St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate

St. Lawrence College
Motto In Bono Vince
(Latin for Conquer with Good)
Established 1879
Type

Public school

Independent day and boarding school
Religion Church of England
Principal Mr Antony Spencer, MA (Oxon), ACA
Deputy Headmaster Mr David J Jackson, BA (Durham), Mr Simon Heard, BA (Exeter)
Chairman of the Council Mr D.W. Taylor, MA (Oxon), PGCE, F.R.S.A.
Location College Road
Ramsgate
Kent
CT11 7AE
EnglandEngland Coordinates: 51°20′35″N 1°24′54″E / 51.343°N 1.415°E
DfE URN 118947 Tables
Gender Coeducational
Ages 3–18
Colours

Maroon and white

         
Publication The Lawrentian
Houses 7
Former Pupils Old Lawrentians
School Song Carmen Laurentium
Website www.slcuk.com

St. Lawrence College is a traditional co-educational independent school situated in Ramsgate, Kent and has been established as a "public school" ever since it was founded.

History

The college was founded in 1879 as South Eastern College (colours: gold and black). The name was changed because of the association with the Railway network to St Lawrence College by its location in the St Lawrence area of Ramsgate. New colours were also given: maroon and white. The school rapidly outgrew the single house, leading to the main building of the present day college by 1884. The chapel was completed in 1927. During the world wars, the school was evacuated to Chester (1915) and Courteenhall in Northamptonshire (1940), seat of Sir Herewood Wake, because of its position on the South-East coast. Later in the school's existence, girls were admitted, and the current mix of sexes is now roughly equal. There were initially 4 houses:- Light Red, Dark Red, Light Blue and Dark Blue. These became Grange, Tower, Manor and Lodge. During WWII a fifth house was added called Courteney when a nearby school having failed to maintain numbers was incorporated into the school. Newlands was later added for day scholars and Deacon followed as the Junior end of this house.

Senior and Middle School

The Senior School is divided into five separate houses. The oldest, Tower and Lodge, the two boy's boarding houses, were created in 1889. Newlands is the boys' day house, while Laing is the girls' day house. Boarding girls are part of Bellerby. All houses are located in the main school building except Bellerby, who have their own building which is situated in the site of the previous Taylor Hall.

Cameron and Courtenay are mixed boarding and day sub-houses, respectively, for the Middle School (Kirby). They accommodate students from age 11 to 13. They are housed in the modern Kirby House Building, a state-of-the-art education facility, which opened in January 2007 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. In January 2013, Mark Aitken retired his post of Headmaster and was succeeded by Antony Spencer.

Junior School

St. Lawrence College Junior School is located on the same site as the Middle and Senior schools and accommodates pupils from age 3 to 11. The Junior School pupils study in the Hamblyn Block which includes classrooms for Years 3-6.

Performance

In 2009, the Daily Telegraph placed the school 330 in its League Table of Independent School A-level results, with 48.81% of pupils gaining A or B grades at A-level.[1] In 2012, the school gained an outstanding performance in their examinations with a pass rate of 92.9% with 18% of them being at grades of A and A* at A-level. The GCSE results were also outstanding with a pass rate of 86.5% and 15.5% being at grades of A*.

Old Lawrentians

Old Lawrentians (OLs) of note include:

References

  1. ↑ League Table of Independent Schools, London: The Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2009, retrieved 10 October 2011
  2. ↑ Alfred Bellerby profile at sports-reference.com
  3. ↑ Alfred Bellerby profile at This is Kent
  4. ↑ 1911 Census of Thanet, RG14PN4536, Hubert Stanford Broad, Hollicondane Ramsgate.
  5. ↑ Gordon Edington profile at Debretts Online
  6. ↑

External links