Junior and senior pupils at St Lawrence College
Staying at the same school from reception through to sixth form can be hugely beneficial, says Melissa Gabbott of St Lawrence College
In 2009, at the end of their time in the Junior School, Year 6 pupils at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate were asked what they wanted to be when they were older. Aged 10, the pupils? answers were as ambitious as one would hope. One pupil, Rudy, answered, ?Either work for NASA or Nintendo.? Another, Alan, replied: ?Be a business man like Alan Sugar!? Both pupils stayed at St Lawrence throughout their education, from the age of nativity plays to the daunting A-level years. What is remarkable is being able to trace Rudy, Alan and many of their classmates? responses to the question posed in 2009, and match them to their career paths now they have finished school. Rudy is at Bristol University pursuing a degree in Computer Science; Alan is reading Economics. It is gratifying to see both of them taking steps to become the people their younger selves had aspired to. Half of that Year 6 class continued into the Senior School at St Lawrence, and some spent their entire school life at the school. Five of the group had gone on to be Sixth Form prefects and between all of them, from sports to music, drama to academia, their achievements were many.  They all exuded a natural confidence beyond their years ? perhaps this is one of the advantages of feeling happy and secure in your school environment.
Between t...