Tall, self-assured and elegant, Clarissa Farr, high mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School, is accustomed to heading one of the most academically successful schools in the country.
Not only does the fee-paying school in west London top the Sunday Times exam rankings for the capital, it also boasts second place in our league tables for the whole of England and Wales — pipped to pole position by Wycombe Abbey, another girls-only school.
Old Paulinas include the actress Rachel Weisz and the comedian Jennifer Saunders. More than half of the sixth form go on to Oxford or Cambridge and the roll call of parents reads like a Who’s Who of the great and good.
A staggering 98.9% of A-levels at St Paul’s Girls’ were awarded grades A*-B last summer. Runner-up in our table of London’s best schools is North London Collegiate (97.7%), third is St Paul’s School for boys and fourth King’s College School, the Sunday Times independent school of the year.
The table is a regional breakdown from our Parent Power ranking of the top 921 state and independent schools in England and Wales, based on A-level and GCSE grades achieved last summer.
Last week Farr told The Sunday Times why St Paul’s Girls’ — which in the past has had a reputation as a hothouse — is so successful. To start with, she says, it is highly selective — girls sit an entrance test and have to be bright to gain admission. However, Farr insists the school is far from being an exam factory.
“I think, contrary to popular belief, we keep exams in their place,” she says. “What we emphasise is enjoyment of learning, and absolutely outstanding teaching. Many think brilliant students can teach themselves. I do not think that. We make sure all our teaching is outstanding. We do not run school trips in term time, because nothing must interrupt that 35-minute lesson time.”
Farr has always seemed ahead of the curve. Now she is preparing for a future that will puzzle many aspirational parents. In a few years, she says, instead of aiming for an Ivy League university, Oxford or Cambridge, it will become normal for girls to leave school at 18 and go straight into work.
Farr, a mother of two teenagers, says companies such as Google are questioning the value of a degree and that many Paulinas are taking up “handsomely paid” holiday internships.
“Far fewer of these brilliant youngsters are going to go to university in the long term. Employers do not care about university,” she says. “Some will still go into world-class universities but some will go straight into employment aged 18 and that will cease to be an unacceptable choice for the very brightest girls.”
Riddled for years with sink schools, London today boasts some of the best schools in England and Wales. It is home to seven of the top 10 nationally, all fee-paying and most of them single-sex.
The top state schools in London are grammars: Queen Elizabeth’s School for boys and the Henrietta Barnett School for girls, both in the borough of Barnet, are 10th and 11th respectively.
If your child does not pass the 11-plus and you cannot afford private education, the good news is that last year 22 of London’s top 100 schools were comprehensive or only partially selective. The highest placed is the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a Catholic school in Kensington and Chelsea, ranked 48th. Camden School for Girls is the top non-faith comprehensive, at No 64.
Online next week: the top independent and state schools in the north and northwest
