On Friday 17th December 2021, St Lawrence College Junior School had an enjoyable Christmas carol concert with each year group singing uplifting Christmas carols and reciting seasonal poetry. Our music teacher, Ms Papalamprou, helped our pupils put on a super performance that showed just how delightful it is to perform and relish the joy of singing. Our school choir, with pupils from both the junior and senior schools, under the skilful guidance of Ms Romeos, sang beautifully too, raising spirits and putting everyone in a festive mood as we approach the holidays.  

Although friends and families could not join us for the actual show, it was videotaped and shared with our school community to enable us all to celebrate this most wonderful time of the year! 

Full video here

December is always a fun time at school and this month has been no exception. Our youngest cuties in Early Years classes have been baking all kinds of Christmas goodies to take home for their families, including cookies and cupcakes with chocolate, sprinkles and sweetness galore! 

Just looking at the concentration on their faces is enough to melt the heart, and listening to their chatter as they cook happily under the guidance of their caring teachers brings a smile to your face too. What a day! 

Representatives from the Hellenic Field Hockey Association visited our school between 6^th and 10^th December and pupils both in KS2 and KS3 were given the opportunity to play and be coached by these specialists. The students had a fantastic time learning with the experts and learned some awesome new skills. We hope this may spark interest in this sport amongst our pupils and we are looking to have a field hockey team in the near future so we can compete against other international schools in Athens. Watch this space!

Last month, Mr Karyofilis, Mr Courts, Harry, Dimitris, and Ali took part in the Movember challenge to  grow a moustache or idiosyncratic facial hair. Together we raised over 250 Euros for the Movember organisation which is an international charity that funds health projects targeting men's mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. The organisation also challenges participants to get active and host events to raise money and awareness. For more information go to movember.com. To donate in our name, search for St. Lawrence College Athens.

On Thursday 2nd December 2021, the Foundation Stage One classes visited the Cultural Park in Keratea to participate in an educational programme called ‘At the Olive Press.’ 

In the olive groves, the pupils worked as a team to collect the olives, take them to the traditional press and observe how the pressed olives produced oil. They also learned how olive oil makes soap as well as being a food source, even in freshly baked bread. A fascinating day out for our youngest children! 

On Wednesday 24th November, our FS2 classes got in a snuggly, cosy mood perfectly suited to the end of autumn, with  a wonderful Pyjama Day. This week, they were learning all about the letter P in literacy, so pyjamas were positively perfect! The children had a great time and it was definitely a comforting way to spend the whole day in warm PJs and slippers!

After nearly two years, our school teams are back in action. On Thursday 11th November, our school hosted a friendly game against ACS and on Friday 12th November, we switched location as our girls' over 16 football team travelled to Agia Paraskevi to play against ACS.

While our focus would usually be on results, the most important thing at the moment is to be back out on the pitch and playing, and we can't wait for more upcoming events to take part in.

Our next game will be on Tuesday 23rd November at St. Catherine's school with Boys Over 16 football.

It's great to be back!

On Tuesday 9th November 2021, the Year 6 pupils went on one of two trips – the first to the War Museum in Athens and the second to a pottery centre. The War Museum, which is the largest museum of military history in Greece and one of the largest in South-eastern Europe has impressive exhibits from antiquity until more recent history. Pupils observed the historical unfolding of events through unique pieces of art showing the struggles of the Greek nation.  

The second group headed off to the Greek Pottery Centre in Maroussi where they created clay objects. In the first session, they used a pottery wheel to craft clay pots. During the second, they created their own ‘clay artefacts’ in a traditional way using their hands, creativity and imagination, without involving any machinery.  

All pupils agreed they’d been on a trip to remember! 

Last Saturday our younger debaters took part online in the University of Edinburgh Junior Debate Competition. The tournament was for debaters in Years 10 and below and included teams from around the UK and Europe. All of our debaters had a great day and learnt a huge amount from some experienced university debaters who judges their rounds. Once again, Theodora Farmakidi and Constantinos Zafeirakis excelled, this time finishing in 5^th place overall after winning the ‘Silver final’ which was a playoff between the teams ranked 5^th to 8^th after the qualifying rounds. Their prize is 50 Pounds that will be donated to a charity of their choice. Congratulations to them and all the debaters who took part.

On Thursday 4th November, St Lawrence College welcomed parents to the second part of our School Counsellor’s workshop aimed at helping parents understand their children’s concerns, worries and a host of matters related to growing up. At the Efilena Estate next door, parents enjoyed an enlightening workshop in which they made some interesting discoveries, were enabled to adopt some helpful strategies and make the most of feeling united in their child-raising efforts. 

 A problem-solving approach is often helpful in enabling a child to work out how valid their fears and worries are, so as to respond accordingly. If a situation causes greater anxiety then relaxation techniques can be employed to alleviate their worries. This workshop gave parents the tools necessary to help their children through these challenges and was much appreciated by all who attended.  

On 28^th October, Greece commemorates an important day in its history which has come to be known as Oxi Day. Here at SLC, on our last day of this half term, we held an online assembly and sang together in remembrance of the historic decision made by Prime Minister Metaxas in 1940, to say ‘No’ to a demand that Greece surrendered, instead, going to war in defence of its rights.

Today, the country prepares to remember this occasion and hangs flags on buildings to remind us of the past. And as was once said of this proud nation, “we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.”

Here at St. Lawrence College, we teach both PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) course and P4C (Philosophy for Children) from the earliest opportunity. In the Early Years classes, our young pupils are learning how to form new relationships whilst developing self-confidence, awareness and independence, which enables them to acquire the confidence to learn independently. Opportunities to develop self-awareness are encouraged constantly as our young pupils develop the social skills needed throughout their schooling.

we believe that citizenship provides a core value in education ...

From EYs onwards, the children are taught PSHE weekly and its core values are central to many areas of the curriculum. The Jigsaw platform forms the basis of our PSHE lessons and are formally embedded in our timetable so as to create lessons where there is deeper. Children follow the Jigsaw PSHE which has a whole school approach to each topic. It links emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development alongside an integrated mindfulness approach in order to support our pupils’ learning. This term the PSHE lessons will cover the topics entitled: Being Me in My World and Celebrating Differences.

P4C is about how to use a philosophical approach to the curriculum. It is an approach to teaching and learning where children are taught how to create their own philosophical questions. The teacher, as facilitator, supports the children in their thinking, reasoning and questioning, as well as the way the children speak and listen to each other in the dialogue.

Here at SLC we love Hallowe’en and all our autumn celebrations, none more so than our wonderful annual pumpkin competition. Each class takes on the challenge as a family project and usually whips up a frenzy of pumpkin soup in the process! As always, we’re all blown away by the creativity, energy and excitement of such an astounding display of carved, painted and fully disguised pumpkins that cater to all tastes. What an excellent effort all round!

Last weekend, St. Lawrence debaters took to the (virtual) podium once again to compete in the St. Catherines Debate Competition. Our senior teams did well, coming in very close to qualifying for the knockout stage, but this time round, the plaudits go to our younger debaters, with Alexandra and Sofia, 'Team SAvvy' (Year 9) and Theodora and Constantinos, 'Team The Con' (Year 10) taking part in their first senior competitions and all qualifying for the Novice Final in which they debated the motion "children should be taught to challenge authority from a young age".

After a very close debate which also included teams from Athens College and Pierce, Theodora and Constantinos took first place. Constantinos also took home the title of top novice speaker (If only his webcam had been working). Congratulations to all involved.  

As with every year since this event started in Athens, back in 2009, our school participated in the ‘Race For The Cure’ at the end of last month. This event is very close to the hearts of many pupils, teachers and parents and has become an event that gathers all of us together at the beginning of every school year. The event is organized in Greece by the “Panhellenic Society of Women with Breast Cancer, ALMA ZOIS” with the aim to support women who have or had breast cancer and to raise awareness of prevention of this disease.

‘Race for the Cure’ started in 1983 in the city of Dallas, in the USA and from the first event's 800 participants, the concept has now expanded to annual Races that attract hundreds of thousands of participants in more than 120 locations globally.

‘Race for the Cure’ has now become the biggest sporting event for women’s health in Europe. It helps breast cancer organisations and hospitals to collect funds and raise awareness. With 500,000 new diagnoses and 125,000 people who die of breast cancer in Europe every year, these funds are of vital importance. This year, as with 2020, the ‘Race’ could not happen in Greece, nor in most countries, in the usual way with the physical presence of participants due to measures to protect against COVID 19. It was not cancelled however, and instead took place ‘virtually’, with participants being encouraged to do their own walk or run. In St. Lawrence College, pupils from all year groups performed a walk or run during their PE lessons and many teachers also completed a run or walk during their lunch times, to show once again that our community is stronger than ever in the belief that breast cancer can be prevented and cured. Each participant donated some money and altogether through these events we raised €1,030 which has already been handed over to the ‘Race For The Cure’ organisation. Well done to each and every person who took part in these events and contributed generously to this important cause.