The staff of St Lawrence were treated to an activity weekend at the end of May and certainly made the most of it. Organised down to the finest points by the indomitable Head of PE, Ms Kalara, 53 members of staff headed off to Kalavrita in the Peloponnese for fun & games and taking in the mountain air. What a welcome break it was from the usual routine of school activities and duties! Very much appreciated indeed.

The St. Lawrence College staff body represents a team of dedicated professionals who by working together are able to deliver high quality teaching and educational services to the pupils of the school.

Staff Training Day, just before the easter term begins

At St Lawrence College, safeguarding is a top priority, ensuring that all pupils feel safe, supported, and valued. As part of this commitment, we recently partnered with The Safeguarding Alliance to provide specialised safeguarding training for our Greek-speaking auxiliary staff. This training complements the regular child protection and safeguarding training that all teaching staff receive.

 On 12th March, we hosted in-person training sessions delivered in Greek, ensuring that our staff fully understood their safeguarding responsibilities. The training covered best practices, statutory requirements and the vital role each and every staff member plays in protecting our pupils.

 By offering this training in Greek, we reinforced our commitment to ensuring that safeguarding is clearly understood, effectively implemented, and embedded into daily practice. This initiative promotes trust, enhances pupil well-being, and reassures families that their children are in a safe and supportive learning environment.

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!

1. Outstanding facilities in a beautiful campus

Situated in a 20-acre campus, the school boasts some of the most up-to-date and complete facilities among education providers in Greece. Sports facilities are unrivalled and include a water-polo dimensioned heated swimming pool with an adjacent mini-pool for very young children, a full-sized all-weather football pitch with seating for 300 spectators, a fully equipped indoor gymnasium with seating for 200 spectators and outdoor tennis and basketball courts.

In addition, the school makes constant use of an amphitheatre, piano rooms, outstanding science laboratories, junior and senior school libraries, fully equipped I.T. suites and the most modern teaching tools in classrooms. All of this is contained within our glorious campus – an entirely single storey purpose-built complex which is airy, uncrowded, surrounded by beautiful hills and by in the fresh air of the southern Athenian suburbs, thus creating a peaceful, calm environment for learning.

2. A truly British education

Our school truly delivers those characteristics of an educational system that is internationally recognised as being effective and progressive – the British educational system, governed by the English National Curriculum. Furthermore, it is the intention of St. Lawrence College to promote among our pupils a value system that is underpinned by the values that make up the core of a modern British education – values of caring, tolerance, fair-play, showing enthusiasm, the practice of a moral code of decency and the intent to strive for excellence while being aware of the needs of others. These values are coupled with progress in learning through self-belief and self-confidence and, ultimately, academic qualifications that are globally recognised. This is what a pupil at St. Lawrence College can aspire to.

3. A broad curriculum that builds great learners

Pupils experience a broad curriculum -built around the UK government’s National Curriculum for England- whatever their age and whichever Key Stage they are in. They also take Greek classes from Year 1, as well as a third language, chosen from a wide range of options, at Year 4. Pupils enjoy great flexibility in IGCSE choices and their A-Level subjects, but also receive considerable guidance and orientation as they make their selection. Parents are also provided with constant advice and information as to what the curriculum choices mean for their child and are encouraged to discuss options choices with their child.

4. A multicultural community

As a British school in Greece we take pride in that our pupils are drawn from a very diverse background: we wouldn’t want that to be any other way. At the last count, there were more than fifty nationality backgrounds among our pupils –a true celebration of cultures. This provides a wonderful opportunity to promote tolerance and understanding, an awareness and appreciation of differences between our experiences. This diversity is also present among our teaching staff and functions as a key element in our drive towards the values of mutual respect and care.

5. A fully inclusive, non-selective pupil body

St. Lawrence College is non-selective. This means there is no entrance examination that must be passed for a child to be admitted. We believe that every child has the right to an opportunity to learn. We work hard to instil a growth mindset among pupils and staff and we celebrate effort and determination to learn, first and foremost. Children with learning and behaviour challenges progress well at St. Lawrence College, thanks to the attention provided by our learning support and SEN programmes for both Junior and Senior school students [links to their respective pages] and by the happy learning environment that permeates the school as a whole. Simply put, every child matters.

6. A happy and safe environment – top quality pastoral care

Great care is taken to ensure that our pupils are able to grow and develop as thoughtful citizens, aware of each other and of the community they live in, and that they feel happy, safe and enthusiastic about their learning. This is the result of first-rate pastoral care, which, at St. Lawrence College, is achieved through a system of care provision modelled on the British system and undertaken by experienced, trained and caring staff. See Pastoral Care for more information.

7. Smooth integration of pupils seeking to improve their English

Every year we are joined by pupils seeking to improve their English before fully integrating into the regular British school programme. St. Lawrence College has carefully designed EAL (English as an Additional Language) programmes to help pupils quickly raise their English skills. It is a system that works – irrespective of the age of the child. We are proud of our ability to assimilate pupils into our very diverse pupil body, where everyone learns and everyone is welcome.

8. Enrichment opportunities - activities beyond the classroom

Learning can take place at any time and should be fun. That is why at St. Lawrence College there is a wide range of activities and clubs that pupils can be a part of. There are so many opportunities to develop a new skill, have fun and make new friends. These range from sports activities such as swimming, football, basketball, tennis and many others, to challenges such as the Duke of Edinburgh International Award, to music, drama, debating, forensics and public speaking, the Model United Nations, environmental and charity work and plenty more.

9. Excellence in early years

Fostering the pleasure of imaginative play and a love and enjoyment of learning, our Early Years setting and dedicated practitioners provide the most wonderful start to your child’s learning journey at St. Lawrence College. Our warm and caring environment and its provision of stimulating play-based activities inspires our pupils to be curious, ask questions and develop an awe and wonder of the world.

10. The largest provider of A-Levels in Greece

A-Levels are the true and traditional post-16 educational qualification in the UK, with over 95% of UK schools offering education after GCSEs using it. Most importantly, A-Levels help pupils develop the essential study skills that must be in place if their progression to higher education is to be successful. No other institution in Greece teaches or enters more pupils for A-Level examinations than St. Lawrence College.

Here at St. Lawrence College, that the most common grade at A-Level, year after year, is an A grade, demonstrates the quality of delivery of this vitally important, pre-university stage of British education. Along with our expert and individually-tailored pastoral support and counselling, St. Lawrence College pupils are well-served and on track to access UK higher education or indeed any higher education institution in the world.

11. Top Academic Results Year After Year

Formal assessment through public examinations first occurs in Year 11 with IGCSEs, then continues in Year 12 with AS-Levels and is completed in Year 13 with A-Levels. St. Lawrence College has maintained very impressive standards in all of these examination standards, year after year. We are a non-selective school, and as such we are proud that the proportion of pupils who achieve at least five IGCSEs of at least grade C is consistently close to 90% (the UK average being 55%) – and at all levels of examination, IGCSE, AS-Level and A-Level, the most common grade achieved by far is the top grade of A/A*.

12. The perfect springboard to UK and global higher education

Pupils from our school access the very best universities all over the world. Most (around 80%) select to enter UK universities while others choose to go to the US, Canada, Europe or elsewhere for their higher education. Wherever they choose to study, St. Lawrence College provides the perfect combination of teaching excellence and informative one-to-one support before during and after the application process. It gives us great pleasure to see a young adult leave school and embark upon their chosen field of study, that’s why we strive to ensure that our pupils have access to a team of professionals in possession of deep experience, who also really care about them. 

13. Enthusiastic and highly qualified teaching staff

More than eighty teachers and more than 150 staff across the entire school are here to deliver the highest quality educational care within a safe and pleasant environment. Children are given the very best of opportunities to learn, thanks to the dedication and experience of teachers and educational practitioners who receive continual training in educational theory and who always seek out opportunities to improve their work. At St. Lawrence College we firmly believe that learning does not end with childhood –and we practise what we preach!

14. Continual Improvement

We stand for and expect continual improvement, from pupils but also from ourselves. We are proud of what we have achieved but we never want to stop moving forward. After all, when we promote and encourage self-reflection in our pupils, how could we not do the same as a school? This results in our teaching staff enjoying regular training delivered by expert educationalists, from the UK and beyond, undertaking on-line and off-site courses and working together to support and build upon their performance and effectiveness in their teaching. The school also continually reviews its curriculum and facilities in order to provide the very best and most modern and relevant educational experience possible.

With 273 A/AS-Levels and 420 IGCSEs being sat by a total of 143 pupils, the 2019 examination cycle was an extremely busy one, culminating in the release of results this week.

And what amazing results they were!

A-Level

Quite simply, our school pupils’ A-Level results were the strongest in many years, and by a significant margin!

51% of all A-Levels taken achieved an A or A* grade (up from 34% in 2018 and 35% in 2017). To put this in context, across the UK this year, an average of 25.5% of all A-Levels taken achieved A grade or higher.

Furthermore, this year, 20% of all A-Levels taken resulted in an A*, up from 13% in 2018, 11% in 2017 and 6% in 2016. The national average this year in the UK was 8% of all A-Levels achieving an A* grade. This context really demonstrates how excellent our pupils’ A-Level results were this year and are a testament to the hard work of pupils and teachers throughout the school.

There were many cases of outstanding individual success stories, none stronger than Konstantinos Kapoutsis who scored four A* across his four A-Levels – the highest grades in A-Level in recent years. Maria Avrantini, Efstratios Chatzieleftheriou, Xinyi Liao and Dimitris Rallis all achieved at least two A*s among their A-Levels.

Our A-Level pupils are now off to a wide range of universities and colleges around the world, with the majority heading for the UK to universities such as Imperial College London, the University of Bath, The University of St. Andrews, King’s College London, The University of Durham, and the University of Manchester to name just a few.

AS-Level

At AS-Level, where the highest possible grade is A, (there is no A*), our results were again very strong. The proportion of exams that scored an A grade was 40% - exactly the same as in 2018 and up from 27% two years ago in 2017. The proportion of AS-Levels that scored a C grade or better was 73%, up from 69% last year and 59% two years ago.

Ioanna Moirasgenti secured five A grades across her five subjects. To score an A grade, a pupil needs 80%. Ioanna’s lowest mark was 94%! She scored a perfect 100% in Mathematics AS-Level and 99% in both Physics and Chemistry AS-Levels!

Andreas Hagis, Dimitris Monokandilos, Harry Karaiossifides and Yueyang Li all achieved four A grades at AS-Level and many other pupils managed multiple A grades. Congratulations to them all!

IGCSE

At IGCSE, 63 candidates sat for a total of 420 separate IGCSE qualifications – a number that was up from the 386 IGCSEs sat in 2018. The standards of our pupils’ achievements over the years has been remarkably high and this year was no exception. 47% of all the IGCSEs taken resulted in either an A or A* grade being awarded – slightly up on last year’s 45%. Furthermore, 80% resulted in at least a C grade (slightly down on last year) and the proportion of candidates who achieved at least five IGCSE grades of C or better remained the same as the average over the last five years, demonstrating our pupils are sustaining the high standards set in previous years.

It is worth noting that this year’s cohort of IGCSE pupils contained a larger proportion of pupils who had arrived at our school with little or no English skills than in previous years. Viewed in this context, the IGCSE results are particularly impressive. 

There were a number of pupils who individually excelled at IGCSE, notably Markella Papadopoulou (6A*s/3As); Jake Paternoster (6A*/3A); George Savvas (6A*/1A/2B) and Eleni Kalenti (5A*/6A).

Hard work and excellence

Headmaster Phil Holden was keen to point out that all the public examination results represented success for the pupils and the school. He commented, “these stunning results demonstrate how committed out pupils have been in their studies over the years. They have been supported by wonderful school staff and teachers and so I congratulate the pupils and thank the staff of the school who have all contributed to our pupils’ success. Exam results are the product of more than a few weeks of revision before the day of the exam – they are representative of years of learning, with guidance and support from teachers and staff right across the school. Times like this make me very proud to be head of our school and very thankful to work with such wonderful staff and pupils”.

The 2025 World Rowing Indoor Championships took place virtually in February and organised by Switzerland. The event attracted over 1600 athletes from 74 nations competing over four days of racing in three categories 2000m, 500m, and Relays. A valued member of staff here at St Lawrence, Eva Kuzmannova, competed in the women's lightweight category and came seventh place overall.

 Ms Kuzmannova spoke after the race, saying, “I would like to thank you for the support I receive from the school staff. St Lawrence is a big part of my success, as I feel very comfortable at work, and it helps me focus on race training.” 

Well done, we are proud of every community member’s success!

To mark the end of the Christmas term, we hosted the eagerly awaited ‘Teachers vs Pupils’ games. In this spirited event, a mixed team of our sixth-form pupils took on the challenge of facing a mixed team of teachers and staff in both football and volleyball.

The atmosphere was electric as hundreds of pupils from all key stages gathered to cheer on both teams. Many raised banners in support of their peers and teachers alike.

In Periods 5 and 6, the Over-16 football teams—made up of girls and boys—went head-to-head with the SLC staff team. It was a fierce match, with the teachers battling hard, but in the end, the pupils emerged victorious, winning 4-3.

In Periods 7 and 8, the spectators moved to the Indoor Gym for the volleyball match. This time, the teachers showed their strength and determination, refusing to be defeated again. After two incredibly close sets, they triumphed with a 2-0 victory. The final scores were 25-22 and 25-23, respectively.

Younger pupils are already eagerly looking forward to their turn to participate in these games in the years to come, hoping to continue this exciting tradition.

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.

On Friday, 12th May 2017, the Early Years department at St Lawrence was full to the brim with youngsters who are already enjoying their early education with us, as well as many other children who are planning on doing so. The Open Day, which introduced our staff to new groups of youngsters and introduced those children and their parents to us, was a big success all round. 

There was a wide range of activities that the children participated in: mini tennis, yoga, PSHE, maths, literacy, movement to music and of course singing too. Every face was smiling and everyone looked really pleased to be a part of such a fun day.  From 10:00 am when the activities began, until their winding down session which included a plentiful buffet at 13:00, the happy cries of children having a whale of a time echoed throughout the garden and the whole of the Junior School.

We look forward to welcoming these children back come September. Well done to the Early Years staff who put so much effort into that day, as they do each and every day!

On Friday 24th February 2017, the whole school rang to the tunes of the carnival celebration that is such a great occasion here in Greece. It was a day of fancy dress costumes like you've never seen before with all kinds of characters lurking about in the classrooms and the staffrooms too. From princesses to police officers and Harry Potters to hairy monsters there was no shortage of imaginative characters to be seen over the whole school.

With a spring in their step, the pupils and teachers of the Junior School took part in a parade that had everyone cheering on the smallest to the biggest children. The Senior School created their own atmosphere with all kinds of weird and wonderful outfits worn by young and old alike. Well done to all our pupils for their enthusiastic participation and our staff for their unending patience and active support. 

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.