No matter the weather, there's always something to put a smile on your face at St Lawrence College. What lies at the end of a rainbow – a pot of gold or a school full of happy children learning and living their best lives?! 

The start of the new year brings hope and positivity for the year we're embarking on, so we're collectively putting our best feet forward as we march on. 

December 2021, and 2B has had the busiest time learning this term – everything from taking a trip to the Goulandris Museum of Natural History to learn about conservation, to the Great Fire of London in History, to making money in maths at school! 

A super class assembly online to showcase the children’s learning of British history was a memorable event this December! The term would not be complete, of course, without a wonderful afternoon decorating their class Christmas tree with garlands, ornaments and plenty of tinsel! It was all happening in Ms Bitra’s Year 2 class! 

As we are all very aware, Christmas is a time of giving, and we are incredibly touched by the generosity of our families and the willingness of our pupils to help with charitable causes this Christmas season. For one, the Junior School Charity Ninjas have worked together with the Senior School Services Society to gather Christmas gifts for needy refugee children in Athens, and our wonderful Shoebox campaign enabled us to give hundreds of gift boxes to Ark of the World Metadrasi, Faros and the Soup Kitchen in Anavyssos which has been long supported by SLC.  

Furthermore, the charity Floga (Φλόγα), the Panhellenic Association of Parents of Children with Cancer, has been supported with a large donation as our pupils hosted a holiday sale with their items. This charity represents and supports thousands of families all over Greece and fights for better medical, psychological and social care of children suffering from cancer. 

We also supported Make A Wish Greece by having our pupils make a donation and write their heartfelt wishes on a star that we then hung on our branches of kindness. This well-known charity is one of the charities we donate to annually and has expressed its appreciation over the years.  

Another charitable effort was held with a Festive Jumper Day to raise money, as well as a raffle that offered a lusciously full gift basket brimming with all kinds of goodies as the prize. Both were successful enough for us to make a sizeable donation to Doctors of the World Medecins du Monde and Ark of the World. 

We thank all our generous, kind families for their efforts to help others through our combined efforts. Community is everything, as we certainly can see.  

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.