For more than a decade Clarissa Farr has headed up one of the top private schools in the country. St Paul’s Girls’ School — where fees are more than £23,000 a year and the daughters of QCs, doctors and bankers compete to gain admission — turns out “terrifyingly” brilliant high-flyers.
Alumni include the Labour politician Harriet Harman, the broadcaster Rachel Johnson and the actresses Rachel Weisz and Jennifer Saunders. Farr has presided over this hothouse for bluestockings, which regularly tops exam league tables, for the past 11 years. Unexpectedly, however, a few weeks ago she announced she was to step down.
Tall, glamorous, formidable, clad in a chic, dark two-piece with a string of pearls around her neck, she pours me tea in her airy…