From 9^th-13^th October the senior school had some interesting events happening for Mental Health Awareness Week.

To get the ball rolling, on World Mental Health Day the assembly by Ms Perraki was all about ending the stigma attached to mental health. All pupils and teachers in the senior school wore stickers of a green ribbon for the day showing our support for reaching out and talking about mental health. Also, some Year 12 and 13 pupils took fun photos of senior school pupils and staff with helium balloons and our St. Lawrence College mental health matters photo frame at short break and lunch. It was incredibly popular, and it was great to see so many people enjoying the photoshoot!    

On Wednesday 10^th October all the senior school had extended form for ‘Friendship Form’. An older and younger form group were paired up and pupils had the opportunity to discuss scenarios about mental health support and the older pupils shares advice with younger pupils. We will have some more Friendship Form opportunities at regular intervals in the year to encourage the cooperation and interaction between different year groups. At lunchtime on Wednesday, Ms Michaelides ran a yoga session for staff and pupils to enjoy. The Year 7 and 8 pupils that attended really enjoyed the session. 

During the week the Art, PE, Science, EAL and PSHE lessons had an array of happenings related to mental health. Pupils in Years 10-13 did an activity about managing stress in form time to get pupils to consider how to manage pressures they may face.

Around school, wall displays also raised awareness of the importance of looking after your mental wellbeing and ending the stigma attached to mental health.

The Pastoral Team ensure that mental health is considered every day at St. Lawrence College, but this very varied week was much appreciated and supported by all our school community.    

Throughout the first few weeks of school pupils got a taste of our available after-school clubs which are starting on Monday 2^nd of October. Coaches came and presented clubs such as Cheerleading, Karate, Rhythmics, Rugby, Tennis and Yoga during PE lessons which pupils thoroughly enjoyed.

The school provides a wide variety of clubs which operate every day to cater to the interests of every pupil.

If you are interested in signing your child to any club, you can do so by contacting Ms Koutsoubidou in the administration building.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible and wish all members an eventful year with plenty of tournaments, presentations, games and most importantly, a lot of fun!

School life is off to a super start with pupils from all over the world gathering once again in our very special school community. The children and staff at St Lawrence are making the most of their time together here, ensuring that every day is filled with learning as well as laughter. Playtimes are all about fun and games, and the sun is shining brightly over our playgrounds. Let’s all do our best to make 2023-2024 the best year yet!

2023 Public Exam Results Success

The anxious wait for exam results is over now as IGCSE, AS-Level and A-Level results have been released, and it is now possible to draw conclusions and assess the performance of our school’s exam candidates from the 2023 summer exam session.

Year 13 and A-Level

Ahead of these results being released there had been substantial coverage in the media that the exam bodies would be strict in their marking this year, believing that the impact of the covid pandemic is fully in the past. This may have led to anticipation of lower marks, but even so, the performance of our Year 13 cohort has been impressive. Across all A-Levels taken in the UK, 27% were A*or A grades. At our school, 45% of all A-Levels taken were awarded A* or A grade.  One in six of all the A-Levels taken were awarded an A* at St. Lawrence College, compared to only one in every thirteen A-Levels across the UK.

More than a quarter of our school’s Year 13 pupils (19 of the 72 pupils) achieved straight A*/A grades across all their subjects. One in every six A-Levels resulted in an A* while just under half were an A* or A grade. Indeed, an “A” was by far the most frequent grade awarded, being easily more common than the second most frequent, a “B” grade, with “A*” being the third most frequent grade across the Year 13 cohort.

In terms of performance within subject areas, more than half of all candidates achieved at least an A grade in Biology, Chemistry, French, Further Mathematics, Geography, Greek and Physics A-Levels. Particularly impressive were Biology and Further Mathematics where the A* rate was 47% and 27% respectively.

Many pupils did extremely well, with the following being truly outstanding: Nikolaos Synodinos (4A*), Dingnan Huang (3A*), Yuqian Liao (3A*1A), Foteini Kalamatianou (3A*) and Timothy Tay (3A*).

For our pupils now completing school, there now faces the transition to universities and colleges around the world. A very small selection of these, to give an example of the variety, includes UK universities such as Queen Mary London, Imperial College, London, Warwick, Edinburgh, Manchester, Durham, and UCL London. Also, we have pupils taking up courses at universities in the USA, Italy, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Canada, Cyprus, Austria and Spain. Just as varied as the destinations, are the degree courses our school-leavers will be starting, which include Aeronautical Engineering, Business Management, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Economics, Dentistry, Accounting & Finance, Fine Art and Law.

Year 12 and AS-Level

At AS-Level, where “A” is the highest possible grade (A* doesn’t exist at AS-Level) global assessment was once again set to pre-pandemic standards, leading to an anticipated moderation of grades among schools across the UK and around the world. At our school, our Year 12 cohort performed very admirably, matching the achievements of typical years over the pre-pandemic era.

That more than one out of every three among the 253 AS-Levels taken resulted in an A grade demonstrates this. Indeed, with “A” being by far the most common outcome, with a frequency twice that of any other individual grade, the collective AS-Level achievement can be considered impressive. 

Analysis by subject reveals that at least half of all pupils’ AS-Levels in Art, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Greek, History and Physics resulted in either an A or B grade.

Across the entire cohort, 14 of our pupils in Year 12 scored straight A grades. Among those were Dimitrios Grigoropoulos (5As), Huijie Cathy Su (5As), Kleopatra Anastassiou (4As), Yunhan Emily Chen (4As), Paris Larios (4As), Yun Zena Li (4As), Efstathios Pettas (4As), and Ziqing Tracy Qian (4As).

Year 11 and IGCSE

More than one in three pupils (34%, or 28 of the 82 pupils) scored either straight A*/A grades or had a majority of A*/A grades as their results from IGCSEs.

Analysis of specific subjects reveals that at least half of all pupils scored A* or A or B in Biology, Chemistry, Chinese, English Language, English Literature, French, History, Mathematics, Physics and Spanish; and in most of these subjects, half the candidates or more achieved at least an A grade. Overall, 42% of the 625 IGCSEs/GCSEs taken resulted in an A* or A grade, while 80% scored at least a C grade.

Pupils who achieved notable success include Konstantinos Zafeirakis (8A*,1A), Despina Salachas (8A*,1B), and Guoguo Chen (7A*,1A,1C)

Well done!

St. Lawrence College Headmaster Phil Holden commented “These results reflect the hard work of so many of our pupils and indicate that anything is possible with determination and perseverance. I also congratulate and thank our outstanding teachers and school staff, right across St. Lawrence College, for all their hard work that has led to these achievements through the last school year and throughout these pupils’ education building up to this point. Finally, I wish our school leavers every happiness and success as they embark on the next stage of their lives, whatever that is. I hope they will keep happy memories of their school days at St. Lawrence College!”

On Wednesday 19^th June, St. Lawrence College hosted its Annual Awards Ceremony to bring the academic year 2022-2023 to a close. With a warm atmosphere of affection for the school, nostalgia for times gone by and with excitement for the future, our extended school community congratulated the pupils who had worked so hard all this year. The graduating class of senior school pupils preparing for university and beyond were acknowledged by all and their achievements noted. Our guest of honour, Professor Stathis Kalyvas from Oxford University spoke of finding integrity in whatsoever one should choose to do in life, and our Head Pupil relayed her thanks to all those who had contributed to educating this cohort of graduates. All in all, it was a joyous occasion to be remembered as we head into the summer and the range of fun-filled sunny days that follow. We look forward to welcoming our school body back in September for another successful year of learning!

On Monday 19^th June, the Early Years held their most welcoming event, their ‘Family Day’. It was a wonderful occasion which gave families and friends the opportunity to hear these young children singing songs and to showing off their learning in a school environment. It was also that special time when each pupil received their end of year certificate. The formalities were followed by an enjoyable and relaxing picnic all together, for which families had contributed a traditional dish from their country, so that all could share. It fitted together so well with the last important topic of their year, ‘People from Around the World.’ What a lovely day was had by all!

Dr. McMullin's Junior Drama Club, together with Ms Romeos’ Choir Club delighted a packed audience with their singing, dancing, and acting on Friday 16^th June. The Fairies in the Wood were spectacular despite the rain that fell on their fragile wings! As they say in all the best theatres though, “the show must go on!” In the second performance of the evening, the cast of Moana came alive in Hawaii to meet with Maui and Gramma Tala. The children performed with really professional acting skills, and everyone was impressed. Let's not forget the songs sung by the choir, that accompanied the actors beautifully. Congratulations to all for a wonderful evening of entertainment!

On the last day of summer term, Tuesday 20^th June, Year 5 headed off with great excitement to the Aquapolis Water Park in Attica. The children enjoyed an amazing day of fun and games in the sun, splashing, sliding and swimming with their classmates. The pupils were easily recognisable with their school T-shirts on, and they were protected from the sun too. There was complete agreement from all who attended that it was the best school trip of the year!

The annual club displays took place on Thursday the 15th of June in the indoor gym with pupils showing what they have been working on for months in Rhythmics, Yoga, Karate and Cheerleading.
Pupils were extremely excited to have a “sold out’’ audience with their parents and peers in attendance. The displays involved some fantastic acts by all four of the clubs. Parents cheered for their children as they performed a wide variety of acts ranging from acrobatics all the way to breaking wooden boards with their fists.
The following day, pupils in the Karate club had a second chance to display their skills in front of their parents during their Karate exams. All pupils were overwhelmed with joy after passing their exams and receiving new belts. These results were well deserved as pupils displayed an immense amount of effort throughout the year and enjoyed every moment of Karate.
Lastly, our young tennis players in year 1&2 displayed the fundamentals they learnt this year in an open lesson. Parents were impressed with the incredible amount of progress and loved the little games that their children participated in.
It was a very successful year for all the after-school clubs with more pupils joining than ever before. Pupils loved having an extra hour after school where they had fun participating in a sport together with their classmates which helped them develop not only their physical skills but social as well.

Year 1 took a trip, which was a well-deserved treat as this year is coming to its end, when they visited the Attica Botanical Park on Wednesday 7th June. The children have been enjoying their science unit on Plants and made the most of a day in the sun to put their classroom learning to real use in the big wide world. They had the chance to play in a beautiful environment, extend their knowledge and become “plant parents”. Now their little baby spring onion will not only add a special flavour to their food but also to their lives, as it will remind them of one of the best days in Year 1! It is wonderful to see our pupils grow and blossom like the finest flowers and healthy home-grown vegetables!

Even in Year 1 here at St Lawrence College, we value the vital skill of oracy so having children undertake presentations is an important element of their learning. As the Year 1 pupils have been learning about the continents and climate zones, they were asked to complete a Geography project entitled “Going on Holiday.” Each child did some research about their chosen country and created information posters about it, which they then shared with their class. They showed maps, famous sights, flags, local animals and a range of other points of interest. Well done children on your super successful projects!

Between 6^th and 10^th June, Year 6 groups were taken on a trip to Milias Camps in Central Greece for an exciting few days of fun activities and group events. The teachers and pupils were treated to a range of things to do that included swimming, hiking up a hillside to an ancient castle ruin, walking an artistic river trail at Pavliani, learning archery, mountain biking and technical wall climbing too. The cabins were buzzing with the voices of excited children and the canteen meals were wolfed down by the children who worked up an appetite with all their non-stop activities and exercise! Take a look at the photos which show just how much they experienced at camp.

On Thursday, 18^th of May, the Senior School Drama Club in collaboration with members of the St Lawrence Choir delighted a packed audience in our auditorium with their excellent acting skills under the direction of Dr Lindy McMullin. The audience was literally transported back in time to Massachusetts in the 1800’s and certainly taken aback with the talented cast who carried out their roles so professionally, as if they were on stage in Broadway. All need to be heartily congratulated for their hard work and dedication to Drama as well as the excellent cooperation with the choir members who delighted all with their singing.

As part of their Knowledge and Understanding of the World topic in the Reception class curriculum, the three classes visited to Trofoupoli in Argyroupoli on Monday 12th June. They took part in an educational programme on nutrition, the digestive system, and the human body. It was a day's learning that reinforced their work on healthy eating, the power of friendships and the advantages of good teamwork. The children enjoyed interacting with the life-sized fruits and vegetables which had so much to teach them. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves!

On Monday 29^th May, we warmly welcomed friends and family across our junior and senior schools to the Efilena Estate adjacent to the school for an evening of pleasant listening. The children taught by tutors in our peripatetic music school, practised their craft for many hours in preparation of this event to display their talent and hard work. Whether in Year 1 or year 13, the pride in parents’ faces was evident as they saw how beautifully their children played to the packed audience. Singers too, put on a show with a performance that enchanted the audience. Congratulations to all those children who participated and exhibited their musical accomplishments.