Friday nights are sometimes turned into disco nights at St Lawrence College for our 9- to 11-year-olds. Dancing away the wintery blues is just what the doctor ordered for these energetic youngsters. And dance they did! With all the latest big tunes to jump around to, as well as a bunch of old classics that get everyone's feet tapping, they had a really enjoyable evening of laughs and good times with all their friends. 

Competitions too, set the heartbeats racing as the children attempted to scoop up prizes for showing their best moves under the watchful eyes of our expert teachers who judged it all. Thank you to all the staff who stayed to supervise the evening and enable the children to have so much fun.

On Monday 7th October, we were privileged to have the renowned educator Mr Will Ord here at school. Will Ord is an international teacher trainer, keynote speaker, and education consultant based in the UK and he was invited to talk with both parents and teachers in a series of enlightening sessions through the day.

All parents want their children to have 'successful lives', but what does that really mean? What are the key elements of a successful life in the 21st century, and what does the research say? The parents’ session explored these fundamental questions and delved into the areas of confidence, resilience, and Growth Mindsets.

Teachers worked with him to learn how to maximise the efficacy of metacognition in the classroom, recognised as the most strategically advantageous approach to developing children's learning skills. P4C was explored as staff refreshed their training in this wonderful part of the curriculum. 

Truly inspirational!

 Will Ord - Thinking Education 

The pupils of St Lawrence are showing just how happy they are to be back at school with their friends and teachers. Playtimes are the best times for our children as they have the chance to enjoy the sunshine and our wonderful outdoor environment. 

The games they play, the laughs they have and the friendships they build are grounded in security as they are always under the watchful eye of our staff. 

Ready! Respectful! Safe! These rules guide our school through every part of every day.

Welcome back to school everyone!

Cyrano de Bergerac, a soldier in the French Army, is a gifted poet who unfortunately has an obnoxiously large nose. He has endless unrequited love for his distant cousin, the beautiful Roxanne, but he believes his ugliness bars him from the "dream of being loved by even an ugly woman." Roxanne loves Christian de Neuvillette, who is unable to romance her, so Cyrano writes love letters to Roxanne and woos her whilst pretending to be Christian. 

The senior school drama club put on a wonderful performance of this tragic comedy with real gusto, under the directorship of our new drama teacher Ms Marianthi Kiriou. The play was performed on a warm May evening in the amphitheatre under a full moon rising. The cast was made up of young pupils in the senior school from KS3, and we were impressed by their abilities. Families, friends and staff gave them all a well-deserved standing ovation!

Congratulations to them all!

On the last day of the Spring term, the pupils of the junior school participated in our annual Easter bonnet Parade. It was a delightful exhibition of creativity and togetherness which was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children and staff. 

A chocolate Easter egg was the much sought after prize to the best hat in each year group, although it was a difficult decision for the judges!

Congratulations to all who took part in this traditional celebration!

On Friday 20^th October, the St Lawrence community gathered together on a very mild evening to celebrate the changing season with an outdoor family fun-filled party at school. There were pumpkins galore as our junior school families did not disappoint with a range of creatively carved and painted pumpkins to add to the Hallowe’en atmosphere.

There was food and drink to enjoy and this year we were especially proud of our fund-raising endeavours too. The junior school Charity Ninjas along with the senior school staff and PE department organised many fun games and a photo booth to raise money for the animal victims of the floods in central Greece some weeks ago. “Play for Thessaly” was a great success with almost two and a half thousand euros earned on the night and subsequently contributed to this worthy cause. Thank you to all our families for the continued support!

School life is off to a super start with pupils from all over the world gathering once again in our very special school community. The children and staff at St Lawrence are making the most of their time together here, ensuring that every day is filled with learning as well as laughter. Playtimes are all about fun and games, and the sun is shining brightly over our playgrounds. Let’s all do our best to make 2023-2024 the best year yet!

What a night was had! The pupils of Year 6 along with their happy teachers and other members of staff in St Lawrence College junior school trotted along to the Efilena Estate for our official graduation event – the Year 6 Formal Dance. The children were treated to an evening of fun and dancing with a super graduation photo booth to make memorable moments that last. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming with the DJ playing tunes that kept the kids on their feet right up till the end!

Again this year, St Lawrence pupils in Years 5 & 6 have the opportunity to participate in the UK Mathematical Trust's Junior Mathematical Challenge competition. The Junior Mathematical Challenge is a 60-minute multiple-choice competition for children aged 9-12, which encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in using mathematical techniques to solve problems.

The competition will take place on Wednesday the 26th of April so the children excitedly attended a meeting in the staff room this week with Ms Tsabanakis, the Junior School Maths Lead. They enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies as they listened to the expectations on them for successful participation in this prestigious event. Good luck to all our candidates!

After two years of online Forensics tournaments, the competition was live again this year, bringing back the real feeling of Forensics to all participants.

The SLC Team participated with great enthusiasm as always. With 2 finalists and 1 honourable mention, we ranked 5^th out of 21 schools!

Our two finalists were: Zoe Courts, Year 10,(Oral Interpretation Comic) and Lydia Stephenson, Year 12, (Impromptu Speaking). Our Honourable Mention was the team president, Myrto Denediou, Year 13, (Oral Interpretation Comic).

Congratulations to all who participated, and many thanks to the teachers who were involved supporting the team, coaching them, judging and generally being part of this great, annual event: Ms Stafford, Mr Courts, Mr Strzemiecki, Ms Kladouchou, Ms Iliadou, Ms Torres.

On Friday 24^th March, the community of St. Lawrence College took great pride in celebrating Greek Independence Day with a wonderful show in the gym. Staff, pupils and their families revelled in the warm, sincere atmosphere as the children from Years 5 & 6 acted, sang and danced their way through an hour of entertainment in honour of the heroes of 1821. They were joined on stage by dancers from the senior school who showed their skills traditionally dancing to some rousing tunes that had the pulse racing and the heart soaring.

A thoroughly enjoyable and much appreciated event signifying a welcome return to normality after years of restrictions in recent times. Bravo to all who contributed to this excellent occasion.

On Friday 24^th February, the pupils and staff at SLC revelled in a carnival atmosphere with music, dancing and lots of fancy dress. There were all kinds of hilarious outfits on show and the school came to life with a wide range of characters from TV, movies and real life too. The Junior School parade was enjoyed by all those who took part as they high-fived their friends while showing off their outfits. What a lot of fun!

On Friday 20th January, a group of twenty Year 12 and Year 13 pupils accompanied by three members of staff travelled to Geneva, Switzerland on a trip organised by the Physics department in order to visit the research facilities at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, CERN).

The visit to CERN took place on 21^st January where, after a short introduction to particle accelerators and the research that takes place there, our tour guide walked us through two research sites; the Antimatter Factory where researchers study if antimatter behaves the same way as ordinary matter and the Data Centre, where we found out how the insurmountable amount of data produced by CERN is filtered, stored, and then distributed to researchers. Our pupils asked a plethora of probing questions demonstrating their prior knowledge in Particle Physics and their genuine interest; in our tour guide’s own words, we were ‘quite the group’!

We did not, however, miss out on the opportunity to explore more than the wonders of Physics taking place in Geneva. On Sunday 22^nd January, we went on a guided tour of the city, visiting iconic locations such as the Alley of Flags and the Broken Chair, the La Grange Park, and St Peter’s Cathedral, all while learning about the city’s history.

On this first international St Lawrence College trip since the COVID pandemic, our pupils gained an insight on the research to uncover what the universe is made of and how it works, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves outside the school setting.

On the last day of term, 20th December, Year 6 pupils and staff headed off to Glyfada to go on their annual Fun Day! On the list of fun things to do were bowling, rollerblading and footie in the soft-play area. The claw-grab machine was practically emptied as the children competed with it to win all kinds of goodies. And then the children returned to school full of tales of impossibly fabulous bowling scores, “Miss, I got 8 strik Final es!” “Well, I got 9 strikes and a spare!” they beamed and told anyone who would listen. What a great day they had before heading off for the holidays. 

Merry Christmas everyone! 

It’s that time of the year again – and no, I don’t mean Christmas - I’m talking about something far more dear to the English department’s hearts: The Annual Senior School Book Exhibition. Such a reader’s dream come true! The books on offer were not only all the ones on our Extensive Reading Lists, but they also included a wide and eclectic selection of other tomes appealing to everyone ranging from Year 7 right through to A-Level and beyond.  

Yesterday, as the corridors of the C-Block were lined with colourful, enticing paperbacks and hardbacks, the books were flying off the shelves. All the many voracious readers of St Lawrence - both staff and pupils alike – enthusiastically scoured the bookshelves and were not left disappointed. The pleasure and excitement on people’s faces as they browsed, enquired and purchased was truly a joy to behold. Many thanks to everyone involved especially to Ms Xilas and her professional and personable team.

A splendid time was had by all.