Junior School Principal

American Academy Larnaca

Information about the school

The School

The American Academy was established in 1908 by missionaries of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America and is one of the oldest schools in Cyprus. In 1975 control of the school, and all its facilities, was handed over to the American Academy Alumni Foundation, since which time it has been run as a non-profit making organisation with charitable status by its own graduates. The governing council consists of 11 elected members, who serve for five years and two representatives of the church.

The school is a private, non-sectarian, co-educational, selective day school, offering education from pre-Junior through to Year 7 (ie Upper Sixth). The Junior School currently has 190 students, with day-to-day administration being the responsibility of the Junior School Headteacher. The Senior School takes about 80% of its 846 students from Greek elementary schools in the locality these being exclusively of Greek Cypriot origin. The remaining students come mainly from our own Junior School and are more international in character, including repatriated Cypriots. The school has built a strong reputation for the high level of educational success of its students and for its emphasis upon service within the community. The vast majority of graduates achieve University entrance overseas (primarily in the UK and the USA) and many achieved positions of responsibility in both commercial and educational institutions in Cyprus and abroad.

Location and buildings

The school is located centrally in the town and occupies a large site. The main building houses the administration and is the pastoral and teaching base for Years 4 to 7. All classrooms are fully equipped with interactive whiteboards and each member of staff is issued with a laptop computer. The facilities also include science laboratories, two computer rooms with Internet access (Windows 2000/Office XP environment), the Library, which is also equipped with 15 Internet linked computers, 14 classrooms and the Auditorium. The Lower School, some 200 metres away, on the same site, includes science laboratories, the art and music rooms and 16 classrooms, whilst the Junior School is located centrally between these two buildings. The Academy will provide staff training in the use of ICT as required.

The science facilities in the upper school building are in the final stages of process of being up-graded, as part of a phased programme, to give 4 fully equipped laboratories in addition to the 2 in lower school. The sports facilities have been recently greatly enhanced by the building of a half million pound sports hall.

Some Aspects of Curriculum

A wide range of courses is available at GCSE from years 1-5 and at sixth form level, most lead to external examinations at A/AS. Students entering Year 6 are required to have passed the appropriate courses to qualify for the subjects chosen. The school also offers its own Graduating Diploma – something of great value on the island. During recent years the pass rate at GCSE has been consistently above 90%. At A level the pass rate approaches 100% and over 90% of the students go on to Higher Education, mainly in the United Kingdom, the United States and Cyprus.

The school has invested considerably in ICT over the last few years and is committed to rapidly extending its use of IT across the curriculum and throughout the organisation. All teachers are expected to use IT in their programmes.