The pupils of St Lawrence are showing just how happy they are to be back at school with their friends and teachers. Playtimes are the best times for our children as they have the chance to enjoy the sunshine and our wonderful outdoor environment. 

The games they play, the laughs they have and the friendships they build are grounded in security as they are always under the watchful eye of our staff. 

Ready! Respectful! Safe! These rules guide our school through every part of every day.

Welcome back to school everyone!

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.

IGCSEs

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”.  

On Friday 21st June, St Lawrence College marked the ending of its 44th year with a magnificent evening of recognition for a wide range of accomplishments throughout the school. The guest of honour was the renowned academic, Sir Roderick Beaton, who as well as being an accomplished author of many publications including “The Greeks: A Global History”, held the Koraes chair at Kings College, London until 2018. The delightful Sir Roderick stood amicably with us and congratulated all our outstanding pupils as they took to the stage. 

From years 3 to 6, individually selected pupils in every class were rewarded for the attainment, effort and progress as well as citizenship and other notable performances in particular subjects. From year 7 upwards, pupils were rewarded for their various achievements, culminating in our graduating class of 2024, the year 13 school leavers. Furthermore, recognition was given to several award winners amongst last year's graduating class by our A level exam board, Pearson Edexcel: students now in university who had achieved the highest marks last year in Greece, in Europe and indeed in the world! Huge congratulations for such outstanding achievements; we are very proud of them. 

As always, we look at all our wonderful pupils with great fondness and look forward to the coming year ahead with anticipation. But for now, it's time to sit back and enjoy the summer holiday!

In celebration of children’s successful Junior Duke achievements,  we held a wonderful picnic party on Monday 17th of June for Junior Duke award winners and their parents. The pupils aged from five years old in Reception class right up to 11 year old in year 6, thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play fun games and have a picnic and an ice cream. The Junior Duke programme is a scheme in which pupils complete a journal filled with challenges that are done at home with families or independently. The tasks range from domestic challenges to cookery to learning about countries related to them. Fostering independence is a very important part of school life and we are thoroughly looking forward to next year’s round of Micro Duke, Mini Duke and Junior Duke prizes.

On 20th June, the junior school drama club put on an outstanding performance of J.M. Barrie's famous tale of lost childhood, Peter Pan. Our drama club pupils from years 2 to 6 worked tirelessly with our director Ms Kiriou, to create a wonderful evening of entertainment. The children acted as Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy and the Darling family, the lost boys, fairies and pirates with some super choreography involved too. The St Lawrence choir accompanied the production under the musical direction of Mr Terzakis and added an atmosphere of sweetness and dramatic appeal to the whole event. 

Congratulations to all our amazing pupils for a delightful performance!

Without a doubt, connecting science to day-to-day life is essential in promoting a deeper understanding of the world, as well as enabling pupils to become critical citizens. This year, year 8 pupils worked on controversial social and environmental issues relevant to the science curriculum. They did so by carrying out projects on topics of their own choice, in which they constructed mind maps; solved ethical dilemmas; engaged in secondary and primary research. Finally, they utilised knowledge gained to carry out actions with the aim of contributing to the raising of awareness. An example of this is a leaflet on fast food and a leaflet on smoking/vaping, which can be accessed using the highlighted links. The action materials were presented in class and attracted an audience of fellow pupils who came to engage with the presentations. 

Congratulations to everyone!

Between the 3rd and 17th June, junior school pupils from Years 1 to 6 took part in their annual swimming days and swimming galas.
Our pupils in years 1 and 2 showed off their hard work and improved swimming techniques to their friends and families in attendance . They were all excited to receive medals of participation for their valiant efforts. Older pupils in Years 3 to 6 enjoyed the excitement of competitive galas. They competed against one another in freestyle, backstroke and breast-stroke races to gather points for their respective houses: Attica, Epirus and Macedonia. We had an incredible three new school records this year due to their outstanding efforts!
Well done to all those who took part and competed. And a special thank you to all those who were in attendance.

Last weekend, our International Award Silver team successfully completed a rigorous three-day hike in the Taygetus mountain. Setting off from Athens early on Friday morning, they began their first hike at noon upon arriving at the Magganiari Spring, their starting point. Spirits were high as the team embarked on their journey, despite the challenging uphill trek that lay ahead. By early evening, they reached their campsite near the Taygetus refuge, where they promptly set up their tents and prepared a hearty meal.
On the second day, they faced the longest hike of the weekend. Navigating the rugged terrain like real explorers, they put into practice the extensive skills they have honed over the past two years in the IA program. As the sun set, they enjoyed a well-deserved hot meal at the campsite, sharing stories of the day's adventures and the breathtaking views they had encountered.
On the final day, Monday, they embarked on an early morning hike. Determined to make the most of their last day in the mountains, they set off with renewed energy and enthusiasm. Impressively, they managed to beat the clock and complete the hike earlier than expected, a testament to their growing proficiency and endurance.
Congratulations to the entire team on their outstanding achievement! Well done to all of them!
 

On Thursday 6th June, the children of year six joined their teachers at the Efilena estate to say goodbye to their friends with a formal dance. They danced to everything from Baby Shark to Eurovision favourites to the latest Taylor Swift hit. There was tasty party food to eat and each one of the children looked amazing in their best party outfits. Here’s to high school just round the corner!

Our annual Year 6 Milias Camps residential trips were hugely enjoyable experiences for our Year 6 leavers this June. The teachers and children set off to the foot of Mount Parnassos for a three-day adventure in the fresh mountain air. They settled into comfy cabins and were taken on excursions including exhilarating river trekking and hiking. The children particularly loved pool time and many learned archery and practised new climbing skills under the watchful eye of experienced coaches Georgie and Carolina. They cycled around the locality with Ion and Manolis and those less confident on two wheels were even given cycling lessons – core memories of camp! 

Throughout the academic year, senior school pupils studying Physics in Years 10 to 13 were offered the opportunity to participate in British Physics Olympiad competitions. Several pupils in each year group embraced the challenge and some of them won outstanding awards, placing themselves among the top physicists of their age in the world. These competitions go beyond the public examinations system, and even marks that seemed low are to be celebrated as pupils were enabled to grasp new ideas and deepen their own thinking in the subject, stretching themselves to their limits and extending their skills and understanding in the process. Hopefully, they relished these challenges and will continue to participate in the respective competitions of the following years.

Below is a list of all the awards won per competition. We are proud of you, congratulations!

Junior Physics Challenge for Year 10 (14/05/2024)

5 x Gold awards

3 x Silver awards

3 x Bronze awards

Intermediate Physics Challenge for Year 11 (26/03/2024)

1 x Gold award

4 x Silver awards

8 x Bronze I awards

6 x Bronze II awards

Senior Physics Challenge for Year 12 (11/03/2024)

4 x Silver awards

3 x Bronze I awards

1 x Bronze II award

Physics Challenge for Year 13 (27/10/2023)

4 x Participation certificates

BPhO Round 1 for Year 13 (13/11/2023)

2 x Bronze I awards

1 x Bronze II award

Special shout out to:

• Shangzheng, George, Giannis, Marios and Zhu for achieving a Gold award in the Junior Physics Challenge, awarded only to the top 15.9% out of roughly 14,141 contestants from 280 British and British International schools!
• Athanasios for achieving a Gold award in the Intermediate Physics Challenge, awarded only to the top 8.6% out of roughly 6,000 contestants from 381 British and British International schools!

On Wednesday 29th May and Friday 31st May, the Senior School swimming galas were held for KS3 pupils. The children were in high spirits and their energy levels were clearly at their peak! Every last one of our swimmers gave it their all and enjoyed two fantastic days of competition in the pool.  

In exciting news, a year 8 pupil set a new school record in the 25m breaststroke with an impressive time of 18.37 seconds, breaking the previous record of 18.67 seconds that had stood since 2019. Congratulations to her!

In the house points competition, Macedonia collected 400 points, Attica earned 550 points, and Epirus topped the leaderboard with 600 points. Well done to all the swimmers!
 

On Monday 27th May at the Efilena Estate, St Lawrence Music School hosted a wonderful evening of music played by our pupils in both the Junior and Senior schools. Children exhibited their learning and achievements on the piano, the violin and the guitar. Beautiful singing was also a part of the evening that captured the audience's attention so delightfully. 

Guests thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful pieces that were played by our talented and diligent pupils, many of whom practise for several hours every day to reach the standards where they can perform concert worthy pieces including Presto by Giovanni Pescetti, The Mystery Sonatas by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Vivaldi's Violin Concerto, Ludwig Mozart's Menuetto and Tchaikovsky's June from the Four Seasons. 

Congratulations to each and every performer!

With the warm summer weather upon us, it's that time of year when we need to think about the important topic of sun safety. The children of Year 3 take responsibility for sharing this vital message to their schoolmates here in the junior school and they were helped by the lovely ladies from ISDIN who donated many product samples to us. The famous song – Slip/Slap/Slop is a fun way for children to learn about the ways to protect themselves from the harmful effects of the sun. It was an amazing day of sun awareness for the whole of the junior school. Well done Year 3!

Cyrano de Bergerac, a soldier in the French Army, is a gifted poet who unfortunately has an obnoxiously large nose. He has endless unrequited love for his distant cousin, the beautiful Roxanne, but he believes his ugliness bars him from the "dream of being loved by even an ugly woman." Roxanne loves Christian de Neuvillette, who is unable to romance her, so Cyrano writes love letters to Roxanne and woos her whilst pretending to be Christian. 

The senior school drama club put on a wonderful performance of this tragic comedy with real gusto, under the directorship of our new drama teacher Ms Marianthi Kiriou. The play was performed on a warm May evening in the amphitheatre under a full moon rising. The cast was made up of young pupils in the senior school from KS3, and we were impressed by their abilities. Families, friends and staff gave them all a well-deserved standing ovation!

Congratulations to them all!