Best Schools - St Paul’s School has appointed a woman as head for the first time in its 510-year history

Sally-Anne Huang will become the 35th high master at the leading boys’ school, in west London, in September next year. Its head at present, Mark Bailey, has been on leave from the University of East Anglia and will return there as professor of later medieval history.

Ms Huang is head teacher at James Allen’s Girls’ School (Jags) in south London. She announced her appointment to St Paul’s on social media, saying: “I will be sad to leave Jags next year but feel grateful to have been appointed as the next high master of St Paul’s. Many thanks for all the positive comments I have received and the support of staff from both schools.”

In 2013 it was announced that City of London School, a private school for boys, had appointed its first female head teacher, Sarah Fletcher, who is now at St Paul’s Girls’ School. Helen Pike has been master of Magdalen College School in Oxford since 2016.

St Paul’s was founded in 1509 by John Colet, dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. It caters for boys aged 13 to 18. Last year 53 of its leavers had offers from Oxbridge.

The school said that Ms Huang would continue an ambitious development campaign aimed at increasing the number of pupils receiving bursaries and closer work with state schools.

Roedean has started sending meals once a week to homeless men through a charity called Off The Fence in Brighton

The girls’ menu includes sirloin steak with béarnaise sauce, chicken with parma ham and baked peach with biscotti crumb.

“The shared menu means 50-60 men enjoy the likes of pan-fried sirloin steak with béarnaise sauce and rosemary potatoes, turkey escalope in mustard and cream sauce . . . and a few pear and apple clafoutis might sneak in,” said the school.

The girls help load dozens of main courses and desserts into the charity’s van and write out “a nicely presented menu to send ahead”. They also ask for feedback from the men as to which dishes they enjoyed most.