St. Paul’s girls school

[R272727]

Hi I was wondering if parents who have girls in this school can describe the atmosphere in this school. It is the only school that says the school does not suit every girl and wanted to really understand which type of girls are in this school( . I understand the academic part). Also how diverse is it financially? Are most of the girls from super rich families etc. any advice will be fret appreciated

Hi @ViolettasAria yes it’s so difficult. We are going to take 24 hours to think on it. I want to be in a position so that before the state schools results come out, we have let go of everything to make it easier for everyone. I was impressed by the standards on the open morning today but clearly they work v v hard. Equally I don’t imagine it’s much less at GL, just a different atmosphere. They do a lot more with SPS than GL ( who say they don’t have time with the logistics of planning such things v often). We never imagined to be in such a position so it’s something to savour and be thankful for and then move on. Happy for you to DM me! X

Good luck to you! I have to say I was really uncertain about SPGS and the morning we had to decide and pay our deposits I walked round and round the green outside with an acceptance form for SPGS and one for NLCS in my pocket trying to decide. The answer is they are all great options and you have smart girls! But am so pleased we went for SPGS for my DDs sake.

I went to St Paul’s- a while ago now. I was one of the lucky ones: the teachers thought I was bright, I went to a great university, I did well. I had a fantastic education and have fantastic friends from there. When I got to my extremely competitive university I was unfussed because I was already pretty sure I’d met (and been educated with) the cleverest people I’d ever meet. Paulinas certainly can look different but underneath there are very strong similarities. Those parents (and interesting that it is parents, not the girls) who are saying their daughters have never felt competition there or pressure etc etc. I’m sorry, but I think you will probably find that’s not accurate. The school hums on competition- maybe not with others (maybe not), but with yourself. You are taught that you are the best, that you will be the best and - crucially - that you owe it to your education to achieve that. And anything less than perfection is a failure. That’s a lot to carry with you and it doesn’t make for the easiest, happiest work-life balance in your future life. If you are in the bottom quartile, it is not a happy place to be and there can be serious damage to confidence. Even if you are the “right girl” for it (which by all accounts, I was), there are less good bits alongside the good and those can become more apparent as you go out into the world. Of course things may have changed since I was there. From what I’ve heard (and I’ve stayed in contact and had younger family members there)- I don’t think it has by much. It’s great that you are happy with the choice and hopefully your daughter will have a great time there. But keep an eye out, keep reminding her that there is more to life than this (and by that I don’t mean the old Paulina trope academics are not everything, therefore you must also excel at sport, drama, music, dress like a stylist, look like a model etc). It takes a hell of lot of paddling to do the “effortlessness” for which Paulinas are known. I don’t know a single one who wasn’t paddling bloody hard. And I don’t know a single Paulina who would say anything markedly different to what I’ve said above (and to the extent that it differs, certainly unlikely to be more positive).

I have always heard that they do everything they possibly can to have girls from less well off families. Though from an older generation, the people I knew there were not rich. It was always extremely good not only academically but also for music and art.

Reports have been for a long time that the pressure is immense. Girls feel they must be brilliant, beautiful and thin. Eating disorders etc But that is everywhere.

It has been in the news recently about changing the title of Head Girl to Head of School. Apparently that was the original title going back to the beginning of the 20C but the reason for the change now is in the interests of being ‘gender neutral’ and the school has had a lecture about trans gender issues (pro).