Back in May and June 2024 just under 250 pupils sat public examinations at our school and this week has seen the results of these IGCSEs, AS-Levels and A-Levels released. A record-breaking 1,176 separate qualifications were sat for by our pupils, and although 64 pupils will need to hang on until later in August for their GCSE Greek results, the vast majority of grades are now known, making it possible to celebrate the achievements of our pupils.
Exactly 100 pupils sat for 731 GCSE/IGCSE qualifications. Of those, 29% resulted in an A* (“A-star”) and 49%, resulted in an A* or A grade. These percentages are well up on last year’s 20% and 42% respectively. Pupils whose performances stood out included Mainta Kourounlian who attained an A* in every subject, scoring 9A* in total; Leonidas Drongitis, Alexandra Mavromichali, Petra Todd and Jiayu Zhu who each achieved 8A* among their exams, while Mohamed Abdel Fattah, Sofia Tzagkaraki-Kaseta, Nga Sim Kimberly Wang and Xuefei Zhang each attained 7A*s among the IGCSEs they sat for.
AS-Levels
Year 12 pupils sat their AS-Levels, where the highest possible grade is A (there is no A*) and where the AS-Levels are, essentially, the first half of what will become a full A-Level following Year 13. A grand total of 273 AS-Level qualifications were sat, with 44% resulting in an A grade, and 77% achieving in at least a C grade. This is up from last year’s 36% and 71% respectively. Pupils who achieved exceptional grades included Despoina Salachas (5A), Nicholas Lempidakis (4A1B) and Penelope Farmakidi, Theodora Farmakidi, Gerasimos Kazianis, Jiachin Lin, Andres Van Meek, Yifei Wang Konstantinos Zafeirakis and Marita Katsouridis all of whom achieved 4A.
A-Levels and Universities
At A-Level, where 202 qualifications were sat for in total, grades are vitally important as many pupils’ acceptance into their chosen university was dependant on the outcome of their A-Levels. The proportion of A-Level grades that were A* was 22% this year. This is up from last year’s 16% and is, in fact, the equal highest in our school’s history, barring the COVID years when exams were cancelled, and grades were awarded by school assessment. The proportion of A-Levels awarded A* or A was 41%, down from last year’s 45%, and the proportion in the A*-C range was 77%, slightly down on last year’s 81%.
Individual stories of excellence from some of our pupils include Dimitris Grigoropoulos, Yun Li, and Ziqing Qian who each scored 4A*, Paris Larios and Yuhan Chen who each scored 3A*1A, Sofya Semenova (3A*) and Kristian Nersesian (3A*). Most remarkable of all was Huijie Su, who secured an amazing 5A*s, and who scored 100% on nearly all her exams this year.
The UK remains the most popular destination for higher education among our school leavers, and this year we see our graduates starting degree courses at UK universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, King’s College London, University College London (UCL), City, Warwick, Lancaster, Southampton, Leeds, Exeter and Bath.
Beyond the UK we have school leavers beginning degree courses at such institutions as diverse and widespread as Rhode Island School of Design, USA; Milan University for Modern Languages, Italy; EU Business School, Barcelona, Spain; Utrecht University, The Netherlands, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA; and The Moscow Institute of International Relations in Russia.
School reaction
Headmaster Phil Holden commented “These wonderful results, and the fact that so many excellent young people are leaving our school to begin the next chapter of their education in such a variety of locations, is a testament to the hard work of pupils and staff at St. Lawrence College. I congratulate our school leavers and thank the teachers throughout the school, the staff of St. Lawrence College, and the parents of our pupils for a collective achievement which we can all be proud of”.
