On Thursday 23rd February 2017, KS1 classes were treated to a super assembly by Ms Tapankidis' Year 2 class. 'Playing and Learning Together' was the topic of their class assembly.

The pupils sang three of their favourite PSHE songs packed full of meaning: Playground Blues, The Colours of Friendship and Learning Together. The songs were combined with short skits to remind youngsters how to make certain no one is left out during playtime.

"We're all different but we're all special!" was the message to all. Children have to find a way to celebrate their differences and help each other learn both in the playground and in the classroom. They use their individual skills and talents, developing them all the time. Heartfelt singing and acting was enjoyed by parents, pupils and staff. Congratulations Year 2 on a job well done! 

On Tuesday, 21st February, Year 6 trekked into the centre of Athens for a day of historical fact finding. One group visited the Acropolis Museum in order to closely examine the statues and ancient artefacts there which add to the children's understanding of topics studied in the classroom. The other group visited the National Gardens and the Old Parliament on Stadiou Street and gained some appreciation of great figures in Greek politics of the past.

A trip to the city centre is always a pleasure that is enjoyed by the children, especially when they've got their friends along for the ride.

Last Saturday the International Young Debaters Competition took place at Campion school. Despite not qualifying for the finals in Cambridge, the next generation of St. Lawrence debaters made a strong start to their competitive careers. 

An adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls.

The stage in the Cultural Hall of St Lawrence College came to life on Friday the 17th of February, with an outstanding performance by the Senior Drama Club under the direction of Lindy McMullin.  Transformed by the superb antique furniture, the candles lit by Gabrielle Ross in her role as Edna and the professional lighting skills of James Ratcliffe, the audience was transported into the 1900’s and the Birling residence. The investigators, who opened the play, invited the audience to look at the evidence of the case of Eva Smith who had committed suicide in 1912.  Ali Alkoc in his role as Butler, opened the door of the residence to Arthur Birling played by Rea Karkabi, Mrs Birling played by Christina Grammatikopoulos, Sheila Birling played by Katerina Ross, Eric Birling played by Andreas Hagis and Gerald Croft, Sheila’s fiancée, played by Artem Shtefan.
The highlight of the play came early on in the evening as Arthur and Gerald chatted in front of the fireplace and the ladies sat in the drawing room, playing cards and talking to Eric. Inspector Goole played by Yannis Apostolakopoulos made his grand entrance, accompanied by his assistant played by Andreas Kalketenidis. The tension rose as each member of the family were brought to reflect of the role they had played in the life of Eva Smith, that reached a peak with Eric Birling’s perfect display of emotion. Were they all responsible in some way for the girl’s death, and if they were, could the investigators played by Nefeli Vitoraki, Alexandra Michaelides, Aurora Petzetakis , Filippos Chen and Eleni Kalendi persuade the audience that this was a cold case that could never be solved? The performers were exceptional, each in their unique way, and the audience was kept spell bound for the entire duration of the play. 
A true success for the start of Education through Drama, all who were involved in the play are to be highly commended. 
We look forward to welcoming you all to the next performance on the 9th of June 2017, in the open theatre when the Junior Drama Club will enact an adaptation of Mary Poppins.       

Year 2 had a super outing to Planet Physics in Vrilissia on Friday, 17th February. 'Oohs' and 'aahs' were heard continuously as the children witnessed all that was on offer. They were astounded by the range and variety of hands-on scientific exhibits at the centre.

Everyone had a chance to make a wave, make music with a theremin (amazingly, a musical instrument that you don't even touch) and actually "be" a conductor of electricity, lighting up a fluorescent light via a plasma ball! Most amazingly, that wasn't even the main light show; there was so much more! The children observed a laser light travelling as well as light being reflected and refracted. Lots of exclamation marks here because there were endless enthusiastic exclamations there!!!

A massive well done to the boys' under-14 football team for their performance last Friday. The team played in an inter-school tournament at Byron school and smashed the competition, taking the first place prize.

Many of you are already aware of the fantastic job that staff and senior school pupils did raising funds for Archelon turtle conservation with their 5km and 10km runs on the day of the Athens marathon. Well there is now some lovely news from the turtle centre in Glyfada. They have put up details of our sponsorship on their rehabilitation tanks. Congratulations once again to all involved! 

The World Scholar’s Cup was back in Athens this year calling young scholars to explore our ‘Unlikely World’. The 2017 Athens Round took place at Ekpaideftiki Anagennisi School in the Northern Suburbs on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th February. 

Ten teams of our school participated in the WSC, five in the Junior Division and five in the Senior one. Going through various events, such as Debates, Collaborative Writing, multiple choice papers and interactive competitions in Science, History, Literature, Arts and Social Sciences, all our teams qualified for the Global Round. We were happy to see pupils of our school in the top team of the tournament as well as in top places in different events or subjects. 

Many thanks to all the teachers involved, to Ms Kyriakopoulou & Ms Sapountzaki for organising and coaching the school delegation as well as to Ms Lagonikos, Mr. Courts, Ms Brown, Ms Papadatos, Ms Kramer, Ms Andrews, Ms Lazaris, Ms Spiliotis, Ms Douglas & Ms Galloway for preparing lunch time sessions to support the pupils in their preparation.

On Friday 10th February 2017, St Lawrence College hosted a mini-basketball tournament for the Year 5 and 6 pupils of our school, as well as our fellow international schools of Athens: Byron, Campion and St Catherine’s.
 
The atmosphere was electrically charged as the children shouted their support, chanted for their school and yelled with delight as their friends on court scored points. This was a 'friendly' thus no official scores were kept but the players were keeping their own scores and enjoyed every moment of the competition!

By the time everyone had completed their rounds of 3 or 4 games against other schools, the children were worn out from all the excitement! And boy, are they looking forward to our next meet! Well done to the PE department for organising such a fun-filled activity!

There are always fevers spreading like wildfire every winter, and on Friday, 10th February, a serious case of DISCO FEVER hit the pupils of Years 4, 5 & 6! The children excitedly piled back to school on Friday evening for a few hours of crazy dancing and exuberant antics in the cultural hall. Teachers loved seeing the children delightedly laughing, grinning at each other and spinning their little legs as much as they could in time to the music... and occasionally not so in time to the music but it's the effort that counts, isn't it?

With the classic half time snack of pizza and juice on offer to revitalise any weary dancers, the dance competitions continued the fun and saw many-a-pleased child take home a pair of cinema tickets for their whole-hearted efforts. Bravo kids!

...was first an amateur," as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said. The St Lawrence Junior School Art Club has been underway since September encouraging the amateur in every child to come to fruition. It has a great collection of works to show for their efforts again this year. Our Lilliputian artists have been busy in this popular after school club creating their own mini masterpieces!

Paintbrushes have been at work making a slew  of new color combinations and creative designs. Newspapers and magazines have been combined, cut and stuck in unusual collages that seem to jump off the paper at you. Shaving cream has even become Santa Claus' beard! Sports themed paintings positively burst with energy!

What new ideas await our budding artists in the coming months? Watch this space!

Mediocrity was certainly not on the menu on 2 February, as 94 members of our St. Lawrence College community breathlessly watched Peter Shaffer’s AMADEUS, as it was broadcast live from the Olivier Theatre in London, to our very own Megaron!
 
Our ever-growing group of theatre goers watched in awe as the riotous villain, Antonio Salieri, played by Luciano Msamati, plotted the demise of the genius Mozart. The play skilfully brought to life the story of the uninhibited, young prodigy Mozart as he arrives in Vienna, the music capital of the world, determined to make his mark. Amazed and simultaneously tortured by Mozart’s genius, Antonio Salieri, has the choice to either promote Mozart’s talent or to bring about his deeply disturbing end. We all thoroughly enjoyed this larger than life production and watched awestruck as Salieri had to finally admit to and embrace mediocrity.  

St. Lawrence College regularly attends National Theatre Live’s productions in Athens. So far, we have enjoyed: Hamlet, Jane Eyre, No Man’s Land and Dangerous Liaisons.

And that's just the children! On Wednesday, 1st February, Year 4 took themselves off to the Athenaion Cinema in Athens to participate in a 3-D interactive programme all about wildlife in Greece. They learned about the animals and their habitats as part of the children's current unit of study in Science.

The children responded ever so enthusiastically to the experience and answered many questions on the topics explored.  Our little experts did so well in fact, that Nicholas Giannopolous and Leo Droggitis excelled themselves, winning first place out of the three schools who attended the show.

All in all, it was a highly entertaining and super informative experience for these young scientists who are growing up to have an excellent awareness of real-life issues are of relevance to them here in Greece.