It's that time of year; the seasons are changing and all things autumnal are taking over.

Today, St Lawrence College was overrun by ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches and all kinds of naughty Hallowe’en guests in place of our usual pupils. The children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up in costumes, painting their faces with weird and wonderful ghostly-white masks, wearing their spookiest clothes and making their friends jump - BOO!

The classes this week visited Ms Olympia's Spook House where they were amused, delighted and scared by the dark, creepy path through the maze of wickedness!

Of course, Hallowe’en at SLC would not be complete without the famous Jack O’ Lantern competition that is held every year. Our senior school judges took a good look at all the class entries and awarded a Year 1 class the top prize.

Well done to everyone who contributed their time and effort into making a splendid display of pumpkins for all to admire. What a fun day was had by all!

Our youngest pupils in the Early Years department have been happily bouncing around since returning to school last month. Doesn’t it show on their faces? They reflected on a year of learning at school and at home with their teachers on a computer screen. As they realised, they may not have heard as much or seen as much as usual, but it was most definitely a year filled with LOVE! 

February saw the St Lawrence College Interhouse Games take place with the usual displays of sportsmanship, determination and team work. Year 7s battled it out in several different sports and the results were as follows:

Year 7 boys and girls basketball:

Attica 70 points

Epirus 40 points

Macedonia  60 points

Year 7 boys and girls football:

Attica 70 points

Epirus 60 points

Macedonia 40 points

Which left us with final totals of:

Attica 140 points

Epirus 100 points

Macedonia 100 points

Congratulations to all involved. Some extremely impressive work!

Due to a government imposed school closure, St Lawrence College is not currently able to physically open its doors to its student body. However, we are able to offer a comprehensive set of online alternatives under these unprecedented circumstances and have undertaken considerable efforts to cover every level of learning from FS1 right up to A' level classes.

The Early Years department is in regular contact with families to continue each pupil's development using the online Tapestry platform which is already a big part of the shared learning experience for our youngest children. In KS1, teachers are regularly distributing and receiving work via email and modifying it according to individual learners' needs. 

Right from KS2 (Year 3), to Year 13 for A' levels, the online Microsoft Teams Platform is being utilised successfully by all. It is new to some of our pupils and staff, but not all. Having said this, all pupils and faculty have adapted quickly to the whole situation and are making excellent use of the facilities the platform offers. 

Whilst nothing can replace face to face classroom interaction between teachers and learners, the features of this learning platform mean that lesson material is being delivered with live feedback, thus providing a valuable class experience for our pupils. Lesson material is provided and work handed in as it would be at school. Teachers, who log on for lesson time between 9 a.m. and the end of  the school day, give their classes real time support during lessons and tasks. The experience is proving worthwhile, thus we hold our teaching staff in high regard and thank them for the professional, dedicated effort they are making to ensure no one loses valuable learning time during our closure. 

We wish the whole St Lawrence College community the very best of luck and sincerely hope we all stay safe and healthy in these trying times. 

In the summer term of 2019, the junior school held a number of sports days with events ranging from flat races, circuits activities, high jumps and tug-of-war to swimming galas. Children, parents and teachers loved the excitement of these competitions as the pupils earned house points that contributed to the grand total. There were a plethora of new school records in many disciplines this year too, including freestyle and breaststroke swimming races as well as the high jump. 

The standard of athleticism just keeps on rising higher and higher! At the Annual Awards Ceremony, Macedonia won the Sports Cup this year, having proved that they had the edge over both Epirus and Attica teams. Onwards and upwards towards next year's competitions and events!

On Wednesday 3 April, ex-pupil Dimitris Samouris was the latest guest speaker at one of our careers mornings. He shared his career story, gave the pupils advice on how to make the most of their time at school and university, and discussed the importance of using the network of St. Lawrence College graduates around the world for advice. After the talk, the pupils broke off into smaller discussion groups. Year 10 spoke about how to identify strengths and interests, Year 11 about future careers, and Year 12 discussed university applications and how to go about choosing where and what to study when they leave school. 

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

Having adopted the Ancient Theatre of Dionysus in Thorikos, Lavrio, in the context of Diazoma Association actions, the Archaeology Club concluded the study of the site this year. Following the activities of last year, the members of the Archaeology Club prepared and delivered to Year 10 pupils a guided tour to the archaeological site. The Theatre of Dionysus, the main characteristics of the theatre productions in ancient times, the ancient ore washery, the mining gallery were presented by the members of the Archaeology Club during the Lavrio trip that was organised for KS4.

In an annual tradition of remembering the sacrifices and courage of those before us, St Lawrence College had a number of memorable events to mark the national day of remembrance in Greece - 28th October.

Under the guidance of Ms Tsirigoti and the Greek department, the children of Years 5 and 6 in the Junior School performed a beautiful piece which saw them show empathy and understanding of the great hardship and suffering that the people of Greece endured during the harsh war years. 

Over in the senior school, the national day was celebrated with a play presented by pupils of Years 8-11, members of the Greek Drama Club. The play was a dramatized adaptation of the second part of the Alki Zei’s novel Petros’ War on the topic of the Nazi Occupation in Greece and the changes in people’s lives. At the same time, a PowerPoint presentation showed images, audio and video extracts from that time.

Very well done to the children and staff who gave us every reason to feel proud of their heartfelt performance.

You've surely heard of the mad Hatter's Tea Party, haven't you? Well in our Junior School, two special tea parties were held for a chosen few pupils in Years 5 & 6 who were invited by Ms Good for a small treat. On Monday 22nd May, 2017 a group from Year 6 headed to her office for a chat over a cuppa some typically British sandwiches - but NOT cucumber with the crusts cut off!
 
It was the turn of half a dozen pupils from Year 5 on Thursday 8th June 2017. These children were rewarded for handing in some outstanding pieces of work and were deserving of a little extra attention. 

"They were so well-mannered and happy to be here,"commented Ms Good afterwards, "I hope they all enjoyed the occasion as much as I did." 

As Michael Jordan said, "Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game!" 

Well that is certainly what was the order of the week at St Lawrence College with two sports days for years 1, 2 & 3 on Tuesday 16th, then for years 4, 5 & 6 on Friday 19th May 2017.

Both days were fortunate with the weather so the children were happy to run down to the sports field and participate in the well-organised events of our PE department. First there was the Skills Circuit with its wide variety of activities followed by flat races for each year group. The finale as always was the Tug-of-War for parents as well as the children, before medals and certificates were handed out to winners.

What an exhausting day it was - but the children certainly seemed to get a lot out of it. Well done to everybody who took part and gave their all for their team. Bravo Macedonia, Epirus and Attica teams!

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!

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.

The Scientific Method on show at St Lawrence College

During this year’s Junior School Science Fair held on Friday 10th March, pupils in the junior school showcased their science knowledge and skills by carrying out various scientific experiments.This event is captured in a short clip titled ‘A Scientific Method for a Scientific Investigation’ where pupils followed the scientific method to test their hypothesis.

Not only did our budding young scientists of key stage 2 inspire other little scientists in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 but they also inspired senior school scientists as well! They're ready to take on any challenge now, judging by the looks of things!Congratulations to the children who worked so hard and achieved so much with their dynamic investigating skils.

On Wednesday, 8th March, a parent of a child at our school showed us just what an interesting mix of people we all are when you take a closer look at our experiences and achievements. Mr Goulson joined Year 4 to share his experience in reaching Base Camp on Mount Everest six years ago. 
As the pupils of Year 4 have been learning about the subcontinent of India with a focus on the Himalayas, it was a welcome learning opportunity to hear his story first-hand. Mr Goulson gave a fascinating Powerpoint presentation about his adventure and answered many insightful questions from his attentive audience. This visitor helped bring geography to life for the children who now see that they too can dream big and persevere to achieve their goals, whatever they may be!
Thank you for your inspiration, Mr Goulson !!!!!