Ms. Giaouri’s Greek Department Blog.

This is the school’s Debate Club blog that contains information, links and training for the SLC debaters.
 

This the blog from the Library that contains a fascinating collection of creative writing and poetry from pupils of all grades as well as news of events and displays hosted by the school Library.

This is a YouTube channel containing many videos for Economics AS and A-Level pupils. There are a few videos on accounting for Business Studies IGCSE pupils as well.

This is also from the Geography Department that caters specifically for AS and A-Level pupils taking Geography.

This is the blog of the Geography Department. It is designed to provide pupils with useful materials and links to real world Geography issues in the news. This blog was voted as one of the best 20 schools’ Geography blogs on the internet in a recent British educational review.

This blog has been set up, again by the History Department, but this is for the exclusive use of AS and A-Level History pupils.

This is the History Department’s blog aimed for use for pupils from year 7 through to year 11. It contains useful articles, downloadable material and links for all pupils.

School lunches are an integral part of school life. Our own catering service prepares international-style food on site. The menus are regularly assessed by independent experts to ensure that our pupils enjoy nutritionally-balanced, healthy meals.

The menus are regularly updated to ensure that a fresh and healthy selection of food is available for the pupils. Vegetarians and children with special dietary requirements are also catered for.

In the Early Years and Junior School, the children’s lunchtime orders are dealt with on a daily basis at the start of the school day when registration is taken. At lunchtime, the children’s orders are sent to their classes.

In the senior school, a more informal arrangement stands whereby the pupils make their own arrangements for meal choices during either of the two breaks between sessions.

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”.

Were you once a St. Lawrence College athlete or member of one of our school teams? Then we look forward to seeing you in the biggest Sports Reunion EVER! 

On Tuesday December 20th, 2016, St. Lawrence College P.E Dept. invites you to a Sports Day full of fun.  If you were once a member of our volleyball, basketball or football teams, find your old team mates and come and join us in the most fascinating tournament where past meets the future and memories bring us together!

Check the date, book your flights and if you are planning to attend let us know by e-mail atpe@slc.gr with the subject: sports16 and you will receive further details.

We are looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you all in December, for an unforgettable event!

Professor Barry Hymer, one of the UK’s top thinkers on education visited the school on Friday and worked with parents and teachers on how both those groups could best help support a child’s learning through meaningful feedback rather than empty praise.

Barry Hymer, who is Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of Cumbria in Lancaster, and who has studied learning theory for more than 30 years, started his day by presenting to well over one hundred of our parents. He challenged the parents to consider what time they give to discussing their child's work with their child and urged parents to always praise the effort rather than the ability of their children. After then working with a group of twenty educators and managers among the school staff, drawn from both the junior and senior school, Professor Hymer completed the day by talking to the entire teaching staff of St. Lawrence College. Exploring the research of growth mindsets as made famous by Dr Carol Dweck of Stanford University, Professor Hymer demonstrated to staff the impact a teacher can make on a child if they challenge the child to learn for intrinsic rather than extrinsic reward.

Parents and teachers were enthusiastic and fulsome in the reactions to the day. Many commented how motivating it was to listen to such an expert and how his insights would directly affect their interaction with their children and pupils. Headmaster Phil Holden commented “It is certainly our intention to host more such activities. Expert, high quality professional training is recognised as essential for all teachers, however long they have been in the profession. When it is as powerful and well-presented as this, it is inspirational as well as being of great use”.

In addition to Professor Hymer's work, a group of sixteen teachers also took part in a workshop presented by Ms Elizabeth Dawson, a trainer in Action Research. These teachers were trained in how to best utilise Action Research to make improvements to every day school practice by using teams of teachers to investigate a pre-determined theme before presenting their findings and recommendations to their colleagues.

All in all it was a very busy and highly productive day for the school!

"A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men," Roald Dahl

Last week saw the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the renowned children's writer Roald Dahl. His books are numerous and widely appreciated by children all over the world. With this in mind, the pupils here at St Lawrence took the opportunity to join in with the celebrations that have been going on in his honour. There were readings by children and teachers both in class and in our morning assembly, thus the whole school took on a 'whizzpopping' atmosphere! This was especially true on Friday 17th September, when many children wore yellow to school. Why yellow? Well it was the author's favourite colour of course! In addition, the children contributed a small fee for the privilege of being out of uniform with the money raised donated to Roald Dahl's Marvellous Charity for Children.

"Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign of happiness. It is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?” as the Big Friendly Giant said!

School would be a very dull place if all that ever happened there was classroom education.

At St. Lawrence College we recognise that learning can and does happen at all times and not just in the classroom. That’s why we encourage our pupils to develop interests and skills across the wide range of activities that are made available to them at lunchtimes and in the afternoons.

Activities available include extra sports activities such as swimming, football, basketball, volleyball, rugby and tennis and also drama, music, debate, forensics, Model United Nations, charity work, environmental work, chess, and even philosophy discussion.

Whether the activities a pupil chooses are competitive or not, whether they represent a new challenge or serve to strengthen a skill the pupil already possesses, they all help in the development of self-confidence, while providing an opportunity to make new friends across year groups and, above all, to have great fun!