Pupils are celebrating today after receiving an astonishing 43 offers from either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge – the highest number in the College’s history. We are immensely proud of our pupils - a huge congratulations!
Fourth Form and Lower Fifth Russian classes joined together with the school’s Ukrainian scholars to mark Orthodox Christmas.
They celebrated by making kolach, a sweet bread that is often served for Christmas in Ukraine and Russia. Gathering in the Smith Café, our chefs showed them how to make two different variations, and then gave them the opportunity to do it themselves. They were able to learn more about Orthodox Christmas from our Ukrainian scholars, and they were able to practise Russian Christmas vocabulary, too.
The bread we made was then served to the rest of the school at lunchtime. Orthodox Christmas Day for the year 2023 was celebrated on Saturday 7 January because the Orthodox Church celebrates the birth of Jesus as per the Julian calendar, which is running 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Interestingly, in Ukraine, as a sign of solidarity with the West, some Orthodox Christians have moved their Christmas celebrations to the date with which we are more familiar in England: 25 December.