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The 2019 IGCSE Awards Ceremony
Ms Katya Skoudy - KS4 & IGCSE Coordinator
On Tuesday 26th November, proud parents, the school’s board members, teachers and students gathered in the theatre to celebrate the fantastic achievements and successes of the class of 2019. Green, blue and white balloons and a huge congratulations sign greeted our IGCSE awardees on this sunny Tuesday afternoon.
As it has now become a tradition, at the beginning of the previous academic year, during the very first assembly of the year, Mr. Bradley challenged all the year 11 students to achieve even better than their predecessors… A challenge that the 18 students embraced and took on. What a great set of results we had: this summer 83% of exam grades were between A*and C. 64 A and A* grades were awarded and 7 students gained 5 or more A* and A grades. The average grade score for the class of 2019 was a B. Let’s not forget their 20 younger peers who were brave enough to sit some early entry IGCSE examinations and also achieved a fantastic set of results.
Leen Mshasha (piano) opened the ceremony with a beautiful piano piece “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven. Hiroki Kawaguchi (voice) accompanied by Tudor Dumitru on the piano delighted us with his beautiful rendition of Caro Mio by Tommaso Giordani just before our guest speaker was invited on to the stage and the current year 12's came on the stage to receive their certificates.
This year we were very lucky to have a guest speaker, Ms Jane Grady from the British Consulate, who came to talk about her experiences and give us her insights about careers and the future. Let’s not forget Mr. Gunnell’s contribution with a very enlightening speech.
It turned out to be, I hope, a ceremony for which the current year 12 and year 11 will have memorable and cherished memories - when the students were acknowledged and rewarded for their achievements.
The IGCSE class of 2019 were a delightfully friendly, creative, artistic, occasionally disorganised, occasionally competitive, sporty diverse group of individuals. They are a talented bunch: we have wonderful musicians, actors, linguists, mathematicians, designers, sports people and the list of their talents goes on. They certainly understood that success is much about hard work and team work. The best thing about them was their camaraderie and their support of one another. Their effort and hard work really paid off- The current year 11 have a lot to live up to – previous IGCSE results set the standard and no less will be expected!
A year ago, they took on the challenge of the IGCSE examinations.. and I am sure that as I predicted during the ceremony, they will be set another challenge, a year from now, the challenge to do even better than before….
As the speeches were written, the students came on stage to receive their IGCSE certificates and their well-deserved toffee apple and then gathered outside the theatre for an extremely short celebration with friends and family.. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the PTA especially Tracey Rich, and Kathleen Roetlants; Victoria Sykes and Selay, who all gave me invaluable help, Caroline Barnett for designing the invitations and programme, David Mayer for taking photos, the Creative Arts Department – in particular Ms Kpusuzoglu and Ms. Cabato - for organizing the wonderful musical pieces and Art displays, our talented musicians for the wonderful performances, Hasan Bey and his team, the maids, the kitchen staff, Yusuf and Mesut without whose help and contribution this ceremony would not have been possible.
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