Parent – Teacher meeting Years 1–6, 3:30 – 6:00pm

Years 3-6 & E.A.L. for Parents only at 11 a.m.

Years 1 &2 orientation for Parents only at 10 a.m.

FS1, FS2 & Reception orientation for Parents only at 9 a.m.

On Friday 21st June 2019, the whole of St Lawrence College ended this academic year by celebrating the successes and achievements of its student body with a glorious evening at school. Our Guest of Honour this year was Mr George Samouris, a very successful member of our alumni, having graduated from St Lawrence College in 2005, going on to Magdalen College at Oxford University, then the London School of Economics for his Masters. 

The families and friends of our pupils were delighted to participate in the event, learning of a string of accomplishments gathered by the pupils, beginning with class prizes from Year 3 upwards, special prizes such as the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year, following learning journeys through the senior school, leading all the way to our graduating class of 2019. Awards for Academic Excellence, and the Outstanding Contribution to School Life are held in high esteem and a well-deserved acknowledgment of the supreme efforts put in by our young people. With St Lawrence pupils heading off to remowned universities all over the world, there was a smile on every face. Congratulations to all who achieved and all who gave the best of themselves in their studies.
 

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”.

On Wednesday 12th June the Robotics Club members invited their parents to a special lesson. They were all engaged in a hands-on learning experience. They proudly taught their parents how to build a robot. 

The club, which Ms Dova has been running all year, was a super way for our young learners to put all their tech skills to good use. And what child doesn't love to teach their mum or dad something new?

Bravo all!
 

In the summer term of 2019, the junior school held a number of sports days with events ranging from flat races, circuits activities, high jumps and tug-of-war to swimming galas. Children, parents and teachers loved the excitement of these competitions as the pupils earned house points that contributed to the grand total. There were a plethora of new school records in many disciplines this year too, including freestyle and breaststroke swimming races as well as the high jump. 

The standard of athleticism just keeps on rising higher and higher! At the Annual Awards Ceremony, Macedonia won the Sports Cup this year, having proved that they had the edge over both Epirus and Attica teams. Onwards and upwards towards next year's competitions and events!

On 13th June 2019, Dr McMullin's inspirational Junior Drama Club put on a wonderful performance of an original script called Beyond The Looking Glass. Drawing on many ideas from classic tales and stories we all know and love, we saw Alice visit a dream wonderland in which the Queen of hearts still tried to spread her unhappy message to all. Her power was challenged though, by a good fairy helped by the characters from such greats as The Lion King, Narnia's chronicles, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Peter Pan and many others.

All was resolved in the end of course, and Alice and her friend Anna-Marie were able to rest easy, safe in the knowledge that harmony was restored. What a great performance it was, thoroughly enjoyed by all who came to see the spectacle!

On Tuesday 11th June 2019, Year 3 visited the Diomidous Botanical Gardens in Athens.The trip was an extension of their fascinating science topic work and served to teach them all about plants and habitats. 

Walking through the gardens, the pupils enjoyed the beautiful, serene environment and witnessed first-hand how much life there is around around us even in the city. They learned about the different types of plants and their life processes including carobs, rosemary bushes, a bamboo forest, magnolia trees, waterproof lotus pads, and ginkgo biloba, just to name a few. 

The annual St Lawrence College senior school swimming gala took place on Tuesday 4^th June and proved once again to be a fantastic display of skill and endurance, with some long-held records finally broken.

The new records were:

25m. Butterfly boys Yr. 7

17,66 Konstantinos Chachamopoulos. Previous rec. 27,00 Harutaka Ominato, 2018

50m freestyle girls year 8

31,66 Christina Dimitrakopoulou. Previous rec. 37,35 Sotiria Lourida 2018

25m Breaststroke girls Yr.  8

18,67 Christina Dimitrakopoulou. Previous rec.19,00 , Olga Egorova 2012

50m breaststroke boys yr8

39,20 Angelos Syriopoulos,. Previous rec. 42,80 Phaedon Philipopoulos  42,80 2018

25m backstroke Yr. 10 boys

14,83 Angelos Mylonas. Previous rec. 14,86 Panagiotis Georgopoulos 2008

And the final house point results from the competition were:

Attica 510

Epirus 1010

Macedonia 800

Congratulations to everyone involved and we'll see you again next year.

One more project undertaken by the St. Lawrence College Services Society this year was a quite feminine one! After the great success of the Shoebox Campaign coordinated by the Services Society at Christmas, a warm relationship has been established between the pupils of our school and the children of the FAROS charity organisation in the centre of Athens.

Before Easter the FAROS organisation opened a day centre for young women and girls, called ‘Horizon Girls’, with the aim to help unaccompanied refugee girls and young women getting back their confidence and aiming for a better life. In their centre, the girls have started learning Greek, English, the use of computers and knitting and sewing.

The Services Society, through a non-uniform day, managed to raise enough money for the purchase of three sewing machines which together with a lot of knitting and sewing material was donated to the FAROS educational and recreational centre for refugee teenage girls and young women, who were reportedly very excited and happy to receive these donations. A big thank you to all pupils, parents and teachers who helped once again so eminently and efficiently.

Friday 10^th May saw the St Lawrence senior school hold the annual Sports Day. As always, there were some amazing displays of strength, agility and determination. Some students even managed to break long-held school records. 

The new records were:

High jump:

Yr. 9 girls, DAFNE VOTSIS. 1,49

Previous record, 1,48 since 2015

Yr. 9 boys, MARIOS DJIONIS, 1,63

Previous record, 1,58 since 2015

Long jump:

Yr. 7 boys, SUNNY YUTONG, 4,30

Previous record 3,75, since 2018

Yr. 9 girls, DAFNE VOTSIS, 3,92

Previous record 3,75 since 2015

And the house points were:

ATTICA : 840

EPIRUS: 880

MACEDONIA: 1140