Our academic scholars are awarded with honorary scholarships as a result of their outstanding academic achievements and potential.  

Our honorary scholars enjoy a range of benefits including the annual Scholars’ Dinner and the opportunity to prepare and deliver lectures as part of our Laurentius Lecture Series. 

Laurentius Lectures

The Laurentius Lectures provide an opportunity for Academic Scholars at St Peter’s to share ideas on topics that are of interest to them. Pupils deliver a short lecture of fifteen minutes to their peer group, the Head Master, the Head of Scholars and members of staff with a particular speciality in a given area, followed by questions from the floor. Speakers this year have been from the Lower Sixth year group, but any Scholar from Third Form upwards is invited to speak. This year’s programme shows a breadth and variety of interests from Sustainability, Neuroscience, Law, Artificial Intelligence and Veterinary science through to aspects of Music, Fine Art, Linguistics, History, Literature and Design.

Inspired by the name of our mysterious Headmaster of 1094, the word Laurentius has some interesting derivations. One theory is that it comes from the old Greek ‘lavrenti’ meaning ‘bright one, shining one’. Its Latin derivation is ‘from Laurentum’, the famous city of Virgil’s Aeneid named after the laurel tree, sacred to the god Apollo. Apollo’s associations were as varied as our Scholars: he was worshipped as god of knowledge, healing, prophecy, music, poetry, the Sun, art and agriculture.

Here are some of the Lecture topics that our pupils are passionate about:

• Settler colonialism, race and the logic of elimination
• The History and Development of Veterinary Medicine
• Is fast fashion a good thing?
• Economics in practice
• Psychology behind Design

The lectures are open to pupils and staff, enabling scholars to develop their research and presentation skills as they prepare for further study beyond St Peter’s. 

You can view the latest Laurentius Lecture Series here: