor exercised this belief and propaganda through the tributary system and the treasure voyages. Hence, when the Chinese

citizens felt the expansion of the tributary system, the ‘mandate of heaven’ was fulfilled in their view.

The tributary system of the treasure voyages reflected a major part of Chinese culture at that time. The Ming viewed the world differently to European states at that time. Their dominant power within their region and lack of serious competition from rival states resulted in the Chinese believing they were the centre of the world, and their emperor the legitimate ruler of the whole world. They wanted to assert this idea abroad, but did not consider this an urgent priority because China was

economically and militarily the strongest power they knew of at the time. Therefore, the Ming court’s voyages were driven primarily by intangible benefits such as a desire to establish the new dynasty’s legitimacy, and assert the primacy of Han culture and virtue after a century of Mongol rule, rather than the hunt for material power or goods that drove Europeans to venture abroad. ❚

WHAT MAKES A NATION?

Thomas O’ Donoghue (L8)

Over the last two centuries, the idea of nationhood has grown ever more significant – both on a geopolitical scale and in terms of the way people go about their lives. But what is a nation? Where do our modern ideas of nationhood come from? And what could nations look like in the future?

The first, and perhaps most important, question that must be answered can be phrased like this: what do we really mean by the term nation? The first that might spring to mind is that we really mean government, or state: a collection of people (assuming we reject Louis XIV’s quip) who maintain a monopoly of the use of violence over a given area. However, this argument immediately raises issues. The Ottoman Empire, which at its height ruled over regions from (modern-day) Algeria to Somalia to Albania, was without a doubt a state – and yet was it truly a nation? Most historical scholars have described the Ottoman Empire as a collection of nations ruled over primarily by what we would now call Turks. This means that a nation must be something more. Many philosophers, sociologists, and historians have argued that a nation must be something metaphysical – a kind of idea that must exist throughout history, despite changing borders and changing forms of governance. This helps us to explain movements like Irish nationalism – Irish nationalism in its modern incarnation began while Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, continued while most of Ireland was a self-governing dominion of the Empire, and has continued now Ireland is an entirely independent state. Yet this raises further questions – how do these metaphysical ideas form and gain such importance in a people’s consciousness? In order to understand this better, we must examine the history of modern nationalism.

A century ago, there was little historical consensus on when nationalism in its modern form began. There were perhaps two leading schools that had

radically different views. The leading theory for a time in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was what some have called primordialism. This theory stated that nations are effectively immutable – people have a national identity that they maintain even as the world around them changes. Johann Gottfried Herder, a leading primordialist who lived during the latter half of the eighteenth century, believed that the ‘national character’ of peoples was based primarily on their origins. He thought that statist borders were entirely unnatural and national borders entirely natural and transhistorical, and that the two should be identical (he supported a unification of the Germanic states for precisely this reason). Primordialism dominated thought about nations for nearly a century and a half, until modernization theory began after the Second World War. This argues that conceptions of nationhood did not truly begin until the eighteenth century, when industrialisation and mass education allowed for the creation of a shared identity between people who lived far from each other and had little in common – a farmer in Dorset and a factory worker in Manchester, for example. This theory argues that this process of change allowed for the creation of a widespread national mythology. Examples of this in England might be the surprise victory at Agincourt, or the victory at Trafalgar. Perhaps the most powerful part of the English national mythology today is the withstanding of the Blitz –what period is referenced more by politicians when they wish to appeal to the English character.

Now we have seen how dramatically different ideas of the way people see their nation can change so quickly, we can begin to wonder about the future. There are perhaps two possible futures one can imagine (if we examine only the extremes). In the first, national identity is lost or weakened in favour of an appreciation of the unity of the

human race and a new global identity; in the second, national identity intensifies and divides into smaller and smaller groups as people’s reliance and connection to and on those around them grows. It is easy to think of ways in which the former could occur while maintaining our present structures –organisations like the United Nations and most notably the European Union attempt to lessen traditional divides between nations and states in favour of a more unified approach. Yet these are not the only options – some have suggested a new world based on solidarity between people and a rejection of artificial lines and divisions (exemplified by borders and immigration policies). On the other hand, it is easy to see a new nationalism arising as Scottish, Northern Irish, and Welsh independence become truly powerful movements, and groups like the Kurdish PKK and Palestinian Fatah use weapons to bring about their independence. There is also, of course, an obvious dark side to this new nationalism – English nationalists have often been accused of racism, and many of the evils of Putin’s Russia or Erdogan’s Turkey can be attributed to nationalism. Many advocates of microstates, like the online blogger Menicius Moldbug who inspired a new breed of tech-billionaire ‘neoreactionaries’ (Moldbug’s own selfidentifier), are explicitly racist and have expressed a desire to destroy internationalism and globalism in all its forms.

Nationhood is a powerful force to be reckoned with. Millions of people have died in the service of their nation, and fought to establish their nation as a physical entity corresponding with a metaphysical one. As nationalists and globalists wage a quiet war, it is important to critically examine the history and principles of nationhood, and to think about why these things matter to us and what is valuable and destructive about our ideas of our nation. ❚

The Kayton Library and Archives

This year we have finally felt that things are returning to normal. We are glad to be providing our full service again and are not sorry to see the end of quarantining books and the constant hand-sanitising that went with it. The return of in-person teaching has meant we have been able to share our collections with pupils again.

We are also delighted to be able to host our exhibitions again. Our Treasures event of the autumn term let us highlight the astonishing collection of material associated with Field Marshall Montgomery (OP) including his school records and his return to the school in 1944 to plan the beach landings at Normandy. The event was held in the Montgomery Room, where visitors could see the famous D-Day map with the potential landing sites marked in red pen. Dan Snow (OP) returned with a sell-out talk about Monty and his connections to the school.

Our Spring event was the Written Word which allowed us to show our collections of letters from Samuel Pepys (OP), the Duke of Wellington, and George III. We also showed Erasmus’s inscription in our copy of his Paraphrasis, and Terentius’ book which is covered in hand-drawn manicules.

The Juniors Librarian, Miss Dixon, enjoyed helping people experience writing with quills.

The Archivist received over 120 enquiries this year: a PhD researcher interested in our Oxyrhynchus papyri; a travel company interested in the school and its links to a manga series Candy Candy; Blenheim Palace researching the Duke of Marlborough, plus the usual family history research. The community have also contributed a number of new additions to the Archive including an historic Foundationer’s Fish and the founding documents of the African Caribbean Society.

The Library saw book circulation largely return to pre-pandemic levels. There was s huge spike in lending as we went into lockdown, the flat-lining during the closures and the return to a more normal pattern this year.

The Library has added over 1,100 books this year, creating a much-expanded fiction collection and modernizing some of our non-fiction subject areas.

The Predict the Booker Prize event ran true to form with our 100% record of predicting it incorrectly being maintained. The event was held online and the readers, Suleyman Ansari, Zac

West, Joseph O’Keefe, Thomas Salter and Federico Nanni, coped brilliantly with the unfamiliar set up and some technical issues at the start. Enyu Hu took the voting on the night with his very eloquent discussion of Bewilderment by Richard Powers.

At spring’s Feast Service the Old Pauline Club generously donated a copy of Whisky Galore by OP Compton Mackenzie. They also, in a break from tradition, funded the conservation of The History Of The Rise, Progress And Accomplishment Of The Abolition Of The African Slave-Trade By The British Parliament by OP Thomas Clarkson. This book from 1808 is used frequently as it contains the famous image of the Brookes slave ship, and has become very fragile. The conservation will allow it’s continued use in the future.

Finally, we are sad to lose our wonderful Archivist Ginny Dawe-Woodings. Her professionalism, expertise and enthusiasm have been a great addition to the team. She has made an enormous difference during her time with us and we wish her well in her future career.

Hilary Cummings Librarian Ginny Dawe-Woodings Archivist ❚

MATHEMATICS CIRCLE

Neil Prabhu and Haolin Zhao

The mathematics department are heavily involved in the school’s outreach programme. This year one of the highlights was a two-day programme of mathematics presentations and break-out activities. We hosted Year 10 pupils from schools in London (including Bishop Challoner School, Fulham Boys School, Grey Coat Hospital, Hammersmith Academy and West London Free School).

A brief description of the presentations is given below. In addition to these sessions, our break-out activities included a bridge-building engineering challenge where teams of six pupils constructed a load-bearing bridge exclusively out of lollipop sticks and Sellotape, spanning 50cm, which was then tested – to destruction – by incrementally adding more and more mass for the bridge to bear. The pupils also took on a cypher challenge again in teams of six, to construct a cypher using fifty 1p coins and fifteen 2p coins, and then – in half-teams – to encrypt and decrypt as much plaintext as possible. Both these challenges were greatly enjoyed by the pupils.

Elementary, My Dear Watson (IF) First, we warmed up our little grey cells by cracking a few hat puzzles. Can you conclude which colour hat you’re wearing? Easily, if you employ your powers of deduction!

Next, we stepped into the world of Boolean algebra. Boolean algebra is a branch of mathematics which deals with operations on logical values with binary variables. The concept was first introduced by George Boole in his book “The Mathematical Analysis of Logic,” and further expanded upon in his book “An Investigation of the Laws of Thought.” The primary modern use of Boolean algebra is in computer programming languages but it also has applications in set theory and statistics. In finance, it is used in mathematical modelling of market activities. For example, in the binomial options pricing

model, where there are only two possible outcomes, the Boolean variable represents an increase or a decrease in the price of the security. We introduced the basic operations: negation, conjunction and disjunction, and learned how to write out truth tables for various types of complex propositions. We had lots of fun!

Billiards and Geometry (RJG)

Is it possible to hit a billiard ball on a billiards table so that the ball hits each of the sides in turn and would continue repeating the same path? In this session, we proved that as long as the ball does not start at the corner, this is possible for a rectangular i.e. normal) table if you aim parallel to the diagonal of the table. How we did this was to think about the sides of the table as mirrors, so that instead of bouncing off the side at the same angle as it hits the side, the ball carries on in a straight line. This idea of reflection is a useful one in mathematics, with lots of deeper ramifications.

We also asked what would happen with a triangular table, i.e. could we use the same ideas again? We saw that the situation was really different, and the students were left with the challenge: could they show that what we thought was true really was?

A Perfect Set of Squares (ADH)

In this session, pupils were encouraged to investigate the link between a pair of positive whole numbers and a rectangle filled with squares. The process of forming and then testing a hypothesis

lies right at the heart of problemsolving, and dispels the myth that mathematics is simply about rote learning one technique after another. The groups successfully unearthed the important connection between the numbers and pictures, and in so doing followed in the footsteps of Euclid – one of the most famous mathematicians of all time!

A Trip to the Cinema (RB)

We decided to send ten of our Mathmos to the cinema but wanted to do some calculations first so that our trip was well organised! If ten people were to go on the trip, how many possible combinations would there be for them to sit in a row? In fact, if Michael and Ismail were going to sit together, we wondered in how many ways this could happen, but then realised that they had fallen out, so then asked how many possibilities there would be for them to sit apart! We extended this to having Michael, Ismail and Devonte all together, then all apart and then exactly two of them together. Of course, we then had to consider the question of organising ten people into

two cars in different ways! The next step is to think about how many ways we can choose five items from a wide selection of different flavours of popcorn, sweets and drinks…

Looking further ahead, we wondered if Professor Eva came back to visit St Paul’s in some years’ time with three people in her research group, Prof. Lucia with four and Prof. Phoebe with five, how many ways they could all stand in line for a photo if everyone in each research group had to stand together. Considering that it might take one minute to stand in a line, how long would it take to try out all the combinations?

A fun session with an enthusiastic group of mathmos: I even heard from some Paulines that it prompted a lively discussion at lunchtime while a group decided how to sit on a bench!

Team Challenge (KVF/KMC)

An important skill for any mathematician is the ability to work collaboratively on solving problems. During this year’s mathematics circles, students were split into teams of 4 and took part in a UKMT team challenge inspired afternoon. Teams competed in 3 rounds, with tensions running high until the final minute! The first round was a team relay; one pair from each team was required to correctly solve a question before the next pair on the team could start on their question. Teams worked on questions like “Two different digits are chosen from the four digits of 2019 and the mean is calculated. This is repeated with all possible pairs of different digits. What is the mean of their means?” and at the end of 20 minutes, the race for first place was on. The second round was everyone’s favourite, the shuttle race – here each pair in the team is given two questions; with the answer from the first question feeding into the second pair’s first question and so on. With questions like 1/2 x (2/3-3/4÷4/5+5/6)=a/ b, where a/b is a fraction in its lowest terms, pass on the value of a” and “ T is the number you will receive, T(y2)+2y=√T (3y-4), pass on the value of y”. There was back-and-forth between the

pairs and some very tense moments while teams looked to take home the prize. The third, and final, round was the group problem solving activity. Working in a group of 4, teams tried to answer as many questions as possible in the final 10 minutes of the afternoon. How many can you get right?

Here is an example problem:

(a) 14 x (d+e+f) = ‘def’ where d, e and f represent different digits and ‘def’ is a three-digit number.

What is the values of ‘def’? [3 marks]

(b) 19 x (a+b+b) = ‘abb’ where a and b represent different digits and ‘abb’ is a three-digit number. What is the maximum possible value of ‘abb’? [3 marks]

Conway’s Soldiers (SH) John Conway was a highly prolific British mathematician. While he made numerous contributions to the study of mathematics (such as developing the ATLAS of finite groups), he became famous for his work on recreational mathematics, earning instant celebrity status for his work on the Game of Life in particular.

Conway’s Soldiers is another mathematical game that he invented and analysed. Picture a chessboard that

the attack stage – using horizontal and vertical checkers moves alone (wherein one soldier jumps over another and removes them from the board), your aim is to encroach as far as possible into enemy territory above the red line. No more soldiers may be added in the attack stage.

It is relatively straightforward to reach the first, second and third rows starting with 2, 4 and 8 soldiers respectively. Somewhat surprisingly, it takes at least 20 soldiers to reach the fourth row, breaking the tantalising doubling pattern that had started to emerge. I would encourage the curious reader to attempt the problem themselves with a square grid and a handful of pieces of any kind (scraps of paper will do in a pinch). For those that want a hint, the starting arrangements required are pictured below – the soldiers marked “B” represent an alternative to those marked “A”.

Far more surprising is the fact that, regardless of how many soldiers you start with, it is impossible to reach the fifth row in a finite number of moves. Even with millions or billions of soldiers at your disposal, you simply cannot get any further than four rows into enemy territory. Proving this remarkable result is actually not quite as challenging as it may seem, although it does require

extends infinitely far in all directions, with a red horizontal line splitting the board in half. The first stage is the deployment stage – you are allowed to place soldiers (represented by checkers pieces) on your half of the board. You can place as many as you like anywhere below the red line. The second stage is

a trip into the world of invariants, monovariants and a considerable amount of summing to infinity. In the talk, we warmed up to this proof with a simpler problem involving clones escaping prison, making a brief stop at the infamous golden ratio on our way back to the final result. For a ➦

demonstration of how to reach the fifth row in an infinite number of moves, the reader can consult the webpage below, replete with a rather mesmerising animation at the bottom of the page: chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/ solarmy/

Constructing polygons (THL)

How many regular polygons up to 100 sides can you construct with just a ruler and a compass? The students first constructed perfect equilateral triangles and squares with no guessing and no measuring of angles. Then by bisecting angles they could get hexagons, octagons, 12-gons, 24-gons etc. Euclid described constructing a pentagon in 300BC and we used a similar method, solving a quadratic equation to construct a decagon using the golden triangle. We then discussed Gauss’s breakthrough, constructing the 17-gon, and considered fractions to get the 15-gon, 51-gon and 85-gon. Finally we matched our 3,5,17,… sequence with Fermat’s primes and his conjecture which Euler later disproved, by finding that 4294967297 is not prime, obviously without a calculator!

A Can of Worms (GMK)

The session started with the challenge of estimating the thickness of a piece of sticky tape. Students used various methods to do this from folding it enough times so that the thickness could be measured to approximating the reel as a collection of circles with an average radius. Accurate results were achieved by this and the discussion moved to the exact calculation that the reel of tape is a prism with a certain volume, which was equal to the volume of the tape when unrolled as a very long, thin cuboid whose length and width is known allowing an equation for the thickness to be formed and solved giving the almost exact answer of 40 microns.

The next question related to a pasta measuring tool and estimating the number of strands of spaghetti in a serving. The geometry of the situation was discussed, noting that the optimal

arrangement saw the spaghetti in a hexagonal configuration and calculating the amount of empty space. The results agreed almost exactly with practical experiment (251 strands in practice to 252 by calculation).

The students were left with the problem of estimating how many balls were required to fill a ball pit and the spherical close packing problem that ensued. This is a difficult problem going back to Kepler’s conjecture of 1611 that the two most natural arrangements of spheres (hexagonal close packing and cubic face centred) are in fact the most efficient space filling arrangements, which was proven to be true only in this century by Thomas Hales. In higher dimensions this problem has deep connections throughout Mathematics. ❚

In September, the MFL department celebrated European Day of Languages (26 September) with a plethora of language-themed activities, such as:

• Film screenings

• Tiramisú cooking class

• Gelato tasting

Film Screenings

• Taster sessions in Mandarin, Polish and Greek

• Treasure Hunt

• Pétanque

We showed films in all four languages and here’s how the pupils found them:

German – ‘Das Schreckliche Mädchen’

In dem Film geht es um ein Mädchen das als “Schrecklich” bezeichnet wird, weil sie den Ruf der Stadt zerstört. Da sie an einem Aufsatzwettbewerb teilnimmt, muss sie die Vergangenheit der Stadt erforschen und dabei enthüllt sie Geheimnisse von einigen prominenten Figuren der Stadt. Die Einwohner haben früher behauptet, sie hätten eigentlich die Nazis nicht unterstützt doch entdeckt das Mädchen die wahre, dunkle Geschichte. Dieser Film beschäftigt sich mit den Schwierigkeiten, mit denen die Nachkriegsgeneration umgehen mussten.

Max Lenhard, Tom Merton, Nathan Anton

Spanish – ‘María, llena eras de gracia’

‘María, llena eras de gracia’ es una película colombiana que trata de una adolescente que se llama María, que está cansada de su vida actual porque su trabajo es aburrido y su familia no la aprecia. Ella decide involucrarse en el negocio del narcotráfico como una mula, una persona que transporta drogas a través de las fronteras. Luego aborda un avión a Nueva York con bolitas de cocaína que tragó antes de partir para que no la atraparan. Sin embargo, cuando llega a Nueva York, se da cuenta de que tampoco le gusta esta vida y finalmente decide quedarse allí. También, ella descubre que está embarazada y quiere que su hijo tenga una vida mejor. Aunque la encontré un poco corta, disfruté mucho esta película porque era muy dramática pero realista. Incluso me ayudó con mi español. Realmente recomiendo esta película

Elliot Gaudaire

French – ‘Caché’ J’ai beaucoup apprécié de regarder Caché lors de la soirée du film français. L’histoire se concentre sur un couple qui reçoit constamment des cassettes vidéo à leur porte d’entrée. Selon le mari, elles ressemblent à des souvenirs de son enfance. Finalement, il s’est rendu compte que les cassettes vidéo se sont rapportées à son frère adoptif qu’il n’a pas vu depuis de nombreuses années. Je décrirais le film comme un thriller psychologique et son succès en tant que film est dû à l’interprétation très efficace du frère adoptif (Maurice Bénichou). Le film était écrit et était réalisé par Michael Haneke qui a été le réalisateur de Amour ainsi que Le Ruban blanc. Autant que je sache, ils ont tourné le film principalement à Paris et Vienne – ce qui permet de saisir les difficultés socio-économiques du frère adoptif, contrastant avec le style de vie pittoresque et luxueux du couple dans les villes européennes. Je recommande ce film à tout le monde, sauf si vous n’aimez pas du tout les scènes gores.

Daniel Peachey

Italian – ‘La mafia uccide solo d’estate’

La mafia uccide solo d’estate’ è in parte una commedia romantica ma racconta anche la turbolenta stagione dell’attività criminale di Cosa Nostra a Palermo dagli anni settanta fino agli anni novanta. Mi è piaciuto molto il film perché ho trovato la trama molto coinvolgente e ho imparato tante cose sulla Mafia. Anche se ci sono momenti molto tristi e argomenti delicati, il film ha un tono ironico e presenta i fatti in modo comico. Mi sono piaciuti i personaggi e mi ha fatto ridere tanto. Ve lo consiglio!

Nick Martin

MFL

Tiramisú making

Lower Eighth pupils guided Fifth Form pupils through an Italian recipe to make a delicious tiramisú. Here’s the recipe!

Base

Ingredienti:

300g Savoiardi

Una tazza abbondante di caffè (meglio se espresso)

(Opzionale: zucchero)

Preparate l’espresso (possibilmente con una moka) e versatelo in una ciotola. Zuccherate a piacimento e lasciate raffreddare. Inzuppate i savoiardi uno alla volta per 1-2 secondi e metteteli in una teglia con il lato bagnato rivolto verso l’alto. Riempite il fondo della teglia e preparatevi a versare la crema.

Crema

Ingredienti:

300g zucchero

500g panna da montare

500g mascarpone

5 tuorli

(Opzionale ma raccomandato 2 cucchiai di Marsala)

Polvere di cacao

Separate i tuorli dagli albumi e mischiateli con zucchero e marsala. Quando il mix è omogeneo e cremoso aggiungete il mascarpone e mischiate. In un’altra ciotola montate la panna e aggiungetela al composto. Mischiate fino a ottenere una crema senza grumi. Coprite il primo strato di biscotti con la crema e poi ripetete il procedimento per avere due strati. Dopo aver versato la crema sul secondo strato di biscotti coprite con la polvere di cacao. Tenete in frigo almeno 4 ore prima di servire. ❚

Poetry

Le confinement

Vous l’appelez l’isolement

Vous l’appelez le silence

Vous l’appelez l’abandon Mais pour moi c’est la tranquillité et la paix.

Comme les rideaux du ciel se séparent et la pollution se dissipe et s’allège, tout le monde aperçoit soudain des vues et des paysages magnifiques jusqu’à présent inconnus.

Aucune voiture force un oiseau au vol. Tous les vols sont retenus aux sols.

Grâce à la COVID 19, le virus qui nous a envahi pendant deux longues années, Enfin la terre pour un moment peut se reposer. Avec le train-train de vie suspend, on a le temps de goûter aux petits plaisirs de la vie en prenant notre temps.

Here are three original poems, written by pupils this year: hay hay un lago, tan claro y como un cristal, que riega un drago, y lo hace inmortal. hay una flor, tan hermosa y bonita, que esconde años de dolor, pero irradia una calma infinita. hay un bosque, tan verde y oscuro, que te hace preguntar ¿por qué? ¿por qué no puedes abrazar el futuro? ves una chica desde lejos, una chica que te saluda con la mano, ella te invita a entrar, entrar a su casa, el mundo.

Les jeunes de notre génération sont choqués et étonnés que jusqu’à présent nous leur avions cachés ce qui était derrière ce rideau de pollution.

À l’intérieur de ce nouveau monde, la nature retrouve sa beauté naturelle, Vous avez changé les plans que le Seigneur nous a offert et peut-être pour cela qu’il nous a puni à cette heure.

On se dispute à propos du port de la voile, en continuant à voiler la verdure et la nature. C’est ironique, non?

Notre atmosphère est en pleine guerre. Mais comme les refrains des poèmes se répètent Les peuples des erreurs ne cessent de commettre.

Vous l’appelez l’isolement Vous l’appelez le silence Vous l’appelez l’abandon

Mais pour moi c’est la tranquillité et la paix.

by Varun Vashisht

by Karol Dmitriew

La vita nascosta delle piante

Ieri sera, il tappeto ha chiuso le tende, e il giardino non ha potuto più vedere l’intero del salotto sporco. Le siepe e i fiori hanno voluto veramente guardare la televisione nel salotto. Quindi, sono scesi nel sotterraneo, e hanno bevuto il vino e l’aranciata. Dopo poco, hanno visto un televisore, e hanno cominciato giocare ai videogiochi. Hanno suonato anche la chitarra, che era appesa alle parete. L’hanno amata, e hanno continuato fino a mezzanotte. A mezzanotte, un pipistrello è entrato, e gli ha detto di andarsene prima della mattina.

by Dermot Christmas

We also held our annual Fourth Form poetry competition. Here are the winners:

Alex (French) – Mon rêve familier

Tolga (German) – Das Feuer

Dariush (Italian) – Chi Sono

Gabriel (Latin) – Ovid, Metamorphosis 16 (621-628)

Leonardo (Spanish) – Las Campanas ❚

THE MUSICAL YEAR IN REVIEW

MDW

With very few exceptions, the mantra of this year’s music-making has been “business as usual.” There has been a palpable energy throughout the year from Paulines, ensemble leaders, and music staff alike as the opportunity to make music together again in mixed year groups was seized upon gleefully. Full orchestras, choirs, and larger jazz ensembles were back, and back with a bang!

The idea of a Joint Concert in 2020, when pupils were unable to mix outside of their own year group, let alone with another school (and especially one that was rendered all but inaccessible by a closed Hammersmith Bridge…), was unthinkable. In September 2021, on the first Sunday of the term, a newly formed choir and orchestra started to go through the painful process of learning how to make music together again. I will never forget the first 30 minutes of the orchestral rehearsal on Brahms’s First Symphony – it was awful! After that first half an hour, though, intonation became more secure, players began to listen to each other properly, and the confidence started to come back. Despite the mountain being a little steeper to climb than usual, the Joint Concert – hosted this year in the Wathen Hall – was a great success. It was a joy to see Paulines and Paulinas working together again so positively, side by side in the shared endeavour of delivering quality performances.

In addition to the Brahms, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms was conducted with usual aplomb by Leigh O’Hara and the delightful Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré (directed by Heidi Pegler) made a charming concert opener. Special mention should be made to Calvin Leung for leading the Brahms, and to Jago Cahill-Patten and Oscar Pavey, who sang vocal solos in the Bernstein.

One event that was able to proceed largely unscathed (albeit online) last year, was the Piano Concert just before the main Autumn Remedy. A classy set of performances graced the Wathen Hall’s splendid Steinway D, including a crisp Bach Prelude and Fugue from Samyak Raja, Gershwin from Jonathan Foo and an improvisation from James Lawson. The usual diet of Chopin, Debussy, and Liszt prevailed from players across all year groups, and it was a delight to see a number of talented pianists take the opportunity to showcase their musicianship. Thanks

must go to Mr Fairbairn for organising and encouraging the pupils involved. Our 6th form GCSE pupils had their first compositions performed just after Remedy, in a concert that is always heartening for the respect that Paulines show for each others’ work, as well as performing it to the best of their ability. The first Ensembles Concert since 2019, held in midNovember, showed that some groups were still rebuilding and reconnecting, but still presented a full range of items: a memorably tight Mendelssohn Piano Trio movement from Calvin Leung, Cameron Soo, and Robert Simmons, a full set from a reunited St Paul’s Voices, and entertaining numbers from both String and Wind Orchestras. The whole thing was opened by a barnstorming performance from the Drum Line, and special mention must go to Dara Daneshvar, who seemed to be in everything.

As we edged towards December, the Winter Concert brought some much ➦

Music needed light to the increasing gloom of the shortening days. Opening with a re-arranged Cantique de Jean Racine from the Chapel Choir, the audience was treated to a Tom Evans world première – his Three Meditations, which were based on piano improvisations he had recorded after long days at work to unwind. The orchestrated versions were a real treat for the Chamber Orchestra that he knows so well, with star moments given to specific players, whether it was a tricky solo for Eashan Shah on trumpet, or a subsonic rumble from Kyle Hunt on contrabassoon! The Chamber Orchestra was then put through its paces in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 – a riotously youthful work which the players clearly enjoyed. After the interval, the Symphony Orchestra brought further sunshine with Dvořák’s spring-like Symphony No. 8. From the opening graceful cello melody to the coruscating trumpet fanfare of the ending, this was played with real verve and confidence. In the final couple of weeks of the long term, our jazz musicians gave an afternoon set in the Wathen Hall and the

Chapel Choir delivered our first Carol Service in the new Chapel shortly before the end of term, which included a beautiful new arrangement of Away in a Manger by Mr Fairbairn. The choir was also joined by “one or two” enthusiastic volunteers as they sang carols on the last morning of term in Founder’s Court.

The Spring Term brought back reminders of just how intense it can be with a full programme of events and, in addition to the Chamber Choir’s evensong in Cambridge (about which more elsewhere), it sang in St Paul’s Cathedral, giving a much-appreciated evensong for the Old Paulines Feast Service. Before Remedy, the Chamber Music Concert brought together a range of smaller ensembles for this most intimate form of music-making, featuring a rarely-heard Aidan Ferrand on horn alongside Bart Weil and Ben Law in a movement from the Brahms Horn Trio and a host of string quartets and piano trios. The final item was a real treat: the first movement of Bruch’s Octet, with Paulines playing alongside the Alkyona Quartet. The Quartet (which

includes St Paul’s Visiting Teacher of Cello, Jobine Siekman) had given the masterclass earlier that day and, after hearing them perform from the Ravel String Quartet, it was a privilege to hear them working alongside pupils in a resounding finale to the concert. Following the theme of events celebrating a specialised form of music-making, the A Cappella Concert in early March brought together contributions from St Paul’s Voices, Consort, Motley Croon, and the Morning Breakers (a new group formed by St Paul’s Visiting Teacher of Singing, Mike Steffan). The audience was treated to everything from Byrd to Bernstein, a Seal Lullaby, and a Creole Love-Call, and tenor Charlie Kenny seemed to be in just about every item. In the final week of the Spring Term, the second Ensembles Concert offered up another delectable smorgasbord of items, including a performance of Haolin Zhao’s Piano Quintet (written for and performed by his peer group chamber ensemble) and a delightful set from the Guitar Ensemble. Another highlight was the Baroque Ensemble’s performance of Telemann’s Recorder Concerto in C.

Chamber Concert Bruch

Wathen Hall; regulars will know soloist Jude Carter primarily on flute and piccolo, but this was an opportunity for him to show what he can do on his first instrument. The final Wind Orchestra item, How to Train Your Dragon, featured a bevy of guest players, including unforgettable and likely never-to-be-repeated turns by Calvin Leung on vibraphone and Robert Simmons on suspended cymbal.

Throughout the Spring Term, the two senior orchestras prepare for the Spring Concert to coincide with the anticipation of study leave for our Sixth and Upper Eighth formers. This time, they were joined by the Baroque Ensemble in a particularly classy set of movements from Rameau’s dramatic works, all directed skilfully from the harpsichord by Mr Fairbairn. The audience was completely sold on the rarely-heard Symphony No. 2 by Kurt Weill, and Dr Evans’s programme note made the compelling case for this to be heard more often. His own enthusiasm for the piece had clearly been communicated to the orchestra, just as it was to the audience when, at one climactic moment, he completely left the ground in preparing for a crucial downbeat! The concert ended with a thrilling performance of Sibelius’s Symphony No.5 – a piece I have always wanted to conduct but have had to wait for a very special orchestra to be able to pull it off. This year’s players, especially those in the Upper Eighth in some crucial positions, meant that it was time to try it, and I will be ever grateful to many individuals who put in long hours preparing some very difficult parts. In particular, Arjun Rajkumar on bassoon, Aiken Lau on flute, Ynon Weiss and Noah Whale on French horn showed their mettle, and in that concert the two Cui twins (Leo and Danny) tackled two of the hardest timpani parts in the repertoire between them across the Weill and the Sibelius.

Apposition and the long-delayed Consecration of the Chapel gave further opportunities for the Chapel Choir and, with the Upper Eighth and sixth form wished well on their odyssey through public exams, the 4th, 5th and Lower Eighth forms all

joined forces to put on a highly varied and entertaining Charity Concert in aid of the Otakar Kraus Music Trust towards the end of June. Featuring an exciting turn by 4th Form Voices, some stunning jazz from our Swing Band and Lower Eighth combo, chamber music and an elegant Mozartian finish from a scratch ensemble of top musicians from all three years, this was a lovely occasion and a great opportunity to support a local charity transforming lives through music therapy.

Amongst these events, the department has also trialled some more informal lunchtime “Pop-Up Performances” in the Atrium, which have proved enormously successful. These included two jazz sets (one by our Upper Eighth quintet and one by Jez Laing’s two ensembles from the Charity Concert) and a guitar-based set featuring songwriters, instrumentals and covers. These are likely to become a firm fixture next year.

The way music has been able to bounce back after the enforced hiatus has been truly astonishing and enormously heartening. I am grateful to the hard work and dedication of all of our pupil musicians, but must pay special tribute to our leaving crew of Upper Eighths, who have been a stellar group and have contributed richly to all we have done. Many had a chance to take a final turn at our Leavers and OP Concert (of which more elsewhere), but they deserve special mention here: Eddie Atkinson (Sax), Tommaso Bailo (Double Bass, Piano, Composition), Omar Burhanuddin (Violin), George Davies (Sax, Voice), Aidan Ferrand (Viola, Horn), Laith Gordon (Bass Guitar), Charlie Hunt (Voice, Trumpet), Thomas Jensen (Oboe), Ben Law (Piano, Organ, Oboe), James Lawson (Piano, Composition), Calvin Leung (Piano, Violin, Vibraphone), Eashan Shah (Trumpet), Robert Simmons (Cello, Suspended Cymbal and, latterly, Tenor Soloist), Cameron Soo (Violin, Organ), Ansh Tandon (Drums), Toby Thorogood (Voice, Trumpet), Harry Turner (Trumpet). Our profound thanks and fond wishes go to them all. ❚

The Chamber Orchestra was then put through its paces in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 – a riotously youthful work which the players clearly enjoyed.

Chamber Music, String Days OP & Leavers concert

Chamber Music Competition Winners

It was a great joy to be able to enter a chamber group to the Southeast Schools’ Chamber Music Competition for the first time since 2019. Despite grand plans of entering three groups, in the end the pressures of Upper Eighth mock exams and a case of COVID in the 4th Form prevented two of the three groups competing. However, the 6th form quintet of Haolin Zhao (piano), Moxuan Liu (violin), Charlie Shaw (viola), Altan Mardin (cello), and Will Palmer (double bass) more than made up for any absences. Their performance of the scherzo from Schubert’s glorious ‘Trout’ Quintet was stylish, elegant, very quick, and effortless-sounding, and Michael Dussek (professor at the Royal Academy of Music) was highly impressed, both in the preliminary round on a sunny Sunday morning at Harrow School, and in the Finals in March, at Handel’s church, St George’s Hanover Square. Despite being up against a particularly impressive rendition of the last movement of Mendelssohn’s Octet from Dame Alice Owen’s, in what must have been a very difficult decision for the judges, St Paul’s came out on top as winners of the Intermediate category! A superb achievement, and particular thanks to Mr Mardin for delivering Altan’s cello to the church on time, and to Altan for hotfooting it to the church from a fencing tournament! Well done to all five boys for their inspiring musicianship and indefatigable commitment to chamber music this year.

Strings Days x 3

We were once again able to run a full programme of Strings Days this academic year. The final Saturday afternoon of October half-term saw a very popular event with 58 local string players from around 20 different schools, boys and girls from 8-15 years old working on repertoire including Mack the Knife by Weill and a Handel Concerto Grosso. This was the largest contingent for many years; particular thanks to James Greenfield (then Visiting Music Teacher at SPJ) for directing the younger group. Long may this event prove popular; it is a great way to enable young local string players to get an experience of what the music department has to offer.

It was also very musically rewarding to be able to reinstate our String Days with St Paul’s Girls’ School. In February, Hilary Sturt (Head of Strings at SPGS) directed a particularly ambitious repertoire choice, Michael Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli. This work, which divides the string group into two separate orchestras, and also features three soloists, cleverly reimagines a Baroque concerto grosso in an English Twentieth-Century style, a sort of elaborate remix. Personally, it was a great treat to play this piece for the first time, and the players did brilliantly to approach this repertoire so convincingly; particular well done to Richard Eichhorst for sight-reading some of the solo parts on the day extremely well.

In June, the return fixture in the Wathen Hall gave us an opportunity to delve into a similarly exciting piece, Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony. This is actually an arrangement of his iconic String Quartet No 8, an autobiographical work which includes a recurring theme representing the letters D-S-C-H, (D)imitri (Sch)ostakovich in the German spelling of his name, and was composed at a particularly bleak time in the composer’s life. A truly

devastating piece, it is nonetheless great fun to play, and all participants did valiantly, particularly in the furious and frantic second movement. Very well done to Tolga Mardin for leading the orchestra so fearlessly, and also David Xu who experienced the work uniquely this year both analytically as an A level student and as a performer.

OP/Leavers’ Concert

It is always fitting to round off the musical year with the OP/Leavers’ Concert which allows musical Old Paulines to return and perform alongside talented leavers in the Upper Eighth. Looking back, 2018 was the last time we were able to do this on this scale, and it was wonderful to welcome back nine OPs to perform with us this year alongside what was undoubtedly a particularly musical Upper Eighth year. Highlights from the concert this year on Sunday 3 July included hearing Tommaso Bailo’s accomplished original Prelude for piano played beautifully by Visiting Music Teacher Florian Mitrea, a superb rendition of Marcello’s Oboe Concerto by Ben Law, Cameron Soo giving a barnstorming performance on the organ, Calvin Leung’s brilliant leading of a Mendelssohn string quartet, some sensational saxophone playing from captain of school George Davies, and unbelievably virtuosic jazz piano playing from the irrepressible James Lawson. The highlight for me though, was hearing fifteen Upper Eighth musicians singing together in an arrangement of Sibelius’ Finlandia, ‘Be Still my Soul’, entirely self-rehearsed and organized by Toby Thorogood, featuring a vocal solo by Robert Simmons (what a lovely voice!). Call me an old sentimentalist, but I know that I wasn’t the only one in the house welling up; it was a truly beautiful moment. We always say that we will miss the leaving musicians, but this year we mean it even more than we usually do – what an amazingly talented bunch you are – and we hope to welcome you back again as Old Paulines before too long. ❚

Jazz Set at the Six

Chelsea’s 606 Club is rightly an iconic venue for the jazz aficionado –underground, something of a speakeasy vibe, a stage and facilities tailor-made for intimate jazz performances. It is no surprise that our first outing there in 2019 was a huge success, nor that being able to go again this year led to a fiercely fought waiting list to get in (even after the High Master had to reluctantly relinquish her table due to illness). Those who were able to go were not disappointed.

Pauline musicians get an extra buzz from plying their wares outside of the Music School, and our jazz musicians do this more than most. From the opening wah-wah salvos of Swing Band’s rendition of the theme from Shaft, through the punchy blues of Tom Smith’s Sax Group (in an original tune, “Toast”, penned for the group), to the inevitable Big Band rendition of

“The Chicken” to wrap up, this was St Paul’s jazz firmly announcing its return to these hallowed walls and the jazz club’s owner, Steve, was even moved to admit, during a James Lawson solo, “yeah – he can play”! A special feature of the set was the Upper Eighth quintet’s set, honed over nearly two years of rehearsal (not many St Paul’s groups can say that this year) under the watchful ear of Gareth Hunt. George Davies, Eashan Shah, James Lawson, Laith Gordon, and Ansh Tandon have been huge contributors to jazz in their last two years and it was wonderfully satisfying to see that hard work come to fruition one last time, with all of them having cruelly missed out on the last two years’ opportunities here.

My grateful thanks go to Jez Laing, Gareth Hunt and Tom Smith for their tireless support and dedication to St Paul’s jazz, and for passing on their own enthusiasm and skills to our pupils. ❚

The Music Competition

This year saw the first return of full-format SPS Music Competition since March 2020. Following a full round of competition heats on Sunday 1st March, the competition had to be completed virtually. The following year, we were in a full national lockdown. Triumphantly, this competition returned this year with a record number of solo entrants, across six instrumental categories!

On the morning of Sunday 6 of March 2022 the Wathen Hall and its Foyer burst into musical life with the sound of a range of musical soloists from all year groups offering highly polished performances. The pianists kicked off first in the wathen hall, adjudicated by clarinettist, teacher and animateur Christopher Potts, whilst the strings could be heard down the corridor in the foyer, accompanied by Mr Fairbairn, and adjudicated by renowned Tenor William Balkwill. These were won by Calvin Leung (Upper Eighth) won the senior prizes in each of these instrumental categories, while Haolin Zhao and Altan Mardin (both 6th) won the junior piano and string prizes respectively.

The afternoon saw some stunning vocal and woodwind performances, and Mr Corrigan from SPJ was kind enough to share some of the accompanimental workload here! Ravishing songs were heard, and challenging woodwind sonatas were dispatched with aplomb, Ryan Rundstrom (Lower Eighth) and Raphael Hibou (5th) were rewarded for the exploits in the Wind Category, while Kyle Hunt’s (5th) stylish song-writing, and Oscar Pavey’s (Upper Eighth) authoritative Handel performance impressed adjudicator Balkill enough for them to take home the prizes for Voice.

The brass category saw the competition veteran Eashan Shah wow adjudicator Balkwill (himself an NYO trumpeter in his youth!) with some stylish jazzy numbers, while new-kidon-the-block Zach Tydeman (5th) demonstrated that the future of trumpet virtuoso music at SPS is bright. The percussionists were the last in the day to battle it out, with adjudicator Potts visibly hesitant at the prospect of choosing overall winners: Nimal Kirithiran (Lower Eighth) and Tolga Mardin (4th) victorious on the day.

All of these winners went through to a grand final back on the Wednesday evening of 4 May, and Scott Price, Director of Music at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School was kind enough to give up his evening to come and adjudicate. He provided some sage advice and pearls of wisdom for all, and ended up choosing two worthy overall winners in Altan Mardin (junior) and Calvin Leung (senior). Altan’s devastatingly beautiful performance of Après un Rêve, by Fauré, and Calvin’s ruthless Transcendental Étude No.8 by Liszt will live long in the memory here in the Music Department. Well done to all! ❚

Evensong in Cambridge

5 February 2022

What a delight it was to sing an Oxbridge evensong again after two years’ silence in this regard. The Chapel Choir, well-drilled and in fine voice, mustered in the opulent surroundings of St. Catharine’s on Saturday lunchtime. On the race card was somewhat of a Charles Wood Fest; we sang his second setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in E flat Major, and his perennially loved album ‘O Thou the Central Orb’. The responses were plainsong. Voluntaries before the service were given by Ban Law and Cameron Soo (Upper Eighth), while Mr Fairbairn performed the rakish Finale from Widor’s Symphony VIII after the service. Conductor Mr Wilderspin and the Chaplain were unable to recall an evensong for which the rehearsal had run as smoothly, and the service itself performed with such verve! Everyone deserved to relish in this fine performance, but this period of bliss was short lived! Train faults delayed returning students and staff alike, and many had to seek shelter in the array of eateries and drinks spots that Cambridge has to offer until the trains had returned to normal again. Still, the experience of the day was highly positive, and left us in great shape to reprise the evensong for the OP Feast service at St Paul’s Cathedral two days later. ❚

Colet Choral Society

March 2020 was the last time Colet Choral Society had rehearsed, its projected performance of Mozart’s Requiem cancelled and its members scattered as the national lockdowns loomed large.

It was therefore with a great sense of joy that the school’s community choir, run jointly with St Paul’s Girls’ School, began to reconnect in September, with the Mozart back on the cards. Personnel was slightly different: some members were understandably cautious, and we had also picked up some new talent along the way (including Abby Henry and Katy Waterfield to bolster the Alto section). Mozart’s Requiem soon came back into the muscle memory and in November 2021, some 18 months late, the Choral Society finally put on a performance of this staple of the choral repertoire with professional soloists and the

St Paul’s Camerata (including the cream of Pauline string players, led by Calvin Leung) in the Wathen Hall. Alongside it was Haydn’s Insanae et vanae curae, arranged for the orchestral forces available.

In the Spring Term, Roger Paul took back the reins of the choir to prepare for a performance of Handel’s Samson. This is one of Handel’s more popular oratorios but is dramatically quite turgid in its unedited form, so it is unsurprising that, like many directors of this work, Roger was liberal with the pruning shears in shaping the final version presented. Bolstered by similar stellar guest soloists and orchestra, Samson was put on in the Great Hall of SPGS and received enthusiastically.

Thanks are due to Gabbi Freemantle of SPGS who manages the choral society, and to all who have supported the

enterprise at various stages. The Colet Choral Society is open to anyone with a connection to the St Paul’s Schools, or is resident in either of the communities around them. Anyone who wants to give themselves the gift of communal singing on a Thursday evening should make contact with Gabbi via musicadmin@spgs.org ❚

Back to Barnes

2022 finally enabled St Paul’s to reconnect with its local music festival and it was a joy to combine this with another fruitful collaboration with SPGS. Choirs from both schools united for the opening night concert, supported by professional soloists and orchestra under the expert baton of Festival Director James Day. The concert opened with the Tallis theme on which the famous Vaughan Williams Fantasia is constructed, sung chorally from the back of a packed St Mary’s Church in Barnes. This led seamlessly into the orchestra’s rendition of the Vaughan Williams and was a cunning piece of programming. After the interval, the choir were on stage at the front to sing Howard Goodall’s Requiem, Eternal Light. Goodall is a local composer and one who will be familiar to many for his catchy TV theme tunes and enlightening shows about classical music on the BBC, but Eternal Light is a tricky piece to negotiate with its many memorable melodies.

Later in the Festival, Tommaso Bailo’s piano music was workshopped in a Piano Composition showcase overseen by veteran British composer Edwin Roxburgh, and Paulines were also in action in one or other of the competitive instrumental workshops scattered around Barnes and its environs.

As has been the case in previous years, St Paul’s also hosted the Schools’ Concert on behalf of the Festival. This was a partnership project between St Paul’s, the Festival, the Rodolfus Foundation, SPGS, and five primary schools. Creative workshops were given by me in each of the partner primary schools in November, which introduced the project’s theme of Hammersmith Bridge and its plight and history. The final concert saw the première of my piece Let’s Build a Bridge, which used creative ideas from the children and brought together all performers, supported by a select group of St Paul’s musicians (Richard Eichhorst, Tolga Mardin, Dara Daneshvar, Jude Carter,

Raphael Hibou, Dr Evans and Mr Fairbairn) – all conducted by James Day. We were especially blessed to have Mr Pirrie (Head of the Creatives Faculty) to act as narrator for the final piece, which sat alongside such bangers as the Seal Lullaby and Bridge Over Troubled Water

Having the opportunity to work closely with a community project like this, and to work together with partners across sectors as well as familiar friends from SPGS is a great privilege and, however much the toil in getting these projects off the ground, the end result is always hugely enriching for all concerned. I am proud of the part music plays in the diverse and impressive Partnerships programme at St Paul’s – long may it continue. ❚

a long absence due to COVID. The department has been extremely active both inside and outside of the classroom with numerous opportunities for students to demonstrate their abilities and enthusiasm in problem solving and research.

Below are some updates from numerous physics teachers who coordinate these efforts. As ever, we have been blessed with exceptionally talented and motivated students allowing our teachers and technicians to share enthusiasm for exploring the physical world!

British Physics Olympiad Competitions [Dr

Gane]

This year 690 St Paul’s students across all year groups took part in the competitions of the British Physics Olympiad. The Olympiad is organised by The University of Oxford in close collaboration with the University of Cambridge and is supported by the National Physics Laboratory; it is the UK’s premier platform for the encouragement, development and identification of young physics talent.

Our Fourth and Fifth Form physicists took part in the British Physics Olympiad Junior challenge which is aimed at students in their penultimate GCSE year. Across both year groups our students achieved 81 Bronze, 118 Silver and 164 Gold awards. 11% of all gold awards went to St Paul’s students.

Our Lower Eighth Physicists competed in the Senior Physics Challenge where they achieved 3 Bronze, 28 Silver and 36 gold awards. With over 5,000 students taking part nationwide, over 5% of all gold awards went to St Paul’s students in this competition.

In round one of the British Physics Olympiad competition, our Upper Eighth Physicists achieved a healthy set of results, with four Top Gold, three Gold, eleven silver, eleven Bronze 1 and eighteen Bronze 2 Awards.

Our top gold competitors were invited to take part in round two, where Rick Chen, Eashan Shah, Shahzeb Karim and Ali Imam-Sadeque achieved a Bronze, two Silvers and a Gold Award.

Congratulations to all competitors that took part in these notoriously challenging competitions. These are awards to be proud of and should fill us all with hope for future success in the Olympiad competitions.

Scanning Electron Microscope

[Mr Warriner]

As part of their physics enrichment programme, the Lower Eighth Physicist received an ‘Introduction to the SEM’ course from Mr Warriner, which laid the foundation for some of the excellent project work now being undertaken.

Paulines have continued to work apace this year using our Scanning electron Microscope (SEM) with multiple projects ongoing and pupils from a range of year groups becoming involved.

The year began with Senan Bottomley enhancing his Highmaster’s Prize winning essay on bee flight by creating spectacular montages of bee wings using the SEM. First he had to dissect and mount his wings before using the Gold-coater (donated by the Parents Group in 2019) to allow his organic

samples to conduct charge. He then worked meticulously to take 100s of high resolution images of the wings at a (relatively low for the SEM) magnification of x100. Senan took a fresh approach for Pauline scientists in focusing on the presentation and post-production elements of the work, developing his Photoshop skills to combine his images into enormous montages of complete wings. He spent hours tidying these up and in some cases adding false colour to highlight features. These montages are reproduced here but were also printed on a larger scale for the Symposium held at SPGS, indeed the actual images at full size are about 5 metres wide!

Last year we initiated a research program on extraterrestrial materials and sample return missions to unravel the mysteries of our Solar System. Louis Kirkpatrick, and his team of Kush Gupta, Eashan Shah, Stavros Fakiolis, Seb Marsoner, Nicolo’ Sartori di Borgoricco and Lucas Ji started off by using the SEM to perform active research on carbonaceous asteroids and a group of meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites. Louis produced a montage image of a cross-section and wrote a detailed scientific report into classifying terrestrial meteorites. A group of Lower Eighth students including Charles Calzia, Ryan Rundstrom and Carleo Zhu have continued his work with a second meteorite sample. This group has fed ➦

Physicists across the school were excited to be back in the lab and getting hands-on with experimental equipment after

back its findings at the Tonbridge science Fair, in which the SEM went on the road, and virtually with our SEM partner school in Japan and some pupils from SPGS. We have now approached the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) led by planetary scientists Dr. Hitesh Changela and Dr. Yoko Kebukawa, to propose performing preliminary examination on samples recently returned from the Haybusa 2 Mission – the first mission to return samples from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu to Earth in December 2020.

Asteroids are remnants from the early stages of the formation of our Solar System. Carbonaceous asteroids are the most abundant type of asteroid, and are unique for their high abundances of water-rich minerals such as clays and organics molecules. A rare group of meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites might be fragments of carbonaceous asteroids. The hypothesis that carbonaceous chondrites come from carbonaceous asteroids will be tested on samples of Asteroid162173 Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft.

Another Lower Eighth group led by Aiken Lau has been researching Dragonfly wings and has used this project to train younger pupils in the use of the SEM. The SEM continues to allow Paulines to experience active research in the school environment which stands them in good stead for further studies.

Partnerships & Outreach

[Dr

Still]

This year we were lucky to be able to restart our STEM Saturdays in which over 60 students from local partner schools attended year 10 LEGO physics sessions or a three week mathematical physics course for year 12 students. We also took part in the Junior School’s Primary Professor’s Saturday outreach programme, welcoming 30 primary age students into the physics labs to learn some astrophysics.

For the first time SPS students will be attending the Collyers College Festival of Science, a partner Mercer school. We will take the 5th form science

prizewinners to attend seminars and lectures from academics and industry experts across all STEM subjects. We again welcome students from around the UK to our two residential summer schools covering the fields of Materials Science and Particle Physics, July 11 – 15. Alongside these we will also welcome 30 A Level and 72 GCSE students from Christ’s School to two days of Space Science talks and workshops. Over two days students will build rockets, immerse themselves in planetarium shows, attend lectures by researchers and design a space telescope. We will then welcome the same students back in Easter 2023 for a revision Easter School.

The Weizmann Safe Cracking Competition

[Mr Boydell & Mr Swartzentruber]

A number of keen Lower Eighth students participated in the annual Weizmann ‘Safe Cracking’ competition. The tournament, run by The Weizmann Institute of Science, is a Physics and Engineering competition in which teams of five Year 12 students design and build physics-based puzzles,

and attempt to crack others’ designs. There was a lot of interest this year; a record seven SPS teams pitched their ideas. From close competition, the most promising two teams were selected to represent the school and progressed to the building stage.

St Paul’s School’s team ‘GTW’ impressed judges with their arcade themed safe – featuring puzzles based on principles of circuits and electromagnetism. After placing third in the national round and qualifying for the international competition, team GTW attended this year’s Virtual International ‘Safe Cracking’ Physics Tournament over the spring break.

The team placed 1st overall out of 44 entrants, winning the international competition. While teams have come close in recent years, placing first nationally in 2019, it is not since 2016 that St Paul’s has celebrated an international victory. ❚

Team GTW: Kiminao Usami, Oliver Hiorns, Harry Rimmer, Eliyahu Gluschove-Koppel, and Owais Hussain.

Theology & Philosophy

This year the T&P department has seen a return of our flagship trip to the How the Light Gets in Philosophy Festival. There was also an exciting collaboration between our Isaiah Berlin Society and the Classics Society as we met to discuss theological and philosophical questions surrounding the historical Jesus. Lachlan Murray won the Moral Philosophy Prize for his essay on persistence through change, a version of which is reproduced below.

WHAT MAKES A FOOTBALL CLUB THE SAME FOOTBALL CLUB OVER TIME?

Football clubs seem to be always changing. Arsenal, for example, proudly claims to be founded in 1886. Back then, they consisted of a gaggle of munitions workers who called themselves Dial Square, in reference to a sundial on the top of their factory. Today, on the other hand, they are a multi-million pound company. Since their creation, they have changed their name at least two other times, their badge has seen several iterations, and the club has moved within Woolwich before transitioning to its current spot in Islington. Obviously none of the players or coaches or kits are the same as when Arsenal was founded. Yet few would state that today’s Arsenal is a different club altogether.

Philosophers have for thousands of years considered questions of identity. My question bears clear similarities to one concerning the ship of Theseus. A ship, ‘returned from Crete’, was preserved by Athenians who ‘took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places.’ Was the preserved ship the same as the original one? If not, at what point did it lose that identity? These questions were developed by Thomas Hobbes. Suppose the original planks replaced from the ship were collected

and used to make a new ship. Which of the two final ships (A the ship preserved by Athenians, or B the ship of original planks reconstructed into the original design), if either, was the true ship of Theseus?

Many famous philosophers have recorded their thoughts on this paradox. There are three principles of identity often considered in these debates, namely an object goes where its parts go, objects can withstand gradual change, and transitivity of identity must be maintained. Three of the proposed solutions simply choose to deny one of these axioms. One solution, for example, denies that an object goes where its parts go. Followers of Aristotle would disagree, believing that all objects are a combination of matter and form. Aristotle would argue that Ship B (the original matter) was the true Ship of Theseus, as the same planks are used in the same construction– the same matter and form. Another solution says that at some point, an object can no longer withstand change. This solution feels particularly flawed though, as the removal of a certain plank which loses the ship’s identity is arbitrary– why does removing the 100th plank change the ship’s identity, but not the 99th? ➦

Some would even take this solution a step further, arguing that an object can never withstand any gradual change. As soon as something changes, an object loses its identity. ‘We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not, ’mused Heraclitus. The most common interpretation of Heraclitus here is that both the river and the person stepping into it are always changing. Heraclitus argued that we live in a world of flux, and many interpret his words to mean that our identities are also in constant flux. Thus, Heraclitus would likely argue that a football club is never truly the same football club – the moment it changes, it loses that identity.

Heraclitus’ arguments were famously challenged. Quine distinguished rivers from river stages. Quine argues here that any object is formed of infinite snapshots in time. Together, these individual parts create an identity. Quine argues that each of these parts is different from one another so the object (a collection of these parts) can withstand gradual change.

Quine was a perdurantist (believing all things consist of temporal parts as opposed to an endurantist who believe objects are ‘wholly present whenever they exist’). Perdurantism conceives objects as four-dimensional; objects have a defined location in space and a defined location in time. There are two versions of perdurantism – stage theory and worm theory.

The former ascribes identity to the individual temporal parts, such that any object identity only exists within that snapshot. While this may be an intuitive theory, it omits important qualities of football clubs such as history and legacy.

The latter, worm theory, on the other hand, is of great significance to the question; it is often argued to be the sole solution to the Ship of Theseus problem which does not deny any of the axioms of identity. Worm theorists, like Quine, would argue that Ship A and Ship B are both Ships of Theseus. In Hobbes’ thought experiment, they would argue that there were never three ships (the ship before change, ship A and ship B), but instead only two (a worm-like collection of temporal parts for the preserved ship and a separate collection for the ship gradually built with the original matter.) These two ships share a four-

dimensional identity at the start before diverging. Transitivity of identity is maintained, because the snapshot defining the ship before change is not the same as the final snapshots of ship A nor ship B (and the two final snapshots are not the same as each other.) This theory could be applied to a football club. Arsenal’s initial fourdimensional identity, at the moment of its creation in 1886, is clearly not the same as its identity today (as time and the matter have changed). Worm theorists would suggest that despite change, there has only been one club: the ever-increasing collection of unique temporal parts throughout its 136-year history.

Although worm theory provides an interesting solution, it can seem counterintuitive and impractical. We all view the world from a conscious mind existing through the present. It is difficult to hear that the present versions of ourselves are merely infinitesimally small pieces of our identities. As American philosopher Ted Sider once jokingly put it, ‘if you wanted to embrace (...) somebody, you’d have to cling to them from cradle to grave.’ What’s more, perdurantism sets some dangerous precedents. For example, if temporal parts are linked but separate, should a present temporal part face punishment for the crimes of a past temporal part? If a criminal bears a different identity, how can punishments be fair? Additionally, at what point does something gain its identity if all the unique momentary snapshots are connected? If you trace anything far enough back, it stems from collisions in stars or supernovas. At what point does an existence start and end? Is timber different from the paper or book it produces? When does the food I eat become a part of me?

To see a better theory, take these examples: it’s useful to say that Mo Salah is the same identity he was at the start of last season, despite more than half of the cells in his body being different. On the contrary, it is not useful to say that Liverpool’s starting XI is the same now as it was at the start of last season, even though more than half of the same players will still be picked. Both the team and the players have identities, yet we choose to define these with different standards.

Thus, I do not believe that objects have a clear, intrinsic identity. Different things are defined in different ways. So this is not a question about the nature of objects, but about the way we choose to discuss them. Hume argued this point. Questions about identity ‘can never possibly be decided’ as ‘we have no just’ way to do so. With no constant matter or intrinsic identity, the responsibility of defining a football club lies either with football associations or football fans (or both).

In the FA handbook, a football club is ‘any club which plays the game of football in England and is recognised as such by The Association.’ This definition unhelpfully leaves the meaning of ‘club’ vague, but does highlight one critical point about the nature of a football club: its recognition of existence and status by its respective association. The FA does this by grouping football clubs under clear legal identities. It could be argued that these clubs gain their identity through their accepted application to the FA and retain this identity through the FA’s continued recognition of them.

However, many football fans would say that they are a part of their club, despite no legal attachments. They dictate the identity of a club through their continued following and recognition of the side. In addition to Arsenal’s official website, the fans also proudly date their origin back to the 19th century. Therefore, the supporters, like the associations, believe a football club can undergo changes while retaining its identity.

Generally, I believe a football club’s cultural influence and beloved fanbase is a more important component of its identity than its legal presence.

Fans choose to believe that their club is the same, partly out of pride for the club’s history, but largely out of ease. With no other way to determine why a club stays the same, fans take the easiest option. I therefore believe that the thing which makes a football club the same over time is the way it is perceived by followers of football. ❚

Space: The Final Frontier

The school’s Governing Body, some years ago, approved for the new GTB2 building two important spaces: A Prayer Room, and a Consecrated Chapel. Last year, after the restrictions and provisions for COVID, both spaces became a reality.

The Consecration of the Chapel in May by the Bishop of London was a profound, holy and joyful occasion. The Chapel has been designed to be small and contained, or to open out into the Colet Hall for larger gatherings such as this. It is a space set apart not only for worship, but also where every member of our community can come from their places of busyness to be quiet and still.

And the Prayer Room moved! In the Summer Term, it was relocated from Old Science to its place in the new building. This is an alternative space to pray, and is particularly used by our

Muslim Students and Staff during the week. It has also been a delight this last year to see the beginning of the school’s I-Soc (Islamic Society), meeting for Friday Prayers and discussion.

When those in our school community have exerted themselves in the exploration of the frontiers of Science, Arts, or Languages, perhaps it might be good to take advantage of one of these two spaces. Maybe even to explore new frontiers: of silence, reflection and prayer. ❚

Reverend Knox, Chaplain

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

Summer 2022 sees the end of the Clubs system as we know it, and what a final term it has been! Students and staff alike have thrown themselves into the summer term favourites of softball, ultimate frisbee and touch rugby in a last ditch effort to be the last ever Club Victor!

In a true testament to competition, A and E clubs entered the final clubs afternoon tied in first with a fierce battle ahead for the 4th, 5th and Lower Eighth teams to take as many points as possible during football and athletics. Alas, there can only be one victor – and congratulations must go to Ms Squire and the whole A Club for their spectacular victory this year. As ever, this system would not be possible without the wonderful support of the Club Presidents so thank you to Ms Squire, Mr Maguire, Mr Orr, Mr Troen, Mr Stewart, Ms Grogan, Dr McDonnell and Mr Blurton for all their leadership, encouragement, and support of their club throughout the years.

Although we bid adieu to the Club System, the promise of something even more extraordinary beckons in the form of the new House System and I wish all the student and staff leaders of this new system the very best of luck.

Let the games begin!

KM Cloete ❚

CLUB COMPETITIONS POINTS TABLE

A Club Cup Winners

A CLUB

Benny Harrison and Jake Sinclair

When Seb Chohhan entered the Montgomery room to the beautiful sound of “peaceful monk music” dressed in a black hoodie with the lights turned off on the first full Friday of the 2021-2022 campaign it felt like a weird, but seminal moment. A new, fresh-faced team were greeting the Fourth Formers. Overjoyed at being back in the A Club inner circle, we delivered the words of the “A-Club Monk” onto the unsuspecting Fourth Form:

“This is not A Club. This is THE club.”

We were always (alphabetically) the first club and that is how it is meant to be: A Club in first. They promised to sacrifice themselves for the glory of A and it was done. The oath had been made. They would soon come to realise that they were up to the task of winning the club trophy. They would soon realise that the absence of the A-Club monk

throughout the year was not due to Seb’s weekly lie-in on a Friday morning but rather that he was deep in prayer, praying for us to fulfil the prophecy:

‘A Club’s throne will be anointed and eternal’

And

‘A Club’s 2021-22 Committee would be sent to heal the broken hearted’.

And we certainly did that. While the Captaincy’s total time in Friday Meetings might have amounted to less than ten minutes over the course of the year, the short time that they had they made count. With Jake giving the blunt well-done or come on to the troops and Benny putting his heart and soul into improvised and completely nonsensical speeches, the people of A understood the sentiment behind these two great orators’ words: To go out and win… ➦

A Club Fifth Form Kwik Cricket

…And win they did…

With notable victories in Club Indoor Athletics, Fives, Unihoc, Philosothon and Penalties and strong efforts across the board, A Club found themselves battling it out with E Club for the win. Despite some harsh losses in Club Maths, Photography and Triathlon, A Club had only one no-show all year (in the double points event of Club Drama) which is testament to the effort put in by the whole club, the teachers and committee.

This would not be possible without Mr Bailey’s smile, Mr Poynter’s laugh, Dr Mayfield being purple through and through (as well as his sincere passion for the Montgomery Room as a location) and Ms Squire’s understated passion and competitive edge. Ms Squire has moved past just Club Secretary this year, with all of us beholden to her efforts as a true A Club Legend. The support

this year from Toby, Adam, Seb, Eddie, Kaan and our twelfth man Ben Horsell has made our rise to the top this year possible. The eagerness of our Fourth Form and Fifth Form in particular has been incredible and truly shown the Club spirit we all crave. ❚

Co Captains 2021/22 – Jake Sinclair and Benny Harrison

Though our captaincy has of course been a joyous testament to our love of the club, we hope everyone can hold a place in their hearts for the 2021-22 campaign which has been, according to our A-Club Monk, the best club competition ever.

A vs C Fifth Form Kwik Cricket

B CLUB

Louis Wilson

We started off this year at B Club with a sense of trepidation. Despite our unparalleled success since Mr Maguire’s takeover, having been separated from the passion of in person Club meetings, we feared the younger years would not understand what it means to wear the emerald green. Yet we need not have worried. I can proudly say that the vision of our great forefathers, John Colet and Erasmus, the alleged founders of B Club, remains as strong as ever. B Club remains a fine example of traditional club values.

This commitment to tradition is what has continued to bring us great success this year. Our flawless victory in Club Drama, allegedly described by members

of the Drama department as “the greatest play in the history of theatre”, was a sign that the future of the Club is in good hands, as the younger years managed to win, even with our director out of school. This triumph would have been followed with a decisive victory in Club football, but once again the odds were against us. But did we let this crush our spirit? No. For this is the story of the B, triumph in the face of adversity. When our resolve has been tested, we have always remained true of heart and full of spirit. No matter the challenges, our strength of character means we shall always prevail.

I would like to thank my committee for their embodiment of our club values this

year and their help in continuing the great legacy of B. Hyder’s and Miles’ rousing speeches this year have been a key to our success, and the rest of the committee have been tireless in their commitment to B. Thanks must of course go to Mr Maguire, who, through his eloquent emails, has never failed to encourage the Sixth Form into signing up for an event. It has been a tremendous honour to captain B Club this year, and it shall continue to hold a special place in my heart. ❚

B vs F Fifth Form Ultimate Frisbee

C CLUB

Lucas Hanlin Ji

This is not a poem! But it is in the form of a poem. It would grab your attention more. I hope. I write this with pleasure. on the night before the deadline of the report –

Frantically flicking through the club reports for inspiration. Only to find the C-club captain spent 25% of the word limit talking about how he wrote the report.

This is not a poem! This is a record of our success. Perhaps not in the league table. Perhaps it is a fable –our path to victory. Yes. I try too hard to rhyme. C Club is yet in its prime. First places in Club Penalties, 4th Kwik Cricket are important to celebrate. Alongside that, playing matches against tough opponents, facing difficulties head-on, helping each other, should be celebrated too.

This is not a poem! But a way for me to say thank you all for the support. I mean it. ❚

C Club Fifth Form Ultimate Frisbee

D CLUB

Lukas Klein Wassink

Throughout 2021/22, the Mighty D has had a serious presence within the Club Competition system, as it does year after year. The opening of the season saw D Club adopting the brand new atrium as its permanent home. With the D now stationed at the heart of the school, the D Club Committee agreed it would only be right if we followed in the footsteps of the Club’s rich history. We felt this was of utmost importance, particularly for the Fourth and Fifth Form, as, due to COVID, they had not fully experienced D Club at its best.

The start of the autumn term was not what the Club hoped, needed, or expected. Due to a string of unlucky and, dare I say, inequitable results, the Mighty D dropped to an untypical 8th place. It seemed as if the D had not fully woken up from its pandemic slumber. However, in 2022, a new leaf was turned. Determined not to tarnish the D Club legacy, there was a very respectable club-wide push, which saw us achieve wins in a plethora of fields: from volleyball to mathematics to debating. A tight club table made for an exciting spring term, filled with both victories and upsets, resulting in D Club frequently shuffling around the table.

And so we end this year with a position of third. While this is not the glory we all hoped and strove for, there have most certainly been many great things to take from this year. For example, from my perspective as Club Captain, I have seen many different types of characters emerge and develop from all year groups.

And finally, let me take this opportunity to give a well deserved shout out to the D Committee, consisting of: Dominic B, Freddy S, George D, Kelechi I and Max M with a special mention for Vice captain Max I and Secretary Sami W.

Up the D! ❚

Your D Club Captain, Lukas Klein Wassink

D Club Junior Football

D Club in jubilant spirits after climbing the table from bottom at Christmas to finish third by the end of the year

E CLUB

On the 1st September 2017, we were both brought onto the Pepys stage. What awaited us were the enigmaticallymasked, blue-clad Knight (a symbol of our valour) and Monk (a symbol of our devotion) – heralds from Our Lady of E. As a consequence of that morning’s initiation, we bleed the royal blue.

It was former Captain Toby Depel who famously despaired, ‘clubs are the opium of the people’, luring you in with lavish promises of what could be. And it may well be true that for many years the club competition has been a quixotic affair. However, captivated by visions of club system success, we set out boldly in September to jettison our love-affair with lower-half finishes for something more triumphant.

For those of us whose relationship with E exceeded that of apathy, commitment to the cause remained unerring.

Through sub-par motivational speeches on a Friday, this year’s campaign saw E club burst the shackles of years of under performance; E’s domination had begun. Club Debating, Club Fashion, Club Unihoc, Club Bridge, Club University Challenge, Club Knitting, Club Hot Wheels, Club Fidget Spinning. As the centuries-old hymn of E rang out across Big Side in the aftermath of victory at Club Football, the gravity of the club’s turn-around began to crystallise.

Nothing would have been possible without the support of the board behind us – Nic, Bev, Boko, Harry, Ansh and Mattie not only administered excellently but more often than not prevailed in sports events of which they lacked any kind of prior experience.

It would be remiss to not thank the club executives who have guided us to the pinnacle. Mr Taylor, whose official 5-year

plan finally bears fruit. Miss Cloete, who must be credited with the club’s reforms that have made today’s success feasible. Mr Warriner, for injecting such fanatical passion into our Friday meetings. Mr Stewart, whose strategic mastermind and acumen for the club system cannot be understated. ❚

Our Lady E

There was a club in ancient times Most noted for its gallantry; It wore a vest of noblest blue And E Club was its name.

E Club is my favourite club, E Club is the best club, E Club is my only club, And oh for my lady E Club.

Arthur Kenny & Will Shackleton

E Club Junior Unihoc

F CLUB

Sebastian Marsoner

With another year of enjoyable club competition and our last at SPS these immortal words (in spontaneous haiku form) have stuck with me as to me they embody the Olympic spirit which is the essence of club participation at St Paul’s. This to me is the SPS equivalent of Pierre de Coubertin’s (the father of the modern Olympic Games) words:

“The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.”

And I do believe, no I know, that F Club (and its every day more efficiently functioning committee) has very much fought well. However, in terms of points it has been yet another mediocre year for the club. Having been in 1st place at Christmas, to then drop down into the bottom half, and then reclaim our position in the top 4 in the summer term, this year was nothing if not a rollercoaster. Whilst we may not have won, like the entire committee assured Miss Grogan we would, it is safe to say that we are leaving it in as good a position as it has ever been.

To future pupils, I cannot recommend getting involved in house competitions highly enough as some of my most enjoyable moments at school have been competing in club events with friends.

I have grown up with the teachings of our club’s saviour, and after listening to the preachings about Frederick F for many Friday mornings, I have come to realise that he would be proud of how distinctly average we have become. ❚

Points don’t matter. I just want a functioning co-committee.

Miss Grogan

F Club Senior Unihoc

G CLUB

Lysander Kahane

This year marked the triumphant return of G Club to in-person meetings in our home, the Milton Studio. After years of separation from our brothers in the younger years, we were not sure what to expect. Would the passion that has defined us since our inception remain? Would we be able to honour our golden legacy? Would we, as the new G Club committee, be capable of invigorating the Fourth and Fifth formers who had no knowledge of our traditions, our customs, or our way of life?

Yes. G Club has returned with a golden flame of passion unrivalled across the club system. We are a family: a brotherhood of Gs big or small, athletic or artistic, united by a collective spirit. Our diversity is our strength and, much as we embrace the future challenges

we may face, we do this with the greatest reverence for our past. Perhaps in no way is this exemplified better in the efforts of Ramon Garcia Rodinas. Week after week, and without fail, Ramon has ended club meetings with rapturous applause and given us all the strength to fight for the badge. We all salute his service. But Ramon is not alone. The entire Club Committee has united in the name of G. Julius. Kieran, Vivek, and Mrinaank have been the arms and legs of this administration, creating a link between the committee and the year groups that was both personal and effective.

Thanks to their inspiring example, G has experienced almost too much success to mention this year. When flooding moved us to the dining hall, we

remained undefeated. Rain or shine, this club has proven its resilience to challenge and struggle and we will build for a better tomorrow. Our position in the current standings is not reflective of who we are, but the increased efforts of our enemies to undermine and sabotage us. Let them try. Our passion remains. In the five years since the arrival of the current Upper Eighths, this club has seen unprecedented success and we will leave with confidence in this legacy. ❚

H CLUB

Theo Warshaw and Will Hitchcock

Throughout this year, Blurton’s Burgundy Army have experienced a lot of ups and downs (mostly downs), leaving us longing for September and October when we were within touching distance from third place. But, although the past year may not have been H Club’s best performance in terms of points, it has been a show of mighty commitment to the cause. Some members of the club reminded the committee of the old glory days, with the younger years sometimes pulling double and triple shifts in events to bring home some points. Events like Club Athletics, Club Cross Country, and Club Fives showcased exactly what the future has in store for H: lots of points, and the potential to vie for top spot.

Meanwhile, the top two years were, oddly, the deadweight dragging the club down. No shows were less a weekly occurrence, and more a daily problem for the leaders of H to deal with; even

students with a proud family history in H Club were frequently absent when they were needed most. And, although the young guns could protect the veterans against their own weaknesses on occasion, they couldn’t always be there to pull through. Club Masterchef led to the production of an inedible monstrosity that was boldly called “a salad”; elsewhere, one of the strongest Club Football sides the school has ever seen ended up competing for 7th place. On occasion, we have felt robbed of victory: on a day when the whole committee was on form for Club Volleyball, the ceiling on the Sports Hall seemed to be impossible for the opposition to hit, contributing to a poor end-of-season position.

But it would be wrong to end this roundup on a low for a club with so much history. There may be a changing of the guard, but we will remain H Club. ‘H’ for hard, even if the game has gone soft. ❚

H Club Lower Eighth Touch Rugby

Club Masterchef

Shivan Arora

This year saw Club Masterchef reprise in possibly its grandest variant yet: a multi-round extravaganza, joint with a final showdown with SPGS.

bidding at the tap of a button! We also met some incredible people, including the head chef at SPGS, and his apprentice, who very kindly put up with us running around cluelessly in the kitchens, and constantly asking where things were.

Round 1 set contestants the challenge of creating a vegan dish, savoury or sweet, from scratch, and virtually submitting it. There was a huge variety of entries, including vegan miso ramen, confit Byaldi (from Ratatouille!), and delightful risottos among the finalists for each club. From here, one finalist from every club took part in Round 2, this time in person, with a live taste test.

Round 2 placed a focus on Zero Waste, in support of our local charity City Harvest, and asked us to use up ingredients that typically go to waste such as apples, bananas, carrots, bread, potatoes, bagged salad, herbs, and milk in the creation of our dishes. Once again, there was a range of incredible entries, ranging from roasted tomato and gruyère tart and soy caramel tomato tarte tatin, to banana bread with homemade ice cream and a veritable assortment of ganaches and tuiles! The top two entries were chosen, and we were invited to take part in the final showdown with SPGS.

In the Grand Final, each of us two finalists (Shivan from B Club and Niko from E Club) were paired with the corresponding winners from SPGS, and carefully planned what we would make. In addition to this, as we were doing this live in the kitchens at SPGS, we were given a tour of the whole kitchen. Here we got to see not only the massive variety of ingredients, but also the scale and technological excellence of the equipment, including massive steam ovens, or seemingly magical large cookers that would carry out our

For the final event itself, with each team having planned carefully (mostly) what they were going to make, we nervously made our way across the bridge towards SPGS, where we were greeted by the now more familiar steel of the kitchens. We donned our aprons, and prepared ourselves for the challenge that lay ahead. The next hour whisked us away (pun intended) in a whirlwind of chopping and sautéeing, as we meticulously slaved away at working on our creations.

Finally, our time ended, feeling as if only minutes had passed, not hours, and we carefully carried out our dishes towards the judges. Our team prepared Japanese Kaiseki, including an assortment of ‘chawanmushi’ (a savoury steamed custard), sea bass, and prawns, among other dishes, followed by a dessert of a pineapple and lime tart with

raspberry studded shortcrust pastry and hawaiian butter mochi. The other team made ginger and garlic salmon with a yoghurt and cheddar crust, green pea relish, mango purée and some assorted vegetables for a main course and chocolate dipped brandy snaps with spiced vanilla cream for dessert. The competition was stiff, and after many painstakingly long minutes of suspense, the judges pronounced their verdict: a draw, quite fitting given the variety and ambition of both sets of dishes!

Overall, this was an incredible and unique experience that I shall certainly not be forgetting any time soon! As always, the entire event could not have been carried out without the support and skill of all the teachers involved, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity provided. ❚

Societies SOCIETIES RUNNING

NEXT YEAR 22-23

AI SOC

ASTRONOMY CLUB

BIBLE STUDY GROUP

BIOLOGY JOURNAL DISCUSSION CLUB

BIOMEDSOC

BLACK AND WHITE

BRIDGE CLUB

CHEMISTRY PROBLEM SOLVING CLUB

CHESS CLUB

CHRISTIAN UNION

CLASSICAL SOCIETY

CODING PROJECTS SOCIETY

COMPSOC

COOKERY CLUB

CREATIVE WRITING

DEBATING SOCIETY

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS SOCIETY

ECO SOC

EDWARD THOMAS SOCIETY

ENGINEERING WORKSHOP

ENGLISH SOCIETY

ENSOC

EQUALITIES SOC

EQUILIBRIUM (Economics magazine)

EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT EYP

EUROSOC

F1SOC

FEM SOC

FOURTH FORM READING CLUB

FRENCH CLUB

FUTURESOC

GEOGRAPHY SOCIETY

GERMAN CLUBS

GERMAN THEATRE SOCIETY

GREENPOWER FORMULA 24+

HALLEY RESEARCH COMMUNITY

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

I-SOC (Islamic Society)

IMPSOC

ISAIAH BERLIN PHILOSOPHY SOCIETY

ITALIAN CLUB

ITALIAN CLUB

J-SOC (Jewish Society)

JOHN CHURCHILL SOCIETY

JOINT PHILOSOPHY SOCIETY

JUNIOR CHEMISTRY PROJECTS CLUB

JUNIOR HISTORY SOCIETY

JUNIOR PASK SOCIETY

JUNIOR PHILOSOPHY SOCIETY

JUNIOR PLAYREADING SOCIETY

JUNIOR POLITICS AND HISTORY SOCIETY

LAW SOCIETY

MAGENTA (Creatives magazine)

MATHEMATICS SOCIETY

MATHS PROBLEM SOLVING

METRO

MODEL UNITED NATIONS

MUSIC SOC

MUSIC TECH CLUB

PAINT SOC

PANDAEMONIUM & AREO

PASK SOCIETY (Biology projects)

PAUL NASH SOCIETY

PAUL’S PIZZA

PEGASUS: JUNIOR CLASSICS SOCIETY

PHOTOSHOP CLUB

POLECON

POLEMIC (Humanities magazine)

POTSOC

PRESTIGE

PRIDE SOC (LGBT+)

PSYCHSOC

QUIZZING SOC

REACH SOC

ROBOTICS OLYMPIAD

ROCK SOC

SCIENCE & SOCIETY (STEM Blog)

SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY SOCIETY

SENIOR CHEMISTRY PROJECTS CLUB

SPANISH CLUB

SPECTRUM (LGBT+)

SPS FILM

SPS SPACE

START IT SOCIETY (Entrepreneurship and Business)

STOCK & CRYPTO SOC

TABLE TOP GAMING SOCIETY

TEAM FIREFLY

THEATRE FX

VECTOR (STEM Magazine)

WARHAMMER SOCIETY

BRIDGE

Louis Kirkpatrick

“Bridge over troubled lockdowns”

Bridge Club has faced many challenges over the last two years, struggling under the weight of heavy COVID lockdown restrictions within school. It was especially hard hit as it is, by its nature, a social sport around a small, tightly-packed table. During the 2020-2021 lockdowns, cross-year bridge was completely suspended in school and the club retreated to a localised Lower Eighth club and games online through apps like Bridgebase and RealBridge. Despite this, however, as the world started to open up at the end of 2021 and in 2022, the Bridge club flourished. We have grown to a size which I have never seen in my five years at the school. There is a whole community of young players who are incredibly keen to play, and the room is always abuzz during Friday lunch break where we are regularly able to run four or five tables simultaneously. We compete in an online school league and we have also returned to running pupil-staff matches after school. My greatest challenge as president has been to meet the demand for more Bridge with supply. To paraphrase Herbert Hoover – I have no fears for the future of our club. It is bright with hope. ❚

JOURNAL CLUB

Oliver Milroy-Goulding

If you want to discuss cutting edge research papers in any biological field, you should come to Journal Club. Talking about everything from killing cancer cells to geckos, this is an intellectually demanding society that pushes keen biologists to their limits.

Ynon Weiss recently presented a paper on an intriguing potential new method of cancer treatment. By altering the expression of genes which remove iron from the cells, and treating the cells with iron nanoparticles, the iron content accumulates in the cancer cells, resulting in a form of cell death known as ferroptosis. The treatment ingeniously uses a promoter (the sequence of DNA just upstream of a gene needed in order to

express it) which would only be ‘switched on’ in cancer cells, and therefore the treatment has little effect on normal cells, while still killing the cancer cells.

Some interesting questions were asked of Ynon, such as what were the clinical applications of such a procedure and how effective the treatment was actually found to be, and it’s this kind of format that provides an excellent experience of what it is to study science at university and beyond, as well as being truly enjoyable. ❚

BIOMEDSOC

Leo Wen and Oliver Milroy-Goulding

CHRISTIAN UNION

Jack Davies

Finally, after two years of virtual talks, BioMedSoc once again hosted talks in Biology Lab 1. Stepping back into the room after so long felt almost surreal: the buzz of excited chatter, the Upper Eighths sitting in the corner huddled together, and the odd Fifth former looking lost. This year, we had an amazing range of speakers, ranging from the consultant neurogastroenterologist Dr Natalia ZarateLopez to Old Pauline Dr Toby Call, the founder of Chronomics Biotech company and many others.

One such talk this year was on liver transplantation and its ethics by Dr Ameet Dhar. He talked about how transplants are an option of last resort, and how liver transplants in particular are mostly preventable. Record consumption of alcohol and rates of type 2 diabetes have increased the number of livers that need replacing, but the supply to meet them is lacking. Only 700 livers are transplanted a year in the

UK, but 3000 people die of liver disease. Prioritisation, therefore, needs to occur for the waiting list, leaving doctors and multi-disciplinary teams to make the hard choices about who deserves to live. The overarching theme in choosing recipients is ensuring that the benefits of the transplant outweigh the risks. Patient quality of life is paramount, rather than quantity, so sometimes making the choice not to transplant is the right one. The same logic is behind Do Not Resuscitate orders. Lowering the risks is also key to how doctors decide. Drinking alcohol within 3 months results in instant disqualification, while more relative risk factors, such as age and obesity, are taken into account and patients are required to get into shape in order to increase their survival rate. For someone whose entire career revolves around saving people, having to choose between who to save is impossible, but for transplant specialists such as Dr Dhar these decisions need to be made every day. ❚

What constitutes a faith? At the Christian Union, we think we’ve found a major component of it: fellowship. Throughout the year, the corridor outside the chapel has been thronged with boys, ready to hear a talk from either a returning Old Pauline or another fascinating external speaker. This sense of community extended even into the holidays, with the successful returns in the aftermath of covid of both the Summer and Easter Houseparties: ten and seven day long residential trips on which a great deal of football, hockey and bin cricket is played; four meals a day are provided and eaten; and spiritual discussion is held. Not only did the CU grow in fellowship throughout this year, but also in faith, as some excellent talks were delivered, especially by Rob Stanier, who discussed how to pray, making his point particularly memorable by leading the room in a series of stretches to illustrate the benefits of a consistent prayer life. Special thanks must go to Rev. Knox and the OP Officers, whose dedication allowed us to continue our more than hundred year old tradition of welcome and fellowship. ❚

CHESS CLUB

Teddy Onslow

Thankfully, this year, chess club was able to return in person, led by Grandmaster John Emms who has revitalised over-the-board chess at St Paul’s. It has been gratifying to see so many chess players in one room once again huddled around a board.

St Paul’s has continued to thrive in inter-school tournaments this year. We won two inter-school team battle competitions, beating 34 of some of the strongest chess schools in the country. The A-team also participated in the National Schools Chess Championships, winning the regional qualifier with all 10 of the St Paul’s team ranked in the top 10 overall. The team continued to defeat Sir Thomas Rich School 9.5-2.5 in the regional quarterfinal, Latymer Upper School 10-2 in the semi-final and Redborne School 3-3 in the final (winning by way of the board-count rule). The A-team will compete in the National final against 19 other qualifying schools later this year.

The St Paul’s chess team has also seen success in the National Problem Solving Competition, where competitors must find unique ways of checkmating in a specified number of moves. The team scored 60/60 in the first two rounds and will compete in the final later this year. Here is a problem from one of the rounds: white must find a move to force a checkmate on the next move.

We thank Dr Shravat for organising and supervising all of our out of school events and providing the St Paul’s community with a variety of opportunities to get stuck into school chess once again. Thank you to GM John Emms for teaching chess club; we are extremely fortunate to have such a strong player guide our chess. ❚

CHEMISTRY PROBLEM SOLVING CLUB

BCBM

The weekly chemistry problem-solving club had its inaugural session in the Spring term this year and has been going strong ever since. Around twenty Lower Eighth formers have been finding their way through some fiendishly challenging Cambridge Chemistry Challenge problems, often working in threes and fours to tackle some of the more difficult parts of the questions. The CCC papers always draw from chemistry in the news, chemistry in biological systems, or chemistry in technology. So far, the students have looked at questions about the horsemeat scandal, the James Webb telescope, tetraoxygen in sports drinks, and the chemistry of dead vultures, to name just a few examples.

“What I enjoy most about chemistry problem solving club is how it brings other STEM subjects into chemistry. For example, recently we derived an expression for the Avogadro constant. This incorporated maths and was something I really enjoyed. Moreover, the sessions push you to apply your knowledge of chemistry to off-specification situations, which is challenging, but satisfying.”

Zak Farazi

The club will continue into the Upper Eighth and, as it does, we will start to look at even more challenging Olympiad and University-level problems. Let’s hope the students are ready for the challenge! ❚

Solution: Nd7

CLASSICAL AND ISAIAH BERLIN SOCIETIES

Hari Collins and Jack Davies

Hari

Over four weeks, Dr Duits made an enthusiastic and detailed argument that no one called Jesus, claiming to be or anointed by his followers as the Son of God, existed in first-century Palestine, and I must say I was completely convinced. The accumulation of evidence that the Jesus story was created out of pre-existing Middle Eastern mythology, or in order to fulfil aspects of Jewish prophecy concerning the Messiah, was eventually overwhelming. Thus the Gospel of Mark was, Dr Duits showed, carefully patterned to give it a more interesting literary structure, and to create symbolic parallelisms within the story which could not be expected in account of a real life. The story of the resurrection was also patently a fabrication, given its similarity to many other, obviously fictional, Near

Eastern religious myths. Furthermore, the evidence of Tacitus, Seutonius and Josephus as to the existence of Jesus could be discounted; their accounts were written long after the putative life of Jesus, and the name was probably derived from Christian communities rather than independent sources of evidence. In summary, there is no real evidence that Jesus Christ was a historical person, and plenty (albeit mostly circumstantial) to believe that he did not.

Jack

Despite what Hari (and some in the philosophy department) might have you believe, Jesus almost certainly did exist as a historical figure. Although the Gospels may indeed be carefully patenered, such a style of writing is to be expected in a religious text presenting itself as the fulfilment

of historic prophecies and is also typical for other, more explicitly historical, texts of the time. The suggestion that the narrative of Jesus is derivative from other so-called ‘dying-rising gods’ can be mostly dismissed on the grounds that there does not, in fact, appear to be any such thing as a ‘dying-rising god’. In addition, the Classical sources are more reliable than suggested by Hari, as Tacitus and Suetonius are both writing in traditions so separate from the Christian one that they can be viewed as independent colaboratory evidence. Despite the arguments presented here, the seminars were a wonderful opportunity to seriously investigate one of the key debates of history, and were run admirably well by Miss Waterfield and Dr Duits, who clearly outlined the main arguments whilst enabling us to reach our own conclusions. ❚

Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of its author, or indeed anyone.

CREATIVE WRITING SOCIETY

Elijah Patterson

Creative Writing Society has had a lot of creative juices flowing this year, covering a whole range of writing forms: from scripts and screenplays, to poetry and short stories. Each week we meet to discuss our creative pursuits: our masterpieces as well as our failures (mainly the latter).

Sometimes we are sent away with a theme for the week, and then return with a piece of writing related to the theme; the most recent of these, in line with Mental Health Week, was the theme of loneliness, where Nabil Jinadu wrote a fantastic, abstract 100 word short story, and Yifei Wang wrote a poignant poem called ‘She Spoke In Poetry’, which told a moving story about autism, and I wrote nothing. We have also looked at peoples’ longer projects for feedback, such as the beginnings of Nabil’s fantasy adventure story ‘World Stage: The Rise of Carolus’, and my own, heavily fragmented, novella ‘The Unicorn Hearse’. I particularly appreciated the feedback on my script ‘The Hog’, that helped me improve the play before I put it on at the school, which has been a very exciting process, and hopefully the first of many. We were also graced with the visit of playwright Tonderai Munyevu, who got us to experiment in storytelling both through both performance and writing. We learnt invaluable lessons about his writing processes and were inspired by his successes.

All in all, we’ve had a very creative year, and what we sometimes lack in quality, we make up for in quantity. And at the end of the day, hopefully, we have all made tremendous improvements in our writing abilities! ❚

DEBATING

Arth Kochhar and Lucas Cadman

This year Debating Society emerged from COVID with a strong desire to compete and develop our skills both in and out of school. We have held regular debates on key issues with a particular highlight being our debate on whether President Biden was right to withdraw from Afghanistan; this drew huge crowds. Throughout the year the old guard were replenished by a new generation of Fifth Form debaters who developed their skills dramatically. It was particularly impressive to see how they became more confident in their public speaking, learning to fill multiple 5-minute speeches on a motion with well-developed arguments. This was not an easy feat, and we hope they feel proud with how they progressed and are hungry to become better and take part in competitions.

We also saw great success outside of school with strong performances at LSE, Imperial, Harrow, and Oxford Schools debating, as well as junior and

senior competitions with Debating For Everyone and Mace. We had one team qualify for the Oxford Schools finals for the first time in years. Sadly, Casper Robertson had to drop out from the finals due to illness, so at the last minute Arth Kochhar stepped in and went with Lucas Cadman to compete. After getting up early for the 6:50 am train to Oxford for four rounds of gruelling debating we achieved St Paul’s best result in six years. It was also our first competition in person since January 2020. Lucas, who only started debating in September, was ranked the highest ranked novice in the competition.

Overall, this year was excellent for Debating Society as we fostered the next generation of top SPS debaters alongside great performances. We are looking forward to next year’s debating as an opportunity to do even better. ❚

ITALIAN SOCIETY: LA MAFIA IN SICILIA

James Sahota

EUROSOC

Varun Vashisht

Enter Eurosoc: SPS’s very own language society rose from the depths of a COVID-suppressed world, and brought joy and inspiration to so many of the school’s linguists. From learning about Kafka with Mr Perrin, talking about how linguistics influences the financial world with an Old Pauline, to going through a journey of (Levi’s life) with Mr Tofts, EuroSoc has hosted a great number of different speakers, who have explored the diverse ways that language, culture and economics are vastly intertwined. As a society whose ambition is to grow a community more aware of different cultures, languages, and traditions, we believe that this year has proved to be one of the most intellectually exciting of them all.

In questo quadrimestre, nella società d’Italiano, noi abbiamo parlato di molti diversi argomenti e della cultura Italiana, soprattutto della Mafia in Sicilia. Negli ultimi incontri della società abbiamo guardato il film “La mafia uccide solo d’estate” e abbiamo parlato di come gli eventi che sono successi nel film sono accaduti realmente a Palermo fra il 1980 e il 1992. Per esempio, il Maxi Processo che era un processo penale contro la mafia siciliana che ha avuto luogo a Palermo e si è svolto in un palazzo di giustizia in stile bunker appositamente costruito all’interno delle mura del carcere dell’Ucciardone. I due giudici

sono stati uccisi dalla mafia, però sono riusciti ad arrivare al loro scopo di punire la mafia per i suoi crimini e saranno sempre ricordati da tutta l’Italia per il loro servizio e sacrificio.

Nell’ultimo incontro della società abbiamo fatto e mangiato dei cannoli siciliani molto buoni. Per finire questo articolo l’unica cosa che posso dire è che dovete assolutamente venire nell’aula 106 all’1:20 di martedì per imparare tutto sulla cultura italiana e anche per mangiare dei cibi strepitosi che rilasciano un tripudio di sapori. ❚

One of the most popular weeks has proved to be the game week, bringing pupils from all different years and staff with different expertise together to learn about interesting words, guess the country from which certain pieces of architecture come, and, of course, speaking different languages while playing Connect4! Languages have a lot to offer in the world of literature, finance, and even medicine, and over the past year, EuroSoc is proud that it has shown the significance of learning languages to the school community. ❚

Giovanni Falcone e Paolo Borsellino

FEMSOC

Alex Henke

When my sister suggested that I start a Feminist Society back in 2020, I laughed nervously and said that I didn’t have time. But the real reason I didn’t commit was that I was scared of social ridicule. Being a feminist was something that I would proudly say to my family, but mumble to my friends.

Everyone’s Invited changed everything. For the first time, I heard first-hand accounts of misogyny endemic in society and knew I had to do something: I couldn’t look my sisters in the eye. I rounded up the first four members of what would become the committee, spoke to Miss Cloete, and FemSoc was born.

Owing to Miss Cloete and Mr Anthony’s diligence, we formalised the society as one part of the Equality Group and had our first meeting in September, where we invited the High Master to speak on

her experiences as a working mother. Coming out of the meeting, I felt inspired. This group of open-minded, accepting individuals discussing gender issues was something I had never experienced before. Since then, we’ve put on tri-weekly meetings on a range of topics such as Feminism in Literature, the Texas Abortion Bill, and the Gender Pay Gap. We also supported themed days and weeks around school: notably for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls in November as well International Women’s Day in March. I tried out my moderating skills at joint meetings with SPGS on the topics of porn and raunch culture, as well as gender bias in sports and education. Throughout the year the committee and the teachers helping us have been fantastic in fulfilling our vision for the society, and I firmly believe the school community has improved in its approach.

But even in my very last days as a St Paul’s student, I’ve unfortunately been reminded of the importance of this society both for the future of the school and for society. There are people the world over who are sadly still entrenched in their ignorance and there are also those who are struggling to get past social insecurities – not knowing how to hold their friends accountable or to stop being a bystander. But this speaks to the importance of FemSoc and keeping the conversation alive. Looking at how FemSoc has grown in the last year, I’m sure that our community can lead by example and continue to evolve into an entirely accepting community where we hold ourselves, and each other, accountable and act as good role models for our younger peers. ❚

HALLEY SOCIETY

Nick Land

JEWISH ASSEMBLY

Jacob Leigh

This year was an exciting time for Halley Society as in-school collaborative research could begin again. We have had teams from across the year groups researching topics such as the structure of dragonfly wings, the properties of superalloys, and the chemical structures behind odours and smells. This work is primarily done using the School’s research-grade Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which can magnify up to thirty thousand times, allowing one to see extremely fine details of the structure of any sample.

We have also had numerous external speakers discussing topics such as optoelectronic olfaction (a computerised nose), neutrino oscillations, and the standard model of physics, and were honoured to have former OP Professor Haldane share with us his inspiring journey to a Physics Nobel Prize. A highlight was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science which our society celebrated for the first time and in which we included the science societies at SPGS. We were fortunate to welcome Professor Sharon Peacock, a Cambridge Microbiologist whose work with the UK government was crucial in sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 Virus. Dubbed the world’s top COVIDvariant hunter, she gave a fascinating presentation about her work fighting the virus followed by an interview about the challenges she has faced as a woman in a male-dominated field throughout her education and career. All of our talks were shared via zoom with our partner schools in line with the school’s commitment to our wider community. ❚

Assemblies have been on a weekly basis with a solid core of pupils in the Fourth and Fifth form attending every week, full of exuberance and interest. The year kicked off with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Joshua Brecker spoke about Jews and Sports, Jacob Leigh on The Dreyfus Affair, Louis Ezra on the Munich Olympics Terror Attacks, and Joe Katzenellenbogen about Lucian Freud. Ms Mervis spoke on Benjamin Disraeli and Yiddish, and Dr Newton on Jews in the Navy and Chassidim.

It has been great to see younger boys leading assemblies. Zachary Joseph and Zach Tydeman in Fifth Form gave an insight into the influence of Jews in Hollywood. Misha Zubarev in Fourth Form gave a thought-provoking talk about Jews in his native Ukraine. For someone so young to talk about an issue so personal was inspiring.

We commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day on the 27th January, remembering the 6 million Jews who were victims of Nazi persecution. We created a video to share experiences of relatives during the Holocaust, as well as explaining the history behind it and why we remember it. The video, watched by the whole of the senior school, was personal and moving.

Gideon Falter OP gave a talk as part of the Topical Tuesday series on his work as Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, explaining his role in helping to target casual antisemitism and the steps needed to help eradicate it from our society: it was inspiring to hear his ideas. ❚

GEOGSOC

GeogSoc team

GeogSoc has hosted a range of talks which explored the ins and outs of contemporary geopolitics.

One of these was a riveting talk on the geopolitics of the Nile, a river that acts as a life-giver to the 11 countries it passes through – especially Egypt, which relies almost entirely upon it for its water. With the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the stretch of the Nile through Ethiopia, Egypt will certainly lack supply downstream as it is hoarded in Ethiopia;

nevertheless, they are powerless to stop this piece of innovation that is set to bring electricity to millions of Ethiopia’s citizens.

Another issue discussed was the fallout from the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer. ‘Afghanistan: The Graveyard of Empires’ was an illuminating presentation by Nat Dembo Shah in the wake of the Taliban retaking Afghanistan, detailing the two main factors that make Afghanistan such a difficult territory to conquer. On the

topic of invasions, we also looked at the knock-on impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially on migration. Migration is a theme of both the GCSE and A2 curriculum, so it was really fascinating to go beyond the specification and delve a little deeper into such a current example.

Other standout talks this past year included ‘Snowball and Hothouse Earth: Paleoclimate Changes and What We Can Learn From Them’, a captivating presentation by Kaan Akyol on the

climate dangers facing our fragile planet and the action we can take to prevent a climate catastrophe, as well as an insight into ‘The incredible lives of LGBTQ+ explorers’, a talk that focused on six members of the LGBTQ+ community who have completed incredible geographical feats. A separate highlight was Mr Poynter’s talk on the geography of surfing. Who knew that so many hours of research and poring over OS maps was necessary to find the geographically perfect location to surf?

If the relatively intellectual appearance of these talks doesn’t float your boat, don’t worry, because there is something for everyone at GeogSoc. This year, we have hosted several interactive events, such as quizzes, Geoguesser, and other geography games. The best attended was The Trading Game, a simulation that aims to demonstrate the unfair nature of global allocation of resources, and the disadvantages that this puts some countries at when they try to develop. ❚

HUMBOLDT BLOG

Nat Dembo Shah

Below is an excerpt from GeogSoc’s publication, the Humboldt Blog, entitled ‘Making Carbon Capture Cost-Effective’.

A group of start up companies have begun to convert captured carbon into sellable products, thus making the process more cost effective. The goods include vodka, diamonds, sports wear, carbon neutral jet fuel, and even food.

One of the major companies involved, Twelve, has received $57 million in funding. It has managed to conduct this conversion process using water, renewable electricity, and an electrolyser, without emitting the normally associated harmful gases. The electrolyser initially converts the carbon dioxide in the air into synthesis gas, a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, a product from which many different uses can be created. In tandem with the US air force, Twelve has found a way to turn the synthesis gas into the world’s first carbon neutral, fossil-free jet fuel, and is also working with Mercedes-Benz on making car interiors. These products would normally be derived from the fractional distillation of crude oil, therefore removing the need to drill for this finite resource.

However, this sector is still emerging. It has much potential; a study by the University of Michigan estimates that the carbon capture sector has the potential to reduce worldwide carbon emissions by over 10% and there are 350 start ups in the sector, attracting a combined total of $550 million in investment. ❚

JUNIOR HISTORY SOCIETY

Every Monday afternoon, a group of Paulines, guided by Ms Milanova, unravel the great wonders of history. Be it a discussion on France’s (rather violent) national anthem or a talk on Ethiopia, there is always something new to be discovered: throughout the year, we have journeyed into every corner of the world, travelled from the prehistoric to the postmodern, and explored all aspects of history.

More recently Ms Milanova has been giving talks on events that happened in or around the Cold War, often at the request of pupils. Many presentations were also given by pupils, such as one by Aidan Wong on the Republican Era in China. Starting in 1912 with the fall of the Qing Empire, it was plagued by warlordism, civil war, and war with the Japanese, ultimately ending in 1949 after the Chinese Civil War and the proclamation of the PRC. Although not generally taught at SPS, this period is extremely important in understanding how China became the way it is and how it transitioned from an empire to a communist state. From a cultural point of view, this brief period of freedom and republicanism also allowed culture, art, and international trade to thrive like never before.

Indeed, culture was a theme throughout many of our talks and discussions. We investigated various aspects of cultural history from movies to the Olympics: one which sparked particular interest was national anthems. The vast range of (often rather strange) anthems were not only amusing and interesting but also revealed a lot about different countries’ values, aspirations, and what they were proud of; many of these also expressed the beauty of their country’s landscapes and landmarks. ❚

Aidan Wong and Angus Roberts

THE ST PAUL’S HISTORY REVIEW

The St Paul’s History Review is a new venture from the History department – a student-published magazine that provides a forum for independent historical writing at St Paul’s.

This year’s theme was cultural history. Articles not only explored fascinating aspects of everyday cultural history, such as music, food and theatre, but also grappled with more contentious questions, such as the origins of enduring cultural splits in reunified Germany and a consideration of the play that sparked the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The theme of cultural history allowed for discussion of abstract concepts such as the idea of nationhood and nationalism. The analysis in the articles even extended to the theoretical underpinnings of historical thought, with discussions of the Marxist view of history and Max Weber’s rejection of historical materialism. All of the articles in the magazine contribute in an important way to our understanding of cultural history as a field of study. Taken collectively, they showcase Pauline scholarship at its finest. The successful launch of this new publication was due in large part to the efforts of the editorial team – Nicholas Martin, Nathan Anton, Noah Leach, Edward Dawson and Harry Mugisha. ❚

PRIDE SOC

Felix O’Brien

In his military treatise The Art of War, Sun Tzu stated that ‘in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.’ Well, this has certainly been a mildly chaotic year thus far, but with the relaxing of COVID restrictions has come the ability to fill out DR.2 for PrideSoc on Thursdays to hear talks from students, teachers, and outside-speakers alike. Events have ranged from a talk by Teddy Onslow and Thomas Halle on the usefulness of labels, to a talk on the history of the pride flag by Miss Douglass, to an evening in discussion with the Reverend Richard Coles himself – PrideSoc has certainly made the most of its tri-weekly slots this year. We also have definitely enjoyed the opportunity presented in our new role as a member of the Equality Societies group. To all involved, I think that this engagement has helped highlight the importance of intersectionality at St Paul’s – an

intersectionality developed during LGBTQ+ History Week, during which a record twelve talks were held by ten other societies in collaboration with PrideSoc. These talks covered a lot of ground, from LGBTQ+ inclusivity in Formula 1, to a screening of visionary filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s Elisa & Marcela. We’d like to thank all those involved in helping put on such a great range of talks so far this year. ❚

REACH SOC

Harishan Ganeshan

Last year’s BAME Society made a return as the new Race, Ethnicity And Cultural Heritage Society (REACH), with a name highlighting the importance of all forms of diversity to be recognised.

With the death of George Floyd and the reignition of the BLM movement fresh in the minds of all, talks were given by students regarding today’s most serious and prominent racial issues and movements, covering topics from the extent to which civil rights protests had achieved true change in society, to the impact that famous black figures have made to help move society forward, allowing more people of colour to take part in what was previously thought inaccessible to them. Each talk has been followed by student-led discussions on the topic, sharing individual opinions and insights. A highlight of the year was historian and writer David Olusoga OBE and his discourse of Black British history. Alongside the topic of BLM, other topics discussed include the impact of climate change on ethnic minorities. ❚

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY SOCIETY

Aidan Wong and Angus Roberts

Among a multitude of discussions of Star Wars and recent films, Science Fiction and Fantasy Society was last term treated to a talk by Charlie Shaw on the music of the loosely-historical pirate-themed video game Sea of Thieves.

The topic itself drew many new audience members, but nothing was compromised for their sake: what followed was a deep and insightful tour through what was more or less proven to be a work of art. From developer and composer interviews, to the use of audio throughout the game to different effects, we learned how music can be thoughtfully applied to enhance an interactive experience.

Most simply: music could accentuate encounters and plot points, with stings and short melodies. This becomes

important when notable areas and larger encounters are given themes, which the player will quickly learn to recognize. From there, these themes are interwoven with new music to signify connections between them, which allows the game to subtly hint at story elements, which the player may or may not pick up on. Music is also a core multiplayer mechanic with multiple instruments available to the player. These can be used with other players in multiplayer, each to play their own part in one of many songs.

Overall, this was a comprehensive insight into an often-unappreciated area of fantasy gaming, showcasing the society’s interest in a wide range of topics and different media as well as more “traditional” SFF fare! ❚

The aim of EcoSoc continues to be to translate global environmental challenges into school-based initiatives through our promotional posters, weekly blog, and interactive events. As the problems of climate change become more pronounced each year, we believe that it has become even more important for students like ourselves to be aware of the adjustments we can make to our daily lives, as well as what the school as a whole entity can do.

This year, positions on the EcoSoc committee were opened to all yeargroups, allowing keen students to present ideas on the environmental footprint of the school. The weekly blogs have counterbalanced the sidelining of environmental news in the media, with enticing articles on such topics as the ‘Carbon Footprint of Food Waste’, ‘What are the COP conferences and what have they achieved?’, and ‘Sustainability in Art’.

EcoSoc has hosted open and intuitive talks and activities every fortnight. We have been incredibly fortunate to have heard from inspirational speakers such as: Green Party peer Natalie Bennett; founder of ‘Action for Justice’ Richard Lord; founder of sustainable fashion brand ‘EcoAlf’ Javier Goyeneche; and many others.

Furthermore, we have continuously enjoyed the impressive speeches hosted by our own peers on subjects such as: ‘Ocean Pollution’, ‘The Imbalanced Effects of Climate Change’, and ‘Strategies for a Natural Cooling Effect’. ❚

PAINT SOC

After a successful trial run during the pandemic, Paint Soc was launched this year to give pupils the opportunity to paint at lunchtime.

Any pupil awash with artistic energy, drawn to art, or simply fancying a brush with creativity was invited to join. The society was open to all year groups and all levels of skill: from total beginners to A Level art students.

From the start, we had a strong showing from Fifth Form pupils. Regulars such as Henry Smith, Thomas Hill, Aidan Malhotra, and Aarush Ranjan helped to create a convivial yet focused

atmosphere. Christian Bulmer has also been a valued presence. Deciding to learn from the best, we attempted a Turner mountainscape, details from Nash’s Menin Road, and David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash amongst others. The group also learned a lot from veteran Director of Art Mr Grant’s tuition.

As we entered the Summer Term, the society moved outdoors and invited pupils to make the most of our Thamesside location and paint the river. All in all, this was a successful first year for a society that will hopefully go from strength to strength. ❚

PSYCHOLOGY SOCIETY

Michael Carney

Psychology is an integral part of education, yet it often flies under the radar at St Paul’s. The goal of PsychSoc has been to showcase the interesting and exciting elements of psychology, as well as to provide a useful insight into a potential future career in this field. Despite only starting at the end of the spring term, we have had talks about our unconscious decisionmaking and how it affects our implicit biases and consumer choices, psychopathy and sociopathy, depictions of memory disorders in science fiction, and the effects of language on how we think. Mr Smith, who used to teach a general studies course on psychology, gave a brilliant talk that explored many areas of psychology such as illusions and the failings of our memory and imagery. He offered a mind map of books that explore behavioural economics, clinical psychology, personal motivation and more, such as Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow. We are also carrying out an experiment within the school that will aim to prove a psychological phenomenon: the bandwagon effect.

Moving forward, we are hoping to go on a day trip to a museum of psychology and continue learning about everything from mental health awareness to evolutionary psychology and what to expect from further education and a career in Psychology. ❚

PEGASUS

Sam Christie and Shekhu Pillai

Recently, we have travelled back in time to the end of the siege of Troy in the form of a game called Dungeons and Dragons. But, you may be asking, why not simply attend DnD society at lunchtimes instead? Well, our project has been to make it as accurate as possible to the time, and in doing so having modified the accepted game rules to suit our Escape From Troy. However, before we had even set out on this glorious journey, we braved our way through weeks of rigorous planning to achieve the highest possible level of immersion: reading extracts of Virgil’s Aeneid; conducting research into the Trojans; and sourcing maps of the area around Troy.

With Mr Carter as DM, we began the frightening flight to freedom in an abandoned barracks. From here we wandered the streets until we came across two Greek soldiers. With no weapons ourselves save a bent rusty sword, we used the environment to our advantage, pulling a run-down balcony on top of them. Next we came across an old, slimy fountain, with a body of Trojan stuffed down the pipe. Naturally we gave the Trojan a ceremonial burial, with the help of the priest, Orawnatos, and also found a small effigy of Artemis, to which we sacrificed a rat. In response, a partridge, the holy bird of Artemis, led us down a side alley. A few members of our party attempted to attack the bird, but, failing, only caused a small amount of divine disdain in the form of thunder and lightning, and the partridge led us to the palace. There were the living chambers of Hector and his wife Andromache, with the crib of their son Astyanax. Meanwhile, the seer of our party had gone into a trance. From this, and a letter discovered by yours truly, we discovered that the towers of the battlements could be easily knocked down. Accordingly we headed up the stairs to the battlements, looking over the violated city of Troy and the ongoing fighting. Suddenly, we were taken aback by the appearance of two ladders at the brink of the narrow walkway: Greeks incoming! After all our javelins missed, we were forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Orawnatos heroically pushed one of the pair clean off the battlements to his grisly death below. Seeing his comrade’s death, the second Greek attacked ferociously. As we were unable to overpower him, Strudelos of our party used a burlap sack he had collected earlier to blind the attacker, and while he held down the struggling Greek we shoved him to the same fate as his companion. And thus, with the knowledge of the towers’ instability, and our newfound weapons and armour, we valiantly strode to aid our Trojan friends under the tower.

Wish us luck, and perhaps we might see you for the next instalment! ❚

PAUL’S PIZZA

Benedict Harrison

Philippians 4.13

Paul’s Pizza consists of two things: eating pizza and chatting. Oh wait! Paul’s Pizza consists of three things: eating pizza, chatting AND the Bible. Each Monday afternoon, the fun and fellowship which all of us enjoy at Paul’s Pizza sets us up perfectly for the week – and a week without Paul’s Pizza truly does not feel like much of a week at all.

However, I must mention a few caveats about Paul’s Pizza. Actually just one caveat… Benedict Harrison. Benny’s frequent lack of organisation has caused a pall to fall over the troops as he often turns up 30 minutes after 4.15pm with

the pizzas. While he blames this on being a socialite, unable to get out of conversations (particularly with teachers) before 4pm, the group know this can be blamed on both his love of Common Room pool.

Now, onto the best bits! From Elijah’s stage smile to Dr Baxter’s stories about his upbringing and random people, Paul’s Pizza has the most bizarre things to offer out of all the St Paul’s societies. James’ hatred of the game of Fives and Dr Baxter’s love of Mushroom and Ham Pizza have all been exposed to the world, and hopefully soon the group can understand the wonderful mind of Elijah Patterson. For me, the best thing has been the fellowship. Discussion about prayer and Bible passages but also the classic game of ‘Bible Races’ have all

been mainstays. Having a space to discuss problems, laugh, and share with one another, and being able to rely upon each other for support, are the greatest things about Paul’s Pizza. I have truly loved my time as a part of the group and hope Dr. Baxter can continue to grow it. So here’s to Reuben Jones, James Williams, Elijah Patterson, Luca Tresigne, and Dr. Baxter – the mainstays of the group – and also to Jack Davies, Joachim Sciamma, Seb Jones, and Sam Radcliffe who have all enjoyed cameos this year. This is a true hidden gem and I hope pupils reading this can go give it a go and see how much joy it can bring. ❚

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

‘Stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.’

Corinthians 16.13

AFRICAN CARIBBEAN SOCIETY

1. The Signing of the ACS Charter. Signed by the 12 Inaugural members of ACS (from SPS and SPGS), the charter declares what values and beliefs ACS stands for. Its entrance into the archives in the Library confirmed the founding of the society, the first of its kind at St Paul’s.

2. The “Taking the Knee” Workshop in partnership with Brentford FC. In the spring term ACS partnered with the football department to host a “taking the knee” workshop, featuring Brentford club ambassador Marcus Gayle and BBC young reporter of the year Salma Mahamud, in a number of talks, focused primarily on SPJ with the objective of raising awareness about racism and discrimination in sports. ACS members and representatives of the 1st XI then gave assemblies to all year groups in the senior school, detailing the general contents and messages of the talk.

3. ACS trip. In March, the SPS and SPGS branches of ACS went to see the “Life Between Islands” exhibition at the Tate Britain. There we enjoyed a talk from the artist Blue Curry whose work was featured in the exhibition, who gave us useful insight into his work which focused on the tourist fixation of the “exotic” nature of the Caribbean, rather than seeing it as a real place where people live and have their own culture.

Our aims for the society next year are: a) to expand the society’s membership especially in the younger year groups; b) to run multiple events during black history month; and c) to take a trip to Trinidad and Tobago during carnival season. ❚

Key highlights for us this year include: Abracadabra! After a two-year hiatus, Prestige, the school’s Magic Society, has reappeared and returned to action this academic year. With the COVID-19 pandemic receding and a relaxation of restrictions, it has been a source of great satisfaction to be able to get back to our regular meetings on Thursday lunchtimes to practise the art of prestidigitation. Fourth Formers Alex Barea and Sam Christie have been enthusiastic regulars, and I for one have picked up a great deal of new material from them. Our practice has involved a variety of routines, being firmly centred on card magic: highlights have included new material such as ‘The Four Appearing Aces’, ‘Pick a Card, Any Card’, and ‘Any Card at Any Number’, but also classic favourites such as ‘The Ambitious Card’, ‘Three Card Monte’, and ‘This, That, and the Other’. Regrettably we have not managed to stage any shows this academic year (we typically make an appearance at the Christmas and/or Summer Fairs at the Junior and Senior Schools): this now remains a firm aim for next year! ❚

FORMULA ONE SOCIETY

Thomas Lamont

Formula One Society was a new society this year, and one I am very happy to have created. We’ve explored F1 across technological, psychological, and open discussion forums so far.

Perhaps the most intriguing storyline we had over last season was Hamilton vs Verstappen, a topic hotly discussed since we began the society at the beginning of the term. This battle culminated in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where we luckily had a meeting the day after. This meeting of the society was the most enjoyable all year, as our normal open discussion forum was taken advantage of by both Hamilton and Verstappen supporters, some hotly denying that Verstappen deserved the title. This open discussion forum is one of the most exciting things about the society, contributing to both better discussions and understanding of the sport. This year of Formula One Society has been extremely enjoyable and I expect (and hope) the next one will also show the debating skills of our members. ❚

JUNIOR POLITICS SOCIETY

Orko Lahiri

It would be an exaggeration to say that Junior Politics has completely changed my outlook on politics and day to day life. That would be nonsense. However, I have learnt a lot, and my opinions have changed across the last year, partly thanks to Junior Pol Soc. A large number of the presentations have been by people in my class, and that would be due to Mr Nilsson. It’s thanks to him and his weekly reminders that I and many others joined Junior Politics Society. I, among others, am very grateful for this, as otherwise I would probably not have found out about it or attended. I remember talking to one of my friends after he did a presentation, and he said something along the lines of how he actually enjoyed it, and thought that ‘everybody should do a presentation: they should get to feel the joy of doing it.’ I agreed with him, as I had done my first presentation, and had felt the weight lifting off of my shoulders after completing it, but after I did the second one, I realised that that feeling wasn’t quite the same. The joyous feeling is much more gratifying. ❚

The Zelensky Presentation

Ishaan

Moorthy

One of the best talks at Junior Politics this year was a brilliant presentation on Volodymyr Zelensky. The presentation gave insights into the origins of Zelensky and how the comedian became a statesman. It also showed how he went from a seemingly less effective leader to one of the most powerful and charismatic of those currently in power. The presentation compared past works of Zelensky to his current regular briefings on the war, outlining how his message, setting, and even attire put his message forward and helped him to inspire his citizens and the rest of the world. The presentation gave many other details, even reflecting on Zelensky’s previous acting role as a president of Ukraine with his current role. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned many things. This was just one of the many brilliant presentations that we have seen in Jr Politics Society including one on Swiss neutrality, the history of the Kashmir conflict, and diversity in the media. I am looking forward to many more. ❚

CHEMISTRY SENIOR PROJECTS CLUB/ CHEMISTRY PARTNERSHIPS

The Chemistry Senior Projects Club was back with a (mainly metaphorical) bang this year after a 12 month hiatus due to COVID.

Run for the Upper Eighth in the Autumn Term to allow them to experience practical techniques and reactions not usually seen in school chemistry, which they missed out on last year, the club proved to be very popular. During the Spring Term the club was opened up to pupils in the Lower Eighth and they

POLECON

Eli Joseph

Talks this year have included a speech by David Olusoga on Black British history and presentations about the progression of the US supreme court.

The highlight, however, was welcoming former Home Secretary Amber Rudd to speak about her journey in politics: starting off as the MP for Hastings of Rye, she became Secretary of State for Energy and Climate change, and ultimately the Home Secretary. She revealed both what it was like to be a female MP in the Commons, explaining how she had overcome ongoing societal barriers around women in the workplace, and the challenges of rising through the ranks in politics. She also mentioned her role in the ‘Remain’ campaign during the time of the Brexit

largely followed the same programme as the Upper Eighth the previous term. During the second half of the term the same programme was offered as outreach to our partnership schools on Saturday mornings, with Lower Eighth form pupils acting as demonstrators.

The partnership pupils enjoyed the programme, with some great feedback being received, and a number of them were enthused about the prospect of studying chemistry-related courses at

university. The final practical saw the students carrying out a chemiluminescence reaction on a fluorophore synthesised during a previous session – in layman’s terms a “glow stick reaction”. As ever, this seemingly magical bit of chemistry proved to be a highlight of the partnership. Many thanks go to all the Paulines who gave up their Saturdays to help, and especially to the chemistry technicians who as always worked very hard behind the scenes. ❚

referendum – something she fervently believed in. For her to take a stance and campaign so strongly for the ‘Remain’ lobby was a huge risk for her career, and when the ‘Leave’ campaign prevailed, she worried that her career was over.

There was a clear sense of her moral conviction here, setting an example to us that we should stand up for what we truly believe in, in spite of the possible consequences. Only a year after the Brexit referendum, Mrs Rudd was appointed to the esteemed role of Home Secretary under Theresa May. However, in April 2018 she was forced to resign because of her involvement in the Windrush scandal. After reappointment into Johnson’s cabinet (like a cat with nine lives), her decade-long political

career ended over disagreements with the PM on the idea of a no-deal Brexit. Despite the rollercoaster ride of her political career, she spoke fondly of her time in Westminster, and coped impressively with tricky questions given from our St Paul’s community. Mrs Rudd concluded by telling us that a road back to politics was not one she fancied, but she was committed to carrying on her passion for saving the environment. Her political journey was inspiring, since she was only the third female Home Secretary in British political history and had to face a series of divisive issues. Everyone at the talk felt it was a memorable and thought-provoking speech, and the St Paul’s community is very grateful for her giving up her time to come and talk to us. ❚

PUBLIC BENEFIT

Partnerships

PAULS4ALL UK SUMMARY

The global pandemic continued to make partnership work this year challenging to carry out but it has also highlighted its importance given the stark impact of COVID on exacerbating educational inequalities. I am very proud of the work the St Paul’s community has achieved, from fundraising and volunteering led by the various Pauls4Alls committees (Lower Eighth charity and volunteering and the Upper Eighth Thomas Gresham committee) to re-starting much of the in person programmes on site: from our highly successful Y10-12 Saturday morning and summer school STEM enrichment courses to Y13 University preparation; collaboration with the Barnes Music and Literary Festivals and entrepreneurship within the West London Partnership. It has also been great to welcome primary schools back to St Paul’s, from weekly swimming to our world cup football day and new Primary Professors programme. With the Ukraine crisis unfolding earlier in the year, we have also developed a strong partnership with St Mary’s Ukrainian school in London, supporting hundreds of refugees through conversational classes and sports activities. Finally, we have also maintained a strong virtual programme, in particular through Colet Mentoring, a first-of-its-kind peer learning app used in the UK and also in Africa and Latin America. This represents a fruitful collaboration within our wider community – a joint venture with two OPs with support from staff, boys, St Paul’s Girls and the Mercers company. I hope you enjoy reading about this and many other projects in our section and thanks to my 50+ colleagues that have led or worked on the programmes during the year. ❚

Stuart Block Director of Partnerships

CHARITY PARTNERSHIPS

Reconsidering the Meaning of Charity

Those of us sentimental for the inoffensive affectations of slightly overplayed popular music might recall the release of a song in 2018, somewhat unassumingly titled God’s Plan. The accompanying music video shows Drake, the rapper behind the song, donating a million dollars around Miami – by giving wads of cash to unsuspecting families, by surprising a student with a scholarship cheque, by gifting cards to women in a shelter, and more. There are sing-alongs, festivities, moments of rapt emotion and tearful bliss. Family members weep and embrace. It’s heartwarming stuff (honestly).

But Drake’s generosity aside, there is a tension as to what God’s Plan purports charity to be. There is no doubting the objective merit of the rapper’s actions, but it’s hard to escape the conclusion that what he does is at least slightly self-serving – Drake gives willingly, but not anonymously. The express publicity of his generosity recalls a long history of celebrity humanitarianism. “He has bought fame and paid cash for it,” Mark Twain once remarked about Andrew Carnegie’s libraries, in reference to the industrialist’s distinguished philanthropic career.

For sure, being self-serving need not detract from the merit of Drake’s actions. But it does deviate from what charity actually is. Tellingly, the word charity derives from the Latin caritas, a word commonly used to denote a distinct form of love. At its core, honest charity stems from the same sense of compassion for the common good – not from selfinterest. And it need not be confined to monetary munificence – charitable acts, done in-kind, can mean as much to a person as a bundle of cash.

With Drake’s actions in mind, we are left with the question as to why we are, or should be, charitable in the first place. This much is clear: we should not be charitable primarily to help ourselves. That is to say, we should not do charity in order to rid ourselves of guilt or improve our social standing –maintaining a wholly inappropriate sense of martyrdom at all times. We should not be exposing ourselves to glaring inequality in order to ‘prove’ our own morality and so gain the sympathy and the respect of others. True charity is not a selfish instinct, but a compassionate one. It is not from a place of guilty privilege, or baseless superiority (especially) that charity should originate, rather from one of altruism and in respect of charity received oneself. In the more concise words of Mother Teresa, “charity isn’t about pity, it is about love.” It’s about extending a hand, without judgement, to those we might just be able to help.

This personal level of offering a hand to those who may need it is a notion that is entirely valued, but, in an ideal world, charitable organisations would not exist. Now, this might seem like a controversial statement from a charity committee such as Pauls4All, but this neglects the precise definition of charity that has already been set out. Charities

are there to help fight against the numerous inequalities that exist within society: that is why there is such a large number of charities with a range of goals. From attempting to stop the effects of climate change in order to provide future generations with the same opportunities as current ones, to tackling mental health issues and providing people with support so that they can be on a level playing field with everyone else, charities identify inequalities and seek to remedy them. Whilst charities do a vital job of this, it should not be one that is so heavily relied upon in our society.

That is not to detract from their necessity and great value that charities provide because though undesired within society, certain inequalities seem difficult to dismantle and charitable organisations are essential in trying to reduce them by helping those who are struggling. These organisations are the collaborative effort of altruistic minds with greater wealth than the individual and so can often bring larger

scale changes to a society or people in need. That is not to say that the individual alone cannot have the same impact. A compassionate act of kindness, volunteering time or any amount of money, can brighten someone’s day and make a real difference. Everyone has the capacity to be charitable, regardless of social status or financial security. All that is truly required is a genuine will to serve others. Similarly, everyone needs charity themselves; while not necessarily financial, receiving acts of kindness can be appreciated by anyone. Genuine acts of love and service, money aside, can have a lasting impact in helping to create a happier and more benevolent society. ❚

Charity isn’t about pity, it is about love.

Mother Teresa

Wentao Huang, Flex O’Brien, Noah Leach and Jash Jhaveri

SPS CHARITY OF THE YEAR 2022 SUPPORTING LOCAL CHARITIES

In response to feedback from the St Paul’s Community, it was decided that it would be appropriate to select a women’s charity for the Pauls4All charity of the year. The school voted for Women’s Aid, a well-known UK charity, to increase awareness about issues such as domestic abuse, and try to help combat them. The main goal of the charity is to ‘eradicate violence against women and girls’; campaigning has taken many forms – therapy, research, legal help, and fundraising. St Paul’s was happy to support such an admirable cause.

A workshop was held in school about the history of legislation to protect women: while it looked at the past injustice, it was still optimistic for the future and how we are getting closer to equality (although there is still work to be done). To raise awareness and support the charity, St Paul’s was therefore delighted to hold various mufti days, presentations, and most recently the whole school walk where we raised nearly £15,000. ❚

Christian Bulmer, Leo Wen and Sabeer Sawhney

This year, in addition to our more longstanding partnerships and UK charity of the year, we have been supporting Friends of Barnes Common and the London Sports Trust.

Friends of Barnes Common play an active role in the upkeep of Barnes Common, Vine Road Recreation Ground, and the Leg o’ Mutton, and this year we have aimed to inspire the community to appreciate these local natural beauty spots and support the charity in conserving biodiversity. We were delighted to hold a mufti day as well as producing an educational video on the benefits of Barnes Common to the local community.

We also collaborated with The London Sports Trust, which aims to inspire positive change for disadvantaged young Londoners through the power of sport, training & life skills to improve life outcomes as well as physical and mental health. We thought it fitting to fundraise for this charity as St Paul’s has a strong profile for sports participation amongst the student body. We, as the Pauls4All committee, organised a 5-a-side football tournament for the Fourth and Fifth Forms within our school for the charity and many of us volunteered for the charity too. ❚

Jacob Leigh and Mustafa Sadeeq

The Walk

What’s the point of today? It’s not as if walking changes anything. It’s not as if a few steps ever changed society.

With each step we trudge onwards, wondering how better to have spent our time

But look! The sun pierces through the bright foliage and glitters upon the river; each shard enticing us off our phones, and towards the day ahead.

With each step we trudge onwards, now enjoying the glorious day, all rife with the thrill of change, the reverie of charitable endeavour and back towards the school we go.

Marching onwards – let’s go. But are we making a difference, is anyone noticing or just complaining about the Paulines taking up the sidewalk?

Although, here is a curious passerby, asking what this is all about. We answer, and she is amazed and she wishes us the best. Maybe we do make a difference?

And I see a man, head-to-toe in pink, he smiles, happy to get everyone together. A time to be happy, a time that lasts forever.

Varun Vashisht and Shivan Arora

Volunteering

SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS VOLUNTEERING

Lower Eighth Volunteering

London Sports Trust

Over the Easter holiday, I worked with two groups of children aged 7-11 and 11-15 as a volunteer with the London Sports Trust – a charity which runs free sports camps for local children. Working at the camp was a very enjoyable experience, which helped me learn skills such as leadership and basic sports coaching. Although I only volunteered there for three days, it was interesting to see how different ages of children responded to the various activities and techniques. The sports that were on offer included basketball and football, as well as a mix of other activities. It was easier than I expected to teach new things to the children, although getting the younger group to concentrate was certainly a challenge! Overall, it was a fun and interesting experience, which I think may lead to more coaching/ refereeing opportunities in the future

Teddy Hill

West London Zone reading project

At the start of the summer term, a group of Lower Eighth students began volunteering with the West London Zone charity. This is centred around ‘helping children and young people build the relationships and skills they need to get on track socially, emotionally, and academically to thrive in adulthood’. We helped children at Brackenbury primary school who are struggling in class to develop and enhance their reading skills by reading a book of their choice together, as well as engaging with them in conversation. We visit the school every Friday afternoon for around half an hour, overseen by John, a WLZ Link Worker based at the school.

Overall, it is incredibly fun and rewarding for us as volunteers to play a part in their education. The children have become noticeably more confident and seem to look forward to our weekly reading sessions, where they are able to spend

time outside of the classroom reading and chatting about some of their favourite books. All of us agree that they have made significant progress across the time that we have been interacting with them and we hope to continue to help improve their literacy further, as well as to help them come to enjoy the books that they read.

Hopefully this is the start of something long term, with more Lower Eighths helping at more primary schools in the next few years.

Leo Wen and Sabeer Sawhney

Primary Professors

Over several Saturday mornings in the Spring term, SPS and SPJ staff organised some stretch and challenge sessions for children from local primary schools. Lower Eighth volunteers from SPS and SPGS helped deliver workshops exploring some philosophical concepts, some fun bits of geography, and, in my case, “Money Matters” games to teach children about the key principles of money, in a not too serious format.

The children would each start out with some fake paper money and the goal was to make as much profit as possible. There were a few games set up with varying levels of risk and rewards e.g.

playing magnetic darts could win them more than doing push ups or saving in the bank, but they could also end up with nothing if they kept missing. I played the middleman for ‘Rich Ricky’, a clandestine investor who promised to double whatever amount the children gave me and I had to improvise a scenario at the end of each round to explain how the (fictitious) market that Ricky operated in was sadly taking a turn for the worse. In the end, he had run away to the Cayman Islands with all of the money invested and was leading Interpol on a wild goose chase. Despite the shocking development, everybody seemed to really enjoy the game and they all learnt the significance of credibility and handling risk when investing. The whole morning ran smoothly (although word quickly spread about Rich’s dodgy promises) and the children had time to play splat and a few other games at the end. It was great fun to re-live my year 6 drama days and I know that all of the other volunteers thoroughly enjoyed helping as well. And hopefully the children now all know that if something appears too good to be true, it probably is! ❚

Sabeer Sawhney

THE WEST LONDON PARTNERSHIP

Student Committee

The West London Partnership is an inspiring venture. Composed of 10 schools (5 public and 5 state), it comes together to discuss what sort of projects and joint activities could take place, creating a strong sense of interconnectedness within the West London community. The potential for the partnership is awe-inspiring: the sky is truly the limit! The project was initially started pre-covid, but we have finally been able to get the ball rolling in terms of ideas and events. Thanks to the organisation and leadership of Ms Mee and Ms Dariya, we have already met

Start-it Entrepreneurship

In a week when The Times reported that we must “teach pupils how to be entrepreneurs”, the Start it Entrepreneurship Course at the end of the summer term saw a team of St Paul’s students win Best Overall Concept with Chemetric, a sustainable business concept to turn food waste into biofuels. Guest speakers throughout the course included Francesca Lanza Tans, Rob Gardner, Andy Shovel, Peter Higgins, Stephen Rockman and Rahil Patel with judges Check Warner, Paul Traynor, and Jessie Frahm, overseeing the final day of presentations. Nearly 300 Y11 students from seven different schools across the West London Partnership have participated, creating SWOT analyses, financial projections and coming up with 22 highly impressive sustainable business ideas based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. ❚

Nick Troen Head of Entrepreneurship

a few times, and are looking forward to an in-person meeting at St Paul’s in June, where we will further discuss an upcoming inter-school Battle of the Bands event, and create a promotional video shoot for the partnership. Up to this point, representing the school in the partnership has been an absolute pleasure: I have met some magnificent pupils from the other member schools, and the meetings have been productive and enjoyable. I believe that we have fostered a healthy environment in which everyone is able to make their voice heard. I would say that I am most

looking forward to ever more in person meetings and events, and as restrictions continue to relax, I hope that the frequency and scale of these ideas will reach new levels. I am incredibly optimistic about what this partnership can and will achieve in the coming years, and it will be wonderful to see what this committee and further ones come up with in order to unite our schools, so that we may all benefit from each other’s insight and specialities. ❚

Julien Abbosh

Rob Gardner, Director of Investments at SJP Wealth Management, discusses the importance of sustainable bussiness with student teams

COLET MENTORING

Being a Colet Mentor

When my Head of Maths approached me in Year 12, asking if I would help her by signing up to a random tutoring app, I agreed – initially thinking it would be great for any university application I might make in the future. Having volunteered for other tutoring companies before, I had assumed this Colet Mentoring would be much like the last – complicated and difficult – but once I started I was pleasantly surprised. From our first safeguarding meeting, it was clear to me that this app was well thought-out, and after trying the interface out for myself, I realised how easy the app was to use, since it was simply text chats between tutors and students. Not only that, but the developers kept an open communication with me and my peers at Christ’s Sixth form, asking us what could be done to improve the app and spread awareness of it in our schools. Not being from St Paul’s myself, but instead one of its partner schools in Richmond, I was initially worried about this dynamic, but the teachers made me feel welcome

on the Google meets, and it never felt like I was an ‘outsider’.

As I admitted above, initially I joined as a way to boost a future university application, as my parents have always stressed the importance of volunteering and extracurricular activities to me, especially if I was applying for a degree in Medicine. Over time, however, I decided to stay working with St Paul’s and Colet Mentoring because I felt like I was actually making an impact on students’ learning experiences. During the sessions younger students were very polite, but – quite accidentally –I discovered that on my profile students had been writing reviews and leaving me comments. I was so grateful that they left such kind comments for me, and made me appreciate my role as a tutor much more than I would have done otherwise. Whilst the app developers have many in-app “praise” functions designed so that tutors can encourage students, it was a surprise that they had included similar features

for tutors as well, as this is different from other companies I had worked with.

For any student seeking tutoring opportunities, I couldn’t recommend working with Colet Mentoring enough. As the Head Girl at Christ’s, I made it one of my priorities to encourage current Year 12s to get involved, as well as creating PowerPoints for the school’s weekly bulletin encouraging younger students to use the app for maths and science help. As the app is constantly evolving, moving from just a ‘maths help’ app two years ago to now being able to assist with Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, and Latin, I really believe it is beneficial to both younger students who want to learn, and older students who want to develop communication and teaching skills in subjects they are confident in. ❚

Sophie Benson Head Girl, Y13, The Christ’s School

Colet Mentoring: A Gap Year Student Memoir

help they need for their homework and revision, and I look forward to seeing who else it can support in the future.

Other than the work I got to do for the Partnerships and Colet Mentoring departments, I also got to continue with my passions from my time as a pupil here. Highlights include doing the lighting and ‘ambience’ for an SPS jazz gig in the Wathen Hall, playing in the Teachers vs Leavers Basketball and Football game (despite my missed penalty), and of course coaching the mighty U15D football squad.

Working at St Paul’s this year was an incredible way to gain valuable experience for the future, as well as being in a place where I could be supported with my university reapplications, and I am happy to say that thanks to the support from the SPS faculty, I will be attending Berklee College of Music next year.

I would highly recommend this opportunity to any Upper Eighth students next year who find themselves unsure about how to start their gap year: this is a great platform to get working so you can travel later on! I’ve been able to go to Italy, Turkey, Thailand, Korea, California, and Vancouver!

After deciding last-minute to take an impromptu gap year, I was lucky enough to work with the SPS Partnerships and Colet Mentoring departments as the Partnerships and Colet Mentoring Coordinator. It was exciting to see the school from a new angle, and to experience all the hard work that goes behind the scenes when it comes to events such as STEM Enrichment courses, Volunteering opportunities, and the Colet Mentoring app. In this way, I also got to learn many different skills, all of which were facilitated by the fact that the team puts great trust in you from your first day on the job.

During my time this year, I’ve given presentations at other schools, helped with App development and marketing, become a master laminator, learnt the perils of creating labels in a word document, and many more. The most rewarding part of the job, however, was being able to run mentoring sessions with students from Juba in South Sudan. Every Wednesday lunch-time we ran five-hour live sessions with our mentors helping the Juba students with A Level questions, and it was great to see our own mentors helping each other out as well. The Colet Mentoring app is a great way to see students get the live

A big thanks to the whole partnership team, but in particular Mr Block, Ms Mee, and Mrs Ridge, who were welcoming and supportive the whole way through. ❚

Jack Ryan

Reflections on The Colet Mentoring Programme

this crucial as we emerged from lockdown but this meant that mentees were able to get questions answered quickly at times when they might not have access to a teacher. For example, if the student realised they did not understand a topic fully while completing homework, they could have the topic quickly explained to them by a mentor. The ability to volunteer while at home also made helping out easier for the mentors, allowing us to spend more time mentoring than we might otherwise have been able to.

The programme has grown significantly over the year with an increased volume of questions coming through. The app has also been updated several times adding in helpful new features such as the ability for mentees to ask questions outside of the designated homework hours for a mentor to respond to later on.

We would very much like to thank Ms Ridge and all the other staff involved for running the programme over the past year. ❚

Rahul Marchand

The Colet Mentoring programme was started by the school last year with the help of old Paulines Phil and Dom Kwok, founders of Easy A. The Colet Mentoring app connects mentors with students at some of the various partnership schools SPS works with, which includes a school in Juba, South Sudan. Mentors are then able to help these students with questions and topics they are struggling with by taking pictures of their own worked solutions and through text chat. The greatest strength of the programme over some of the other volunteering options is that it is completely virtual. Not only was

Volunteering on Colet Mentoring this year started during the summer holidays and has continued throughout the year. Each volunteer would log on to the app for an hour each week. Volunteers have mainly come from the Lower Eighth, though as the programme grew some pupils from younger years and other schools such as SPGS and partnership schools began to help out as well. Volunteers mainly worked on answering questions on the app but also made content for the programme such as maths question sheets (with themes varying from Mario to Donald Trump) and short videos explaining confusing topics.

Number of sessions 1,076

Number of mentors 81

Number of mentees 197

Number of active schools 20

Total time of mentoring provided 20,764 minutes, 346h 40 min

Average session length 20 min

Maths Matters

Shaping Our Future

Shaping Our Future Campaign

Following the completion of the rebuilding of the Senior School, we launched our ambitious Shaping Our Future fundraising campaign. A target of £20m to be raised by 2023 was set by our Governing Body so this sees us now in our fourth year. The aims of the campaign are: to widen access to St Paul’s through our bursaries programme; to increase our profile within the local community through our partnerships work and voluntary service; and to continue with our rebuilding project, turning our attention to our sporting and hospitality provision.

Our fundraising efforts have not been without challenge, particularly a world-wide pandemic, but with tremendous support from our community we have raised £15.8m to date, with the vast majority going

towards our partnerships and bursary appeals – helping St Paul’s to fulfil its goal of having 153 bursary pupils by 2023, representing 10% of pupils. Such achievements are only made possible through the support of our community and external supporters, to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude.

One area of pupil fundraising worth highlighting has been the Thomas Gresham Bursary Award. A wholly pupil-led appeal which aims to provide a 100% bursary for the highest performing boy at 11+ in need of financial support. This award was founded in 2017 by four of our Upper Eighth pupils, and named after Old Pauline Sir Thomas Gresham (15311537) who founded the London Royal Exchange and was Financier to King Edward VI, Queen Mary I and Queen

Elizabeth I. This year’s committee of Will Shackleton, Louis Wilson, Charlie Hunt, and Matt Smith have used their year in post to raise awareness amongst their fellow pupils about their goal to help provide ‘a quality education, no matter the walk of life’, by financially supporting the two Thomas Gresham bursary award recipients currently attending St Paul’s. They have raised £18,561 through a lot of hard work, entrepreneurial spirit, and unwavering enthusiasm – all in their hectic final year. This brings current total donations to the Thomas Gresham Bursary Award to £164,376.

Highlights of the year include the Annual Quiz, the Junior School Readathon, the Sweet Jar-a-thon, and the Thomas Gresham Mufti Day. ❚

Sweet Jar-a-thon

Bursary Fund

THE THOMAS GRESHAM COMMITTEE

Over the past year, following on from being part of the Pauls4All Volunteering committee in the Lower Eighth, I have gained invaluable experience in my final year being part of the Pauls4All Thomas Gresham Committee. My event-organising competences have been greatly improved and I have really enjoyed being part of a wonderful team working together for an excellent cause. The opportunities to get creative with fundraising have allowed us to get properly stuck in and committed. The support from the Development Team is a crucial part of what makes everything run so smoothly. We have also been able to interact with staff and students across all year groups, including SPJ, with events such as the Read-a-thon and the Sweet Jar-a-thon. Most crucially, it has given us insight into the world of volunteering and hopefully creating chances for a variety of people, both similar and different to ourselves. ❚

Charlie Hunt

£164,376

Current total donations to The Thomas Gresham Bursary Award

£15.8m

Raised to date from fundraising activities and the tremendous support of our community

TRIPS

Asgard XI

The Asgard project is a ESERO initiative open to schools worldwide to design an experiment which is sent up to near-space on a high-altitude weather balloon from Brussels. Our team was composed of six Fifth Formers: Aarush Ranjan, Paul de Nonneville, Saadhyan Ragulan, Michael Grimaldi, Kai Vanderhoof and Leo Lenhard.

We built an experiment which measured levels of cosmic radiation at different levels in the atmosphere. Cosmic radiation is essentially a series of highenergy particles and radiation which is sent from interstellar or intergalactic space. When these hit our atmosphere, they cause a shower of particles such as protons, atomic nuclei, electrons and occasionally positrons. Our project measured these showers and their intensities with a geiger counter. To measure the altitude, we used a pressure and temperature sensor so we could calculate the altitude using the barometric formula. All of these were connected to an Arduino Nano which contained code to make the instruments take readings every 10 seconds. All of the data was stored on an SD card.

We started off our project by first planning how we would gather all the data needed. There was also a mass restriction of 200g, which we ended up coming within 5 grams of. We started off with using a basic prototype geiger tube and writing its code. We tested this in the physics lab, with Mr Tretiakov very kindly lending us some of the radioactive material such as uranium glass balls, americium-241 and strontium-90. We then got to work on designing our temperature sensor code and our pressure sensor code which we didn’t have many problems with. We tested the pressure sensor by using a bell jar to create a vacuum and we tested the temperature sensor simply by pressing down on it with our fingers. Programming our SD card code was harder as we had to download different libraries to the ones pre-installed. After finishing all the code (or so we thought), we then designed and drilled our PCB. This was quite fiddly and required a lot of time. In the last session of the term, we finished soldering all of the sensors on. However, we still needed to assemble our project and do final testing. We ended up coming back in the Easter holidays to finish building and testing.

In the first holiday session, we assembled our experiment however a switch we put in was soldered badly and so caused a short. On the day we were due to send it to Belgium, we tested our assembled product by putting radioactive sources near it and then placing it in a bell jar. The Geiger tube and pressure sensor worked separately, however the bell jar blocked a lot of radiation, so we still weren’t sure

how well it would detect radiation when at low pressure before we reached our deadline to send it to Belgium, and weren’t sure that our project would be fully successful.

Arranging the trip just after the pandemic presented many hurdles, however in the end everything went smoothly. On our first day in Brussels, we joined 14 other schools from across Europe. Each school did a presentation on their experiments and what their hypotheses were. Some examples were a muon detection system, light spectroscopy and measuring wind speed. Then our very own teacher, Dr Patterson, was the invited guest speaker and gave an engaging talk on gas discharge in near-space which we all enjoyed. It was a busy day as in the afternoon we went to the Atomium and a planetarium, both of which were great experiences.

The second day of our trip was launch day. We all went to the Royal Meteorological Society of Belgium, where there were many workshops and talks by the scientists working there. Later that night, we received a copy of our results via email and immediately started working on initial data processing and on the concluding presentation

that we would give the next day, working late into the night. We found that our experiment had worked perfectly and gave results in line with what we expected. On the last day, all the schools gave their concluding presentations and went to the host school (Sint Pieterscollege) for a celebratory lunch. We also did some sightseeing, and saw places like St Michael’s and St Gudula’s Cathedral and the old city (which had brilliant Belgian waffles and chocolate).

We all really enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Meeting students from other schools, as well as listening to the experience of over 10 different scientists really made it a memorable experience. For those who are joining the Fifth Form next year and are interested in this sort of thing, we all would very highly recommend joining next year’s team. We would like to thank Dr Patterson for organising the whole project, Mr Tretiakov for allowing us access to the Physics department’s store of radioactive sources and accompanying us on the trip, Dr Gaine for assisting us in our project processing the results and also accompanying us and finally Erik de Schrijver of Sint-Pieterscollege in Brussels for organising Asgard. ❚

Boat Club Training Camp, Figueira da Foz, Portugal

Sebastian Marsoner – Captain SPSBC

This year’s Boat Club training camp was the first overseas school trip in over two years. The journey to Lisbon went smoothly, with entrance into Portugal only slightly hampered by Brexit, giving those of us with European passports time to sit in the airport cafe smugly congratulating one another on our membership of the great EU family of nations.

A short bus ride later, we arrived at the sunny Montemor-o-Velho lake ready for the first session of the week. With bundles of energy, we got to work.

As we got into the cyclical rhythm of eating, rowing, revising, eating, revising, rowing, eating and sleeping (for some), the wise purged their schedules of all inefficiencies while others who did not paid the price.

After five days of intense training, an afternoon off surfing gave most of us the chance to enjoy being pummelled by waves as the coaches (surf snobs) laughed and others munched on ice creams whilst chilling out on the beach. Although we returned more tired than we had arrived, being able to talk the talk of who had shredded the gnarliest waves of the day made it all worth it.

As the week came to a close, we all felt the need for speed – some close side by side racing between the crews readied us for the upcoming regatta season. After a final trip to the beach, and some interesting ice cream flavour combinations, we boarded the bus for a final time, this time, thankfully, with no Himalayan throat singing.

Shoutout to the 16Bs who dealt valiantly with only having seven rowers and a big thank you to all the teachers and coaches (especially Mr Friend for risking his back as a willing sub for the 16B crew) for making the trip happen.

To sum up, Sifu Bwana! ❚

Hadrian’s Wall

Rory Todd

In anxious anticipation, we collected our dinner from an array of shops inside the train station, whether it be a Greggs’ sausage roll or a single Twix. Eventually, we were called to assemble and head onto the train, our destination the 73 mile behemoth of Roman defence: Hadrian’s wall. Though the arrival was late into the night, after a kip and a good hearty breakfast at the hostel, we were ready to head to a fortification so large in size it defended the centuries-old empire from barbaric invaders for decades.

Thankfully, it was quite close to where we stayed, and from there we braved the fierce northern elements as we walked along the Wall. An impressive sight to be sure. Though the ages and passing thieves had worn down its once proud height, it is an amazing feat of engineering nonetheless – the tall hills and steep drops made this a nightmare for Roman builders and for soldiers to maintain – and it was brought to life for us by the wide breadth of information provided to us by our teachers throughout our voyage.

A museum next, and there an informative 3D film detailing the gruelling life on the Wall and how a soldier might find comfort in the nearby fort of Vindolanda. Incredibly well preserved and vast in size, this World Heritage Site was our next destination alongside the accompanying museum. While it was undoubtedly interesting, time was against us so we were forced to rush through the next site – a sophisticated Roman latrine that had fortunately been cleaned after being uncovered – and soon to Newcastle station. Overall: a really fun trip. ❚

CanSat Competition

Have you ever found yourself not having enough space? The school’s CanSat team, Team Nebula, were not ones to let that stop them from building a satellite the size of a mere drinks can, to be launched hundreds of metres into the sky whilst collecting data such as air pressure and temperature.

The CanSat competition, run by the European Space Agency, requires that the satellite must also perform a “secondary mission” of the team’s choice. One example is the “controlled descent” – as the Can falls from the sky, mechanisms such as parachutes or motors can be deployed to slow the fall and even steer the satellite on a trajectory. From the beginning we brainstormed numerous extravagant ideas, including a drone that could double up as a rover once landed. We finally settled on the equally ambitious parafoil, a type of parachute with mechanical arms able to change the can’s direction of travel. We also decided that we wanted our satellite to drop a

small “payload” as it fell, simulating the American military’s Joint Precision Airdrop System. Being able to pull off so many tasks successfully was not going to be easy – but we were up for a challenge.

We immediately set to work: Rahul Marchand painstakingly hand-crafted multiple possible parafoils for the Can to use; Charles Calzia, Vikram Bhamre and Harishan Ganeshan got to work on designing the electronic systems and writing code for them; and Peter Baker, Henry Squire and Ryan Rundstrom began designing and manufacturing the mechanisms and the Can-shaped housing. The overall design went through two iterations – the first design focused on collecting data for the primary mission, whilst the second added support for a GPS sensor and servos, the mechanical arms upon which the secondary mission heavily depended.

Our electronics design was greatly helped by a sponsorship by JLCPCB (https://ww1.jclpcb.com/), who manufactured our printed circuit boards

(PCBs) at a greatly discounted price. We were also provided a 3D printing service discount by 3DPRINTUK, yet for convenience we opted for the school 3D printers and laser cutter instead to prototype our mechanical parts. Testing of the Can’s systems was performed by throwing it off the top of the Art building and praying that it did not break.

On the day of the launch, the team woke up incredibly early, and left school by coach before sunrise. We took advantage of the 2 hour trip to the Midlands Rocketry Club to make last minute adjustments and modifications to our systems. We used a pit stop on the journey to solder at a cafe, where we managed to fix some problematic wiring, whilst drinking coffee and eating sandwiches. To our relief, this got the GPS module working.

As soon as we arrived at the launch site, we were greeted by a thick, sinister white fog. We got to our work benches to set up our satellite, but the mist would persist for the rest of the morning.

Meanwhile a new problem arose – we couldn’t get new code to upload to the microcontroller, the brains of the PCB. Right before our lunch break, the event organisers had announced that if the fog chose to stay for the afternoon, they would have to postpone the entire launch to a later date.

Our lunch trip was to McDonalds where, amidst the guzzling of nuggets and fries, our programming team wrote some more code, optimistic that we would get to see our satellite launch. As our luck would have it, the fog lifted later in the afternoon. This conveniently gave us enough time to fix some of the critical issues we were having with our satellite. Despite this, there still remained problems with uploading code to our electronic systems, which meant that the GPS and the servomotors required for the secondary mission, to steer the can and drop a payload, did not function in the end.

Nevertheless, hopeful that we could at least collect some environmental data, we handed over our Can to be inserted into a launch rocket. Moments after

watching the rocket blast off into the air, we could see our satellite in the sky, exceeding expectations by hovering in the air for a long time before landing. Once it landed, we all ran towards our satellite and nervously extracted its contents. Thankfully, it survived the impact from the 250 metre fall and all the internal systems remained in one piece. What’s more, the data from the flight had been successfully recorded to the satellite’s SD card, thereby fulfilling our primary mission. We saw this as an overall victory, and left the site feeling satisfied that our months of planning and progress had been a success, although vowing never to use lead-free solder again.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it through to the next round of the competition; regardless, we are proud of what we have achieved as a team, and hope that one day we may be able to get it to work fully as intended.

Over several months, we learned invaluable skills that furthered our engineering capabilities – from designing complex PCBs and programming

elaborate scripts, to manning sewing machines to craft parachutes, and thinking unconventionally to solve our problems. We learnt how to work together as a team, and how good communication between subteams helped get things done efficiently and effectively.

Students who are interested in engineering, science and technology, and would like to work with a team of talented like-minded people to be able to create something extraordinary and beyond the scope of a typical home or school project, should definitely consider joining CanSat 2023!

Team Nebula would like to thank Dr Patterson in particular for his supervision of the project and all of the time he gave us over the course of the year. Many thanks also to Dr Harrison for driving us to the regional launch, leaving at 5:30am to make it in time!

The team included: Henry Squire, Vikram Bhamre, Peter Baker, Rahul Marchand, Charles Calzia, Ryan Rundstrom, and Harishan Ganeshan. ❚

DofE Gold Expeditions 2021

The Black Mountains and the Yorkshire Dales

SGAA: The Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award (DofE Gold) has been offered to the Lower Eighth at St Paul’s for around a decade.

Having not been able to run the expeditions in 2020, the pandemic meant that we ran the expeditions in a different format in 2021, and they were notable for the following: two trips rather than three, a new location (the Black Mountains) for the practice expedition, the boys having the luxury of single tents on the training expedition (thanks to the nuances of the Welsh COVID restrictions), blazing sunshine in the Yorkshire Dales in mid-July while London was enduring a monsoon, a trip organised at breakneck speed after restrictions were lifted, the first overnight trip since the March 2020 and the first oversubscribed DofE Gold trip in memory. We were very glad to be able to run “proper” expeditions rather than the expedition-lite arrangements allowed by the DofE as a concession to COVID. The qualifying expedition took place with the background of rapidly changing COVID guidance, which made finding a venue to watch the UEFA Euro final somewhat tricky.

To pack everything into the limited time frame we employed for the first time the services of expert instructors who managed to train all 14 boys to a very high standard in just 4 days, made easier by the lovely weather conditions we enjoyed. The instructors were fulsome in their praise, summarising it as “a good gig”. The boys were then ready to undertake their qualifying expedition in the Yorkshire Dales; all completed the expedition successfully and in style, with no incidents (COVID or otherwise) and all boys showing admirable resilience in face of the demands of a self-supported 70km journey in remote countryside.

Well done to everyone on completing the expedition section and I hope all will complete the remaining sections to finish the Gold Award, and be inspired to undertake their own adventures in the UK and further afield.

Aiden Whitham: As the DofE group embarked on a 5 hour journey to the Yorkshire Dales, the only thing on anyone’s minds was the Euros finals. With a couple of Italian supporters hiding amongst the group, there were certainly plenty of arguments along the way. As we

arrived in a small town at the start of our route, instead of spending the evening preparing for the expedition, we hunted for crayfish in a river and were delighted to be allowed to watch the Euro Final (albeit in a strangely empty venue with a relatively tiny screen). After a disappointing (for most of us) loss to Italy, we set off the next morning. Monday started off wet and cold, and in less than an hour we were lost in the fog. Going off pure instincts, we managed to escape the fog by going straight down a ridge, re-finding our route to the camp. The next three days were much easier as the weather completely turned around, and we spent more time sunbathing than doing our actual DofE. Embodying the mentality of David Goggins, we sped through the daily hikes in recordbreaking time, taking the occasional photo of a duck to meet our expedition requirements, allowing us plenty of time to relax at camp every evening and eat our surprisingly nice dehydrated food. At our final destination, once we had completed the expedition, we had a celebratory meal, bringing the trip to a nice conclusion. ❚

PAULINE 2021-22

Fourth Form Sculling Training to Peterborough

Alex Barea

On Saturday 26th March, twenty-eight boys and five teachers went to the Dragonfly Hotel in Peterborough for a rowing trip. We spent four days there, and we all enjoyed ourselves a lot. On the first day, most of us were still finding confidence in our abilities in smaller boats, and we all took pleasure in seeing others capsize, and come up soaked. However, we improved considerably, even having a small regatta in our singles with everyone doing very well.

Special congratulations to Apollo, who won the regatta. On our last day, to have some more fun, we had a race in doubles, with the races being very close, and providing all the spectators with a lot of excitement. Well done to Wilder and Reuben, who won that one.

Aside from rowing, we enjoyed ourselves a lot in Peterborough. We went bowling one night and had a great time. Many thanks to Dr Mayfield, Dr Field, Dr Killick, Mr Friend, and Dickie for a wonderful time in Peterborough, and a brilliant trip. ❚

U16 Rugby to Wales

Moxuan Liu – U16As

When I first heard the rugby tour was going to be in Wales, I was doubtful of how good it would be. I don’t remember much from the pre-tour training, but one memory that stuck with me was the rucking drill, at this time it was a nasty fitness drill for me.

Eventually, the day of the tour came, and we hopped on a coach for 6 hours with only one stop for some food. Due to some extra knowledge from Thomas Darke who had arrived earlier than the rest of us, we were all excited to see the hotel we would be staying in for the next few days. Having deposited my luggage in the hotel room I sauntered off to review the key facilities, namely the gymnasium. I was joined by a few others and from there we proceeded to the pool and saunarium. A nutritious and delicious dinner was post-ceded by a brief discourse from Mr. Maguire which got us excited about the first day of training. The Hexi-Muller turns out to be one of the most tiring fitness drills and

Mr. Maguire told us that we would be doing 12 of them each session, but we ended up only doing 6 to my great relief. The Hexi-Muller would become a staple throughout the rest of our season. We were lucky enough to train at the Osprey’s training ground and were blessed with sunshine. On the first evening, self-proclaimed barber Marco gave a couple of buzz cuts to Nick and Lorenzo. The following day after training, we went to a beach and played a ball game called kiwi involving four squares and a ball. Afterwards, we headed to a nearby town where we had pizza and went to Tesco to stock up on snacks. Later that evening, Mr. Maguire allowed us to stay up to watch TV, which became a daily occurrence. We went to Cardiff for some paintballing the day after and split into forwards vs backs. Obviously, the forwards prevailed. One of the most memorable moments from paintballing was produced by Thomas Wong, walking straight through several point-blank shots, feeling no pain: what

an absolute tank. When we got back to the hotel, we all walked to a nearby restaurant and had a delicious dinner. By the end of the tour, the rucking drill was barely tiring for me, meaning my fitness had improved, which I accredited to the Hexi’s. On the last day, after training, we jumped on the bus to head back. Throughout all our coach journeys we had music on the ‘jukebox’ but the best part of the tour, however, in my opinion, was the singing on the coach on the way back, with ‘Closer’ by the Chainsmokers being the favourite song. Overall this was without doubt a memory that I’m sure will last us all a lifetime. As Mr. Maguire said, when we are fifty, we will look back and remember our schoolboy rugby days. I believe the team bonding from this tour played a big part in our successful season. And finally, thank you to everyone who helped make the tour possible, especially to Mr. Maguire.

How The Light Gets In Philosophy Festival

Paulines studying philosophy and politics A Levels were invited to attend the How The Light Gets In philosophy and music festival in Hay-on-Wye over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend, joint with SPGS.

This festival had been online over the pandemic, and it was very welcome indeed to resurrect our annual visit with the girls school. The line-up this year was outstanding. Pupils rubbed shoulders with top intellectuals such as Slavoj Žižek, Yuval Harari, Richard Dawkins, and many more. Paulinas

and Paulines harangued Žižek with questions in the café while he was trying to eat his lunch. He didn’t seem to mind. Dawkins was supposed to do an intimate Q&A with the pupils, but unfortunately dropped out with a sore throat – although several Paulines thought that it must be because he was intimidated. We heard him speak in a debate nonetheless. It was an intellectual feast all round, and the talks, debates, comedy shows, and performances attended were thoroughly enjoyed by all. ❚

U17/18 Rugby to Newcastle

Alex Pama

Following a long relaxing summer after GCSE and predicted grade exams, the 2021 pre-season trip to Newcastle provided the Upper and Lower Eighth years with the first opportunity to play inter-school rugby for nearly two seasons. Arriving at the Leafy Jesmond Hotel, the players were exposed to the finest buffet in the North: something that helped ameliorate the 6:30 a.m. wake-ups and the half-hour trudges to the RGS Newcastle pitches.

Once on the fields, the passes soon began to stick between year groups, despite never having trained together, and it was clear that this group of players was managing to pick up the structure of flashes, drags, and hammers as well as any other year. Although it was clear that we were likely not to be the biggest team on the circuit this season, we had the arsenal to move larger outfits around the park. For dinner, however, we gave our best attempts to bridge the gap at Rio’s ‘All you can eat’ Brazilian Steakhouse, a blueprint developed through the years by the rugby club as the most effective way to bulk up athletes in pre-season. The next day would see surfing in the North Sea. More of a character-building exercise than anything, this provided some extra team bonding within the year groups. With all training now being tailored to the match against Newcastle the next day, the beach also provided the prime location to run through some ‘backs moves’ and ‘line outs’, sure to leave RGS quaking. Later in the evening, we took to some minigolf and darts, aiming to calm the nerves before the big game tomorrow. With no injuries luckily so far in pre-season, tomorrow would hopefully see the strongest St Paul’s outfit put out against the Geordies.

The next day was met with slight nerves but calm confidence, with both teams having played their respective RGS year groups before we roughly knew what to expect, and not read too heavily into the three Falcons academy players that the school’s Twitter promised we would face. The game began with a speech for the ages from Captain Turley, ensuring that everyone’s attention was on the next 40 minutes.

The game started hard but soon St Paul’s found themselves in the ascendance with heavy direct running lines from both backs and forwards carving RGS

to shreds. What was most pleasing to see was how the moves that had been implemented throughout the past few days came to the fore and soon 17 points on the board were awarded to the visitors. What followed was some emphatic defence, ensuring that RGS be kept scoreless on their home pitch, with Mr. Strang getting one over on his alma mater. Overall, this pre-season trip, although not to Japan or South Africa as in previous years, proved to be just as good preparation for the season that was to come, a highly enjoyable one, that the U18s thank Mr. Blurton and Mr. Strang for organising. ❚

SPORT

Adventure Sports

Of all the world’s myths that I am aware of, the one that strikes me as most obviously illuminating of the mountaineer’s obsession is the myth of Sisyphus, brought so forcefully to the philosopher’s attention by Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus).

Sisyphus was the King of Ephyra. Homer called him the craftiest of men. He betrayed Zeus, who, in retribution, ordered Thanatos – death – to chain him up in the underworld. But Sisyphus cheated death by tricking Thanatos into chaining himself up instead. Thereafter, no one died on earth until Ares, the god of war, intervened and released

Thanatos because war had ceased to be fun. Returned to the underworld, Sisyphus tricked Persephone – wife of Hades and ruler of the underworld –into releasing him a second time. And as punishment for all this impious deceit, Sisyphus was given the at first sight unenviable task of rolling a boulder up a mountain –whereupon it would immediately roll down, so that Sisyphus had to start again, and again, ad infinitum

One way of reading this myth would be to consider Sisyphus as being faced with exactly those few essential options that we are all faced with when we try at the most fundamental level to make meaning in our lives. A first option is to embrace some form of transcendental meaning, whether in the form of

religious teachings, or in the form of a belief in objective morality, and thereby cling to objective and absolute norms governing conduct with authority and legitimacy. This is the path of the transcendentalist. She locates meaning in some objective, transcendental and unchanging reality that she takes to determine the timeless moral truths of the shifting world of our experience. But Sisyphus rejects and undermines the rule of the gods; he places his own agenda above the divine law. A second option is suicide – the path of despair. Camus famously begins his book with the suggestion that this option is the philosopher’s fundamental concern. Is life worth living? But Sisyphus chains up Thanatos; Sisyphus rejects death as well. According to this reading, there is

Excerpted from: Duits, Rufus (2020). Mountaineering, Myth and the Meaning of Life: psychoanalysing alpinism. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 47 (1):33-48.

thus only one remaining option available to him: to embrace an absurd reality of pointless activity – the path of nonsense, meaninglessness and nihilism. On this reading, then, the myth invites us to consider that, just as for Sisyphus, these three are the fundamental options that are available to us as finite and free agents seeking meaning in our lives. This would amount to the symbolic content and truth of the myth.

But Camus himself asks his readers to consider that there might be in fact a fourth fundamental option: although, from an objective perspective, Sisyphus’s toil, as he climbs up the mountain, has no point or purpose, produces no consequences, has no import or effects, from Sisyphus’s own perspective, the subjective perspective, all his actions are goal-oriented, effective, load-lifting efforts that take their significance from the admittedly curtailed project of getting to the top of the mountain. Mountaineering, his steps upward, has meaning for Sisyphus, at least during the progress of his ascent. Whilst there may be no worth or value to his efforts from ‘the point of view of the universe’ (Henry Sidgwick’s phrase), i.e., from a transcendental perspective, from his own subjective perspective they are meaning-laden and worthwhile. ‘All Sisyphus’ silent joy is contained therein’ (2005, 118). Thus, according to Camus, Sisyphus is the absurd hero who, whilst accepting or embracing the absence of any transcendental signifier, is able to find meaning within life nevertheless. ‘The absurd man says yes and his effort will henceforth be unceasing’ (119). ‘All is well’, Camus concludes; indeed, ‘one must imagine Sisyphus happy’ (119).

Camus asks us to consider all our projects and endeavours to be Sisyphean: ultimately pointless, but not thereby subjectively meaningless and not necessarily unconstitutive of a subjectively worthwhile life. On this reading of the myth, mountaineering –the striving to get to the top of a mountain—plays the role of a sort of

purified, generic allegory for any and all of life’s endeavours, that is, for human endeavour in general.

There are good reasons that explain why mountaineering fulfils this allegorical role particularly well – better, at least, than many other activities –i.e., that explain why Sisyphus gets climbing a mountain in particular as his punishment. In the first place, its various facets and aspects bear on homo sapiens’ particular limitations – somatic and psychological – very precisely: one’s body is a heavy burden to oneself that is increased by gradient; one requires warmth to survive although mountains are cold; one requires food and water, although mountains are barren; one requires oxygen, although high mountains have little; one yearns for safety and security, although mountains are dangerous; we are tool-using, technological animals, although mountains are primitive, untamed places; we require companionship, although mountains are wild. No one ever lives or remains on the top of high mountains: they are crucially places from which one returns (or, at least, tries to do so). For this reason, mountaineering can symbolise synthetically a whole gamut of human practices that are concerned with the constraints of the human condition.

In the second place, divested of any instrumental value or practical import beyond itself – or at least largely so – mountaineering seems almost deliberately contrived to bring to light the restriction of existential meaning to the limits of individual projects of individual subjects – just like Sisyphus’s repeated projects. One sets off; one reaches the summit or turns back; one returns. Nothing – or at least nothing of essential significance – is left over. Camus’ fourth option couldn’t be more clearly illustrated by this aspect of the mountaineer’s craft. As Kevin Krein writes: ‘Nature sports [such as mountaineering] offer a framework that facilitates a consciously absurd life of the type Camus recommends…There are few pursuits that are followed with

such passion that are also accompanied by the clear recognition of their meaninglessness’ (2019, 108, my italics).

Thirdly, it is also worth pointing out –although this would require considerable fleshing out that I am unable to pursue here – that the so-called ‘golden age of mountaineering’, when the major peaks of the alps were ascended for the first time and exploration of mountains in the Greater Ranges began, commences with the Enlightenment. Is it the case that mountaineering can fill the void left by the ‘flight of the gods’ (Martin Heidegger’s phrase) as the role of divinity and the transcendental assurances it provides declines in the life of the individual and their society? I.e., is mountaineering a particularly apt symbol for the endeavours of the godless, like Sisyphus?

Seen with these lights, what the alpinist is trying to do is to enact a generic act – reduced to its essentials. Mountaineering can be interpreted as a lived allegory for, and an enacted commentary on, human endeavour in general. The mountaineer might not be conscious of this, of course. But they would have some sense of being connected to what is essential and universal in the meaning-making of life by participating in it, and thus some sense of its peculiar importance. One glimpses profundity in the mountaineer’s craft – or at least an allusion to it. I think that this at least partly explains its extraordinary lure. ❚

There are few pursuits that are followed with such passion that are also accompanied by the clear recognition of their meaninglessness’

This term has seen success and enjoyment across all the age groups in the athletics squad at St Paul’s. The season kicked off with an athletics training camp held at school during the Easter holidays. This consisted of four days of hard work, with each athlete developing the skills necessary to excel in their respective events. The camp was a great way of getting rid of the rust built up from the long off season and was also the perfect opportunity to meet the new junior athletes and welcome them into the squad.

Having recovered from the pre-season camp, the squad took part in the athletics

trials at Eton school. This is an annual event in which Eton invites St Paul’s to simultaneously use their track with them to gain some competition experience, and also get some official timings/ distances measured. It was a great chance to work out which athletes would compete in which events for the season and it also improved the confidence of junior athletes, seeing as for some of them this was the first time they had ever competed.

The first official event of the season was held at Tonbridge School. Despite the fact that we had no Sixth form due to GCSEs and only one Upper Eighth

due to A-Levels, St Paul’s still ranked a respectable 4th over all the age groups at the end of the event. Credit goes to the numerous Fifth formers and Lower Eighth students who competed in many different events against competitors in the year above them. A special mention goes to Louis Nuthall, Jaydon Ekpo and Alex Pama for winning in their respective events.

The next event was the Guy Butler Shield at Harrow school. This is one of the biggest athletics meets of the season. Luckily the squad was able to salvage some extra help from the Upper Eighth, despite the fact that they had A-Levels during this time. This helped the seniors to finish 4th by the end of the competition. I would like to especially congratulate Max Bishop, not only for stepping up and competing for the seniors (two years above his age) but also for winning his 800m in an outstanding time of 1:57:40. I would also like to say well done to Tom Street for winning his 400m in another impressive time of 52.00s, a great achievement.

My final athletics meet of the season was the Lord Burghley at Eton school. This was the most successful meet of the season as St Paul’s came 3rd overall, despite only having three athletes from the Sixth and Upper Eighth forms. Another huge congratulations goes to Jaydon Ekpo for his outstanding win in the 200m with a time of 23.35s, and to Alex Pama for winning the shot put competition with a distance of 12.65m. Tom Street also set a new PB of 50.92s in the 400m, coming in a very close second place. A special mention goes to Louis Nuthall, Eli Darko, Manny Dell and Luke Jeffries for winning their respective events too.

A special mention for Alex Pama (Lower Eighth) who won the Marler Trophy for the Best Performance of the Season for breaking the school Shot Put record with an astonishing throw of 14.01 metres at the Marlborough College Athletics Meeting.I would also like to mention Ka Lum Chew who ran every athletics meeting for the Senior team in the 100m and 200m despite only being in year 10.

Ka Lum put in some very impressive times and he is definitely one to look out for in the next few years.

The last five years of athletics at St Paul’s has been a great experience for me and I have enjoyed each and every season. Unfortunately, COVID disrupted the 2020 season, meaning I couldn’t compete as a Sixth former. However, my season as a lower Eighth student was a great bounce back into athletics from a long time off and was a great transition into my final year at the school. Highlights of the last five years include watching David Nartey setting a new SPS record at 1.98m in high jump, setting a new school record in the four by 200m relay with James Grindle, Greg Zoppos and Tom White, and watching Harry Grindle set the 100m school record of 10.7s.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff that have given up their time to help out with the athletes this season: Mr Maguire, Mr. Blurton, Mr. Quinn, Mr. Blake, Mr. Harrison, Dr. Bennett, Mr Strang and Dr Hemery. It’s been a great five years and I look forward to hearing about the continued progress for the SPS athletics squad in the future. ❚

Yonni Kobrin

SPS Captain of Athletics

Achilles Relays 2022

SPS Year 10 boys had a successful day at this year’s Achilles Relays held at the Roger Bannister Stadium in Oxford.

First up was the Sandy Duncan Trophy. Our 4 x 100m U17 team was made up of Ka Lum Chew, Manny Dell, Jadon Ekpo and Alex Toledano. After a below par heat where the boys finished 3rd, they took themselves off for some relay baton training and returned, feeling more confident and motivated to finish 2nd in the final losing out to Milfield, and running an impressive 46.4s

Next up was the Bevill Rudd Trophy. Our 4 x 200m U17 team consisted of Connel Nelson, Jadon Ekpo, Timothy Hinkis and Alex Toledano. With the smoothest of changeovers the boys finished 1st in a phenomenal 1.38.1s and in doing so, getting their revenge on Milfield who finished in 2nd place.

Our final event of the day was the Under 17 4 x 400m, also known as the Christopher Brasher Trophy. Our team consisted of Cameron McConnon, Fraser White, Rory McConnon, Benjy Street and Connel Nelson. Each and every boy pushed themselves to their absolute limits, finishing a superb final in 2nd place in a time of 3:45s.

This really is an outstanding team achievement considering all the boys are a year young and will be able to compete in the same age group next year. All the boys involved made it a very proud day for the St Paul’s Athletics Club and are a credit to the school. ❚

Mr A. Maguire Head of Athletics

Basketball

After an absence of external competition in 2020/21 due to the pandemic regulations, the 2021/22 season started with much promise for the senior team. Composed of Upper Eighth, Lower Eighth and Sixth form boys, the team narrowly defeated Charterhouse in the first fixture of the year before succumbing away to Whitgift in the LISBA league in September.

However, the impact of COVID was continuing to have an effect on the season as the seniors had no fixtures for 3 months due to a series of cancellations and all chances of qualifying for the end of season playoffs evaporated. A return to competitive action in January saw the visit of KCS and, despite a spirited defensive performance, the seniors went down to the eventual LISBA winners. With only pride to play for and eager to end another interrupted season on a high, the team welcomed rival Dulwich College in early March and, in a game for the ages, triumphed 66-64 to record a famous victory and

Our plan is to continue to increase basketball opportunities for our pupils.

finish the year with a 2-2 record. Even more impressive was the fact that, due to a number of injuries and absences, débuts were given to a number of players from the lower years. Perhaps fittingly, it was the youngest member of the team, 13 year old Eli Darko, who delivered a man of the match performance.

The end of year is always a time for reflection as we consider those who are moving on from St Paul’s. In particular, this year’s captain, Nicolo Sartori di Borgoricco, who has been a stalwart of St Paul’s basketball since the Fourth Form deserves considerable recognition for his leadership and dedication to the team. Other graduating Upper Eighth players include vice captain Kaan Akyol, Ektor Clark, Giancarlo Ramirez, Yonni Kobrin, Hugo Berman, Tarka English, Jake Bidwell, Jonah Bretherton, William Hitchcock, Assad Osman, and Malachi Cohen. They are all worthy of celebration for their contributions to the basketball team. With a talented group of Lower Eighth boys such as Maxim Botbol, Sebastian Elliot, Sebastian Vanger De Madariaga, Frederick Dehmel, Aris Stephanakis, Felix Kachingwe, and Alexander Tanielian amongst others, the future is bright for the team for the upcoming season. Across the lower year groups, there have also been worthy contributions from Sixth formers Lucian Mandic, Bobby Sice, Riccardo Sartori di Borgoricco, Isiah Sarne, Khem Dhillon, and Xander Szerkowski, as well as 5th formers Finn Johnsson, Marco Benedetti, Monty Brown, George Sakellariou, Nicolas Groeller, and Angus Roberts.

Special mention must go to this year’s Fourth formers who have practised this year with such commitment and passion that next year we have entered a team in the LISBA U15’s. They are a particularly talented group who embrace competition and include Andrew Berko-Boateng, Inigo Conolly, Zak Nathoo, Oliver Whale, Izu Anajuba, Elijah Hountondji, Oliver Destito, Jamie Horley, Eli Darko, Rayaan Naqvi, Alex Speciale, Luca Speciale, Wenjia Huang, Ravi Walker, and Alexander Moreno amongst others. Their success has been the by-product of the increasing rate of participation in St Paul’s Juniors supported by Mr Stewart, Mr Malik and

Mr Lucas. This past year has also seen the emergence of dedicated teams of boys in a number of year groups including U3rds, L3rds and L2nds who have participated in fixtures against local schools like Latymer Upper and Notting Hill Prep providing a pathway for basketball through to the senior school. Our plan is to continue to strengthen this in the upcoming year and increase basketball opportunities for our pupils.

Finally, the community service work of the Lower Eighth boys, particularly David Xu, Nao Matshushita, Sebastian Elliot, Sebastian Vanger De Madariaga, Frederick Dehmel, Aris Stephanakis, and Federico Nanni, in bringing basketball to local primary school children this past year to help them get active after the lockdown restrictions were lifted deserves recognition. This has included assisting delivering external weekly coaching sessions and coaching weekend games alongside organising and officiating primary school tournaments for 100+ children. It’s been particularly pleasing to see these students transmit their passion for basketball to younger children and provide a foundation and legacy for basketball development, both within St Paul’s and in the local community, for years to come. ❚

Frank Lamptey

1ST XI

There was much promise for the first full season back since the pandemic, with the need for bubbling being relinquished making way for a new young side to show what they can produce. With Mr Briers leading the winter academy sessions throughout the autumn and spring terms, there was much excitement leading into pre season and the first match vs the Old Pauline club, coming out with a victory thanks to tight bowling from Darshy Pandey and Josh Brecker up front and some sensible batting from Anthony Hillman and Will Thomas to see St Paul’s home. This was nicely followed up by victory over Dulwich College, showcasing a very clinical performance and giving a glimpse of what can be achieved when the team executes their skills.

Narrow defeats to Berkhamsted, Cranleigh, Merchant Taylors and Trinity Croydon in the latter fixtures before the half term however showed that although there was much potential, maturity and perseverance still needed to be shown to prove the quality of the side. However, 83 and 57 respectively for Krish Patel and Nikhil Malik vs Cranleigh, along with consistent wickets from Hyder Butt, Arjun Rajkumar and Aaryan Patel showed the team were still able to compete against some very strong cricketing schools – just more time and experience was needed to capitalise on winning positions.

After a few weekends away to concentrate on exams, the team came back against RGS Guildford for one of the most sensational games of cricket many had the pleasure to witness. Batting first, St Paul’s amassed 381 off their 50 overs, with Anthony Hillman scoring 109* (his maiden 1st XI hundred) and Krish Patel scoring 194 off 125 balls. As far as records indicate, in a limited overs match, this is a school record for both the highest team and individual total during post war times. In response, RGS Guildford were bowled out for 158 with wickets shared all around, giving St Paul’s victory by 228 runs (a record once again). This was truly sensational

and showed the level of performance the team can produce when they execute their skills.

The regular season finished against Reed’s school in a tightly fought contest with several A Level students coming back from exams to finish the season. Chasing 202 for victory (with wickets for Hyder, Arjun and 4 for Nikhil), we had a difficult start losing Krish in the early overs. Some counter attacking play from Nikhil Malik (57) and a rear guard fight from Aaryan Patel (50) however brought us back into a winning position, with Rory Walter and Mani Collins bringing us home showing good temperament and patience at the death. With the annual festival and The Leys school and MCC matches to come, there is still time and opportunities for this team to show their potential and build upon many of the successes shown previously.

Overall, there are many successes to be drawn from this season. We came into the season knowing that with such

a young side, time and patience would be needed to allow our players the chance to display their talents and push for success. Krish Patel (6th form) leading the way as captain and with the runs (in total), showcasing all the skill and experience he has gained from being with the Surrey academy and regularly setting the tone for the team in the field. Nikhil Malik (5th form) coming in as our regular opener and setting the tone both with bat and ball is an exciting prospect moving forward and the safe hands of Anthony Hillman (6th form) behind the stumps has allowed our bowlers the freedom to play with more confidence. Matthew Smith (U8) provided us with some much needed experience and patience in the middle order (notably including 33 of 92 balls vs Merchant Taylors, nearly bring us to victory) and William Thomas (L8) with some match winning knocks, notably 45* against the old Pauline Club. Rory Walter (6th form), although never not yet fulfilling the potential he’s shown with the bat, has been a reliable option with the ball when required and always

putting 100% when out in the field. The spinning combination of Hyder Butt (U8) and Arjun Rajkumar (L8) provided stability in the bowling order, with high levels of pressure often proving fruitful with regular wickets (wickets respectively for the season) and showing what the importance of what bowling in combination can offer to a team. Leading the attack with Aaryan Patel and his leg spin proved successful on many occasions (wickets in total), with seam from Josh Brecker (L8), Jacob Leigh (L8), and Arav Patel (U8) providing the attacking option when the situation required.

Contributions from Ned Bowman (6th form), Mani Collins (6th form), Freddie Katzenellenbogen (6th form), Thomas Jensen (U8), and George Livesey (U8) showed our depth as a school and potential available to us in years to come.

Special thanks needs to be given to Nigel Briers for his continued contributions to both the 1st XI and St Paul’s cricket as a whole, with his vast knowledge and experience helping drive our cricketers ➦

to be the best they can be, whilst setting the highest standards possible. Thanks must also be given to the many groundsmen, caterers, and site security officers for their continued support and endless hours put in behind the scenes to ensure the season could run as smoothly as it did. Thanks also needs to be given to the parents and supporters for their continued support, both on match days and everything done with the boys behind the scenes.

Finally, our thanks go to Alex Wilson for all the time and effort put in during the first two terms in organising many of the pivotal aspects for this season. Having been within the school for many years and running the 1st XI for the last six, the time, passion, and dedication needed to organise an entire cricket seasons fixtures, teams, coaches, transport, umpires, kit, balls, and catering (just to name a few) is no small task and ones that are pivotal to ensure a successful season can operate. Thank you for everything you have done for St Paul’s cricket Alex, both this year and previously and we wish you a very happy and relaxing retirement.

Exciting times for the years to come: thank you to all who made it possible. ❚ SXR

2ND XI

What a season we had in the second XI, with some classic performances. With 3 wins and 5 loses some might say it has not been the most successful of seasons for the 2nd XI, but off the back of Coronavirus forcing us to perform cricket within years groups, the 2nd XI united across three year groups and developed an excellent team spirit. Close losses against Berkhamsted and Dulwich were not an ideal start to the season, but our performances showed plenty of promise and the prospect of future victories. As players found their rhythm and grew accustomed to the demand set by our opposition, great performances started to appear. Yusuf Kundgol was an excellent addition to the team, constantly threatening both edges. Rahul de Silva developed nicely, his ability to turn the ball round corners inspiring fear in the most confident batter. Euan Beattie’s 50 against RGS Guildford was a masterpiece that saw us over the line in a tight encounter (with the background of an animated scoreboard!). Ned’s bowling constantly improved, and his performance against RGS was a fierce display of pace.

One of our finest moments was squeezing a 1 run victory against Trinity. Under the pressure of some tight spinners, Freddie Katz was masterful and despite a belligerent knock of 70-odd from a Quins rugby player (hitting sixes reminiscent of Julius Turley in the U17As), we managed to hold our nerve and finish the job in memorable fashion.

A highlight of the season has to be Sam Monro-Davies’ classic 46, in which he rescued a sinking ship at 50-5 against Reeds, steering the team to a famous win – a metaphor which can be applied generally to Sam all season. The second half of the term was much more indicative of the raw talent and ability of our players. With so many Sixth Form and Lower Eighths in our team, the 2nd XI’s future looks promising. We finished the season strong with 3 wins in 4 games, ending the season with high spirits, as we look forward to Mr Taylor taking a spritely bowling attack to a spectacular season next year – here’s to an unbeaten 2023 & 2024! ❚

Thomas Jensen, Sam Monro-Davies and Mr Taylor

3RD XI

The 3rd XI enjoyed a successful year, winning 5 games and suffering just the single loss, the best record of any St Paul’s team across the summer. A large range of players made appearances for the third XI, which was captained by Yusuf Kundgol, Vir Kapur, and Eddie Jones for 2 games each.

In the opening game of the season against Berkhamsted we batted first and quickly began to take the game away from them. Many of the team contributed, but it was Niko Dahl and Danyal Nanci who each scored quick 40s to put us in a commanding position. From there the team put together an outstanding performance with the ball and in the field, with Yusuf Kundgol taking 5 wickets, leaving us with a comfortable win in our first game of the season.

Our second game, at home to Dulwich, was played on the infamous Hammersmith ‘dustbowl’. Bowling first we took early wickets courtesy of the consistent George Livesey before soon turning to spin, with Yusuf once again claiming a 5-fer. This proved to be a poor decision on his part as he soon was moved up into the 2nd XI. After bowling them out for just 60, tea was

taken with us cruising at 20-0, but things soon turned awry. A massive collapse saw us needing the final wicket to provide the final 10 runs, but cool heads and calm batting from the tail gave us back to back victories.

The third fixture of the season was home again, versus Cranleigh, and was our single loss of the season. In a 30 over game they racked up 160 with some impressive batting from their middle order, although we dragged the game back slightly with some impressive death bowling. Our response started positively but a middle order collapse led to our only defeat of the season.

Next up we played Merchant Taylor’s away, one of the most important fixtures of the season. Batting first Luke Magalhaes anchored the innings with a brilliant 76 which propelled us to an above par score. A team bowling effort put us in a great position with 5 overs left to go, and despite a few late blows from Merchant Taylor’s we brought home a narrow victory.

Following the half term we returned to face Hampton, and brought with us our best team performance of the season. After losing the toss and being told to

bowl we were put under some early pressure, before Jamie Grimstone took 4 wickets in 9 balls to turn the tide of the innings. We too started well with the bat as Euan Beattie scored 30, and though wickets fell through the middle overs we kept the run rate above what was required for the entire innings, meaning that despite a few late wickets Varen was able to blast us across the line with 24 from just 10 deliveries.

Finally we rounded the season off with a fantastic batting display at Reeds, led by Henry Harrison. With short boundaries we got off to a flyer, before Henry came to the middle to smash 80 from just 50 balls, blasting us up to a massive 210 from 25 overs. Early wickets perhaps brought a fraction of complacency into our game, allowing Reeds to bring the required rate down to under 10 with 10 overs left to play, but we held our nerve as a team and were helped by an excellent spell from Rufus to end the season with another win.

We ended the season as the ‘winningest’ team of the season, as Mr Stewart enjoyed telling us often. ❚

Eddie Jones

U15A

U15 Middlesex County Cup Champions

Never has the term “a season of two halves” been more appropriate than for this U15A cricket team. We began the year by welcoming Berkhamsted on a windy Saturday in April and, despite admirable efforts with the bat from the tail, it was clear we were still a little rusty in all three departments as we lost comfortably to a strong side. One loss soon became two as the following week we fell agonisingly short in the run chase against Dulwich, a game we really should have won. Soon the losses began to pile up: a heavy defeat at the hands of Merchant Taylor’s (bear this in mind for later), two more narrow losses against Cranleigh, which saw a fantastic spell of bowling from Alexander Hogben, and Trinity, where Sebastian Jones scored a battling 50, and another bruising loss at the hands of Hampton (remember this one for later as well…).

Despite losing our first six games, there was still a glimmer of hope in the dressing room. This was the knowledge of something bigger and better than just Saturday friendlies: the Middlesex County Cup – the crème de la crème of U15 cricket. After a couple of bye rounds, we found ourselves in a quarter final against Latymer Grammar at home on the 1st XI pitch, where a captain’s knock of 61 not out from Sai Bhatia steered us from trouble to 147 from

our 20 overs. Despite a wobbly start with the ball, we got the job done and secured our first win as we marched into our semi-final tie away at Merchant Taylor’s. After being put into bat and with the wounds still fresh from the defeat on the same square a few weeks prior, Nikhil Malik anchored the innings with a superb 86 not out as we posted 147. A fantastic all round team bowling and fielding performance then followed. Aneesh Chaudhary was metronomic with the new ball and Nicholas Weeks and Sameer Shukla were equally impressive as we proceeded to restrict the opposition to just 113 in their 20 overs, giving us a stunning victory and one that set up a cup final against Hampton.

Before the final however, we faced a strong Reed’s side in our final Saturday game of the season. The bowling was led by Weeks who took 3-8 off 5 overs and this was backed up by an excellent team fielding performance as we bowled them out for 145. The chase was anchored by Rishi Shukla’s 69 not out as we cruised to an 8 wicket win. For the first time in the season, we had found some momentum and we had a further boost when we discovered the cup final would be at home on the 1st XI pitch. We sensed an opportunity to erase the hurt of the earlier defeats by clinching silverware. With no powerplays and big

boundaries it was always going to be a low scorer. Malik and Sam Francombe (from the U14s) dug in and ground out a somewhat solid start. However, both openers fell in quick succession to leave us in a bit of a hole. R. Shukla, Jones and Amar Ali (also from the U14s) all hit priceless 20s, as we limped to 117 in our 20 overs. As the team ventured out with a rapidly increasing crowd with lessons finished for the day, the task of defending seemed mammoth. Switched-on S. Shukla starred with the new ball as we squeezed them early on. Weeks found movement, Malik found turn and Amaan Mathur and Chaudhary found pace. With the whole year and half the common room watching, including the High Master, and Dr Langley’s nerves shredded on the boundary, S. Shukla closed it out in style. This was followed by a pitch invasion which showed just how much this win means to our school. The cup final win was followed by a win at Tiffin the following day, securing our fourth win in a row –a great way to end the term. Thank you to Dr Langley and Mr Slaney for coaching us this season. ❚

Sai Singh Bhatia

Cricket U15B

The U15B team improved significantly throughout the season, ending with a respectable record of 5 wins, 3 losses and a tie from our 9 matches. We started against Berkhamsted and made a brilliant start with the ball, with Mikael Khan taking 3-19 from his 5 overs, before some wayward bowling meant we were set 139 for victory. Aditya Coondapoor and Mayur Apte put on 78 for the first wicket but when their wickets fell in quick succession, it instigated a flurry of soft dismissals that would cost us the game.

We turned in another impressive bowling performance against Dulwich, and restricted them to 105. However, we soon found ourselves 22/4 after a cluster of top order wickets, and required a quickfire 25 from Alex Pelling and some last wicket heroics from Noah Horne and Billy Grimstone to escape with a tie.

We then had our first away fixture: against Cranleigh. Batting first, regular wickets prevented us from accelerating, but we still made 126/6 after 25 overs. Unfortunately, our bowling and fielding display was sloppy, resulting in a deserved six wicket defeat.

After a tough team talk from Mr Harris in midweek, we were better in the field against Merchant Taylor’s, reducing them to 61/6 thanks to a fantastic spell of 3/9 from Khan, before being set 136 to win. Our batting unit finally came together, with Coondapoor anchoring the innings from the top of the order, leaving Chiran Perera and Daniel Taylor to finish with a flourish and claim our first win of the season.

We continued this momentum into a T20 against Trinity’s with some good bowling by the spinners and an excellent fielding display that included 3 run outs and a fantastic diving catch by Khan, restricting Trinity to 131/7. A 10 ball 18 from Pelling set the stage for a match winning partnership between Kanishk Srivastava (40) and Perera (40*).

After half-term, we faced Hampton, widely known to be the best U15B side on the circuit, with a formidable record of 18 wins from their last 19 games.

Batting first, we stuttered against their skillful opening bowlers, before throwing away our wickets to their loopy off spinner. Thankfully, Aarush came to the rescue at no.8, with a fluent 26 that helped us to 105 all out. Without Perera and Khan, we knew that defending such a low score would be a tough task but Srivastava took the new ball with his leg spin and soon had 3 crucial top order wickets for just 5 runs between them. However, their number 3 batsmen remained, steadily accumulating runs while Armaan Malhotra took regular wickets and Ranjan backed up his batting with a remarkably economical spell. With the pressure rising, Horne trapped the dangerous number 3 lbw for 30, leaving just their tail to score the remaining 44 runs. From there, we held our nerve, bowling Hampton out for 83, claiming a memorable victory against one of the most reputable cricket schools in London.

Unfortunately, an Ancient History trip and some vacancies in the As depleted us of half of our first choice team and most of our batsmen against RGS Guildford. Despite a battling 22 from Shiven Sahoo, we were bowled out for just 78 and suffered a comprehensive eight wicket defeat.

We were back to full strength against Reed’s, but struggled batting first on a difficult Hammersmith wicket, and were bowled out for 107. Despite some accurate bowling, the Reed’s top order held firm, and they reached 63-1. With the game slipping, stand-in-captain Aidan Malhotra rallied the troops, brought himself on and broke the partnership with a crucial wicket. We then pounced on the opening, Perera claiming 2 wickets in an over and Armaan Malhotra taking a game-changing hat trick, and we bowled them out for 99, claiming a second comeback victory of the season, sparking jubilous celebrations across Big-side.

We finished the season with a T20 against Tiffin, making 161/3 batting first on a sticky wicket, Coondapoor setting the foundation with 46 before Perera made hay with an excellent 59*, and Tom Abrahams finished well. Armaan Malhotra bowled an excellent spell of

1/10 of 5 overs, Apte took a stunning catch behind the wicket, and we emerged comfortable winners by 26 runs.

Amongst the bowlers, Armaan Malhotra finished as the leading wicket taker with 12 (average of 11.8), his spin twin Khan took 9 wickets, Horne found movement with the new ball, and Ranjan went from an expensive wicket taker in April to an economic and reliable bowler by July. With the bat, opener Coondapoor made 131 runs and provided solid platforms, Pelling had an incredible strike rate of 136 and Abrahams played positively in the middle order. However, the player of the season was Perera, who made 165 runs at 41.3 and took 9 wickets at

12.6. The presence of an all-rounder who could bat at 4 and take the new ball was vital, and only a freak wrist injury prevented him from getting a deserved debut for the A team.

Special thanks must go to Aidan Malhotra, who was a trusty vice-captain and filled in excellently for Coondapoor against Reeds and Guildford, and Mr Harris for converting us from a talented but raw group of players to the far more balanced and accomplished outfit that won 5 out of our last 6 games. ❚ Aditya Coondapoor

U15C Courage. Capability. Cooperation. These three words accurately summarise the U15C team for cricket in 2022, even if the results did not all go our way. We finished the season with three wins and five losses, which is brilliant considering we fielded a staggering 30 players throughout the season.

To open our season, we had a home fixture against Berkhamsted. Despite some heroic batting from Henry Smith (0* from 17) and Rohan George (25* from 36), our bowling attack was simply not up to scratch, and after giving 30 runs in extras, we succumbed to an 8 wicket loss. We then went out onto the tiniest pitch St Paul’s School has to

offer, and our batting line-up truly took advantage. 60s were hit by Tom Abrahams and Rohan, while Tom Monro steadied us with a solid 40. Arvin Sahota returned with figures of 4-3 from three overs before he had to quickly dash to a wedding (not his). The mighty Cs cruised to an 88 run win.

Unfortunately, our top order decided to collapse in our first away game at Cranleigh and we were left 0-2 after the first over. Nevertheless, Rohan decided to build an innings, with a score of 51 and a partnership of 90 with Lucas Nahal, with the two of them leading the team to a total of 139. Unfortunately, they had a very large golf player, and

combined with some woeful fielding, we lost by six wickets in the last over. We then suffered an unfortunate drubbing by Merchant Taylor’s, losing by six wickets after we faltered to 57. Likewise, in our first week back after exams, Hampton away would always prove tough, and after an initially positive start, we ended up losing by 148 runs. The next week, after three stalwarts of the C team got moved up to the Bs, it was always going to be tough, but with 6 non-cricket imports coming in, we fought hard and brought the game to the last couple of overs before losing by six wickets.

For our last home match against Reeds, we pulled off an immense bowling performance to limit them to a mere 119 runs from 30 overs, before the inevitable top order collapse took place. It was up to number 10, Jamie Gill to steer the ship home, which he did successfully. For our final match, away at Tiffin, it was going to be a tough one as half the team was missing. Nevertheless, sub-captain Arvin Sahota led us to a thrilling final ball win, with débutante Raph G-D getting the last wicket with a run out. While this team may not have had the most success on the pitch, we have brought people from many other sports in, tried our hardest and, most of all, had fun. Special thanks to Mr Wishart, Mr Elway and Mr Harrison, who had to deal with us in training. ❚

U14A

Our season started off well with a win at Berkhamsted, after a shaky batting start, Sam Francombe stepped up and scored a crucial 100 to take us to a competitive total against a decent Berkhamsted team. Then with some excellent bowling, especially by Tom Ritchie and some inventive keeping by Shrivishnu Datla, we managed to contain Berkhamsted to a low score on a good wicket and kick start our season off with a good win away.

Then we beat Isleworth and Syon school comfortably in the first round of the Middlesex Cup and again beat Dulwich by 10 wickets with two fifties from the openers Sam and Amar Ali. Then came our biggest test so far against Cranleigh, in which our usually quite reliable top order struggled, and we laboured to a score of around 110. So, we knew we had a big job on our hands to defend this low total against a strong Cranleigh batting line-up, but up stepped our bowlers to bowl magnificently and bowl Cranleigh out for a modest score under 100.

Next, we travelled away to Hampton for the Middlesex County Cup second round, where we batted first against a very strong Hampton side. We started well with only one wicket falling in the first 10 overs. It was an unusually slow start for us, but then Vishnu and Sam picked up the pace, taking a particular liking to Hampton’s key bowler, and taking us to an above par score which gave Hampton a sizeable chase. Our bowling started well, keeping Hampton to a low run rate but few wickets fell so we knew we needed a strong few middle overs and that was what we did, taking a few quick wickets with special mention to Freddie Hammond Giles with an excellent run out to get rid of their key batsman. We kept the late overs tight and took home a good victory by 12 runs.

Next came our biggest challenge of the season against an extremely strong Merchant Taylor’s team, we bowled first and restricted them to a low total with some excellent bowling and fielding all

round. The total was just below par, but the pitch was not the best for batting as we found out in our innings as our top and middle order failed, so we had to rely on our lower order which took us close to Merchant Taylor’s total but not close enough and we took our first loss of the season. Next came a comfortable victory against Trinity School with our opening bowlers, Fergus De Mestre and Saahil Gani, bowling extremely tight lines and putting the Trinity Batsmen under immense pressure. We then chased their total down with room to spare and moved onto our County Cup Semi Final. This was against Highgate in which we took a very comfortable a decent batting performance and an excellent bowling performance to bowl them out for very few runs.

Then, we played Hampton for the second time, this time around taking a more comfortable victory with an excellent bowling performance and a calculated chase. Then we played RGS Guildford, in which we took another comfortable win. Next came our County Cup Final against Merchant Taylors’, in which a poor fielding display allowed one of their Batsman score 150 and take them to a very competitive score. In our chase, we lost a few early wickets which meant we were constantly chasing the game and, unfortunately, we lost narrowly. Next, we had our last Saturday fixture against Reed’s School: we batted first on a bowling pitch, with an extremely fast outfield, and set a competitive total with yet another magnificent hundred from Sam Francombe and a good cameo at the back end of the innings by Dev Patel. In our defence of the total, we bowled tight and got rid of a blossoming partnership by the Reed’s middle order to take home another victory.

Then came our last game of the season against Tiffin and we took home another comfortable victory to round off an excellent season in which there were many standout performances but some great team performances as well. ❚

Daniel Jansen

U14C

The U14Cs had a slightly unsuccessful season, but one nevertheless filled with many memorable moments. While we may not have many results to show for our work, we can pride ourselves on the fact that we never gave up – even when it seemed that we were going to lose matches, we managed to make them close encounters, with many outstanding individual performances.

We began our season with early success against Berkhamsted, restricting them to under 100 runs with tight bowling. After this, a solid performance from our batting unit steered us to our first win of the season in our opening game.

Our season continued with a tough series of encounters against Cranleigh, Merchant Taylors’ and Hampton – all of them formidable sides. Against Cranleigh, we put up a defendable total, after contributions from Luca Tresigne and Francesco Verri. And while it seemed that their batsmen would chase down the target easily, our bowlers managed to stretch the game into the final overs –

taking 6 wickets and making the loss narrow. Our next encounters against Merchant Taylors’ and Hampton were our closest matches of the season. Substantial scores in both games –including a fifty from Vyom Chamaria, and two quick-fire innings by Luca Tresigne – brought us to exhilarating last over finishes. We took the game to the last ball against Merchant Taylors’ losing by only 4 runs, and almost chased a seemingly impossible 75 off 5 overs against Hampton. It was made clear to us that we needed to improve our fielding, as we would have won both matches if not for costly errors in the field. These two games, especially the latter, were remarkable as we were determined to win even in the most unlikely scenarios.

In our following encounter with RGS, we were bowled out for a paltry total of 98 and the odds were stacked against us. We did not let the game slip from our grasp though, as good spells of bowling from Hari Dattani, Rohan Pillai, and Neel Narayanan meant we had a chance for

the majority of the contest. Next, against West London Free School – one of our last games of the season – we were determined to pick up a win after a string of losses. Most of our bowlers picked up at least one wicket, resulting in us bowling them out for a small total of 66. Our top three batters then ensured that the chase was dealt with ease, leading us to a victory in which all members of the team contributed.

While the season of the U14Cs may not have been as successful as we had hoped, there are many positives to take from it into the future: the most important is our ability to never give up in difficult situations. We would like to thank our coaches Mr Jones and Dr McDonnell; this season would not have been possible without them. Furthermore, we would also like to thank James Shi, Wenjia Huang and especially Max Wiseman, who stepped in for us when we were short of players. ❚ Neel Narayanan and Rohan Pillai

Fencing

The fencing team has had a great season and enjoyed many achievements. The main event this year was the Public Schools Fencing Competition against hundreds of fencers from different schools over Greater London. It was an exciting but also highly competitive event. Altan Mardin led the way in the Junior Epée category and came 3rd out of 122, while Julian Amore placed 19th in the Senior Foil category. The thrill and incredible mix of accomplishment, exhaustion, and determination you feel during those high stakes bouts will never be matched: often, winning or losing would come down to a single

point gained in a fraction of a second. Immersed in the moment and tracking your opponent’s weapon intensely as if in slow motion, hours and hours of training come down to a split second decision such as whether to parry or counter an attack.

During the spring term, we came second in the quadrangular event against Eton, St Benedict’s, and Latymer. We played many more matches: winning, for example, against Westminster. It was rewarding to compete in both relay match formats (for example against our close rivals St Benedict’s, where we had

to work tactically and collectively as a team in order to win) and pool matches (for example against Harrow). At the highly anticipated SPS school championships, Julian Amore won Foil, Altan Mardin won epée and Charles Amsellem won sabre; it was good to see everyone participating and enjoying the competitive atmosphere. There was a strong team spirit and sportsmanship in both friendly and competitive matches as well as during training. Lastly, fencing would not be what it is without Lance and Oksana’s energy and incredible coaching. ❚

Charles Amsellem

Fives

Unusually, things kicked off in August, at Alleyn’s, with the 2021 National Schools tournament (postponed from April). Leavers Ben Pymont, Luke Jopling and Gus Goulding dusted off their gloves and played some surprisingly good fives – given how long ago they had last been on court and how little cardiovascular training they had evidently been doing over the summer. Ben Pymont made it to the plate final, where he faced current Upper Eighth Benny Harrison – who emerged the winner 15-12. Upper Eighth Alex Ridley had an agonising 12-10, 11-9

loss in the first round, and Ben Roberts was knocked out in the QFs.

Five entered the U14 tournament: Alex Hogben, Dan Hughes, Kyle Hay, Zach Tydeman and Aarush Ranja. Alex and Dan (who had played about 30 mins of fives in his life but does not like to lose) both made it out of the group stage, with Alex losing in the QFs in two close games.

In the U16s, only the always-keen Charles Calzia entered. He won his group and his first knockout match but lost in the QF.

Charles then teamed up with Zach, one of our U14s, in the doubles and lost their first match but got to the semis of the plate. At this point, Zach and his parents were actually considering altering their foreign travel plans to allow Zach to carry on, before a sub from Alleyn’s volunteered to play with Charles – and they went on to win an excellent final 12-10, 11-8 against Marlborough.

The Winchester Doubles tournament was held at Winchester, in mid-November, as usual. Winchester fives is very similar to the Rugby fives game we play at SPS, but about a third of the way from the front there is a 20cm wide buttress in the left wall, where the court narrows, creating exciting possibilities for anyone able to hit the ball onto the buttress, and, harder still, to retrieve it when it flies forwards. Upper Eighths Ben Roberts and Aiden Whitham were our first pair, with Lower Eighths Charles Calzia and Will Sauvel-Porter our second – all trying Winchester fives for the first time. SPS 1 beat a young Stamford pair, then Tonbridge, to reach the semis but lost to Alleyn’s – playing intelligently and finding the buttress more and more, but not quite often enough. Charles and Will lost in the QFs to the eventual tournament winners from Winchester – who were obviously very familiar with the courts. Everyone agreed that it was a great feeling to hit the buttress.

For the West of England tournament in Sherborne in January, our entries were restricted, so only six players took part: Upper Eighths Ben Roberts, Aiden Whitham, Benny Harrison and Alex Ridley, and Sixth Formers Fintan Delaney and Rufus Goodman.

In the U16 singles, things mostly went according to seeding – with Rufus losing out to fourth seed Milner of Alleyn’s in the first round. Fintan settled down quickly in his first match, playing a disciplined and effective game, and then he swept aside Milner in the QF with some superb retrieving and accurate serving. Drawing on his deep rowing fitness in the SF, Fintan very nearly took out the top seed from Winchester, losing 11-9 in the third game. Rufus got better ➦

Upper Eighths (L-R) Ben Roberts, Aiden Whitham, Alex Ridley & Benny Harrison in Sherborne for the West of England tournament

The ten U14 Pauline entrants for the Fives Nationals

and better as the day went on, losing 15-13 in the plate final. Then GCSE mocks revision pulled them back to London, rather than competing in the doubles.

In the Open singles, in the second round, Alex Ridley was unfortunate to come up against a player with explosive power who should have been seeded much higher! Alex nearly took the match to a third game decider, but in the end had to settle for winning the plate. The other three seniors made it to the QFs but no farther. Aiden’s match against the tournament 4th seed from Winchester was the pick – with Aiden taking the second game with superb accuracy and range, before narrowly losing the deciding game (11-8).

In the Open doubles, the early rounds created a few scares – when Tonbridge made Alex and Benny work hard for their 11-5, 12-11 win and Aiden and Ben were forced to claw their way back from 10-3 down (playing to 11) to close out their 2nd round match. The SFs were wonderfully intense affairs, with long rallies and superb retrieving, as the two St Paul’s pairs each came close to making their matches go the distance. All four Paulines produced moments of absolutely outstanding doubles play, before succumbing.

The highlights of the Spring term were: our seniors beating Tonbridge; the B Roberts & A Whitham vs S Roberts & D Whitham showdown in the match

Conway Cup Senior Singles: Aiden Whitham (Benny Harrison runner up)

The ‘Captain’s Cup’ (most improved senior player): Charles Calzia

The King Cup (most improved junior player): Milan Bilagi

Senior Colours: Aiden Whitham, Ben Roberts, Alex Ridley, Benny Harrison, Monty Brown, Charles Calzia and Will Sauvel-Porter

U16 Colours: Fintan Delaney, Neil Prabhu

U15 Colours: Alex Hogben

U14 Colours: Freddie Hammond Giles, Patrick Monro-Davies, Hari Dattani, Edward Calzia, Alex Twinch, Milan Bilagi, Josh Ferro, Eli Darko

against the Old Paulines; Sixth formers Neil Prabhu and Fintan Delaney beating Winchester in the fixture; and Sol Inglis and Alex Tully never giving up (even when they were playing an away fixture on courts as slippery as an ice rink). In the 5th form, highlights included Alex Hogben’s power and accuracy increasing and Nikhil Malik showing great potential. And in the Fourth Form, highlights included Freddie Hammond Giles sticking to his game plan in the face of outrageous volleying from Berkhamsted, Eli Darko hitting the ball so cleanly (without bothering to move his feet), and Milan Bilagi, Hari Dattani and Edward Calzia never wanting to leave the fives courts.

Finally, there were the 2022 Nationals in April… With the exception of Benny Harrison’s loss in the quarter final in the U18 singles (his most complete performance of the year), Neil Prabhu’s tactical astuteness (to win the U16 singles plate), and Alex Hogben’s victory in the U16 Bowl (despite some tough games against players a year older), we underperformed – due perhaps to a lack of time on court compared to our opponents. Something to consider for next year.

Thanks to Mr. J Harrison, Mr. A Wilson, Mr. G Harrison (and Dr. Bennett) for their time coaching and overseeing the fixtures. ❚ SJR

Charles Calzia Lower Eighth – winner of the Captain’s Cup for the most improved senior player

Aiden Whitham Upper Eighth – winner of the Conway Cup for Senior Singles

U16s winning against Winchester (L-R) Fintan Delaney & Neil Prabhu

1ST XI

The season kicked off with a friendly game against a very strong Hampton side. The difference in games played between the two sides was apparent but we were still able to show signs of things to come and the game provided a steep learning curve. This was reflected in the ensuing 7-1 away win against Colfe’s in the first round of the London cup with a hat trick from Olly Powell and an excellent finish from Jack Taylor. A strong performance provided the momentum to go into the weekend with a challenge to come in the form of Tonbridge. We endured heavy pressure from the Tonbridge side in the first half with goalkeeper Hyder Butt keeping us in the game with a series of impressive saves. The second half showed heart and an improvement in quality that saw us leave 2-0 winners with goals from Olly Powell and Daniel Monferrer catalysed by Ethan Demol’s substitution onto the pitch which helped us take control of the game.

The next match in the cup against RGS started with a frustrating first half in which we dominated possession but couldn’t generate chances. This dynamic continued into the second half, however greater intensity in the press allowed us to create more chances and win the game 2-0 again with goals from Sasha Shevchuk and Olly Powell.

A long coach journey to Abingdon followed. A relatively comfortable first half demonstrated the boys’ ability to avoid suffering the consequences of the journey as goals from Danny Shai and Kelechi Nwoko put us 2-0 ahead. A lapse of concentration unfortunately let Abingdon grow into the game and they were able to equalise in the last 5 minutes of the game resulting in a frustrating 2-2 draw. Despite frustration, the boys managed to rally up strength for the quarter final of the cup against Highgate. In a game notable for the huge support gathered to watch it, the team delivered a great performance with 4 goals in the second half. Jake Sinclair opened the scoring with a towering header and Olly Powell added another with Daniel Monferrer sealing

Football the game with a final 2. A short two day break led to a disappointing loss to Epsom at home after being up at half-time with a goal from Sasha Gorin Delmas.

Again the boys showed an ability to bounce back and were able to come away 2-0 winners in a performance marked by an impressive defensive effort from our back four of Jake Sinclair, Jack Taylor, Freddie Saunders and Luca Vivian, aided by the huge effort of Gabe Treneman in midfield. Momentum built after another impressive win against St John’s Leatherhead and put us in a good position for the most important week of the season with a cup game and a league deciding game against Dulwich.

Unfortunately, luck was not on our side and we were not able to display the best image of ourselves despite Kelechi Nwoko’s strong performance in the league game to help put the team in front in the first half.

Focus now shifted to preparing for the final game of the season away against Harrow. A friendly against Brentford midweek with Kaan Akyol, Ollie Thompson and Jake Bidwell showed the depth the team has to offer. The team rose to the occasion and members of the team including Sasha Shevchuk, Danny Shai, and Zak Haralambous put in their best performances of the season which were ultimately reflected in the 3-0 scoreline. This was an excellent way

to wrap up the season and perhaps a sign of what might have been.

The whole team would love to thank Mr Warriner for his constant coaching and support throughout the season as well as ensuring our season was as special as possible. Thanks also to Mr Blake and Nico for ensuring that each and every one of us was always in the best condition we could be. We’d also like to thank Umbreen for capturing every special moment through her photography. We would also like to thank the St Paul’s community as a whole for how they have got behind the team this season and hope that the special momentum created this season can continue in years to come. ❚

Dan Monferrer and Jack Taylor

Coach: Luke Warriner

2ND XI

Our 2nd XI season started off with a solid pre-season tour playing the likes of Everton. We then had a pre-season game against Hampton before playing a tough Tonbridge side. In the first half, a goal from Bidwell 30 yards out due to some interesting keeping and a trademark finish from Ben Petter saw us 2-0 up, which made it even more disappointing when we collapsed to draw 2-2. We then beat a Colfes team 10-0 in the cup with hat tricks from Cameron Capper and Petter with Miller Willis being denied his third goal of the game due to their centre back tipping it over the bar.

We followed this with a comfortable 2-0 win against Guildford in the cup and a comeback win 2-1 versus Abingdon. We carried this momentum through half-term: straight after the break we overcame Epsom 1-0 with half a team and then we beat St Edward’s 3-2 AET in the semis with Kelechi Nwoko scoring the winner and subsequently ‘hitting the griddy’ in front of the whole Sixth Form. Then we travelled to Berkhamsted ➦

where we played Berkhamsted in the league and beat them 1-0, despite having only about 4 2nd XI starters. This was largely due to the introduction of 3rd XI players such as Joey Boutros, Will Cronshaw, Victor Mikheev, Seb Vanger and Harry Turner. Seb even claimed MOTM and Harry Turner lobbed the keeper with a fluky goal that secured the win.

We then had a substandard 0-0 draw against St John’s and a disappointing loss to Dulwich, which ended our chance to win the league. Yet when we went to the league leaders Harrow, a thumping

header from Cameron Capper and a 25-yard goal from Miller Willis saw us take home a thoroughly deserved 2-0 victory. The cup final was up next and although we gave it our all, City of London scored a few goals in the last quarter of the game to end our cup journey.

The season was a great success finishing 2nd in the league and getting to the cup semi final. The attack was brilliant all season with numerous options such as Ollie Thompson, Miller Willis, Kaan Akyol, Ben Petter and Cameron Capper. The midfield was also key in

controlling many games with players like Rigan Sun, Max Melton, Jake Bidwell, Felix Johnston and Louis Ezra. The defence kept a huge seven clean sheets all season and consisted of players such as Lukas Klein-Wassink, Harry Hickles, Felix Kachingwe, Max Manoff, Seb Elliot, and Ben Von-Bismarck. Finally, I would like to thank Mr Allen and Mr Clarke on behalf of the team for taking us and leading us to the successes we had this season. ❚

Alex Perkins

Coaches: Jack Allen and Ben Clarke

3RD XI

Despite a couple of unlucky losses to Hampton and Tonbridge at the start of the season and multiple reshufflings of the team, the 3rd XI results greatly improved throughout the season at the hands of Mr Troen. Our first win came at Abingdon where goals from Seb Vanger and Harry Turner helped us finish the game 2-1. In difficult away circumstances, a last minute ‘offside’ call from Mr Troen gave us our first win. With this stride in our step, we managed to beat Epsom

5-0 with goals from Harry Turner, Lysander Kahane, and Yonni Kobrin. Although we had some special new players from the 1st XI, we failed to beat UCS and this was followed by a thrilling 6-4 loss to Berkhamsted. Our next away day took us to St John’s, where Jake Bidwell joined us after a 5k run having failed to turn up to the right pitch. A long, halfway-line freekick from Sami Williams chipped the keeper to secure a 6-3 win after being replaced by Carlo

Garzarelli in goal, who should probably stick to being a right back. Consistently great performances from Zac Stablow, Nikolas Boyd-Carpenter and Senan Bottomley in the midfield helped us to win the ball back in most games and defensive performances from Will Cronshaw and Joey Boutros prevented our earlier fixtures being far worse.

Excluding the two unlucky results at Harrodian and Dulwich, we ended the season with a glorious 6-1 win at Harrow with Harry Turner improving his tally and the defence of Matthew Bird, Arav Patel, and Mattie Wrench only conceding a Maradona-esque goal. With what was probably the only actual turnout of our best team, Troball (route one) paved the way for Harry to win his golden boot. ❚

Matthew Bird

Coach: Nicholas Troen

4TH XI

The return of St Paul’s football meant the return of the 4th XI, who before this season were known for very little. This was soon to change. A mixed start to the season consisting of confident wins and tight losses was made possible by a mixture of ‘Tiki-Taka’ in the midfield carried out by the light feet of Seb Chohhan as well as relentless long balls enabled by Charlie Kafton’s talent in holding up the ball and his spirited conversations with referees. The resilience shown by the attacking masterclasses that led to two last-minute

winners fails to praise the performance of the defence throughout the season.

Victor Mikheev always provided a confident base from which long balls, clearances and miskicks would incite chances up the pitch. These chances were regularly supported by the one-footed wonder Eashan Shah, as well as Giancarlo Ramirez who provided attacking wizardry or defensive strength, depending on where he wanted to play that day. Zain Jelassi never failed to impress in his CAM position, frequently pin-pointing

passes to Kush Gupta, who sometimes worked tirelessly up his flank, flooding the box with crosses and stray shots, always displaying revered performances. The talents of Andre Saldanha-Blackwood made an injury-ridden 4th XI team look like a 15/16 Leicester side. The best strike of the season from Sidd Bailhache was ruled out on the goal line. When Max Iskandar’s talents were scouted after endlessly sifting through 5th XI players, his Cannavoro-esque style proved size isn’t everything. JJ Lim-Fagihi always provided a physical presence. His role was made easy when playing alongside Charlie Pearce, who worked up and down his flank tirelessly. Whilst only occasionally, every time Gib Khan stepped on the field he mesmerised a few spectators. Sadly there was never a mainstay keeper in the team, so hats off to Joe, Kasra, Jamie, Leo, and Kush.

It was an unforgettable season, which, without Mr Schmitt (a tactical mastermind as well as an economics teacher), would have been impossible. To whoever gets the pleasure of captaining this team next season, know it is more than a group of 11 players, 2-3 substitutes, and a coach: it is the team that beat the 3rd XI. ❚

Jamie Fielding

Coach: Sam Schmidt

Football 5TH XI

The 5th XI enjoyed an incredible season. We started the season off with a disappointing 5-1 loss to Tonbridge at home, where a late goal from Ridley showed what was to come for the season. After this first game, our original manager Mr Parris had to leave us and we knew that we had to reassess our game. That’s when we were saved by the one and only Mr Slaney coming in as our new gaffer. With Slaney at the wheel we won our next game against Epsom 3-0, with Buckland opening the scoring, stepping up to bang a top corner penalty. Our victory was also aided by Jan KW, the Swiss Chicharito, stepping onto the pitch and firing electricity into the team. We then played UCS, where they managed to hold us to a frustrating 3-3 draw after we took an early lead with a goal from Dylan Staveley, redeeming his underwhelming start to the season. Solid performances from Myles Howorth and Max Adams in midfield also helped us stay level. After taking this result to heart, we triumphed over a strong Dulwich side 5-0, in which the attack played with a hunger I’d never seen before. This clean sheet was all thanks to great defensive performances from Julien Abbosh, JJ Lim-Faghihi, Royal Sule, Victor Moreno and Aris Stephanakis in the back line. However, it was also due to yet another outstanding performance from Victor Lazkani between the sticks. Finally, we had arrived at the final game of the season: Harrow away. We started the game strong, with two outrageous goals from striker Timour “Moey” Ramzan, but in the end we were disappointed to finish with a 2-2 draw. Overall, the season was very positive, with 5 games played, 2 wins, 2 draws and one loss. We had a magnificent run under Mr Slaney, scoring 13 goals and conceding only 5. Player of the season goes to full-back Victor Moreno, while young prospect Timour Ramzan claims the golden boot. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank mastermind tactician Mr Slaney, and his unparalleled managerial ability, for our success. ❚ Nick Ridley

Coach: Peter Slaney

6TH XI

The 6th XI, led by Mr Orr, started the season off rough, but finished it as a well-oiled machine. We weren’t given the easiest start, with a tough fixture at home to Tonbridge (who had the benefit of a few matches under their belts) whilst we had no training sessions to prepare, which ultimately resulted in a 4-2 loss –the difference in match fitness costing St Paul’s. Despite this, there were still solid foundations, with goals from Farazi and Kafton, the latter of which earned a call up to the 5ths.

We then romped to a 9-0 victory vs Epsom, despite them forfeiting with 30 minutes still left to play. Grimstone stunningly got a 15 minute hat trick, Hill slotted a penalty, as well as braces from Vujnovic and Baig, with Pavell grabbing the ninth. It was something of a brutal victory, especially with the switch to a 3 at the back from Orr at 6-0 up. Epsom were denied chances to score, with key members of the defence including Hunt and Jones.

We then had a month’s break before our next game, at home to a physical Dulwich side, but that didn’t stop us from marching to a 3-0 win. Beating them at their own game, we dominated with goals coming once again from Grimstone who got two, as well as an insurance goal from Cina Rabin. Man of the match went to Gundersen-Bailey, our box to box midfielder, who paired with Corry Traynor.

Our final match was away to Harrow: a tough fixture. Despite this, we romped to a 5-1 win. MVP went to Jacob Leigh, who scored a stunning hat trick off the bench, having been subbed on at 1-1. Grimstone once again got our opener, with Traynor grabbing a 5th with the last kick of the season.

After a rocky start, the 6th team, in Mr Orr’s maiden season as manager, racked up a win rate of 75%, scoring 19 goals in the process. Special mention goes to Jamie Grimstone, who, as a goalkeeper in his Sunday league squad, bagged 6 goals and 5 assists. Traynor and Gunderson-Bailey also deserve a mention for bossing the midfield with technical and physical displays, hardly putting a foot wrong. ❚

Teddy Hill Coach: Tom Orr

Football U16A

Coming off the back end of an enjoyable tour to St George’s park, the team felt optimistic about a successful season full of wins. Unfortunately this was not to happen and the boys saw a successive run of losses against schools such as Hampton, Fulham Boys and Epsom. Despite very often being the more dominant team, we struggled to find a way to score goals which may have been due to the large number of injuries that we had, along with the inexperience of playing together. We managed to achieve our first win against Abingdon with a strong performance by centre back Arun Gayner, along with a wonder strike from Lorenzo Massi. With the

return of our striker Aris Alexandridis for the last couple of games, our attack really began to flow, culminating in a draw against Dulwich and then a magnificent win against Harrow where we fought back to 3-1 after going 1 down early on in the game. Kyan Mentesh, Alexey Klevkovkin, and Yianni Goulandris all had strong performances in these games, linking up to deliver goal after goal. Overall, even throughout the losses, we ended the season on a high, setting us up for what’s to come next year. Many thanks to Mr Nilsson for making the season both enjoyable and competitive. ❚

Nick Tredre Coach: Hugo Nilsson

U16B

Our season started with a fantastic tour to St George’s Park to help us prepare for the upcoming season. The spring term then started, as did our GCSE mocks, which left us going into our first two games with zero training sessions as a team. As a result of this, we suffered a frustrating loss to Hampton at home and a sobering 4-0 loss away to Tonbridge. Despite Davide Forni picking up an injury during the next week, we bounced back and picked up a confident 3-0 win vs UCS with 2 goals from Andreas Hadjiloizou and 1 from Hoffman. Finn Carter got his first clean sheet of the season in goal with the help of Thomas’ goal-line clearance.

Unfortunately, we could not continue this form into the next week, as we lost 4-1 to Abingdon. On the 6th February, we headed to Epsom and picked up a 1-1 draw just before half term thanks to Alex Wadwhani’s second half equaliser. In the first match back after half term, we unfortunately let a late 2-1 lead go as we conceded two late goals and lost 3-2 to Berkhamsted. Seven days later, the boys returned to pitch 3 at SPS, ready to bounce back against a St John’s side who thought it would be an easier game than it transpired to be and we started well through a free kick scored by myself. St John’s then found an equaliser before the lead was imminently restored by Andreas when he netted his third goal of the season. St John’s again found an equaliser and the team was forced to find another response. Goals from Alex and I, as well as fantastic second half performances from Elliot Gaudaire and James Wilson, made sure that we added a win to the record at the final whistle. The next week saw a 2-1 loss to Dulwich in the penultimate game of the season.

As the team headed into the last game of the season, we were determined to finish the season well against a high-performing Harrow side. After a weary first half which ended 0-0, Mr Lawrence reminded us how we would’ve liked to end the season, motivating us to grab 3 second half goals – two from Hoffman and one from Alex –giving us a well-deserved 3-0 win in the final game of the season. ❚

Gabriel Hoffman

Coach: Steve Lawrence

U16C

Our season started against Fulham Boys on the 3G. Despite having a makeshift squad and it being our first time ever playing with each other, we started off well. We created lots of chances, however, by half time we found ourselves 2-0 down. After some inspiring words from Mr Lyster we started the second half with a free kick from our current captain Westye being bundled over the line by Harry. Despite his awful finishing that day, soon after our striker scored another: celebrating with a glorious knee slide into the pitch-invading crowd. The joy was quickly diminished after our opponents scored two in quick succession. An injury time goal provided some consolation as the game finished 4-3.

Next week, after a week of squad changes, we played Abingdon who had too much class for us as we lost 3-1 without much of a fight. After that we faced off against Epsom (A) on the side of a mountain for a pitch. Alex Tully scored a screamer from the edge of the box to put us 1-0 up, but it wasn’t to be as we conceded early in the second half to draw 1-1. A positive from the match was that we had found two incredibly solid defenders in Dan Lam and Yuvraj Chahal. Next week our captain Westye had left us for the Bs and so Harry was put in charge in our game against Berkhamsted and led us to an eventful 0-0 draw with ➦

a promising debut from Khem Dhillon. Again our captain Harry left us for the B’s as our match with Dulwich approached. A new captain came in leading the team to our first win of the season with a convincing scoreline of 5-1 despite theatrics from opposition players. Xander got one whilst Rory Walter scored a hat trick of half volleys, supplied with a lovely long ball from Dan Lam for his third. Next game we played rivals Harrow winning 1-0 in a close game with a generous penalty separating the two sides. Our defence was very solid and Jack Kanareck showed great fight in our final game of the season. Many thanks to the entire team and especially Mr Lyster for an incredible Season. ❚

Bobby Sice

Coach: Tom Lyster

U16D

The general tone for this season was one of overwhelming positivity. Although our fixture list was cut short on numerous occasions due to cancellations, when we were given the chance to play, the team always gave their all. Our season consisted of four games: one loss, one draw, and two wins. In terms of goal scorers, Yannis Zelalem was always ready to rise to the occasion, scoring in three out of the four games and taking the D team Puskás award with a 35-yard equaliser against a tough Dulwich side. Goals were also scored by Niko Dahl, who was the driving force behind our 4-1 win against Harrow, and Rory Walter, our ex-goalkeeper turned striker who converted a brace against Epsom. A common factor of all of our games was the formidable nature of our defence: John, Mevan, Alex, and Isiah formed one of the strongest back fours known to mankind. Although this should not

detract from the hard work of Enzo, Shyam, Ollie, and Leo as they controlled the midfield and had an involvement in almost all of our goals. In terms of our MVPs it would have to be a trio of players: Yannis for his attacking threat, Enzo for his hard work in the middle, and Alex for his defensive solidity. However, this should not detract from all the others’ valiant contributions. Overall, I think we can comfortably say we had a great season.

Ben Bedford

Coach: Tristan Parris

U15A

Our first football season together was definitely one to remember. We went out to Tonbridge in high spirits for the first game of the season, with the team only having just been assembled. An early Tonbridge goal hit us by surprise, but we weren’t prepared to give up and Kam Baghai’s volley which hit the bottom corner was just the start. In the next five minutes, Matteo Salford curled one into the top left corner and Raiyaan scored a composed chip, which gave us the lead going into halftime. Two more goals from Danny Isaac and Joaquin Birts secured the win for us. The next two games against Epsom and Abingdon didn’t go as planned, but after a short half-term break, we were back to our finest form.

Our domination against a physical St Johns side led to a 3-0 win, with both Tommaso’s and Joaquin’s finishes competing for the goal of the season. We went into the next game against Harrow as one of the top teams in our league – full of confidence and determined to make sure that they were not to leave with a win on Pauline soil. A great performance from the whole team ensured a 3-1 victory against a

solid Harrow side and set us up well for our final game of the season against the leaders Dulwich. It was to be our toughest game: on paper, Dulwich were the strongest in our league, having won most of their games. Nevertheless, we were prepared to put up a fight. Ten minutes into the game, Dulwich were ahead as their swiftly taken freekick had caught us unprepared. We kept pushing throughout the second half, trying desperately to find a way through their 10-man defence. Yet despite our 80% possession and the crowd cheering us on from the sidelines, we were unable to find that needed goal. As the final whistle blew, the team was in low spirits, but we were proud of what we had accomplished together in such a short, but special season.

Finally, I want to thank Mr Stewart for the coaching and dedication he has offered to the team. We can’t wait for next year! ❚

Tommaso Beber

Coach: Alexander Stewart

U15B

The U15B team had a remarkable season (we were the only team in the whole school to go unbeaten) and narrowly missed out on the league title by just one point to a very strong Dulwich side. We started off the season with comfortable victories against Tonbridge and a friendly against UCS, but then slipped up against a very beatable Abingdon side, where missed chances led to us only taking home a point. This setback spurred us on to win all of our remaining games until the big titledecider against Dulwich. Unfortunately, we drew 2-2, which meant that we did not win the league. It was a brilliant end to end game between two very good sides and we can be proud of ourselves for the great character shown in that game. Other highlights were a 6-0 trouncing of St John’s and a 3-0 victory over a strong Harrow side.

Balancing commitments to other sports such as skiing, keeper Gus Jacobson was consistently a brick wall in goal with only seven conceded for the whole

season. This defensive record was supported by Levi Cadman and Louis Besson, who were a dynamic defensive duo at the back. The fullback pair consisted of Seb Jones, bringing crunching challenges, and Vice-Captain Rory McConnon,with some outstanding freekicks. We developed a very quick counter attack using the pace of Tim Hinkis (who was our top goalscorer with 9 goals) paired with intense pressing from Dara Daneshvar. Linkups produced some wonderful team goals such as one against Epsom. The ball was won with ease in the middle from the tenacious duo Ethan Howard and Skipper Rishi Shukla. Nutmegs were always brought by Oli Bloch. Alongside him stood a measured and cool-headed Julius Dyble. Nico Weeks delivered remarkable step overs and the talented Moyo Lawani would wreak havoc. Cameron McConnon, although his season was cut short due to a broken arm, was sensational in the middle and in the ‘twinverted winger’ pair. We started with a very large squad that was

meticulously narrowed down, but Sameer, Arvin, and Alex Pelling all contributed significantly to the season.

A big thank you must go to Dr McDonnell for always keeping us pushing regardless of the conditions at lunchtime training, as well as bringing his mathematical expertise to calculate the slope of the pitch and predict the angle of the sun to give us advantages. We ended the season with a stunning record: unbeaten with thirty goals scored and seven conceded. Huge congratulations go to all the boys who had the privilege to play in the Mighty B’s. We can’t wait until next season. ❚

Rishi Shukla

Coach: Ian McDonnell

U15C

The U15Cs had a great season, playing 8 games and winning 6, drawing 1, and losing 1. The team spirit was astonishing; we never let our heads drop and always kept a positive attitude. We lost and gained a few players here and there but the team chemistry was unmatched, with our captain Matteo Shidrawi leading from the front, encouraging us all the way. By far the most important and influential man on the team was our gaffer, Mr Harris, who never left us and was always by our side. Overall, we scored 28 goals, and conceded 10 throughout the season.

Now onto the players. Throughout the whole season, the Cs saw 4 different players in between the sticks but our main two keepers were Kavin Swain and Kanishk Srivastava, who made some match-saving saves and always tried their hardest. Our fullbacks consisted of Seb Jones, Hamish Escolme, Archie Rowland, Raph GD, Arvin Sahota, and Timothee Brian, who all put their bodies on the line for the mighty Cs. Our centre backs were Mayowa Odewale, Kanyin Ishmael, Sameer Shukla, and Louis Besson – not letting anyone pass and

sometimes making runs that created great chances. Our midfield included Matteo Shidrawi, Ethan Howard, and Aidan Malhotra who played delectable balls through to the attack and controlled the midfield. Our wingers saw the likes of Alex Meyohas, Henrique Sa Couto Lince De Faria, Amir Dudhia, and Kian Khoubehi who crossed, shot, and scored consistently. Our attackers were Dara Daneshva, Luca Frontini, Nico Weeks, and Alex Pelling, who always scored and were a nuisance for the opposing defence.

Some of the most special and significant moments of the season must be remembered: Kian’s perfect hat trick against Berkhamsted, Moyo’s two goals and two assists against Tonbridge, Pelling’s hat trick against St John’s, and Henrique’s four goal contributions against Abingdon. To round up the season of the mighty Cs, on behalf of the whole team we would like to thank all the coaches and especially Mr Harris for all their hard work and commitment to the team. Almost Clean Sheet FC will never be forgotten! ❚

Aidan Malhotra

Coach: Edward Harris

Football U15D

The might of the U15D team was clearly shown during the season, with a very solid record of 5 wins, 2 losses and a draw against other D teams and with an excellent record of 2 draws and a loss against the C team, although some penalty misses contributed to us not having a win.

We started the season against a strong Hampton side, with a 2-2 draw being reflective of the flow of the game, although the side looked very different, with key players being in the development squad and captain Rohan still playing sevens. For our second match, a lacklustre Tonbridge side was dispatched 5-0, with the highlight of the match being a solid penalty by George. Onto the next week, with a ‘friendly’ against the UCS U14B team. Although this was the first loss of the season, it should be noted that the C team played

the majority of the match, and as a result it was completely their fault. In the lead up to the Abingdon match, mass squad changes took place, and after Abingdon heard of the new centre-back pairing, they quickly cancelled the match – one must assume out of fear. Onto Epsom away, the players made the trek down south in high spirits, and this was reflected in the 6-0 win that followed.

After that scorching performance, complacency set in, and we quickly found ourselves crashing down to earth with our first proper loss, a 4-3 defeat to Berkhamsted. While the defence was poor, our xG was at least 12, so overall we had rather rotten luck. We did not need any more words of encouragement before our next game, a home match against Harrow, and the players, spurred on by the events of the week before,

responded in good fashion, with a routine 6-0 win. Finally, the season defining game against Dulwich arrived. After we went 1-0 down quickly, Haran Maruthainar equalised with a stunning strike, and the tide of the match shifted completely, with the players putting 6 on a team that were the best we’d faced.

All in all, a good season. The midfield was well orchestrated by Sanil and Nico and our attack was lethal. Many thanks to Mr Jack for taking charge of us, and well done to everybody involved. ❚ Rohan

George (Captain)

Ben Mendelsohn (Vice-captain)

U14A

The U14A’s endured a thrilling season of ups and downs procuring a mixed record at the end of the season: 1-1-2. Without a doubt, there were major improvements across the board as the team members became more familiar with each other.

The first match of the season was against Berkhamsted. This was our first real test as a team and due to the predominantly drill-based exercises in training, we had to be adaptive in our play styles in order to form combinations. It was only towards the end of the match when we started to improve our game and put together some promising chances, but it was too little too late. The match ended in a 4-0 loss: not the ideal way to start, but it did provide plenty of learning opportunities. Despite this, our dominant spell in the latter stages of the game gave us confidence for the rest of the season and we knew we had built a strong team, especially once we brought in Theo who provided some much needed height to the team for aerial battles.

Our next match against St Johns was a much better performance from the team. Playing on our home turf, we were much more confident going into this game. Our practice match against the B team in training had also given our players more match experience which we would need for the coming fixture. The match started well as we managed to open the scoring with a goal from Tom Falconer from a corner. But, shortly after, St John’s equalised. A goal from Oscar Suarez then put the Paulines back into the lead before half time. In the second half, the Paulines conceded to make it 2-2. A second goal from Oscar Suarez then put the Paulines in the lead for the “third time lucky”: 3-2. Sam Francombe scores to make it 4-2. But as the Paulines started to get complacent, we found ourselves at 4-3. Sam Francombe then put another one in the net to secure the victory 5-4.

Dulwich was the game where we played our best football. This was one of those games where the scoreline does not tell the whole story. The final score was 2-1 to Dulwich leaving Paulines deserving more.

The last match of the season was a home game against Harrow. The weather was a huge factor as the horizontal wind affected the overall ball speed. Harrow went 1-0 up in the first half and then St Paul’s equalised to make it 1-1 going into half time. Harrow then went up 2-1 in the second half, but their lead was shut down by the Paulines with a penalty conversion to make it 2-2. The game displayed defensive excellence from St Paul’s but we did not finish enough chances offensively.

That concluded the season with a 1-1-2 record. Given the short amount of practice throughout the term, this season could be considered satisfactory. Hopefully, with more growth, experience, and practice as a team, we will come back stronger next year in the Fifth Form. ❚

Oscar Suarez

U14B

The U14B football team had highs and lows in their first football season representing the school. Our first match was away to Berkhamsted, which was a tough challenge for a new team. In the first half, they were the better team as they threw themselves into every challenge and controlled possession and shots. As we went into half-time 1-0 down, we were far from defeated and were still in high spirits. We scored our first goal of the season after the break, but fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat. Kobi Langleben was my man of the match as he put in many blocks and clearances at centre back.

Our second game of the season was against St John’s Leatherhead. We were all desperate to win after the defeat to Berkhamsted. The nerves were eliminated as we took an early lead, and by half-time we were 3-0 up. Some incredible pace and finishing saw Kai Petersen take a first half hat trick. He soon followed it up with a 4th goal after the break. Afterwards, they got a lucky goal from a corner, but we made it 5 late on when Marcus Wisden headed into the top corner.

Dulwich were the strongest team we faced all season as we fell to a 4-0 defeat away from home. They had many more chances than us and they controlled the second half. They scored two early goals and two late goals to secure a solid victory.

In the last game of our season, we faced Harrow. Even though we were beaten comfortably by Dulwich, heads didn’t drop, as we scored very early on to take the lead. The rest of the first half was controlled by us, although we couldn’t convert any more chances. Early in the second half, we were awarded a penalty, only for myself to scuff it straight down the middle. Directly after that they equalised and then scored the winner moments later. It was a game we should have won, but overall it was a successful and enjoyable season. The 3 players of the season for me were Marcus Wisden who controlled the right wing, and finally Dan Jansen and Owen Seton-Rodgers for putting in challenge after challenge as they formed a solid midfield duo. A huge thank you goes to Dr. Holmes for inspiring us to great performances. Hopefully more wins will follow in 2023! ❚

Tom Ritchie

Coach: Simon Holmes

U14C

We had a tough start to the season facing many strong teams. Despite these conditions, we managed to make the opposition struggle. We may have lost all our games but we were the better side in a few, using lots of techniques and scoring very nice goals. We kept a strong defence and had a sharp attack. I would like to congratulate Gabriel for being our top goal scorer, shooting a rocket of a shot from nearly halfway out into the back of the net to finish off our season. We always had sight of victory throughout our games.

I would like to thank our coach, Dr Shammas, for helping us improve and believing in us at every step of the way, and I would also like to thank the rest of my team for never giving up and always playing to the best of their ability. We fully became a strong team by the end of the season, and we worked together very well, and it was clear that we all enjoyed every moment of every game that we played. It is unfortunate that the season has come to an end so quickly so I am longingly looking forward to next year where we will hopefully thrive in more of our games. ❚

Deniz Yesilkaya

Coach: Camille Shammas

U14D

We have had a very tough season coming up against some superb teams, although there were some good team performances. Our first match was away against Berkhamsted who had already trained a lot and beat us 4-0, despite us having some good chances.

Our second game was very important, prior to it we were fired up as we were coming off a 1-0 victory against the Cs. However, the home side Dulwich were very strong and had won all of their matches but one. They were full of technical quality and we gave them a very entertaining match including own goals, open goal misses and screamers, but in the end we conceded late and lost 3-2. Our final match was away against Harrow, who beat us 5-0, and even though we had lost many players due to other commitments, the entire team still kept the morale and spirit throughout.

It was a short but sweet season, with some great memories. Thank you to the whole team and especially our coach, Mr Pirrie, who devised strategies which worked well with our playstyle as we were instructed to play the ball upfield

for our pacey strikers to run onto and put lots of pressure on the opposing team’s defence, keeping our shape narrow in our diamond 4-1-2-1-2: and, most importantly, to always keep running. ❚

Tybalt Lamy and Dariush Ghaffapour

Coach: Daniel Pirrie

After a long year and a half without golf at St Paul’s, the team saw a change in leadership with Matthew Smith as the new Captain alongside a new Head of Golf in Mr. Lyster.

The team was reformed to come up against a very competitive Harrow side in the first round of the singles competition. The 3-man team, with limited practice and rumours of a top 5 internationally ranked opponent, was filled with confidence on the first tee. Even though all three players performed to a high standard, Harrow proved too strong winning 2-1 and knocking St Paul’s out of the competition before it really started. This match was quickly followed by another tough clash against Whitgift in the 6-man foursomes, testing the depth of the SPS squad. Once again narrowly falling short, we were out of the competition.

This season saw St Paul’s enter a new handicap competition allowing the further expansion of the golf squad with a match against Wimbledon High.

The future of St Paul’s golf looks bright and in good hands. The final match of the season was the traditional Old Pauline fixture, allowing the two teams to connect over shared St Paul’s experiences spanning the generations. Speaking of traditions, the team finished as they had started, ending with a 3-0 loss, but an enjoyable post-match tea made up for any shortcomings on the course.

A special mention to the leaving Upper Eighths of Nicolò Sartori di Borgoricco and Matthew Smith for 5 years of service to the team. ❚

Nick Ridley

Coach: Peter Slaney

Judo

After a long pandemic break, Martial Arts has returned to St Paul’s in a slightly slimmed down version.

Rob Lawrance, our Aikido coach for thirty years, departed at the start of the pandemic and it has been impossible to replace him. This gave us an opportunity to look at our Judo provision and introduce a new Junior Coach to the Martial Arts team. Ramon Alexander joined the school in January with the remit of refreshing the Junior Judo activities. He has started with SPJ students and coaches the students as they progress up to the Fourth form.

The senior element of the Judo team continues to perform well. While there was limited opportunity for school matches, the Independent Schools Judo Tournament was held at the end of February during the exam season. Although this prevented some of the senior members from attending, the newcomers performed well.

Both James and Paul ranked 1st in their weight categories. During most of the competition, they had to fight in heavier weight classes because of the limited number of competitors. Alex and Sean did very well as they competed against more experienced older boys at this year’s Tournament. They can look forward to next year as the more senior entries.

It was a pity that Joachim Sciamma could not attend the competition because of his exam commitments, but he has still provided excellent leadership as Captain of SPS Judo throughout the year, ably supported by Sean Chong as Secretary. ❚

INTERMEDIATE GROUP

(Under 16 years)

James Sahota: Ranked 1st (U 50Kg)

Paul Belhomme: Ranked 1st (U 55Kg)

SENIOR GROUP

(Over 16 years)

Alex Fletcher: Bronze (U 66Kg)

Sean Chong: Bronze (U 73 Kg)

Rackets

in the 2nd Pairs event as 3rd seeds, comfortably reaching the semis where they unfortunately lost 0-3 to second seeds, Eton.

It must be added that while Olly and George won the 1st Pairs event at Easter, the National Singles event in December was also a huge success for St Paul’s seniors in that four boys – Olly, George, Rana, and James – represented the school in the ‘Foster Cup’, for the country’s top 16 schoolboys. James, as 4th seed, reached the semi-final, where he tore apart his Tonbridgian opponent in the first two games, 15/4, 15/3, and served for the match at 14-13 in the third game. Unfortunately, however, to lose the momentum at that point can have catastrophic results, which was sadly the case here as James lost that game 14/15, and the next two games 8/15, 9/15 and therefore, after a great battle, lost 2-3. ❚

G.A.B. Livesey

U16s

Hatfield and Livesey make Rackets History

To begin, I have to comment firstly about how wonderful it has been this academic year that, at last, we’ve returned to some semblance of normality regarding day to day play, weekly fixtures, and National Schools events – not to mention the fantastic club gatherings at the court during morning break that is so vital to the success of our rackets. Boys once again swarmed into the building looking for extra court time and/ or the comfiest couch!

The seniors had a spectacular season both individually, and in their doubles play, which ultimately culminated in

the most outstanding, history making, National Schools 1st Pair Doubles Championship victory by Olly Hatfield & George Livesey… To win this most prestigious of National Schoolboy Rackets events for the first time in St Paul’s relatively short history, and in such great style, dropping just one game through-out the entire event, is not only great testament to the talent and dedication Olly and George have shown during their five years playing Rackets at St Paul’s, but also to the other seniors who have contributed in helping Olly and George reach their potential such as Rana Sarin, James Rossiter, Tom Jensen, Vikram Bhamre, and Arjun Rajkumar. In fact, Rana and Tom had a great run themselves

Our U16s are a talented group. However, with the conflict of juggling other sports, practices are unfortunately limited for some. For the most part, Nabil Alizadeh and Darshy Pandey played as the (A) pair with reasonable success throughout the season, though when it came to the National Doubles at Easter, Darshy was unavailable and so Lorenzo Massi stepped in with Nabil. They performed well only to be beaten by 4th seeds Wellington in the quarter-final. Other boys in that year group who were instrumental in helping keep standards high were Krish Patel, James Wilson, Neil Prabhu, Eshan Hall, and John Moretti. ❚

N.A. Alizadeh

U15s

Having been somewhat thwarted by the restrictions of COVID, the U15 year group found it hard to get going simply because, as U14s the previous year, they had had such little practice that their level was greatly compromised. Fortunately, however, this was mostly the case with all Rackets playing schools and therefore, although the overall level was down, it was in line with the year group on the circuit. ❚

Rory Todd and Alex Hogben were our main pair, though, due to commitments with other sports, Fourth Former Adrian Siniscalco had to step in to play with Rory and what a great job he did.

Adrian is a talented Squash player. Transferring those skills on to a Rackets Court can be quite easy and he did just that: so much so that in his first U15 match with Rory, against National Champions Tonbridge in November, we won 3-1. We also won 2-0 away against Cheltenham. But it was at the National Schools doubles at Queen’s Club where Rory and Alex proved themselves as serious contenders. They had a magnificent run to the semis, defeating 3rd seeds Wellington in the 2nd round, and only losing to 2nd seeds Malvern in the semi-final. ❚

A.J. Hogben

U14s

Our U14s are an outstanding group both on and off the court. They are very likely to have been one of the strongest Fourth Form groups in terms of enthusiasm, commitment, dedication, and level that St Paul’s has ever been fortunate to have had. They have potential and show signs of great success in future National Schools events.

Adrian Siniscalco led the way in terms of natural talent where he played many successful fixtures as an U15 and, during the National Schools U-15 Championships, was seeded 4th, where he reached his seeded, semi-final place, only to lose 2-0 to the top seed, Haileyburian. Notably, though, he earned more points than any other competitor against his competitor from Haileybury in the event. Two other U14 boys (S. Poddar & K. Vujnovic) took part in that U15 event but sadly lost in their 1st round matches.

As U14s, we were unbeaten playing fixtures against schools on the circuit. Because of our strengths, these boys often played up a year against weaker U15s and, more often than not, we had great success. At the Nationals Schools U15 Doubles Championships, we entered

two strong U-14 pairs (A. Siniscalco/S. Poddar) and (A. Sankaye/G. Ashton) who excelled in every way, reaching the quarter-finals after defeating the likes of Harrow, Malvern, Marlborough, and Radley and only losing to both the 1st & 2nd seeds respectfully. ❚

A. Sankaye

The David Tate Cup (Internal School Singles)

The Senior David Tate Cup was won by Rackets Captain and National Schools Doubles winner, Olly Hatfield, who defeated his partner, Rackets Secretary, and National Schools Double winner George Livesey 2-0.

The Junior (U-16) David Tate Cup was won by Nabil Alizadeh (6th) who defeated Adrian Siniscalco (4th) in the final 2-0. ❚ ST

Goodbye

Unfortunately, it’s that time of year to say goodbye to several top people who have served the Rackets Club spectacularly in every way possible.

Oliver Hatfield, George Livesey, Rana Sarin, and Thomas Jensen have not only been hugely successful on the court through-out their five years at SPS, but their contributions and characters off the court were outstanding, with their impeccable manners and good grace setting the standards for all the pupils coming through. It’ll be a great loss to the Rackets club, and the school in general, however, I’m sure they’ll take these skills and attributes wherever they go.

Finally, I’d like to say thank you to Dr Beesley for all his support and guidance in times of great need –hopefully we can have as successful 2022/23. And thank you also to all the parents who are so understanding of their son’s late returns from fixtures as far away as Tonbridge & Cheltenham, not to mention their wonderful support during the National Championships at Queen’s Club. ❚

SPGS Helen Genieser makes rackets history

For the very first time in St Paul’s Rackets playing history, SPGS pupil Helen Genieser (Upper Eighth) took part in the National Schools Rackets Senior Girls Singles, at The Queen’s Club last December. Helen, a very competent Squash player, and younger sister of Old Etonian, and 1st class Rackets player, George Genieser, first started playing casually at Queen’s with George Livesey & James Rossiter, who then brought Helen to SPS for further training just two months before the Singles event at Queen’s Club. Talented and technically perfect, Helen had to be fast-tracked into serving and taking serve, as her experience on the Squash Court enabled her to rally and construct points very well. Unfortunately, however, her Cliftonian opponent knew her way around the court better, thus having the edge. Although Helen won the first game, her opponent was vastly more experienced and knew how to change-up her serve effectively which, in the end, made the difference and sealed her 2-1 victory. ❚

Rowing

1ST VIII

To say the 2021-22 season has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. It has been more of a moonshot. Beginning with the worst top eight average 5 km results in the last ten years of SPSBC, there was a lot of work to do. With only two returners from last year‘s British Championships winning and PE finalist eight, we set about building a senior squad culture – after traditions like whole squad trips to Nando’s had been halted by the pandemic – which would percolate through the club as the year progressed.

Bobby always says that “the first eight selects itself,” these are words I kept in mind throughout this year but in particular when some young guns, mavericks even, were added to what can best be described as a learning experience at Wallingford Head. Jumping into an eight the week before Christmas the boat flow was unexpectedly good

and for the first time I started to believe. We racked up the training miles over Christmas and kept returning to one thought about what we were doing: “Will it make the boat go faster?” The phrase is simple enough in its essence but with far-reaching implications.

As the spring term began, we got ready to race at Quintin and Hammersmith Heads with the prestigious Head of the Nene cancelled due to a lack of water in the river. We found ourselves a few boat lengths behind the leading crews but very much in the tightly bunched top six pack. As Schools’ Head rolled around we put together an average row to finish 5th.

With the first full boat club dinner since 2019 behind us, we embarked upon the legendary Portugal trip with dreams of shredding radical barrels surfing on our day off. Although the surfing was

more of a washing machine, we made significant steps in the right direction with some very encouraging 1km pieces with a roaring tailwind. What was lacking in weather was more than made up for by renditions of Sifu Bwana and Himalayan throat singing.

As exam season started, we prepared for the National Schools’ Regatta where the wind played some tricks on us, but a very encouraging first 1500m only strengthened our belief that come Henley we had the potential to win. A very positive biomechanics session with Valery Kleshnev buoyed the crew and showed the strong improvements we had made since the first session in February.

Completing the Metropolitan and Marlow Regattas, our base pace was there, but we found ourselves lacking in the first

500m. After working on starts and getting a forearm pump bigger than a prime Arnold Schwarzenegger, we were ready for Henley Royal Regatta.

We eased into the week with a positive race against Windsor Boys’ School before being faced with the Schools’ Head winners, Shiplake. We completed our first row-through of the week, snapping their belief around the mile marker and finished with a one length margin. Next up were the Australian national champions, King’s School Parramatta, who it turns out were not up for a “dog fight”, as they had put it, being dispatched as we controlled the race from the start to keep them at arm’s length. As our confidence grew from race to race we made sure to keep the pressure on the others with the mantra #hakunamatata being repeated as we made sure to recover better than any other crew.

Next up were the once self-proclaimed favourites for ‘The Triple’, KCS. Again, we rowed our own race and broke them shortly after the mile, having been down after being down at the Barrier and

Fawley. Finally we prepared for the final against Radley who were strong contenders, having beaten Eton coming through the Stewards’ Enclosure the day before. Again Junior Rowing News in their infinite wisdom counted us out, but Radley could not match the ice in the veins nor the fire in the belly of this crew. We led from the beginning and would not loosen our grip on the race until we crossed the finish line – 1/3 of a length ahead – and our cox was overcome with jubilation as he screeched with joy crossing the line in the secondfastest time (6:15) ever recorded for the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. Having completed what, some say, was the greatest cup run in PE history, we did our very best to stay present and soak it all in, from the scenes on the landing stage to lifting (and in my case dropping) the cup itself.

Our immeasurable thanks goes to: our head coach Bobby Thatcher and technical guru – the Yoda to Bobby’s Skywalker – Donald Legget; to all the other SPSBC coaches and President Smith; to the High Master and Dr Killick for their efforts organising the first

SPS post-COVID trip to Portugal; and to the Surmaster and all the other staff members who remain ever-interested and accommodating in the corridor, classroom, and especially lunch hall.

For Jonathon Catmull, Alexander Dyvik Henke, Mrinaank Chilkoti, James Trotman and myself this is not the end, or the beginning of the end, but perhaps just the end of the beginning. For Jack Stephenson, Philip Wolfensberger, Felix Peerless and Alp Karadogan it is very much the beginning as they become stewards of the Club and take it forward. To any younger pupils reading this, try rowing, trust that Bobby has EL PLAN, and most of all, enjoy it!

I leave you with a quote from the Henley house Zen Dog: “He knows not where he’s going for the ocean will decide, it’s not the destination, it’s the glory of the ride.”

And this year has indeed been one heck of a glorious ride. #sptid ❚

Basti Marsoner

He knows not where he’s going for the ocean will decide, it’s not the destination, it’s the glory of the ride.

2ND VIII

At a glance there is little to remark upon. The St Paul’s 2nd VIII of 2022 won’t go down as the strongest, fastest or even flashiest crew on the circuit, but success at this level is not a zero sum game. When the crew formed in January, many among us had little to no experience in high level junior rowing and much of the early work required us to learn well on the go, with racing fast approaching.

The head season is long and attritional, with patience being the name of the game. For much of the spring term’s racing we occupied something of a concealed position towards the middle of the pack. Unappealing finishes at Quintin and Hammersmith Heads reflected our inexperience. With The Schools’ Head looming, however, speed began to arrive. The results in this race can often be decided by who blinks first, and this fact showed, as we dealt damage in the last third of the race, pushing away from Eton and KCS, ultimately poaching a top three position.

The Easter training camp proved a baptism of fire for many of us who were new to the persistence required to make it through the week. It did, however, mould a strong attitude and, importantly for us, a coherent style of rowing to take into the summer.

We found out early on in the summer season that there was an eminent

standard of competition for second eights. At BASHER and Wallingford regattas we closed a 30 second gap between ourselves and the frontrunners, reducing it to 6 seconds. The National Schools’ Regatta demands that a chance of a medal be met with a standout performance, and whilst racing was hard, we crossed the final finish line in 5th place, three seconds off a medal position. We had delivered some strong rows but we came away unresolved.

After two years of Henley Royal Regatta preventing the entrance of international crews, 2022’s Henley qualifiers saw a bumper year in entries in the Temple Challenge Cup for student eights. Having thrown our hat into the ring, and aware of the enormity of the task, we faced down some of the best crews on the university circuit; we boldly stepped up for a final row (the last at SPSBC for some of us). The performance was notable: we overturned Eton and St Edward’s to return to the top three fastest second eights nationwide, as well as coming four seconds off one of only seven qualifying spots (contested by some 50 crews). Deeds are not less worthy because they go unpraised; for the leavers, as well as those ready for another year with Charlie, whose wisdom and guidance has been our greatest asset, this season has been remarkable. ❚

Callum Elder

3RD VIII

The Third Eight of 2022 had about it the feeling of a reunion. Meer Dougramachi was back having first been roped in as a Fourth former in 2018. His cavalier steering still raised hairs, but ensured fast progress along any crowded waterway. Oscar Vitou was also back, regaining what the first lockdown had cut short in 2020. For Finn Lavington, Eamon Coates, Jack Davies, and Toby Thorogood – all veterans of the 2021 silver medal crew – it was not so much a case of coming back as never leaving. Until Toby left at the end of the spring term. Or tried to leave – nobody who rows both sides and lives only five minutes from school can ever be allowed to give up rowing. Fortunately, Ethan Lim was tempted back to replace him. Jim Roberts left behind his dalliance with cycling and Adi Jain stepped up from last year’s 4th IV. Finally, Noah Leach took up rowing only this year and, though he initially gauged his progress by the number of crabs caught per outing, he became a solid oarsman in record time.

Although there were no illnesses or injuries during the season, the usual rosta of SATs and grandmothers’ birthdays did mean there was often a ride in the boat on offer. Sometimes that was an offer that couldn’t be refused, usually by Toby. This was also the first complete Third Eight to travel to Portugal for the Easter training camp, where there was some friendly jousting with the J16Bs. The standing push off was mastered, speed was found, and poor choices of outfit were made. Some nearly wore out the work room at the hotel, anticipating the juggling act that would be needed as A Level exams would hit eight of the crew well before the National Schools’ Regatta at the end of May.

With three weeks to go to NSR, something wasn’t quite working. There was power, but not enough strokes per minute. A tweaking of the order and a few magic words from Donald Legget during a drizzly games half got things going with just “a little more nudge on the front end.” With one week to go, the crew did some speed testing at the Docklands. In a brisk tail wind, the new ➦

form was evident: multiple pieces well ahead of record pace.

After studying the wind forecast for the main event, a daring plan was hatched: take the time trial lightly, and bet on a fair wind and fresh legs in the final. After a pacy 650m off the start to warm up, Meer called the crew down to a paddle and had them doing drills past the supporters’ tents. This proved a bit much for the officials and, as the boat was being lowered onto trestles after the paddle, the nearest loudspeaker crackled into life: “Some crews have been seen not paddling at full pressure in the time trial. A reminder that all crews are expected to paddle at full pressure. Crews that do not may face a warning from the umpires.” No warning was forthcoming, and an eight hour wait for the final began.

For most of the crew, this was one last race in black and white. As they picked up the boat at half past five, the wind was helping down the course. By the scheduled race time nearly an hour later, the wind was low. And half an hour after that, when the delayed final got underway, the wind was hurting: a direct cross, leaving lane seven exposed. No medal, but no tears either. ❚

MJPS

J16A

J16A had a season that both began and ended on highs. In the early part of the season, before a distinct A boat was formed, a string of good performances were put together. Throughout the autumn term, mixed boats were greeted with wins at Reading Small Boats, Wallingford Head, BASHER head, and Quentin head. At the return after the Christmas holidays, the first iteration of an A boat was formed containing Pip Benninson, Ben Atkinson, Seb Harker, Fintan Delaney, Nathan Fairclough, Rohan Suri, Sam Fowlie, and Paddy Barry with Rex Weber-Brown as cox. A few disappointing results unfolded

with 4th place at Hammersmith Head and 5th place at Schools’ Head.

Heading off to Portugal for a week provided the booster needed to begin the push back to the top even though illness forced Paddy to stay at home while Laurenz Orlando replaced him for the remainder of the season. Overturning Westminster at Wallingford Regatta after being behind throughout the spring term lifted some heads and the form was held through to the National Schools’ Regatta where we just missed out on a medal, coming 4th. Everyone would agree on the pinnacle of the season arriving

for Marlow Regatta, where an amazing performance once again returned the crew to 1st place.

A quick trip down to Henley Qualifiers didn’t bring any results but was a moment to remember for the whole crew and it never hurts to end the season with a boat heading down to GB France. In Paris, Rohan, Nathan, Laurenz, and Sam teamed up with Radley to form an eight that beat the French by four seconds. ❚

Seb Harker

The J16B season started with mixed boats, with the A and B boats being mixed to form two high-achieving eights, with close results at both Wallingford and Quintin heads, with both boats placing first and third at both events. We then entered one quad into the Fours Head, which would provide a useful insight into racing in the Schools’ Head, held over the same course. Despite racing in a J18 event, the squad successfully carried out their race plan, and delivered a promising result. Going into Schools’ head we felt quietly confident, with faith in our base pace and technical ability, but still conscious of our competitors’ potential to surprise us with a strong result. We were pleased to find out that we had come third, with only a seven second gap to Eton ahead of us. Going into the summer term, we knew we had only a limited amount of time to close the gap ➦

#YeahPauls #VP #MarlowTime

J16B

Rowing on Eton, and potentially challenge Radley, who gave a dominant performance at Schools’ Head. We were fortunate enough to be able to travel as a boat club to a lake in Portugal, to improve our still water racing ability, which would be crucial to our success at Nationals. Despite the eight weeks of GCSEs we then faced, we all managed to continue our training, getting out on the water to perfect and fine-tune our race plan to give us the best possible chance of winning that coveted National Schools’ medal. The race was a tough one, with both Eton and Radley storming out of the blocks, and so despite our best efforts to catch up through the middle kilometre, they were ultimately the faster crew, resulting in our earning the bronze medal: a well-earned reward for all our hard work.

I would like to thank both the B boat coach, Ms Milanova and the head J16 coach Sam Lapage, both of whom were instrumental in leading us to the success we received. ❚

J15A

Armed with a dream and a meal plan put together by German, we got on the bus to Dorney at the crack of dawn. Wolfing down litres of porridge and with nerves setting in for the day that was about to come, we rigged the boats ready for the time trial. Although the last few weeks had been shaky due to exams and ill rowers, we paddled to the start line ready to put down the best performance we could. The time trial went by in a blur with us being rate-capped to conserve our energy. We finished with a good result and top placement, setting us up promisingly for the rest of the day.

After waiting a few hours, we set off to the start line for our second race, the semi-finals. Conditions looked very promising with a strong tailwind. After

trying and failing like many other boats to line up at the stake-boats we set off hard and took a quick lead, before following the plan to the tee. That was, until the last two hundred metres where we finished with a quick build to ensure a first place in the semis and a promising lane choice for the finals. While getting out of the boat we were told from German that the gap we believed to be short was instead a length difference between us and second place and we had put down a 6:20 2k which was four seconds off record pace. So, with this high concluding our semis, we were left with high hopes towards the finals.

Another long wait sat between us and the end. However, eventually, with nerves setting in again, we initiated the quick

consumption of last-minute Haribos before rushing our blades to the pontoon and setting off for our final race of the day. With the warm-up complete, we prepared ourselves at the stake-boats for the second time that day. However, where before we had only been focused on getting here, now, the record that we wished to break was firmly in the forefront of our minds. As the lights went off and the race started, we set off at a blistering pace with Radley and Eton on either side. Before long, we broke free of the pack and, as we neared the 1k mark, we found a new pace, surrounded by the cheers echoing across the lake. Nearing the end, the wind flipped to a headwind, but, undeterred, we pushed on to the finish in the hope that the record was still in reach. With a last-ditch effort, we pushed the boat across the finish line in a clear first place with some slightly scrappy blade work. Sadly, no record time was achieved, but that no longer mattered to us at the time.

Minutes after, still out of breath and struggling to comprehend the race that had just passed, we pulled into the pontoon. With a good performance from the crew and a brilliant victory, I would like to end with a huge thanks to the coaches and German for making this result possible. ❚

Matthew Galea

The boat consisted from cox to bow of: Theo Westcott, Ed Spiers, Lazlo Kasas, Jamie Young, Ollie O’Donohoe, Teo Rossbach, Adi Jayaram, Cillian Knowles, and Rafi Saladin.

The J15A crew of 2022 was, from cox to bow: Victor Bocquet, Patrick Wild, Matthew Galea, Jacob West, Kynan Tallec-Botos, Christian Reese, Henrik Helsen, Milon Kalia, and Theo Hiorns.

J15B

The J15B squad began the rowing season enthusiastically as we were introduced to ‘sweeping’ in eights. For many of the rowers this was their first time rowing with one blade and we spent the initial water sessions developing our technique and adjusting to the new style of rowing. We spent the autumn term improving our skill and speed on the water and worked on our fitness and power in ergs and circuit sessions. This set us up well for our first head race at Wallingford where our mixed A/B crews finished first and second place.

As the head season really got going in January, we worked hard on our stamina, technique, timing, and coordination. The erg sessions on a Wednesday were really tough but everyone stayed on track and watched their times improve. This put us in a strong position to compete in these much longer 4-7 km races. In the final two head races we rowed as the J15Bs

for the first time and in the gruelling 7.2 km Schools’ Head topped J15 2nd eights event and rowed faster than most of the J15 1st eights from other schools.

We continued to train hard over the Easter holidays and began our preparations for the summer regattas. This included: seat racing at Dorney, home training routines, and a five day camp at Moseley where we worked together to develop a strong racing rhythm and practice racing starts. During this time the final crew for the regatta season was formed with Alex Eakins in the cox seat, the synchronised pair of Pennington and Rueger in the stern, Kasolowsky, Hueffer, Baughan and Shammas the driving forces in the middle, and the strong bow pair of Zayn Shabeeh and Kush Patel.

The main event of the season was the National Schools’ Regatta at the end of May. In the build up to NSR, we gained

valuable short racing practice at BASHER and a fixture against Mossbourne at London Docks. By the time we boarded the 5:30am bus to Eton Dorney, we were all well-prepared and keen to get racing. Our time trial went very well and we secured ourselves the best lane in the second semi-final which we won and qualified for the A final. This would be a much tougher race but we managed to win the silver medal and only missed out on first place by the narrowest of margins. Two weeks later at Marlow, with a small crew change, we went one better, achieving gold.

We had a huge amount of fun throughout the season and are very grateful to all the coaches, especially Luca Nicolaou for his guidance, support and style tips. ❚

Olly Pennington

J14A

The season started out with the Junior Sculling Head where our mixed A boats finished in the top 18 over the brutal 3.6 kilometre time trial course, despite the unrelenting Saharan rain and rough water over the whole lake. A few weeks later, a short weekend fixture of only one kilometre proved a large success with our two A boats winning all their races against other schools including Dulwich and KCS. All our technique and power were greatly improved during the week-long Peterborough rowing camp in the Easter remedy and, now in the summer term, our newly-formed A boat started to take shape at BASHER Regatta where we finished ahead of every other octo in the competition and many more senior rowing boats. However, our nemesis was yet to be met side by side – Windsor Boys’ School.

At Bedford Regatta, an unlucky draw meant rowing against Windsor in the first round. We managed to hold it together but in the end a combination of their experience and the slight bend in the course resulted with them taking the lead to the finish line by 3/4 of a length. Over the weeks leading up to our most important regatta yet, National

Schools’ Regatta, we worked on our race-pace coordination and starts, also beating the 15Bs and 16Bs in friendly races out on the tideway during our normal training sessions. With NSR looming, we practised our two and three minute pieces every session in preparation for the one kilometre course we would be racing.

At NSR, a ravaging crosswind meant lots of waves throughout the course. However, we came together in the time trial, finishing 4th, with the top four boats separated by less than one second. In the A final, a bad start put us in fourth place after the first 250 metres. However, from the 500 metre mark we started creeping up on third place and with 300 metres to go we were nearly in second place after Mossbourne. As we started to gain again on Mossbourne, the finish line seemed to come too early and we finished third by less than half a second separating us and Mossbourne. Inevitably, the first place medal was awarded to Windsor.

As the season came to a close, Marlow Regatta would be our final sculling race ever. Determined to do better than at NSR, we went out hard on the two kilometre

time trial and finished half a second behind Windsor, who were in first place. In the final, we pushed together to secure a second place finish by the one kilometre mark, but an unexpected beep at the start instead of a go cost us a slightly slower start, even though our two boats were the same speed throughout the race. In the end, we finished second at this regatta.

Throughout the season, our coaches have expertly guided us to improve every session and we would like to give special thanks to Nelson, who inspires us with his charm and stamina when he runs alongside our boat during our races. Overall, our season has been exceptional and all of our A boat members have improved, with some never having rowed before. ❚

Apollo Andreichuk

The J14A crew of 2022 was, from cox to bow: Nathaniel Barnes, Apollo Andreichuk, Jonathan Miles, Felix Kirchner, Charlie Pye, Wilder Daffey, Jacopo Tans, Eyad Ohlmeyer, and Justin Li

J14B

The J14B boat has had an excellent season. They hit the ground running at BASHER in April, putting down a marker for the season by being the second-fastest J14 boat behind only our own A boat. At Bedford Regatta they swept aside opposition in the first two rounds before coming up against a very strong Windsor Boys’ crew in the final. In a tense race they came back from a length down but ultimately lost by just a couple of metres. This led to a month of determined training and the B boat built unstoppable momentum leading into National Schools’ Regatta. In the final, Windsor Boys’ again pushed out to a lead of a boat length but this time the St Paul’s push started with 400m to go and was so effective that

the race commentator said it looked like the boat had been lifted out of the water and thrown forwards. Within 200m St Paul’s had gained the lead and surged on to win the Dulwich Cup by nearly a length in a time that would have placed them 4th in the A boat category. ❚ NF

The J14B crew of 2022 was, from cox to bow: Samuel Christie, Max Wiseman, Dominic O’Sullivan, Alex Barea, Benjamin Thomas, Alexander Scafidas, Charlie Pama, Felix Patel, and Hugo Parkins-Godwin

J14C

“Is that your C crew? They look like a B crew” said an astounded Radley coach. And in many years members of this group (for a group it was, with a number of different line ups raced through the season) could have easily graced the B boat line up. They have turned up (90% of the battle in any sport), worked hard, and listened well. It is only at the very end of the term that a slight tendency towards in boat water fights has emerged.

It has also been a very competitive group, which has produced some fantastic results: fastest C boat at BASHER I, winning at Bedford, fastest C boat at National Schools’, a fun last regatta at BASHER II racing as an octo and quad, as well as some great tussles

in the local Tideway races. The pupils should know that all of them, whether or not they were in the boat for a particular race, have played a full part in all of these successes. It has been a pleasure to coach them and I am sure they will all enjoy further success in the future. ❚

TNRK

The J14C squad included: Josh Ferro, Lucas Perry, John Beck, Henry Whittaker, Leo Bertolo, Max Walton, Niko Saladin, Sam James, Alex Khosrowpanah-Falcone, Sid Chaudhary, Kai Szerkowski, Philipp Goetz, Theo Martin, and Anderson Daffey

“Is that your C crew? They look like a B crew.

1ST XI

After a year without any rugby, the 1st XV began their season with a tour in Newcastle, which ended with a 19-0 victory against RGS Newcastle. Our first Saturday fixture began against Campion at home in which the backline displayed an impressive display of free-flowing rugby orchestrated by James Beverley at 10 resulting in a 43-0 victory.

The 1st XV then travelled to their first away game of the season against Epsom without having conceded a point, with ambition to overturn a side that St Paul’s 1st XV hadn’t beaten in over 10 years. A weak start saw the team go 12-0 behind early on, yet thanks to tries by Jack Taylor and Claudius Wheeler, we led 12-14 at half time. After conceding a penalty, going 1 point behind in the second half, a pressure kick was handled with composure by Alex Pama and St Paul’s led 15-17 again. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t to go our way, with the scoreline ending 25-22 to Epsom. Nevertheless, it was a respectable performance to take into our first cup game against Emanuel.

After a comfortable 50-0 win against Emanuel at home, the team faced a

strong Radley side in suboptimal conditions. The rain called for a change of tactics for the 1st XV from what we were used to, and the lack of adaptation in the first half was costly and meant the scoreline stood at 3-21 to Radley. Some fightback was initiated thanks to a dominant display of kicking and a solid line out orchestrated by Jake Sinclair in the air. However, it was not enough and the score ended 17-28 to Radley.

The last two games of the half term saw another couple of demanding matches for the 1st XV including a tough match against a very strong Harrow outfit and a frustrating performance against Hampton, not helped by injuries, but nonetheless frustrating. Yet the second half of term entailed a good opportunity for us to cause some upsets.

The second half of the season began with a fixture against a strong Tonbridge side yet without our regular coaching team (due to COVID-19) for the fixture it provided an opportunity for individuals to step up including an exceptional performance by Arthur Kenny where his leadership could not be faulted. What followed for the first team was an

opportunity to experience the cruelty of sport, with a last play defeat to Eton away despite admirable performances from the likes of Alex Pama and Liam Corcoran. From here, it would have been easy to give up on the season yet, instead, the team showed bravery which was rewarded with some exceptional displays towards the back end of the term. A 41-17 victory against Solihull was a result of a commanding performance by Nick Vincente at 9 and exceptional defence from Louis Wilson in the centres, not to mention a stand-out performance from James Beverley.

The next fixture saw a home game against Dulwich. Some poor defending early on saw Dulwich go 5-0 up, yet from that moment the 1st XV dominated both possession and territory in the first half. An opposition threat at no. 8 was nullified by Cameron Nelson and Dominic Fitzpatrick and a long range penalty from Jack Taylor meant the half time score was 3-5 Dulwich. Yet straight from the off in the second half a key penalty was won by Henry DrewittJones which left Jack Taylor with a simple opportunity to take the score to 6-5. Some ill-discipline in our own half

allowed Dulwich to take the lead with a penalty, however a brilliant move from a line out that was well won by Jake Sinclair in the air allowed James Beverley to put Jack Taylor into some space before he broke the line and scored in the corner. A drop goal in the last play from James Beverley sealed the game and gave St Paul’s a 16-8 victory.

The final game of the season was against London Oratory and a comfortable 50-7 victory was made possible by some expert finishing from Danny Shai on the

wing, which saw him score two tries. This was a season which included all the natural highs and lows involved in sports, but what stood out the most was that the 1st XV always remained in the fight and for that they should be extremely proud. Furthermore, none of this would have been possible without the massive help and support of Mr Kirschstein-Smith, Mr Blake, Mr Strang and Mr Blurton – thank you. ❚

Julius Turley

2ND XV

Back to back wins including a 14-12 nail biter against Epsom, most likely due to the riling speech from Mr O’Brien, secured us a great start to the season. Man of the match Olly Powell displayed skill in scoring the second try seemingly gliding through the Epsom defence. A trip to Reading saw a tough test which challenged the 2XV, but a resurrection was witnessed the following week. A confident victory beating Radley highlighted the skill of Zach Newsholme with his blistering pace that turned full backs inside out and Louis Fenner’s reliably strong performances. Sam Monro-Davies was the catalyst for our eventual line out success, providing a platform for our host of well-worked moves that we saw throughout the season, such as Pelican or St Paul’s classics in Aussie, which enabled Seb Kirdar-Smith to display his technical prowess in his perfectly placed passes or cross field kicks landing in the hands of a lucky winger. This tended to be Gabe Treneman who with his height and agility was able to outcompete any defender.

The well-developed attack would have been nothing without the support of ➦

Rugby the pack. Led by Charlie Hunt, our vicecaptain, the forwards would always be somewhat trying in the scrum. Whether that came to our avail or not varied, but with behemoth props like Oli Thomas and Alex Adams, one a prop since birth and the other a 100m sprinter, it always seemed to be an entertaining tussle. When discussing the scrum, one must mention both Robert Simmons, a breakdown expert who frequently managed to steal balls from nothing, and Robert Wight, an all round gent with the drive of a workhorse and the handling skills of one too. Senan Bottomley was at the top of his game

throughout the season, frequently employing both his handling and tackling skills. Whilst not a stalwart given his shoulder, ankle and any other vulnerable body part, Josh Thomas would tear up the pitch with his aggressive play-style and supreme lineout jumping. Henry Harrison initially began his journey at hooker but he eventually wound up at 9, where he blossomed into a devilish defender and sniping runner, managing to snag quite a few tries.

It is easy to praise the players, but I must not forget the commitment of

the coaches. Archie brought his Pauline wisdom to the art of coaching and Mr Block enabled us to reach unpredictably great heights. Without his selection, we would not be able to discuss Harry Turner’s many disallowed tries, nor Nikolas Boyd Carpenter’s bullish running or Zain Nathoos players’ player of the season success. A brilliant season with a great group of players was completed with the perfect 50-0 win against local rivals Oratory. ❚

Jamie Fielding, Captain 2021

3RD XV

The 3rd XV has long been known as the moral and social centre of the St Paul’s School community. No words, therefore, could truly do this season justice, but we will do our best to convey the epic highs and lows of a term that couldn’t be a better end to the 10 years of rugby at SPS many of us have played.

It all began with a strong first win against the Campion School, with a dominating pack (led by self-appointed forwards captain, Miley Howorth) setting the tone for a season of bravery and courage: bodies were put on the line. Despite an unfortunate lack of green results on SOCs against some big schools as we charged further into the half term, the thirds didn’t stop playing champagne rugby. The consistent rucking commitment of Max Iskandar and Dom Satchell, the magic (but perhaps overly keen) feet of Will Thomas, and the rocket that is Harry Turner were complemented by a rogue’s gallery of heroes: from Max Manoff to Benny Harrison to Harry Mugisha, all who stepped onto the hallowed ground of Pitch 4 and showed the character, grit, and determination demanded by the side.

This character was only heightened by that of our staff team, led by Dr Gilks and Dr Clough, who, despite some occasional creative differences, worked in seamless synchrony to keep us performing our best.

Yet, all this was not yet enough to secure the desired Ws. Reflection occurred over half term: a notable lack of turnout to Tuesday fitness trainings, a lack of execution of the infamous “Saints” ball (Dr Gilks swears it will work), along with the daylight robberies of key players like Z. Nathoo, and stalwart Josh Thomas may have been responsible for previous subpar performance, but this could not explain all. The team needed a saviour.

And, with the ground shaking underneath him as he walked up to our Wednesday training session, saviour we found. Jack Averre, after months of contract negotiations by Dr Gilks, was finally secured for an unstoppable victory against RGS Guildford. This was the catalyst needed for a final trio of top performances that saw Nik BoydCarpenter tear the Merchant Taylor’s back line to pieces and Jake Bidwell confound the Dulwich defence.

With that glorious finish, this season was one that John Colet would be proud of. Thank you to all who have made it possible, especially Dr Clough and Dr Gilks. Only celebration is left to round off the season from here. ❚

U16A

A long summer anticipating the return to contact rugby with a pre-season tour to Swansea was well worth the wait. A productive, fun, and exciting trip along with some school training led us into our first two matches: The Campion and Epsom. We came out the other side with 11 tries, including a clinical finish from Hadjiloizou, glimpses of potential and two wins under our belts, but Hampton the following week would be no easy game.

A great match ensued with debut performances on pitch 1 for all; it was a hard fought 20-14 victory helped by courageous defensive performances all around, but especially from Tredre and MOTM Patel.

The two games to go before half-term were where we could really make our season special. A miserable day lashing down with rain saw the boys in black and white conquer Radley away and put forth, arguably, the best 70 minutes of the season. The game was dominated by kicking and territory but everyone fought for the badge. Outstanding performances from Evans Alcantara, who scored a hat trick, Patel, who managed two interceptions, and Liu, who led the forwards’ aggression, helped us to win 26-15. Harrow, on the other hand, gave us the first of two defeats. We were too self-penalising, with silly errors and not being clinical enough costing us the game.

Four weeks later, we played Tonbridge. The first half silenced supporters as we went 10-0 down, but a half time talk we won’t forget inspired us to fight back with Lam, Sicheri, Palmer, and White all showing incredible heart. Eventually rewards came as Stadlen and Evans Alcatara dotted down a try each followed by Bottomley converting to win 12-10.

Eton, the first home game since Hampton, was a huge game and the boys – inspired by a great turnout of support – put on a first half show not to be forgotten, scoring the first two tries Eton conceded that season: one from a great Hadjiloizou and Freebairn linkup. Eton fought back convincingly in the second half and proved to be too strong for us but it was a performance the whole team should be proud of.

The following four matches proved the strength and depth of our squad as, even through injuries and some sub-par performances, we managed 4 from 4 to achieve 9 wins from 11 games overall. Standout performances included Evans Alcantara who scored all 21 points against RGS, Lee-Imnadze for an excellent debut in the forwards against Dulwich, and Inglis who played very well in all 4 matches.

Thanks to everyone who played for the team because what made the season so great was the collective dedication and commitment by every one of you. Furthermore, from all of us, thanks to

Mr Maguire and Mr F Harrison for your support and passion which helped create a memorable, successful, and enjoyable season. ❚

A win in rainy conditions away at Radley

A hard fought win against Hampton on pitch 1

Team huddle before Hampton on pitch 1

U16B

The under 16B’s season can only be described as mixed: we had bad games, we had great games, and we had quite a few in between. We played in all conditions from rain at Radley to massed crowds on the first team pitch. Scores and win ratios may not look so favourably on the season that we had and in my opinion fail to show the true triumph of the U16 Bs. Our season was fraught with injuries, covid, and discordant line ups. With the As stealing another one of our players every week, we were at best inconsistent. With our losses and poor win rate being only the fault of external factors, I think it’s best to focus on the positives of the season. My personal highlight of the season that I think I most likely share with the rest of the team was the last game.

It was a grim Saturday afternoon home game against Oratory. Pitch 5 was lined with fans from both sides brewing an intense atmosphere for what many are now calling the game of the season. The game, much like our season, started well with some incredible tries, most notably Thomas Wong who fly-hacked the ball up the whole pitch before putting it down for a try. Things quite

quickly went all wrong, however. A few unlucky tries let them back into the Game. At half time, tensions were high with everyone desperate to finish the season with a Win. We got back onto the pitch and put on some incredible defensive phases before scoring a few tries all expertly converted by Gabe (vice capt.). Before we knew it, the whistle was blown, the game had been won, and the season was over. This performance perfectly summed up our season: started well, finished well, with a lot to be desired in between.

There were of course some other performances and players I’d like to highlight: Gabe Hoffman, our VC and fly half, managed to score the most points this season with his incredible kicking and occasional tries; Mevan Wijayatilake, who probably made more tackles than the rest of the team combined; James Wilson, who was consistently one of the best forwards in the team and a force to be reckoned with; as well as Arun Gainer, who was a star back; Torgua Lee Imandeze, who put a shift in both the forwards and backs; and Alex Whadawani, with his quick feet and thinking at 9. ❚

U16C

When the season began in September, there was no U16C Rugby team. It remained that way until a torrential downpour away at Ridley, where 12 C teamers in high spirits arrived and set out to try and obtain an unlikely victory. Despite a huge shift from Luxsigan Vamadevan covering every blade of muddy grass, we were on the receiving end of a hefty 82-7 loss. Things improved greatly a week later against Harrow: for starters, we not only had a full team but also a small group of fans that had made the much shorter journey to Harrow in comparison to Radley. Again, we were on the receiving end of a hefty loss, but this time it was a more respectable 41-3 scoreline in favour of the home team. Half-term arrived and provided a few weeks off Rugby, and perhaps that showed in the Cs next fixture, another big loss, this time at the hands of Tonbridge. The scoreline finished 78-3 and many at this point would start to think the we were wasting our time, never going to get anywhere near a positive result, especially with heavyweights Eton arriving the following week for our first home game of the season. The scoreline, a 7-45 victory in favour of the Etonians,

did not fairly reflect the game in our unanimous opinion. Firstly, our defence had vastly improved with Alexey Klekovkin and Felix May executing some outstanding tackles in their first game for the Cs. Secondly, we felt that some decisions went unfairly against us, although we cannot dwell on if, buts and maybes. And thirdly, Enzo Beattie scored undoubtedly our best try of the season with a clinical interception that Jack Morris had discussed at half time. Then, on a typically autumnal Saturday, we arrived at RGS Guildford for the game that would define our season and make all four heavy losses that we suffered be worth it. Being only 7-0 down at half time and going downhill

for the second half, we knew we had a chance to win the game if not at least put up a very good fight. As St Paul’s and Guildford lost players in higher teams, the numbers in the C team game were reduced, after a try each from Leo Ballick and Yannis Zelalem and two conversions by Jack Morris, the score was locked at 14-14. Deep into overtime, we had a scrum in the RGS Guildford 22. We knew the call, we had discussed it with naive optimism before the game, but we had a very real opportunity to get a victory here. Nicolas Dyer to Jack Morris, up charge the RGS defenders, Jack caresses the ball on the bounce over the posts for a drop goal and a 14-17 victory. Our final game was

affected by Dulwich College’s surge in COVID-19 cases. Since they could only field one team, The Cs played just 20 minutes together for our final game. We made it count. Winning the 20 minute period 19-0, our season was capped off by Bobby Sice, stepping and diving over the try line as the Cs concluded their season.

We all would like to thank Mr Roberts, who made every game of ours possible and never gave up on us despite four consecutive thrashings. A season of lows that were outweighed by two great highs with all of us enjoying it along the way. ❚

U15A

Our season started off with a memorable tour up to Durham, where we trained hard in preparation for the long season ahead. We finished our pre-season training with two great wins in fixtures against a top school in RGS High Wycombe and Reading Blue Coat. Two brilliant weeks of rugby were to come for the U15As, where we picked up three phenomenal wins against strong schools in Campion, Epsom, and Hampton. These impressive results set us up for what was arguably going to be the most difficult game of the season playing against an excellent Radley side. The weather conditions didn’t play in our favour, but the entire team massively stepped up, and fought till the end for a superb 0-0 draw. After half term, St Paul’s bounced back from a disappointing loss to Harrow, when we played the formidable Tonbridge school. It was an exceptional performance from the squad on Pitch 5, and we came out with a tight 12-7 win, fighting back from being a try down. Towards the end of the season, after two injury ridden weeks and a few results that didn’t go our way, we ended the season on a positive note with two amazing wins and a well-earned draw against a top Dulwich side. This season has seen great improvement in many players such as Chris Leaver, Mayowa Odewale, Ben Lozovsky, and Matteo Salford, who have moved up the ranks and got lots of appearances for the A team. Manny Dell, Jacob Bethell, and Sai Singh Bhatia ➦

Rugby have also consistently performed throughout the season, putting in huge tackles for the side on many occasions.

Jadon Ekpo and Alex Toledano have been outstanding on the wing, both in attack and defence, utilising their immense speed effectively. And we have also seen some stellar individual performances from the likes of Fraser White against Epsom, Connel Nelson against Hampton, and Eli Joseph against Tonbridge. Alongside skill, leadership in Rugby is a key to success for any team and this season it has been excellent from Jacob Bethell (c), Eli Joseph, and Manny Dell, who have pulled the team together after a few tough moments. The season has left us with 8 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses: statistics which the side should be incredibly proud of. Overall, it has been a memorable and thoroughly enjoyable season for all, and the entire team have shown commendable courage, desire, and bravery against some of the best schools in the country. Finally many thanks must go to Mr Harrison and Mr Lawrence for their commitment, effort, and tremendous coaching throughout the season. ❚

Eli Joseph & Jacob Bethell

The U15Bs had a challenging but rewarding season. It started off with an unfortunate loss against Campion (away) where some dropped balls made it evident that our handling would have to improve. Our team responded well and played some great rugby in back to back wins against Epsom and Hampton. We were eager to continue this win streak but getting into mid-season, it was obvious that the next few games would be a challenge. Three schools renowned for their rugby ability – Radley, Harrow and Tonbridge – loomed before us on the fixture list. A tough loss against a strong Radley team seemed a foreboding sign of things to come, but the team continued unphased to draw against Harrow and beat Tonbridge, keeping a clean sheet on our side of the scoreboard. Both teams were very physical and had

U15B

Played 11 Won 5 Lost 5 Drew 1

much bigger packs. Unfortunately, a rash of injuries (including our captain, Milo Jones) meant that we were unable to keep up our momentum and lost to Eton and some other formidable sides. Regardless, when the final game of the season arrived against London Oratory, no one was prepared to walk away with another loss. At half time, it was anyone’s game, but thanks to some excellent kicking by Cam McConnon, who made every single conversion, and some powerful forward play by the likes of Kavin Swain and Austin Burks, we were able to wrest away a win. It was a great way to end the season and one which

reflected the resilience and determination that the team had shown throughout.

All in all, the U15Bs had a strong season and the team’s progress was remarkable. Considering that some of the players were introduced to rugby just last year, the dedication they showed throughout the season really paid off. For most, the highlight of the rugby season was beating Cedars A team: a fixture which was only arranged after a last minute cancellation by Solihull. In the first five minutes we went two tries down, but with a try saving tap tackle from Dan Taylor, some amazing

carries from Rohan George and Matteo Shidrawi’s excellent pick and go play, we managed to power through for an amazing team win.

The U15B’s success was only made possible by our excellent rugby department of which we would particularly like to thank Mr Jones and Mr Evans who gave up many a lunch break and Saturday so that we could enjoy playing the game and have a very memorable season. ❚ Richard

Eichhorst and Ben Mendelsohn

U14A

It was a very hard season for the U14As, with some hard losses at the start of the season but some strong wins towards the end. A special thanks should go to Mr Peterson and Mr O’Brien who helped us throughout the season to become better players but unfortunately have left now. Mr Peterson helped lead us through tactics and improve our game sense whilst Mr O’Brien helped improve our work rate and mental strength. It was a very hard start to the season against some tough teams such as Epsom and Harrow. However, in the

second half term, we managed to pull together and beat London Oratory and Dulwich. We have had quite a few changes throughout the season but a huge congratulations to the B team members who stood up and helped us when we had a few injuries. A special mention to Sam Francombe and Andrew Berko-Boateng, who helped the backs with their plays and were two of the highest try scorers this season. And well done to Tybalt, Wilder, and Majdood for stepping up and committing physically in the forwards

in each match. Our hardest match was against Dulwich and we had to step up physically and mentally to fight such a strong side. Nonetheless, we beat them on their home grounds 19-12 with a last minute try by Majdood and a sick conversion from the sideline by Sam. And thank you for some B team members from moving up and helping us such as Luca Speciale following in his brother’s footsteps. Special mention to Wilder Daffey carrying the ball into some heavy collisions and being a force of nature in the rucks. ❚

U14C

We won our first match, against The Campion School, 45-25, which was a brilliant result for the first match of the season.

After that, several of the C team players were promoted to the B’s and we then suffered a string of losses against Reading Blue Coat school, Radley College, and Harrow. In the second half

term, after working very hard in practice and a few players returning from injury, we drew to Tonbridge 5-5 and 25-25 with Eton the following week.

We then beat RGS, Guildford 45-10 and lost the following two matches against The Cedars School and Dulwich. We then finished off the season with a 15-5 victory over Oratory. I think that we have done extremely well this season as we have played some good schools. We improved our game a lot when comparing the second half term to the first. During the second half of term, I think that we really started to play better as a team as we learned better shape and began to introduce more calls which involved the whole team. Comparing our first game to our last, there was a huge difference both on the ball and off.

We are looking forward to doing rugby next year and this year has perfectly

equipped us for when we do rugby in the future. Hopefully we won’t have to do bear crawls or runs to the nearest post every training session. We have shown a lot of heart, especially in the first game when we came back from behind to beat Campion.

Also, lots of our players have moved up to higher teams so we have had to work with a constant change in personnel. The players from lower teams have done a tremendous job of replacing those players. There are also some special mentions to players like Jamie Horley for making some excellent try saving tackles throughout this season and Tom Richie for being a consistently great scrum half. The leading scorers this season were Peter, Louis, David, and Harry. Thank you to my two vice captains for this year, Max and Kobi, and massive thanks to Mr Slaney for being such a brilliant coach. ❚

Ben Thomas

U14D

It was a bit of a mixed bag from the U14Ds – despite a slow start they showed steady progression as the season wore on. There were some stunning victories and the entire squad should be proud of the progress they made, both individually and collectively. The season started with a tough encounter at home to Ewell Castle U14B team. Despite coming up against a more drilled outfit, who had clearly benefited from a significant pre-season, the hunger and desire of the SPS boys shone through. Unfortunately, a sterling second half performance could not undo the damage done in the first half and Ewell Castle ran out victors by a 10-point margin. Up next was a trip to Radley college. On what was one of the worst days to play rugby, SPS fought valiantly but were ultimately undone by a talented Radley outfit – 25-5 was the final score.

It was from this point that the season really took off. Intensity in training increased dramatically and it was

Played 7 Won 4 Lost 3 Drew 0 Points for 219 Points against 131

apparent from early in the week prior to the Harrow fixture that the boys were up for it. Spurred on by the disappointing start to the season, SPS put in their most impressive display of the season. With dominant forward play – and guile in the backline to match – a good Harrow side was no match for SPS. The 40-25 margin of victory was an incredible result, made all the more special by the fact that the U14Ds were the only victorious SPS team of the block fixture.

After half term, SPS went down by one score to a dogged Tonbridge side, although that was definitely one that got away. Impressive victories over Eton, RGS Guildford, and Dulwich followed with the later performance against Dulwich being a real pleasure to witness.

Although a clichéd expression, the results do not always do justice to how well the team performed. Credit must go to Hawkie Findlater for being an exceptional captain and to Freddie Hammond-Giles who marshalled the backline superbly. The try scoring machine, Jonathan Miles, cut many defences to pieces and Ravi Walker epitomised committed forward play throughout. Of course, to single out these few does not do really justice to the fantastic team effort over the course of the season. The 2021 U14Ds were a pleasure to coach and many will go on to have fantastic rugby careers at the school. ❚

M O Fitzpatrick

U14E

This term the Es have been exceptional. When we play, it’s hard to notice that lots of us haven’t played much rugby before, and we’ve won against very difficult teams. In the beginning, we weren’t doing so well, starting with three losses. We then started to improve our teamwork skills and made strategies. Throughout our training, we also got to know each other better, so that we could work as a team to play and pass more. We strategised more and had our first draw against Harrow, with lots of people playing better than they previously had. That was our first match where we worked together and played very well, but with still room for improvement.

After the half-term break, we weren’t fully back and ready for rugby fixtures, shown by our loss in the next match against Tonbridge, where we had several players who could not join us. Even though we lost, we still showed that we could play as a team, and we did much better after we strategised

at halftime. Lots of players who couldn’t play at Tonbridge played in our next match against Eton, where we had our first win, ending with a score of 35-10. We felt confident after the win, and we knew that with cooperation and teamwork, we would win.

Many of our players played for the Ds against RGS Guildford the following week, resulting in a win. The match gave some of us a chance to improve against more difficult opponents and learn to play with different teammates. Unfortunately, our last match against Latymer got cancelled, as they couldn’t put out enough players, but it gave all of us a chance to recover and prepare for our final match. Our last match against Dulwich was played very well, and although lots of our players couldn’t attend, we still left with a 55-25 win.

Overall, the rugby season has left us all with new skills and abilities, especially for those of us who haven’t played rugby before but have improved

immensely. We have learned to work together and stay determined even when we are losing. Although we have made lots of progress, there is still room for improvement in all of us, and I anticipate we will all fill it. For all of us, this rugby season has been wonderful, and I hope we have the chance to do it again next year. ❚

Felix Kirchner (captain)

Squash

This year was an exciting year for squash at St Paul’s, with lots of boys playing in their games halves, the return of club squash for all year groups, a range of friendly fixtures, and the return of the Roehampton Schools Invitation tournament where the boys managed to come 5th despite being a player down. Also, after years of excellent work we said goodbye to Gary O’Brien in December and welcomed Vini Rodrigues as a coach to the squash team to work alongside Yawar Islam in providing the boys with exceptional coaching.

The real highlight of the year, however, was having both the U19s and U16s qualifying for the England National Schools Championships in Nottingham –a huge achievement and making us only one of two schools to qualify for both age categories.

The U19s – consisting of George Livesey, James Rossiter, Rana Sarin, Olly Hatfield, and Tom Jensen – managed this with hard fought battles in the 2nd qualifying round, defeating a very strong Harrow 3-2 and Aylesbury Grammar School 4-1.

The U16s – consisting of Adrian Siniscalco, Neil Prabhu, Emerick McMahon, Darshy Pandey, and Nabil Alizadeh – had a tough task having drawn Felsted and a very strong Truro side in the 2nd qualifying round. With our boys and Truro both defeating Felsted 5-0 it came down to a straight shoot-out for a place in the National Finals. With the scores locked at 2-2, Adrian Siniscalco mustered everything he had to defeat Truro’s first seed and send our boys to the Nationals in Nottingham to join the U19s.

This gave the boys the opportunity to test themselves against the best schools in the country and be part of an exciting festival of squash. The U16s performed excellently and were unlucky not to claim a place on the podium, finishing fourth. This included what was probably the game of the day against Aylesbury Grammar where both schools were so evenly matched that every match went to the wire. With the scores at 2-2 and only 2nd seed Neil Prabhu left to play, it proved to be a tense finish. But Neil held his nerve to win 2-1 with the final game going all the way to 15-13 as both competitors gave their all. The players eventually lost the semi-finals to eventual winners Epsom and missed out on third place in a close fought battle with Shelley College, losing 3-2, but fourth is an incredible achievement and the

future looks bright with these players moving into the senior team next year.

Unfortunately for the U19s, a clash with the Rackets Nationals meant that only one of the team that qualified could attend the Nationals in Nottingham. Despite this, Vikram Bhamre, Arjun Rajkumar, Yusuf Kundgol, and Neil Prabhu (playing up an age category and for the second day) stepped in to join James Rossiter and put in a strong performance to finish eighth.

Next year, we are looking forward to another exciting year of squash and with the success of the players this year and some strong players in the 4th and 5th form, the future looks to be very promising. ❚

Matthew Goldup

Water Polo

This was an exciting year from a water polo perspective. With COVID finally in the past, we could look forward to a full calendar of fixtures and tournaments. Excellent coaching from our departing Head Coach Mr Caleb Hughes, new Head Coach Mr Rumen Kurtev and SPS Alumni Phelim Owens also meant that we were well prepared for the challenges ahead.

Many members of our U14 team had the hard task of learning a new sport whilst competing against some of the best schools in the country. However, their commitment to lunchtime training, along with Mr Kurtev’s expertise meant that they were the team to beat. They finished the year with 9 wins, 1 draw and only 4 losses, showing us that the future of St Paul’s water polo is in safe hands. COVID also meant that the U15 squad

had little experience when it came to water polo fixtures. Despite this, they delivered a solid record of 5 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws. U16 water polo is always difficult, as GCSE work becomes a priority for most. This may have contributed to the squad’s 6 losses, however they still managed to get 4 wins under their belt.

Senior water polo got off to a difficult start, as problems with our pool meant that we were unable to host the England Schools (ESSA) qualifying rounds. It was then postponed to a date which we were not able to attend. This meant that we would be competing for the ESSA Bowl. Great performances from captain Jacob Banit and Ramon Garcia-Rodenas allowed us to make the most of a bad situation, and we proceeded to the Bowl finals. Ibrahim Khan, Sam Mewawalla

and Pradeep Ellepola from the U16 squad all stepped up and provided us with extra man-power for the occasion. Emil Karawani’s solid defence, James Rossiter’s sharpshooting, Luke Buckland’s playmaking and Sandro Weeks’s goalkeeping allowed us to take home the trophy after a dominant performance. Dylan Staveley and Aris Stephanakis also created vital goals and assists to help us through the games. We also saw some invaluable contributions and tenacity from incoming captain Oscar Lakatos. Hopefully, we will be able to transfer this result into the higher competitions next year and bring home even more silverware!

Finally, a special thanks to Dr Gaydon and all the Aquatics staff for making everything this year possible. ❚

Oscar Lakatos

END MATTER

The Pauline: A Retrospective

Rightfully so, Suzanne has always put the pupils and their endeavours at the heart of The Pauline; it is a school record and we would agree that the beating heart of a school is its pupil body. Suzanne’s first edition arrived in October 2014 and, since then, The Pauline has significantly evolved under her competent stewardship. Under Suzanne’s leadership, The Pauline has become more ambitious both in scope and execution; she had, in the words of one colleague, a ‘fantastic vision’. Always with the pupils first and foremost in her mind, Suzanne has pushed for all aspects of school life to not only be recorded, but represented

in our annual record. Departments, societies, clubs, and sports teams have all been given the space (and encouragement) to document and showcase their endeavours. At the same time, the production quality has been improved with the arrival of professional graphic design partners Haime&Butler. In order to honour Suzanne’s time at the helm, we have collated below a selection of covers from the past eight years, which will hopefully bring back some memories and make for enjoyable viewing. (There is a constant, if you can find it.) Suzanne discharged her duties with diligence, creativity, and care: hats off.

DJB

As Suzanne Mackenzie steps down from her editorship of The Pauline, it is only fitting to pay tribute to her brilliant work over the past eight years.

Literary Cryptics

All but one of the following has a literary-themed answer as well as clue

ACROSS 2 Elizabethan crossdresser is instrumental protagonist! (5) 4 “Ladies and Gentlemen: the enigmatic T. S. Eliot!” (7) 6 Shakespeare’s refused entry, I hear? (4) 9, 5 Deranged Joe butchered us for Victorian novel (4,3,7) 10 Predator pens lament for Bloomsbury author (5) 12 Australia XI drop one novelist (6) 13 Nineteenth-century heroine’s eye blurred after first month – starts to reassess employment (4,4) DOWN

1 A speedy satirist? (5)

8, 3 Talent washed away for a modernist masterpiece? (3,5,4)

11, 7 Assessment before an award for Roman rabble-rouser (4,6)