Thursday 20th December saw St Lawrence College hold a very succesful charity sports event between parents and pupils. Not only was it great fun, but more importantly, it also raised an impressive €3,813.65. The event saw parents and pupils play against each other in some tense basketball and football matches.

With this money we have managed to buy 500 bed-sheets and 160 pillow cases for the Children’s Hospital Ag. Sofia in Athens. Our Senior School house captains will be handing over the donation to the hospital in the next few days.

We would like to sincerely thank each and every one of you for all your support and generous donations!

The results of the games were as follows:

Basketball game 1:           Parents VS pupils              17-28
Basketball game 2:           Parents VS pupils              43-42
Football game 1:              Parents VS pupils                4- 4
Football game 2:              Parents VS pupils                5- 9

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2019.
 

In commemoration of the Centenary of the end of World War I, we invited our Senior pupils to learn more about the war and its effects through an assembly and a display in the History Department. We also held a competition calling on pupils to produce creative writing, paintings or sculptures based on the theme ‘Peace’. The artwork and creative writing produced by our pupils was evocative and original. The winners of the competition were Maria Kritikou (Year 12) with her poem 'He never writes', Veronika Tomchani (Year 9) with her painting 'Armistice Day' and Sotiria Lourida (Year 9) with her model 'A Message of Peace'.

Here is an extract from our winner's poem:

He never writes

She sits and knits

For a long-forgotten cause.

She sits on her rocking chair.

Trying to soothe her wounded soul.

She cries herself to sleep at night.

And curses herself when she wakes at dawn.

She pointlessly watches

The shadow that crawls under the door,

The dust that dances in the light,

The handmade carpet, lying on the floor.

Why so much extra space, she ponders.

Who was it for?

She rocks herself on and on,

Counting the minutes, the seconds,

That he’s away from home.

‘Died honourably in action’

To be decorates so many times

With medals that would weigh him to the ground.

His passport to a new home.

The foolish boy!

He has forgotten her!

He never writes to her anymore.

Maria Kritikou

One innovative new way we are working on helping all our pupils get the most out of breaktime is with these delightfully creative buddy benches in our playgrounds. Since September 2018, several newly decorated benches have been installed and the children have definitely understood their purpose, to great effect. When a child is in need of a friend, they'll sit on a bench and sure enough, someone will come to their rescue! 

"I was on my own," said one year 4 pupil, "but then my friend came to play with me." 

 The only way to have a friend is to be one!

During bright and cheerful holiday celebrations with your friends and family, it’s important to stop and reflect on our blessings while also being aware that not everyone is as fortunate. In this charitable spirit, on Tuesday 18th December, the Y3 & Y4 Charity Ninjas held a Christmas Bake Sale in support of those who lost their homes in the fires of Eastern Attica in the summer of 2018. 

The proceeds raised, an impressive total of €500 was spent on buying 210 electric blankets to help those badly affected citizens keep warm this winter season. Many parents of junior school pupils contributed homemade baked goods for this fundraising event. Children visited the bake sale during the course of the day and our Charity Ninjas helped sell all our treats. 

We would like to thank all parents, friends and families for your ongoing support for all such endeavours we take on. 
 

Last Tuesday, St. Lawrence debaters took part in the 20th annual Speakathon. They argued 8 different motions ranging from serious topics like whether the sharing economy has been a positive development, to less serious ones like whether Santa's elves should be encouraged to form a union. It was the 20th year in a row that this event has taken place and it was as entertaining and as popular as ever.

We are already looking forward to number 21 next year.

On Friday 21st December, Year 6 went to Blanos Bowling in Glyfada as an end of term treat. The children had hours of fun ten-pin-bowling, roller-skating and trampolining to their hearts' delight. The children had been looking forward to it for weeks since they found out they were going, and an air of pre-Christmas excitement was clearly felt by all. 

On their return to school, there was barely time to pack their things before they all headed off for a well-deserved Christmas holiday. Happy Holidays Everyone!

On Monday 17th December, year 3 took a Christmassy trip to Paradise Park.

Pupils dove into the Christmas season with a fabulous day out and about. They really enjoyed themselves, engaging in a number of different festive activities at this popular site. They rode in Santa's sleigh and crafted and decorated snowflakes made out of wooden lollipop sticks. They danced and even learned how we make hot chocolate!

Roll on Christmas Day!

On Wednesday 19th December 2018, the hall was filled with young children from our Early Years classes and their families who'd come along to see their unique take on the nativity story. There was laughter and smiles all around!

The Noisy Nativity was an entertaining tale about a group of teachers teaching their students what Christmas is really all about. They took them back to the time of the birth of baby Jesus...in a very noisy way! There was singing, clapping, stamping and playing musical instruments throughout. All the well-known nativity characters took part: Mary, Joseph, the angel, a donkey and other stable mates,the three kings, innkeepers and shepherds watching over their flocks! Well done to our youngest children for putting on such a wonderful Christmas production!

On 5th December the Year 8s enjoyed the new and immersive exhibition, ‘Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius’ that has come to Athens. As part of our history course on the Renaissance our pupils had the opportunity to explore the life and work of this great artist and inventor, 500 years after his death.

Masterpieces, inventions, codices, and drawings from the Renaissance master came to life in an experience that was simultaneously entertaining and educational.

They viewed 75 models of his inventions, natural reproductions, interactive machines and copies of his famous codes, with more than 200 exhibits that have been designed in collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Rome. 

The experience allowed our pupils to delve into the mind of a truly Universal Man.

On Saturday 1 December, we hosted the Athens round of the Cambridge Schools Debating Championships. Several teams from a number of schools in Athens competed for a coveted spot in the final. After some hard fought debating, three teams qualified, one from Pierce College, one from HAEF and in first place, one from St. Lawrence. We wish good luck to Bella Kontogiannis and Rea Karkabi, who will be representing SLC and pitting their wits against debaters from the best schools in the UK and around the world at the Cambridge Union in March.

This month, everyone at St. Lawrence College was delighted to learn that one of our pupils, Xinting He, has received a prestigious award from Cambridge Assessment International Education to acknowledge her outstanding performance in the June 2018 examination series. Xinting, who is currently studying A Levels in Year 12, was recognised for achieving the highest mark in the world for IGCSE Mandarin Chinese.
The Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards programme celebrates the accomplishments of learners taking Cambridge examinations in over 40 countries around the world. Thousands of candidates take a total of over 800,000 IGCSEs every year and to get the highest mark in a subject is, therefore, a huge achievement. Congratulations Xinting on your wonderful success!

On Wednesday 21^st November, Year 6 was the first junior school group to take an active trip to the Hellenic Cosmos Museum in Athens to participate in a really cool ‘live’ exhibition. With high tech features to bring ancient and modern Olympic sports to life, the children tried out a range of sporting events alongside some of the greatest names in sporting history. Tired but happy children returned to school with a smile, and it’s not long till years 4 and 5 have their turns too!

We start them young at St Lawrence College with their love of nature and all things in the countryside! On Friday 16th November 2018, FS1 and FS2, our two and three year olds that is, visited the Cultural Park in Keratea. Since it's olive harvest season all over Greece right now, the children experienced picking olives using different kinds of equipment like mini rakes, scoops and more. They loved learning about how olive oil is made and they even had a hand in making olive bread. What a lovely time was had by all! 

Another debate season began with success for St. Lawrence on Saturday as 16 of our pupils took part in the annual St. Catherine’s School debate tournament. After 4 tough rounds against many of Greece’s top debaters, Bella Kontogiannis and Harry Karaiossifides were the top ranking team and although they were knocked out in the semi-final, Bella was named the top individual speaker of the competition. Next in the debate calendar is the Athens round of the Cambridge Union Schools Competition which we will host on the 1^st of December.

On Sunday 11th November pupils, parents and staff from St. Lawrence College joined other school communities, representatives from countries all over the world and members of the public to honour those servicemen and women who have died defending freedom and protecting their country over the last 100 years. Remembrance Day is marked every year since 1919. This year’s Remembrance Day was extra poignant given it is exactly 100 years since the armistice that ended The First World War.  

This year’s service of remembrance in Athens was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Alimos. The service was directed by the British Military Attaché, Captain Tim Ferns and led by the Anglican vicar in Athens, the Reverend Canon Leonard Doolan. Pupils from Byron College provided readings, singing and music. This follows St. Catherine’s school pupils doing so in 2017 and St. Lawrence College pupils in 2016. 

Following the laying of wreaths by the ambassadors and representatives of countries such as the UK, Ireland, the USA, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Canada, Romania, Australia, New Zealand and India among others, there followed the laying of wreaths by pupils of schools. Two of our Year 6 pupils, Max Stephenson and Leo Droggitis, both house captains in St. Lawrence College, laid a wreath on behalf of all pupils, parents and staff of our school.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn” (lines from ‘For The Fallen’, by Laurence Binyon)