Welcome from Mr Rory Gallagher, Headteacher
Dear Alumni,
A very warm welcome to the inaugural edition of The Byronian on our new Byron College Alumni Association website! This platform is our way of keeping the ever-growing Byron community connected, no matter where you are in the world.
First of all, our congratulations to the Class of 2024! As you step into the next phase of your lives, remember that you are not just graduates—you are now alumni too! Your ongoing engagement and contributions will be key to the success and vibrancy of our alumni association. We are confident that each of you will continue to shine and uphold the values you developed and displayed at Byron College - our core values of CARE: Community, Action, Respect, and Excellence. These principles are at the heart of everything we do and will continue to guide us as we transition to our new school site in 2025. This state-of-the-art facility will provide even more opportunities for our students to learn, grow, and succeed.
Our new alumni website is designed to be a hub of activity and connection. I encourage you to share your experiences and achievements by submitting a testimonial. Your stories inspire current students and fellow alumni alike, demonstrating the lifelong impact of a Byron education. It is amazing that we have Byron alumni working at the school, and it is always a pleasure to receive a visit from alumni - this year one of the first ever Byron students came to see us!
We also invite you to sign up as a speaker for Byron Talks, a series of discussions and networking events that allow our alumni to share insights and stay connected with the school. These talks are a key part of our Enrichment programme, and an excellent way for alumni to give back to the school and the current students.
Last but not least, we are thrilled to announce our first-ever New Year Drinks & Canapés Byron Reunion on Thursday 19 December 2024. This event is a fantastic opportunity to reunite with old friends, make new connections, and celebrate our shared heritage. Be sure to sign up via the alumni site homepage.
Thank you for your unwavering support and dedication to our school and to the Byron family. Together, we continue to uphold the Byron spirit and make a positive impact on the world.
Warmest regards,
Mr Rory Gallagher
Headteacher
Rethinking Excellence
This year was particularly exciting in academic and extracurricular terms, with students across Primary and Secondary taking part in a raft of exciting activities designed to take their learning beyond the scope of the traditional classroom.
Our participation in the Duke of Edinburgh Award and MUN continued to go from strength to strength, with dozens of students hiking on Parnassos Mountain and taking part in national and international conferences such as Oxford Global.
In the Panhellenic Forensics Association Tournament we punched above our weight with Steven Liu and Alex Manolios reaching the Finals in Group Discussion, Oral Interpretation of Literature, and Impromptu.
COBIS Student Achievement Awards also went to rising stars Charis MacInnes, Ellie Simpson, and Andreas Manolios.
There were notable feats across the board in Maths and Sciences: hats off to our
- five Gold, six Silver, and fourteen Bronze achievers in the British Physics Olympiad
- two Silver and five Bronze in the British Chemistry Olympiad
- and 18 Gold, 21 Silver, and 21 Bronze in the UKMT Maths Competitions!
Last but not least, some very special achievements from
- mathematical prodigy Youchen Liu who attained the Silver Medal in the British Mathematical Olympiad (the highest level available to international mathematicians), a gruelling contest in which no calculators are allowed
- Stavros Kosmas for receiving Silver in the Euclid Greek Mathematics Olympiad
- and Zimo Chen for receiving a Certificate of Merit in the Maclaurin Mathematical Olympiad!
Our commitment to fostering excellence has never just been academic but creative and athletic as well. Our amazing creative writing showcase and visual feast for the eyes Byron Voice now has its very own dedicated website at byronvoice.myportfolio.com, with brilliant new student work published regularly.
We have had exceptional sporting achievements, such as Nik Petrou ranking 22nd overall in Greece in the 400m in the Panhellenic Indoor Athletics Championship, Jason Simpson winning Silver at the ACS Cross-Country 5km event at Alsos Syggrou, as well as success in varsity tournaments throughout the school year.
All in all, it’s been an amazing year replete in exploration and exceptional achievements. Let’s not forget excellent university offers for our graduating class as well, such as Head Boy John Roy Amurao’s unconditional offer from the University of Southern California (USC), offers from UCL, Durham, Warwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, and more! Hats off to all students who rose to the challenge this year of exploring and testing their limits - we are very proud of you!
Taking Action
We’re very pleased to have a packed calendar in our community revolving around fundraising and raising awareness for charitable causes, including responding to emergency appeals such as the humanitarian collection spearheaded by our Student Council for flood relief in central and northern Greece. Our Student Leaders have been instrumental throughout, whether holding a bake sale for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, organising Christmas and Easter collections for the Pallini Food Bank, volunteering at the St Paul’s Anglican Church Christmas Bazaar, planting trees in Anthousa, and holding a very successful toy sale for the Agia Anna shelter for young girls and the Sismanogleio shelters offering psychiatric care for teenagers.
Further highlights were our Primary students’ involvement in Boroume (We Can), where Student Leaders rescued 650 kg of food at the end of the market day, and our Student Head Team’s initiative in collaboration with Make-a-Wish, where we were able to collate Christmas presents for 35 children currently undergoing treatment for cancer. In the meantime, our Eco Ambassadors in Primary were hard at work monitoring energy usage around the school and more, keeping us on track to meet our eco-goals.
A big thank you and well done to everyone who supported, turned up, organised, and made these extremely worthwhile contributions reality - here’s to more taking action next year!
Celebrating Community
What an amazing year we’ve had, packed with colourful, exciting, and original events! With community as our watchword, during each month of the school year we put on a rolling programme of events and activities in order to provide the richest possible experience for students, parents, and staff. Here’s how the year unfolded...
September
We celebrated International Literacy Day with our annual Spellathon - this year’s theme was on words in English originating from all around the world, such as gobbledegook, chutzpah, eudaimonic, hygge, wanderlust, and hundreds more!
October
Our students prepared commemorative assemblies for the spirit of resistance and defiance embodied in the Greek national holiday, Ochi Day, including readings from the poetry of Odysseas Elytis.
November
As ever, Hallowe’en and Fireworks Night was celebrated with a bang, with our Year 13s putting on the traditional Haunted House.
December
Families who braved the freeze enjoyed a Christmas Market which is growing in size since its inception three years ago - also enjoying a special visit from Father Christmas, and taking part in a raucous carol sing-a-long at the end...
As ever, our Year 13s also spread Christmas cheer by pulling off the logistical enterprise of delivering more than 2000 cookie and candy cane orders around the school - no easy feat!
January
For Lord Byron’s birthday this year, we crafted a silent movie biopic of his life and work dramatically entitled ‘Lord Byron: The Making of a Hero’, shaking frames, pet bear, burning manuscripts and all - an amazing production which both commemorated his legacy and stayed true to his spirit of rebelliousness!
February
Love was in the air on Valentine’s Day, with the Sixth Formers ensuring the school became awash with flower orders - not to mention 75 serenades sung to their unsuspecting victims...
Also in February, we wore red for Chinese New Year, wore anything and everything for Carnival Day, the English Theatre Club performed ‘Sherlock is Back’ for us, and we had an amazing linguistic lunchtime hunt for International Mother Tongue Day.
March
March was a very busy month for us, with zine-making for World Book Day, pie-making and pi-memorising for Pi Day...
a brand new Master Chef Competition in Primary where Year 5 wowed the judges with their special croque monsieur...
ANNIE The Musical was also a showstopper with stellar performances from a mixed-age cast...
and finally, very special celebrations for Greek Independence Day on 25 March this year which culminated with much of the school spontaneously joining in the dancing at the end - an exhilarating moment.
April
EYFS enjoyed a special Prehistoric Safari with dinosaurs and palaeontological digs in the garden, while our music students performed in the Spring Recital.
May
And in May of course we celebrated our flagship event, Culture Day, with food, music, and dancing enjoyed by over 1000 attendees and our traditional Parade of Nations in traditional dress.
Also in May, we had a new addition to our roster of events: Spanish Day! Students and staff danced salsa and merengue in the playground during lunchtime, in addition to a quiz and dancing, singing and poetry competitions.
Fostering Respect
Respect is one of the pillars of our ethos of CARE, and we strive to embody this at the level of our school and wider communities.
This year, collaborative wellbeing displays provided opportunities for daily reflection, while participating in several high-calibre events allowed us to show our respect in social, moral, and ecological terms.
As main participating school in the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Phaleron War Cemetery, our choir and ceremony participants did us proud.
Following on from our moving event at Byron House in Messolonghi last year, we initiated a special event to commemorate the bicentenary of Lord Byron’s death in collaboration with the Philhellenism Museum. We presented a special programme of music and poetry recitals in the garden of the Numismatic Museum to a large audience, including the Ambassador of Great Britain.
For World Philosophy Day, the school embarked on a series of trips to archaeological sites around Attica, discussing ethical dilemmas under open skies, while the International Day for People with Disabilities was marked by invited guest speakers who educated students on empathy and disability.
Our brilliant House teams have been putting on a growing array of House competitions and activities throughout the school year to foster a sense of team spirit and healthy competition, such as a table tennis tournament, chess tournament, a celebration of Odd Socks Day to spread the message of tolerance and diversity, painting and comic strip competitions, and even a foot tennis competition!
Our students also embarked on a raft of trips, such as field exploration on Milos Island, biodiversity and ecological learning in Trikala in Corinth, hands-on experimenting at the Athens Science Festival, adopting a turtle called Truffle at the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, and so many more. Through these trips our students have developed their ecological sensitivity, expanded their learning beyond the classroom, collaborated in pursuit of shared goals, and learnt about their role within interconnected systems of people, places, and processes.
In a word: respect, for the world and for their fellow beings.