On Friday 9th March, St Lawrence College hosted a wonderful inter-school rugby event for 140 Junior children in years 5 & 6. St Catherine's and the Francoellenique School Eugene Delacroix, joined us for an exhilarating morning of  tag rugby in which small teams of children played against other schools and chased their opponents with guts and determination. As it was a 'friendly' rather than a tournament, no scores were recorded officially, but the children kept tabs on just how many tries they managed to score and how many opponents they stopped by pulling off their tags. 

As well as families and friends, a number of visitors came along to attend this event including the head teachers of several Greek schools, the Headmistress of Delacroix School, teachers at the French Institute and members of the Greek Rugby Federation. Well done to the PE department for organising this thrilling event!
 

Special Educational Needs & Disabilities/Learning Support in the Junior School

Here at St. Lawrence College, we aspire to promote inclusive education throughout the school and cater for the needs of each one of our students.

All our teachers are teachers of SEND, thus differentiation comprises an integral part of their teaching; this may involve multi-sensory and creative approaches, which facilitate an effective and productive learning environment.

We respect that every child is unique -we have pupils of varying skills and abilities, and it is essential that we identify their additional learning needs through observations or screening. Through this, we make sure that we are always aware of pupils who require additional support to achieve their potential and reach their goals.

we create individually tailored educational programmes to meet our pupils’ needs...

For some pupils, the additional support may be temporary, whilst others may require assistance on a more long-term basis, either through in-class support, one-to-one withdrawal or teaching in a small group. In each and every case, we create individually tailored educational programmes to meet our pupils’ needs where necessary.

We have a committed learning support team consisting of an experienced Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), a Learning Support Coordinator as well as experienced learning support assistants.

We aim to provide an environment that promotes self-confidence and personal success, by identifying children’s strengths and encouraging them to make the most of the areas they excel in. We work with them to build on key skills that give them access to the curriculum at the level they are able to reach. Our SEND policy outlines our code of practice here at SLC.

As always, we listen to parents, advise accordingly and act on their concerns. We also regularly liaise with external specialists in order to gain better understanding of our pupils’ needs

Special Educational Needs/ Learning Support:

Every child is unique and has different learning needs.

We aspire to promote inclusive education throughout the school and cater for the needs of our students.

All teachers are teachers of SEN and differentiation is an integral part of teaching; this may involve multi-sensory and creative approaches, which facilitate an effective and productive learning environment.

We understand that we have pupils of varying skills and abilities and it is essential that we identify their additional learning needs through observations or screening. 

Some pupils require additional support to achieve their potential and reach their goals.

For some students, the additional support may be temporary, and others may require assistance on a more long term basis either through in-class support, one- to- one withdrawal or small group. 

We create individually tailored educational programmes to meet our pupils’ needs, where necessary.

We have a committed learning support team consisting of: an experienced Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), Learning Support Coordinator and learning support assistants.

We aim to provide an environment that develops self- confidence and personal success by finding what children are good at and encourage their strengths.

We listen to parents, advise accordingly and act on their concerns.

We liaise with external specialists for better understanding of our pupils’ needs.

St. Lawrence College takes enormous pride in its teaching and support staff, who are the school’s most precious resource.

Staff at St. Lawrence College enjoy an outstanding working environment with access to top quality training and support.

Our school takes a proactive and vigorous approach to safeguarding the security and wellbeing of its pupils. Consequently, full background checks will always be pursued before any applicant is employed by the school. Moreover, every applicant for any position will be sent the school’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

When seeking to recruit, St. Lawrence College will employ by advertising openings in the appropriate media as well in this section of the school website.

We welcome applications from qualified, passionate, driven people, who would like to join our community and help us to achieve our goals. Such individuals should email us and attach their CV and covering letter (both in English).

Any CV sent to the school will be handled in confidence according to the school’s Privacy Policy.

Teachers of secondary/senior school subjects should submit an up-to-date CV and covering letter, in English, to  careers@slc.gr addressed to Mr Phil Holden, The Headmaster of St. Lawrence College.

Teachers or classroom assistants for Early Years or the primary/junior school should submit an up-to-date CV and covering letter, in English, to  careers@slc.gr addressed to Ms Shona Good, The Headmistress of the Junior School of St. Lawrence College.

 St. Lawrence College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.  Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers, local authorities and the Disclosure and Barring Service in the UK.

During our March half-term, a special day was celebrated around the world on the 14^th of March, the International Pi-Day!  Pi is a mathematical constant having the value 3.14….. (that is the connection to the specific day of March) and is represented by the Greek letter “π”. It is the symbol used in Mathematics to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and it is one of the defining constants of our Universe.

Pupils and teachers celebrated Pi-Day the week after half-term with several events.

Pupils

·         measured the circumference of circles and, using hands-on activities, found the relationship with the diameter

·         investigated different relationships between angles in circles as well as areas of squares inscribed in circles

·         and passionately participated in several competitions.

Well done to all the pupils that took part in those competitions and here are winning pupils!

·         Haijie Su (Year 8) who won the competition of pi recitation by reciting the amazing number of 124 digits of π!

·          Delfin Saygi (Year 9) who won the competition of writing the most words beginning with pi in ten minutes, she managed to write 50 different words!

·         Dimitris Thodis (Year 10) who won the competition of inventing the most interesting word using π “rib-π-steak”! 

All the events were well enjoyed by both pupils and teachers. The celebrations ended with a very successful pie-sale. We, in our department, are very grateful to all pupils and parents who contributed generously to this unique pie-sale. We are happy to inform you that an amount of 410 euros was collected! All the money will be donated, through the Services Society, to charity and more specifically to the children in the Eleonas Refugee Camp.

It was a really insπring week!

Key Stage 3 is the first stage of British education that is in secondary (senior) school. For the first time in their education, a pupil will have ten specialist subject teachers across the eleven subjects that they will learn. These subjects are Mathematics, English, Greek, Science, History, Geography, Information Technology, Art & Design, Music, a third language (French or Spanish) and Physical Education (swimming, football, basketball and volleyball). Of these subjects, Mathematics, English and Greek are streamed on ability.

Pupils are carefully assessed throughout these three years of their education. This is achieved in a variety of ways through formative and summative assessment techniques with unique statistical and descriptive analytical information being communicated to parents regularly. End of year internal examinations not only provide an opportunity to assess learning that has occurred but help develop skills of examination preparation and the resilience to cope with the public examination process that is ahead of these pupils.

These three years of school are immensely important to the educational development of a child. They enter this Key Stage from primary (junior) school and leave it to start IGCSE public examination courses. This Key Stage does so much more than take a child forward in their understanding of the subject matter they are studying. It is during this Key Stage that children learn to work with a range of specialist teachers who each have a different style and slightly differing expectations of their classes. Pupils learn how to interact with and work with different adults and different sets of children. Their organisational skills develop as they learn to cope with the demands of different subjects with multiple deadlines and study skill requirements. Pupils also, of course, start to develop definite preferences for subject areas which are the first indications of where they may choose to specialise in the future.

As with every year since this event started in Athens, back in 2009, our school participated in the ‘Race For The Cure’ at the end of last month. This event is very close to the hearts of many pupils, teachers and parents and has become an event that gathers all of us together at the beginning of every school year. The event is organized in Greece by the “Panhellenic Society of Women with Breast Cancer, ALMA ZOIS” with the aim to support women who have or had breast cancer and to raise awareness of prevention of this disease.

‘Race for the Cure’ started in 1983 in the city of Dallas, in the USA and from the first event's 800 participants, the concept has now expanded to annual Races that attract hundreds of thousands of participants in more than 120 locations globally.

‘Race for the Cure’ has now become the biggest sporting event for women’s health in Europe. It helps breast cancer organisations and hospitals to collect funds and raise awareness. With 500,000 new diagnoses and 125,000 people who die of breast cancer in Europe every year, these funds are of vital importance. This year, as with 2020, the ‘Race’ could not happen in Greece, nor in most countries, in the usual way with the physical presence of participants due to measures to protect against COVID 19. It was not cancelled however, and instead took place ‘virtually’, with participants being encouraged to do their own walk or run. In St. Lawrence College, pupils from all year groups performed a walk or run during their PE lessons and many teachers also completed a run or walk during their lunch times, to show once again that our community is stronger than ever in the belief that breast cancer can be prevented and cured. Each participant donated some money and altogether through these events we raised €1,030 which has already been handed over to the ‘Race For The Cure’ organisation. Well done to each and every person who took part in these events and contributed generously to this important cause.

KS1

In KS1 (Years 1 & 2), newly arrived pupils with little or no previous experience in English will directly join their mainstream class where they will quickly be assimilated into the classroom and its language. Class teachers, with the help of teaching assistants, create a supportive environment and provide an inclusive curriculum using specific approaches and strategies to promote English language learning. Young children are encouraged to socialise and interact through planned group activities and games, with classmates who speak English fluently and who are good role models of English language use.

KS2

In KS2 (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6), pupils who either do not speak English, or who have had some limited exposure to the language, join a language support class and follow an intensive English course. They are supported in order to reach the academic level of English needed to follow all lessons in their mainstream class.

...to help the pupil develop English language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

After meeting with parents to collect key language and educational background information about the pupil, if necessary, an assessment is taken of the EAL pupil’s level of English to determine their individual learning needs and the most appropriate means of support provision. Our complete EAL policy explains the system of integration for those pupils over their first months at St. Lawrence College.

EAL classes for LKS2 (Years 3-4) and UKS2 (Years 5-6) offer either an intensive full-time programme or targeted support to help pupils develop English language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. All activities aim to teach English by linking it to the wider curriculum, so as to prepare pupils for entry into the mainstream classroom.

A buddy system is used to help EAL pupils find their way around, settle in, and make friends.

EAL pupils are further encouraged to socialise with their peers in the mainstream classroom, integrate, learn social language and accelerate their progress in terms of learning English, by immediately joining their mainstream class for lessons in PE, art, music and computing, regardless of their level of English.

Over the course of the year, as their level of English improves and they feel more comfortable and confident, pupils will gradually move into the mainstream classroom for other subjects, such as Maths and Science. There is no fixed time frame or undue pressure for the transition to be made.

During a pupil’s second year at St. Lawrence College, the EAL classes can also offer continued support in building English language skills to those pupils who have fully joined their mainstream class but for whom it is considered excessive to learn an additional language (French/Spanish/Chinese), whilst still trying to master English.

By creating a nurturing, safe and supportive environment, EAL classrooms provide a positive experience, setting every child on the right course and offering them a strong foundation from which they can achieve their full potential.

The EAL teachers help learners become more independent and confident as they transition and adapt to their new school.

Christmas is the time of giving and sharing! What better time could there be to show our care for people less fortunate than us than this time of the year! Once again the spirit of Christmas shone in our school and the pupils and teachers of the Services Society are very happy to thank all of their classmates and all of the parents who helped with the collection of basic toiletries, clothes and school supplies for the Saronicos Young Volunteers Group. Our school has a long tradition of assisting the Soup Kitchen in Anavyssos which is part of this group, especially at Christmas time, and our donations and contributions are always appreciated. The young girls and boys of Anavyssos showed their appreciation by a nice message of gratitude and by offering to us a special “box of gratitude” made by them inside which our pupils can collect little notes of things they are grateful for and this information can later be exchanged between them. What a lovely idea to remember from time to time that there is always something to be grateful for! And what better way of finishing the year but by the giving of practical things for everyday needs and, above all, giving of love and showing of care. Well done and a big thank you to parents, pupils and teachers!

May and June 2022 saw the return of public exams for our school’s eldest pupils. These were the first public exams to be held since 2019 as a consequence of the global pandemic. This year’s A-Level and AS-Level results have now been released and the results achieved by the Year 12 and Year13 pupils of our school are truly remarkable!

A-Levels

At full A-Level, which marks the final qualifications a pupil takes in a British school, 52 candidates took 170 A-Levels. This was a greater number of A-Level pupils and entries than ever before at our school. The standard of the grades achieved would be considered outstanding in any year. But when it is noted that because of the covid pandemic, these pupils had never taken public exams before (all exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021) and that these pupils experienced disruption over the last two years through all manner of covid-related impacts and restrictions in school, their results can only be considered as brilliant.

Of all the A-Levels taken, 22% resulted in in A* grade and 54% in an A or A* grade. This was markedly up on the 20% and 51% respectively from 2019, which was the last time exams were held. Furthermore, an astonishing three out of every four (75%) of all A-Levels taken resulted in a grade in the A*/A/B range.

A number of exceptional performances stand out. These include Lin Ning Huang (3A*1A), Ioannis Kontomihos, Katrina Lemane and Danyl Tsaran (3A*), Athanasios Kapoutsis, Leda Persidi and Zoe Raptis (2A*2A), Isabella Karaiossifidi and Nikolaos Zairis (1A*3A) and Marina Vassiliadis (4A).

And on to higher education!

Our school leavers are heading off to universities both in the UK and elsewhere in the world. UK destinations include UCL, Lancaster, Sussex, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Surrey and many other locations, while other school leavers have chosen universities in France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the USA for their higher education. Our school leavers will study a wide range of subjects, including Medicine, Politics Philosophy and Economics (PPE), Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, History, Applied Mathematics, Psychology, International Hospitality Management, Computer Science.

AS-Levels

At AS-Level, a whopping 85 pupils took 282 exams, which is comfortably the largest number of AS-Level candidates in a single exam session in the history of our school. As with those pupils who sat A-Levels, these pupils had never taken any public exams before as a consequence of the pandemic and also had experienced disruptions and restrictions through their recent education. Nevertheless, the collective performance of this large group was truly impressive and well up on the most recent AS-Level exams from 2019. This year’s cohort of pupils managed an A grade in 53% of all AS-Levels, compared to 41% in 2019. Likewise, this year an extraordinary 81% of all AS-Levels resulted in a grade in the A-C range (2019: 73%)

There were 16 pupils who scored four A grades, and standing out among those top performances were Nikolaos Synodinos with five A grades and Leandros Mandilaris with four A grades plus one B.

IGCSE

Pupils in Year 11 who sat their IGCSEs also have all their results now – well, nearly. They are still waiting for their GCSE Greek results which, being a different qualification from the IGCSEs, sees grades being released one week later. A full analysis of these results will appear in due course once the Greek results are known, but already it is clear that our Year 11 pupils have done very well indeed.

Reaction from the Headmaster

St. Lawrence College’s Headmaster, Phil Holden, commented “All these pupils have been through so much in recent years through no fault of their own. They have worked through lockdowns, online lessons, periods of having to self-isolate and quarantine, and restrictions in school in the classrooms, playgrounds, and extracurricular activities. It isn’t easy to wear a mask all the time in school, and to learn from teachers who are also wearing masks. What is more, it has been well-publicised in the British media that A-Level grades are down this year globally. Given all that, what a fantastic achievement it has been to see our pupils do so well at A-Level and AS-Level. I congratulate them, am immensely proud of them, and wish those who are leaving us the very best of luck. Likewise, I thank all the teachers and staff of the school who have worked so brilliantly and who have made it possible for our pupils to reach these dizzying standards. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful staff and I am in awe of their achievement through what has been such a challenging period of time for many reasons”.

St. Lawrence College pupils do themselves and their school proud!

While summer continues for all pupils, for some the last week has been a week of tension and concern, waiting for their exam results. Now though the waiting is over and the IGCSE, AS-Level and A-Level results have been released. And once again, St. Lawrence College pupils have produced a set of results that our school community can be collectively proud of.

Our Year 11 pupils sat for their IGCSE exams back in May, with 457 IGCSEs being sat by a total of 60 candidates. Across those 457 IGCSEs, by far the most common grade achieved was an A* grade – the best grade possible and only awarded for an exam mark above 90%. In fact, of the 457 IGCSEs taken, a remarkable 113 resulted in an A* grade – that is 25% of all the IGCSEs taken. What is more, 44% of all the IGCSEs resulted in either an A*or A grade. This is a little lower than the very high 2015 results, but still ranks well with results from the previous decade of Year 11 year groups. The second most frequent grade achieved was B – indeed two out of every three IGCSEs sat was within the A*/A/B grade range.

The UK national average of Year 11 pupils that receive at least five GCSEs of grade C or better is usually around 55%-60%. This year at St. Lawrence College, 92% of our Year 11 achieved this. What is more – and this was a first for our school – not a single IGCSE among the 457 taken across 16 subjects by 60 candidates was returned ungraded. In terms of success in specific subjects, of all IGCSEs taken in French, Greek or Russian, over 90% resulted in at least an A grade. Likewise 68% of pupils that sat for English Literature. Among the year group, there were several stand out performances from pupils. Emily Holden managed to score A* in every one of her nine IGCSEs. Alessandro Gressani secured eight A*s, Sadin Abdel Fattah and Alexander Petropoulos each bagged seven A*s while Stefania Riga and Ivy Hewett each scored six A*s among their IGCSEs. Congratulations to all of them.

At AS-Level and A-Level there were exactly 300 exam entries across 84 candidates – slightly more than last year’s 292 entries. The AS-Level is at once both a ‘stand-alone’ qualification as well as marking the halfway point for those aiming to complete the full A-Level in a subject. Combining this year’s results for these two qualifications, by far the most common grade awarded was A (including A* which is only available at A-Level, not AS-Level). 37% of all exams taken resulted in this top grade being achieved. While slightly lower than the percentage achieved in 2015 and 2014, it is, at 37%, exactly the same success rate as 2009 and 2010 (with smaller year groups on both occasions) and within a percentage or two of all other recent years’ results. Furthermore, the second most common grade achieved across all 300 exams was a B grade. Thus, 56%, or well over half of all AS-Levels and A-Levels taken in the 2016 exam session resulted in a grade within the A*/A/B grade range.

For the pupils awaiting their A-Level results, there was also the question of gaining admittance to universities. The vast majority are progressing to UK universities and along with the A-Level results came the final confirmation as to which university they will study at and what they will study. These results have sent our pupils to top universities across the UK. As examples of the diversity of destination and course, Melina Beykou, who achieved A*AAA will study Biological Sciences with Molecular Genetics at The University of Edinburgh. Marilena Eleftheriou (AAA) will start a Neuroscience degree at University College London (UCL). Mark Slipchenko (A*BBC) will study Economics at The University of Kent, while Danish Syed (AAB) is admitted to The University of Glasgow for Electronics and Electrical Engineering. Other degree courses to be studied include Dentistry, Politics, Business Management, History of Art, Sport Science and Fashion Marketing.

Headmaster Phil Holden commented “I congratulate all pupils on their exam achievements and wish those who are leaving us to continue their learning in higher education the very best of luck. Our IGCSE, AS and A-Level results are truly very strong in the global context of British education. I thank the teachers throughout St. Lawrence College for the professionalism, dedication and care that they always give and which have led to this day. Those teachers have done more than help our pupils pass their exams. They have helped our school leavers grow into young citizens with a sense of responsibility as well as being learners with adaptable skills. As such our pupils are well-prepared”.

At the beginning of June, the junior school delighted families with a vibrant performance of Aladdin. The young cast of pupils from Years 3 to 6 brought the magical tale to life with colourful costumes, catchy songs, and heartfelt enthusiasm. Parents and teachers filled the amphitheatre with applause as students showcased their talents with confidence and charm. From the Genie’s grand entrance to Aladdin’s daring adventures, the show was a joyful celebration of creativity and teamwork. It was a memorable evening that left everyone smiling and proud. Well done to all!

On Wednesday 4th June, our wonderful EAL Y5&Y6 class hosted an excellent British tradition – an afternoon tea party complete with cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off! The event was inspired by an engaging online guest speaker from the UK who introduced them to the rich history of English afternoon tea.

Energized by this, the pupils took charge of planning every detail—from selecting the menu and drinks to deciding on the location and timing. They even calculated the quantities needed to cater for approximately 70 guests, demonstrating impressive organizational skills. They created a shopping list for all the ingredients, with some students volunteering to purchase equipment while others prepared delicious treats and charming decorations.

 On the day, they warmly welcomed their guests and served with enthusiasm and grace. It was a truly memorable afternoon shared with teachers and friends, filled with laughter, learning, and lots of treats!

Year 2 had a blast on Friday 16th May when they held their fantastic Fashion Show which saw them catwalk with style. The guest of honour, Ms Chrousala, a former highly successful fashion model herself, answered the children's questions about working in the fashion industry and even showed the children how to strut along the catwalk with style. 

The children's costumes highlighted their learning about fashion through the ages, and they thoroughly enjoyed showing off their confident walking, in front of an audience of their peers. Even the teachers joined in! What fun!

On Saturday 8th of March, Ms Kladouchou, Ms Galata and some of the pupils of our school’s Services Society visited «Εταιρία Προστασίας ανηλίκων Πειραιά-Καλός Ποιμήν» a children’s orphanage, in order to deliver some of the gift boxes assembled earlier this year. We must thank everyone who had donated towards this important cause as we all saw in person that it meant so much to the children who received the presents! We stayed for about 5 hours with them and had plenty of time to eat souvlaki and play all together. It was a heartwarming and moving experience, as we learnt about the many hardships these children faced from their early years to young adulthood. An eye-opening experience too for the pupils as, in their words, “it showed us different ways of how people live and made us realise how fortunate we are, it definitely gave us a new perspective of life”.

As for the teachers, it was an honour for both of us to escort such loving and caring pupils there. Having observed the dedication, the love, and the care with which they worked before Christmas to prepare the presents given, we knew they were good kids. But they were not just good, they were brilliant, so warm, so loving towards the kids there! It was really emotional and encouraging for the future to see how young people can engage with each other immediately. We thank them deeply for that.