The Fundaçao Scholarship

By Form 2 Pupils 

Form 2 pupils recently took part in a press conference to find out more about the Fundaçao Scholarship Program here at St. Paul's. Read below for some of their articles. 


A SCHOLARSHIP FOR GREATNESS 
by S. Koelle 
 
          Recently, St. Paul’s school has announced officially that they have opened a system that will give scholarships to young talented minds. As from August 2019, they will be welcoming their first scholar into the school in São Paulo, Brazil. This program will be great for the school since it will give the school more diversity.
          Mr. Wilkinson, the runner of the foundation, along with his team of 10 other members, including Ms. Simpson gave some further details about the foundation itself: “The St. Paul’s school will provide a 100% scholarship for gifted students,” Announced Mr. Wilkinson. However, the students who are willing to participate must be able to achieve some certain criteria: “They must be academically talented, and aged from 11-15. Furthermore, special talents in either music, Arts, sports or drama will be an advantage,” added Mr. Wilkinson.

The St. Paul’s school Head, Ms. Simpson, explained why this idea was introduced so late in school history: “The foundation was actually created 10 years ago, we set up the program, but it did not take off. Although, we have re-launched the program with the help of Mr. Wilkinson,” Ms. Simpson stated.
         
There is a selection process to identify the potential scholars. St. Paul’s school has several sponsors to help them with the process. The scholarship foundation has 8 different sponsors here in Brazil. Ms. Simpson briefly explained the process: “Two of our partners are working together to find possible scholars. However, anyone can apply with a video and an essay. The video and essay will be reviewed by Ms. Ferreira at St. Paul’s.” She then added, “The scholar must live in São Paulo, at a maximum distance of 1 hour and a half from St. Paul’s. Furthermore, he must have the right attitude, drive and commitment to flourish academically and benefit from the program”.

The selection process of the scholars consists of five consecutive steps:
Step 1 – Application from submission and documentation analysis.
Step 2 – A visit to the school to perform online tests and group activities.
Step 3 – Interviews: Individual and home visits.
Step 4 – A one year preparation period.
Lastly, Step 5- The final selection. These steps and further information may all be found at the foundation's site: www.fundacaostpauls.com.

The scholar foundation is funded solely through its patrons’ generous donations. The school has over 45 different donors for the foundation, mostly being families. The St. Paul’s school head, Ms. Simpson, strongly believes that with this foundation the school will have much more diversity. Moreover, the school will have much more students in it coming from different backgrounds and places due to this foundation.    


THE RE-LAUNCH OF A GREAT OPPORTUNITY AT ST. PAUL'S 
By C. Dutra de Almeida                        
 
St Paul's School, a worldwide educational establishment, affirmed that they will be relaunching a scholarship program in São Paulo state. They have a plan to start on August, the next academic year. Their main purpose is to give opportunities to brilliant people that don't have a good financial condition to have a good education in schools that will treasure their abilities. 

The program is trying to provide full scholarship for gifted children living in Brazil to study at St Paul's School. In accordance with the foundation website, they are proud to define "gifted” in the broadest manner, be it in academic subjects, sports, music or art. They aim to give a minimum of two scholarships per year because, many talented children in Brazil do not have chances to attend a good school.  

The foundation program is looking for candidates from all over the world living in Brazil. Children that can apply are from ages eleven to fifteen. According to Mr Wilkinson, the chair of the foundation, the basic criteria are to speak English at a level of understanding, a good academic history (although they are not expected to be geniuses) and should have a special talent. He also claimed that from five people who applied three of them have fluent level at English. The headmistress of St Paul's School, Ms. Simpson added, "We are looking for people that have the right attitude and are committed.” Lastly, it was stated that they are looking for the ideal pupil at a nongovernmental organization, which is an organization that tries to achieve social or political aims but is not controlled by the government (NGO).  

The applications for 2019 have already closed and children are already chosen. However, 2020's application is already available.

The money for the scholarships is collected by donations. Donors are families from school and partnerships, such as; Sodexo, who will be providing the pupils free food for lunch. There are about 45 families who are donors, not including the St Paul's PTA, who organize events to support with the donations. Their target is to have 10 scholars in five years. Finally, scholars will be treated the same as normal students meaning they will have the same lessons and priorities. 

Ms Simpson claimed that she had a preparation session with 5 candidates in which she was "privileged" to meet people with such wonderful energy. She went on to state, "These children will add value to our school.” Mr Wilkinson emphasis the same idea by stating the following, “It was a fantastic idea to give more opportunity to people that can't afford it. This will be better for Brazil and the world." 

The scholarship is being relaunched because it already existed before. Emiliano became a scholar in 2014. He wrote to the school explaining that he wanted to study in the United Kingdom. He was accepted and while he was studying at St Paul's he lived in Osasco. His scholarship was very successful, he is now studying at Stanford University in the technology department. Lois Simpson confirmed that, “He was a very dedicated student which had charisma and an amazing creativity.  

It is extremely easy to apply. Fill in an application on the foundation's website, https://www.fundacaostpauls.org.br/. The application will be a short essay about yourself and a video so that the school can evaluate your personality. After you have submitted your file and information, you will receive a response, after some weeks, saying if your application was successful or not. If you earn a fortunate response, you will then move forward to the test where you will take a Cap 4 test, so that your Math's, English and Portuguese skills can be tested. Finally, if you go well on your tests you shall be called for a one to one interview with the headmistress. The school recommends it greatly for you to apply.  
 

PAULEAN SCHOLARSHIPS  
By M.E. Paixao 
 
St. Paul's School has officially re-launched their scholarship program. The program will officially start in August of 2019, in other words the next academic year.  

Yesterday, at a press conference which took place for Form 2 pupils, Ms. Simpson and Mr. Wilkinson announced the beginning of the Scholarship program and disclosed details about funding, the selection process and the criteria that must be followed by potential candidates. A scholarship is a payment made to support a student's education, awarded on a basis of academic achievement or other achievements which does not need to be repaid.  

When asked about the reason why this program is only being re-launched now, Mr. Wilkinson, the chairman of the board helping with the scholarship, stated that St. Paul's School created the scholarship program ten years ago when "we only had a few candidates". Then he went on to say that there was a boy many years ago called Emiliano who "wrote St. Paul's a letter which Mrs. Abatepaulo received, because he wanted to here and go to university in England." Currently Emiliano is studying at Stanford where he is majoring in technology. Ms. Simpson said that this scholarship will give children like Emiliano, who do not have a good financial condition and therefore cannot afford St. Paul's, an opportunity to have a good education. She also stated that there are many talented children in Brazil who could benefit from this program, and who would not have good opportunities due to inequality without the financial aid that this program provides.  

Ms. Simpson and Mr. Wilkinson also shared information about the criteria that potential candidates must follow. These criteria are: they must be properly enrolled in 2019 in a public or private school, they must be aged eleven to fifteen, they cannot have any fails on their academic transcripts, they must live in São Paulo (maximum one hour and thirty minutes away), they must have the right attitude in order to prosper and gain from this opportunity, they have to have a maximum family income of two minimum Brazilian salaries, the candidates also must speak English to a level where they can benefit from this opportunity and have good academic abilities. A special talent also helps as St. Pauls can help the scholar evolve and improve their special talent; these may include arts, sports or music.  

The selection process was also explained during the press conference. The candidates either apply or St. Paul's reaches out through their corporate partner, an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) which is called Cidadão pro Mundo, a non-profit English School. When asked to describe the selection process Mr. Wilkinson stated, "They fill in an application and have to film a 90 second video talking in English." He then explained the tests that followed if the candidate's application passed on to the next phase. According to Mr. Wilkinson then the candidate would have to take the Cap. 4 test so that their English skills can be further evaluated. Then the school has a one-on-one interview with the candidate. Mr. Wilkinson went on to state, "If the candidate passes all this then we put them in an English course, which is also part of the selection process and through this we can see who rises and prospers. Then who stands out will have to go through one last test, which is also part of this process." They call this selection process SSPS (sourcing, selection, preparation, and schooling). 

The 2019 candidates have already been selected and the application window for 2020 has already opened. If you want to help these children, please donate to Fundação St. Paul's, a legally separated entity, please contact [email protected]. 
St. Paul's is aiming for two scholarships a year. 
 

ST PAUL'S SCHOOL HELPS GIFTED CHILDREN WHO ARE IN NEED OF A BETTER FUTURE
 By N. Bobrow 
 
Last year, St. Paul's School officially announced that they were going to launch a scholarship program called Fundção St. Paul's to help talented under-privileged children. These children are going to be joining our school next academic year (August 2019). The Scholarship will give these children a chance of a better education, as well as, benefiting and enriching our school. The money raised for this was made up donations. 
According to FSP's site, there is a strict criteria that scholars need to follow. Some of the requirements are: to be aged "from 11 to 15", to be "properly enrolled in a public or private school", to have "no fails or disapprovals" in their "Histórico Escolar", to have "strong English skills", live a "maximum distance of one hour and a half from school" and lastly, having "a special talent in the Arts or in sports would be an advantage". Remember that this is not all the criteria that scholars need to follow. You can see the full list in their site: https://www.fundacaostpauls.org.br/how-to-apply/#selectionprocess). 
It is expected that every year, two scholars will be joining St. Paul's. As most of these children are not used to an environment like our school, they go through a long preparation process called "SSPS", short for sourcing, selecting, preparing and schooling. For the first and second step, the children are chosen according to the criteria listed above. However, Mr. Wilkinson claims that, "It is extremely hard to find children who speak a good level of English to a level which benefits them." That is why the preparing step is so long and hard. During this step, the children have to regularly attend lessons with many of our teachers available to help them. This is so these scholars can get to a level of English which is almost as good as ours. For the last step, the donors provide the money for the school fees and other needs that are required for them to join our school. In addition to that, Sodexo provides free services and healthcare for the scholars while they are at our school.
Adapting to our school could be hard for them. That is why Miss. Simpson said that "we should embrace the diversity that they bring to our school." 
Many people don't know this but there has been a scholar in St. Paul's before. His name was Emiliano and his journey in this school began when in 2014, he was searching for a school which had an IB program and found us. He wrote to Mrs. Abatepaulo saying that he wanted a scholarship to our school. He was originally from Uberlandia, MG and his parents did not speak English. However, he had a lot of potential and ended up getting the scholarship and even went to Stanford University to study technology! Miss. Simpson even said that "he was very charismatic and whenever he entered a room, he filled it with ideas." 
St. Paul's will still be with these children after they graduate. Our tertiary education partners will help them get into the best universities.
Some of the companies who are helping the school with the scholarship are: 'Cultura Inglesa', 'ismart', 'Fundação Estudar', 'Cidadão-pro-mundo' and 'Projeto Gauss'.
If you are willing to donate money, you can find more information in their site: "fundaçãostpauls.com". And remember: even if you don't donate a very large amount of money, you will still be helping these children.

ST PAUL'S LAUNCHES A NEW SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
By C. Varela
 
Yesterday, St. Paul’s school had an official announcement of the launching of their brand new scholarship program. The chairman, Mr. James Wilkinson, and Ms. Simpson told us in yesterday morning’s press conference that the scholarship would begin in August 2019 and give people an opportunity to have a better education and to increase diversity in the school.  
 
Last year this was just an idea in people’s heads however soon it will be benefiting two talented people every year with the help of our donors and free services which will be offered to our scholars. The school is thankful for all the parents and anonymous donors who have donated through the website and made this possible for these gifted children to get a better education so far. 
 
The whole board have agreed on a way of selecting the scholars which the members of the Fundação call the "sourcing, selecting, preparing and schooling process," as Mr. Wilkinson mentioned. When choosing the scholars, the school had to pick people who fell into their basic criteria: everyone who was picked had to be eleven to fifteen years old, live close to the school and finally it is required for scholars to have a high level of academic and English language skills, in addition to their talent which can be in academic subjects as well as sports, music and the arts. However as Ms. Simpson commented, the "biggest challenge so far" has been to find people who speak the level of English which is required.  
 
For people to sign up for a scholarship they must send in an online application in the Fundação St. Paul’s website. They must write a short essay explaining why they should be selected and send in a video of themselves to show that they are able to speak the level of English required. If they are chosen after this whole process they have an interview with Ms. Simpson and other teachers involved in the Fundação St. Paul’s program so that the school can get to know them. They later must complete a test of their knowledge. Both families and scholars will be involved in the selection. Finally, they have a preparation program after school which started last Monday. 


 
 
ST. PAUL'S LAUNCHES A NEW SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
By A. Ariaz
In August, St. Paul’s school will be welcoming its new scholars. The scholarships helping underprivileged children and are being funded by Fundação St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s officially announced that they will give two full scholarships per year and the parents of pupils are donating the money to fund these scholarships.
The St. Paul’s Foundation Scholarship program states, “We are a not-for-profit organization, but we do not see ourselves as charity.” They also wrote that they dedicated themselves to seek out such children and to raise funds for the means to offer them to study in St. Paul’s. They wrote that these children will receive all advantages from the school but in return the children will enrich the school.
These children applied one year ago and now have become 2019s candidates. There are only five candidates now and they are in “preparation” for the school. If they are under 13, they will do the IGCSE but if they are under 18, they will do the IB. Although only 2 or 3 of the candidates have the level of English that they’re looking for. That is why Jamie Wilkinson, the Chairman of the foundation, said, “our biggest challenge is finding the people who have a good enough understanding of English.”
The scholars applied by going to the website. They do the same test us, the new children that come to the school do. Mr. Wilkinson said that it is “very smart” technology. This technology shows who “rises” to the top. To apply you need a short application essay and a little video and they have to be the right age (11 to 15). Plus, Ms. Simpson said “we are looking for potential.”
During the interview, James Wilkinson, stated that many young talented individuals don’t get this opportunity. He also described the scholars saying “our” scholars. He also said that they partnered with NAO (Non-Governmental Organizations) to find these candidates or as he said “talented pupils.”
Ms. Simpson said that she “wants more diversity in the school” and that “we have to embrace diversity.” She also explained that it is normal for new pupils to come to the school and that “we would love to have them in our school. No matter who’s is paying.” On the website it also says that they’re providing scholarships for “Brazilian gifted children.”
Parents donate money for the scholarships for these children. Mr. Wilkinson also stated that “I know the names of everyone who donates” and that he thinks “it is wonderful that parents are going to donate every year.” Sodexo agreed to help with this and have decided to give free food and healthcare.
The school created the scholarship program 10 years ago. they told us a story about a boy named Emiliano. They said he found “us off his own back” and that he was a “fabulous person” and an “inspiring young man.” Emiliano went to Stanford. They thought there “must” be so many more children in Brazil and that they will “benefit the school.” They saw how Mr. Wilkinson has the skills and the new program came under way.
to get the scholarship they need to be 11 to 15, maximum family income threshold of two minimum salaries, no fails/disapprovals in “historicos escolar” or academic transcript, strong English language skills, a special talent (such as music, art and more) and live in Sao Paulo (an hour and a half of distance from school).
The selection progress: first an application from submission and documentation analysis. Second interviews: individual and house visit. Third one-year preparation period including English immersion course held in St. Paul’s. Than the final selection.
To see the donors, you can to https://www.fundacaostpauls.org.br/. If you want to donate, then you just click on donate. Any other information is in the website and if you want information which isn’t there or more details you can contact them.