...is contagious, pass it on," as Albert Einstein said.

Year 2 were inspired by their annual visit to the excellent Vorres Museum in Peania. First stop, Mr Nektarios Vorres talked us through some of the inspiring art works in the exhibition. 

After a short snack in the beautiful adjoining gardens, the children were then more than happy to attend a workshop where they were invited to make their own collage using recycled materials, inspired by some of the art they'd viewed. 

Finally, they all enjoyed a walk through the folk art section of 19th century buildings, courtyards and gardens in the expansive grounds of the Vorres Museum, Paiania. Here are housed antiquities, icons, ceramics, popular artefacts and other objects that were used in daily life centuries ago. A most rewarding cultural experience indeed!

Well, Monday 8th May started the week off with a bang! It was an excitingly different morning for Years 2, 3 and 4 when “The Beast” visited St Lawrence College in the Cultural Hall. The English Theatre Club’s musical rendition of 'Beauty and the Beast' had the children mesmerized and actively engaged in their production of this classic. “Beauty” was put in jail, entertained by Mrs Potts the Teapot, Lumiere the Butler, Cogsworth the Clock and let’s not forget Philippe, the horse everyone wanted to pet as he trotted around the audience! We all enjoyed the music, the Beast, the laughter and the message that LOVE can transform any beast into a human again.

The following day saw the turn of Years 5 & 6 to enjoy another captivating, interactive performance by the English Theatre Club. The pupils laughed unstoppably at a hilarious performance of 'Plaza Hotel'. The cast invited members of the audience to participate which they did willingly and took on the roles of Juan the Cockroach Exterminator, Suzy the bride, the Mexican band and many more! We could not stop smiling and laughing as they had us captivated at every moment, following the shenanigans of Billy and Suzie’s wedding day in the disatrously disorganised Plaza Hotel. We're already looking forward to next year's treat if they come back a third time to us!

On Friday, 5th May, there were rumours of Bananas in Pyjamas running down the stairs, but it turned out to be a false alarm... it was just some rather excited children from Ms Treharne's and Ms Katsamba's classes wearing pyjamas and singing that song.

"Bananas in pyjamas are coming down the stairs,
Bananas in pyjamas are chasing teddy bears!"

The children had fun playing in their night-time clothes all day long, indulging in their favourite breakfast cereals and making fingers sticky with buttered toast & jam! Their teddies joined in all the fun too so no one missed out on any bedtime treats! 

You know what they say too: "If being in your pyjamas by 7pm is wrong, then I don't want to be right!"

We are very excited to announce the opening of the 2017 Art Exhibition of St. Lawrence College senior school later this month.

The exhibition is our opportunity to showcase the varied work produced by our students, mostly based around our chosen theme for this year, which is ‘Contrasts’. Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils have produced wonderful art work both individually and collaboratively. Their projects aim to demonstrate a celebration of Art elements in an expressive and imaginative way. 

There will also be a chance to view our Art & Design A-Level coursework. This is a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the talents of our senior pupils. Their portfolios are of exceptional standard both in their control and use of media as well as in the development of personal ideas and themes. 

Finally, you can enjoy the results of our photography competition, which was held recently in the school. Pupils and teachers were encouraged to submit their favourite photograph of 2016/1017, again on the theme ‘Contrasts’.
 
You can visit the exhibition in the Exhibition Centre, the building immediately in front of the administration block, from Monday 15th May until Friday 26th May during school hours. You will also have an opportunity to view this during the hours of our parent/teacher meeting held on Monday 22nd May.

On Friday, 5th May, Ms Terzian's Year 1 class took us off to the faraway land of... the United Kingdom, to witness a rather unexpected twist of events in the fairy tale of Snow White. As was always the case, Snow White was indeed the fairest in the land and this unchanging truth inevitably angered her stepmother who demanded her execution! However, Snow White escaped to London and chanced upon a friendly London cabbie who rescued her by whisking her off to Wales, then Scotland, then Northern Ireland. The children illustrated each of the four countries of the UK beautifully with music and verse as they chased the princess around the whole country. The resolution came after Snow White caught a leprechaun who granted her 3 wishes - that she would be returned home safe and sound, that her stepmother would no longer be wicked and that her rescuer would ask her to marry him! So they all lived happily ever after!

On Thursday 27th and Friday 28th April 2017, St Lawrence College participated in a charity event with a difference - a race that isn't a race! No Finish Line is in its 17th year since its first event in 1999, and was held this year at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in Athens. Our school contributed to the grand total of km run or walked by all who took part in order to build up the distance and so build up the amount sponsors would pay. For every km covered, sponsors donated 50 cents to Children in Need . To top it all, St Lawrence took second place in the total of km covered by its team members - our children and teachers! Our 190 children from the Junior School with 21 teachers walked 1221 km altogether - quite an achievement! The Senior School had done 670 km the day before with its 85 pupils and 8 teachers.

Best records were  Konstantinos Chachamopoulos from Year 5 who ran 11km and Daniel Jackson 13km! 

Total: 1891 km in 2 days from SLC and 2nd place in teams! Let's give ourselves a big pat on the back in recognition of our efforts!

Another very successful year for the SLC Forensics team, as our Debate Team won for an unprecedented 3rd year in a row at this year’s Panhellenic Forensics Tournament. Overall, the team came an impressive 3rd out of 21 participating schools from all across Greece, meaning St Lawrence have been ranked in the top 3 schools every year since 2013.

The tournament took place on 16th – 19th March in Thessaloniki. We had 6 Finalists in the Sweepstakes events and 4 Honourable Mentions, and our 2nd Debate team qualified for the Quarter Finals. One of our debaters, Rosie Vorri, ranked 1st individual speaker in the Debate competition. 

Debate Team – Winners:
•    Achilleas Papadimitriou
•    Nicholas Short
•    Rosie Vorri
•    Isabella Kontogianni
•    Anastasia Samaras

Finalists:
•    Ioanna Moirasgenti (Group Discussion)
•    Eleni Giamas (Oral Interpretation, Comic)
•    Nathan Marks (Oral Interpretation, Dramatic)
•    Rosie Vorri (Oral Interpertation, Dramatic)
•    Artemis Spyridis & Iokasti Spyridis (Dramatic Duet)
•    Alexander Shtefan & Maria Christina Michaelides (Comic Duet)

Honourable Mentions:
•    Rebecca Jackson (Oratory)
•    Rosie Vorri (Impromptu)
•    Nicholas Hagis & Nathan Marks (Comic Duet)
•    Rebecca Jackson & Nadia Papazarcadas ( Comic Duet)

Many thanks to our Head Coach, Ms Stafford; Debate Coach, Mr Courts; and all coaches, Ms Grivas, Ms Kladouchou and Ms Iliadou for all their help. The team spent long hours and a lot of Saturdays at school practising, and it is wonderful to see them achieve such remarkable results every year.

St Lawrence College enjoyed one of the most successful sports days yet on Thursday 6th April. Competitors, spectators and even the weather came together to make it a memorable event. After a long day of record breaking, the results were:

• Attica: 1190
• Epirus: 1050
• Macedonia: 750

We also saw the following outstanding achievements enter the SLC record books:

1. Shot Put - Year 9 girls: previous rec: 7,72( Marialena Kanakis 2009), new record: 8,95 ( Raphaela Lepeniotis)
2. Long Jump - Year 7 girls: previous record: 3,60 ( Raphaela Lepenioti 2015), new record: 3,73 (Daphne Votsis)
3. Long Jump - Year 8 girls: previous record: 3,85 ( Imogen Davis 2015) new record: 3,86 ( Isabella Panagiotopoulou)

Don't forget we also have the Swimming Gala to decide the final house scores which takes place on 11th May.

St Lawrence College welcomes families with children from two and a half years old to four years of age to drop in, stay and play at our Early Years Family Open Day on Friday 12th May between 10am and 1pm. Why not come along and meet other prospective pupils, parents and staff? Enjoy refreshments  while your young children participate in fun activities in our garden. Watch your children take part in creative arts activities and see what we can offer you and your children to support their first steps in active learning. Experience first-hand the British Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum in action with our senior leadership team & Early Years practitioners. You may take the opportunity to view our extensive campus and all its excellent facilities.
 
In addition, your children will participate in a physical development session with our professional instructors of games and sports including  mini-tennis, yoga and other games. Furthermore, your children will experience our mindful approach to Personal Social & Emotional Development through the use of the Jigsaw scheme for young children. Alongside this, they will listen and interact in a communication language & literacy session specially designed to help them in their interactions with others and you will see them engage in a hands-on numeracy lesson. 

A limited number of places are available, so please apply by Friday 5th May at the latest by sending an email to info@slc.gr stating the parent's name, the pupil's name and date of birth, and a phone number. Alternatively, contact our school office (210-8917000) for more information. We look forward to meeting you on our Open Day!

April is Autism Awareness month and this week St Lawrence College would like to get this opportunity to promote autism awareness and acceptance for this lifelong condition, which affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. We want to make as many people as possible to realise that we are all different and social in our unique way. We consider this to be a very important part of your child’s learning experience as learning about difference is imperative. We strongly believe that helping young people and teachers to understand autism as they grow up will equip them to accept and empathise with children and adults who have autism. 

Throughout the week there will be blue ribbon pins available at the school’s receptions as an effort to raise money and awareness. All proceeds will go to support the creation of * ‘Avali’ an initiative of Ms. P. Alexiou, a mother of a child with Autism and the **Specialised Unit for children with Autism at the Children’s General Hospital of Athens Panagiotis & Aglaia Kyriakou’.

We will be supporting ‘ Blue T- shirt’ as part of World Autism Awareness Week 2017! Wear your light blue T-shirt in school on Friday 7 April 2017.  We want everyone to wear their blue T-shirts for the day, and show they are not afraid to stand out for autism (staff included and parents too). Parents can send in their pictures for us to put on the website to show their support.