Ms Despina Panagiotopoulou and her team of staff in the canteen have been helping the pupils of St. Lawrence College to do their bit for the planet with the launch of a full range of more environmentally friendly containers, cutlery, napkins, cups and biodegradable straws. A member of the senior school Environmental Club, when asked about her opinion on these changes that have been made in the canteen, commented, ‘With climate change posing a threat to life itself nowadays, it is important to see that our school is taking steps to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Reducing the plastic use in the canteen is showing pupils of all ages that even small actions can have a great impact!’

We are all very proud of the efforts that are being made at our school to reduce our ecological footprints and to consider the future of the planet.

The Junior School commemorative event for Greece’s Οχι Day was a wonderful affair held for pupils, staff, friends and family over 2 days so that all could make the most of it. Our Years 5 and 6 pupils put on a marvellous performance under the watchful eye of Ms Tsirigoti and the Greek department. They took a different look at the events of the second world war through the eyes of civilians who were affected, re-enacting their testimonies and tributes. 

The musical elements of the production were beautifully added by the Greek choir which sang several of the most iconic war songs, bringing a tear to many an eye of the parents and grandparents who’d joined us for the day. Well done to all who participated with such vigour and talent in this very memorable event!

On Thursday 20^thJune, parents are invited to come and watch their children sing, recite poems and receive their end of year certificate. The day will end with a picnic where parents, pupils and staff will enjoy a sampling of traditional foods.

On Thursday 26th and Friday 27th April 2018, 413 pupils, staff members and parents from St Lawrence College made a fantastic contribution to the world-famous charity sporting event known as No Finish Line. The Senior School took its turn first as they ran the circuit at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on Athens' southern coast. They were followed by the Junior School taking its turn the next day and with even more participants, they exceeded the impressive number of km run on Thursday. In total, St Lawrence College ran an astounding 2997km and in fact won the Champions' Trophy for the greatest overall distance of any of the eleven participating schools as well as 3rd place overall from all organisations who took part! The highest individual distances were the 32 km run by Mr Dimitris Karakostas and 22 km from an 11 year old pupil with a lot of energy, stamina and determination: Konstantinos Chachamopoulos! 

Congratulations to everyone who participated in putting both charity and fitness at the top of their priority lists - a winning combination I can tell you!

On Thursday 26th April 2018, a wonderful evening of entertainment was held at the school. Children from both the Junior and Senior schools returned for an event in which they showed off a marvellous array of talents and skills that they have been working at for some time in preparation for the show. There were young dancers from our Junior Dance and Movement Club; Ms Tsirigoti's Senior and Year 6 Greek Dance Clubs; pupils in the Senior Drama Club; our choir, the St Lawrence Singers; as well as a wide range of musicians who receive tuition at school on instruments ranging from the piano, the violin, the guitar and drums too. 

The audience was delighted to view such a fine combination of pieces: both dramatic and musical, both traditional and modern. Congratulations are in order to all who took part, pupils and staff, as their efforts resulted in a successful evening all round. Well done to all!

The SLC Forensics team once again participated in this year’s Panhellenic Forensics Tournament which was held at ACS on the 8^th – 11^th March, competing against 19 other schools from different parts of Greece.

After many practices on Saturdays, the team made the school proud with an impressive number of finalists: 2 in the Oral Interpretation of Literature category (1 Dramatic, 1 Comic) and 3 in the Duet Acting Category (1 Dramatic, 2 Comic), which made it 5 in all, and 2 Honourable Mentions. The Debaters were also very successful in reaching the Semi Finals. Overall, this gave the team the 4^th place.

Many thanks to all the coaches who helped: the Head Coach, Ms Stafford; the Debate Coach Mr Courts; Ms Grivas, Ms Iliadou, Ms Kladouchou, Ms Kouvari and our own SLC graduate Eirini Geleklidis. Congratulations to all the participants for representing the school so successfully.

Through the week of 19th March 2018, the pupils of Key Stage 2 took part in the hotly contested Interhouse Quiz Finals watched by staff, friends and family. The results were always hard fought for and very close indeed - in one instance coming down to a nail-biting one point difference! The finalists all excelled themselves but someone always had to emerge victorious. The results were:

• Year 3 - Epirus
• Year 4 - Macedonia
• Year 5 - Epirus
• Year 6 - Epirus

Counselling psychologist Marialena Kalyva Dragazi will be talking to parents, and taking questions, on the subject of “Internet and Gaming Addiction”. The presentation will be in English and will take place in senior school. Parents who are attending should make their way to the senior school reception area from where they will be directed to the room hosting the presentation. 
The problem of children suffering addictions to the internet and online gaming is a concern for many parents, I know, and so I ask you to contact either telephone or email the senior school (seniorschool@slc.gr) or junior school (juniorschool@slc.gr) to let us know if you plan to attend this presentation. 
Ms Kalyva Dragazi has worked with the staff of St. Lawrence College in the past and, being aware of how knowledgeable she is, and what an effective communicator she is, I am very pleased that she has agreed to return to our school to speak to parents on this important theme. In addition to making this presentation, Ms Kalyva Dragazi will be in school for two full days working in several year group sessions with pupils from Years 9-13 on the theme of self-esteem and the worrying problem of self-harming among teenagers.  

The presentation will take place at 9:00 am on Monday 11th December
 

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.

Our school has been asked to take part in the celebration of the United Nations International Peace Day, which promotes and strengthens the ideals of peace and non-violence amongst all nations. The celebration will take place on Saturday 23rd September at Epidavros and Nafplion and our school will be represented by a group of St. Lawrence College pupils (Years 9 to 13) and staff. 
First of all the pupils will go to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Epidavros and will be met by the Mayor. They will enjoy a formal tour of the archaeological site and ancient theatre. Then they will meet with other students from all over Greece to discuss the following issues in the ancient theatre:
•    What is peace?
•    What stands in the way of peace?
•    What is the meaning of ‘Ekeheria’?
•    How can we achieve world peace?

They will be involved in creating a video on how the vision and the voice of youth can inspire world peace among nations and this will then be viewed in 180 countries.
Afterwards, pupils will depart for Nafplion. They will have time to enjoy a taverna meal (not included) before going to the square for the ‘International Peacejam’. UNESCO officials, Olympic and Para-Olympic athletes and choirs from around the world will be there too! The event is due to end at 9pm.  
Some of the discussions will be in Greek so pupils need to be made aware of this. However, non-Greek speakers are equally welcome as long as they are aware that this will be the case.  
We will be departing from school at 8am precisely and returning to school again at approximately 11.30pm. 

This week at SLC saw two exciting events for the Junior School children in years 3 to 6 as we held both the High Jump Finals on Tuesday 30th May and the Annual Swimming Gala on Friday 2nd June, 2017. 

The children who jumped on Tuesday were determined and strong, showing their skill and their desire to reach ever higher goals! Despite the absence of a new school record this year, no one can fault the children's efforts. 

And in the swimming events, the children were more than happy to dive into the cool water on a very hot day that saw some really fast races. From freestyle to breastroke to backstroke, the swimmers really made waves!

Well done to our dedicated staff who enabled our sporty pupils to have these opportunities to excel outside of the classroom. And congratulations to all eager participants too! Take a look at our new school 25 metre swimming records from Years 3 to 5.

Year 3 Girls Backstroke
Nicci Dardanis 26.92 sec

Year 4 Girls Freestyle & backstroke
Estheleen Charalabidi 17.79 sec & 22.42 sec

Year 4 Boys  Breaststroke
Alexios Mylonas 21.51 sec

Year 5 Girls Breaststroke
Konstantina Bograkou-Tzanetakou 23.80 sec

Year 5 Boys Freestyle, backstroke & breaststroke
Konstantinos Chachamopoulos 15.62 sec;  18.84 sec; 21.19 sec

The pupils and staff of St. Lawrence College today observed one minute’s silence in memory of those who lost their lives in Manchester on Monday 22nd May. The minute of silence was observed at 1.00pm, and was thus timed to coincide with the one minute’s silence called for by the UK government and observed across the UK at 11.00am UK time. 
Pupils were encouraged to reflect upon the impact of Monday’s attack on the lives of all those affected; the relatives and friends of those who were killed or injured and also the school communities which so many of the young victims were members of. 

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!

Well you know what they say, rugby isn't just a game you play, it's a way of life. And boy oh boy were the children of years 5 & 6 finding that out on Tuesday 28th March. The rugby bug has definitely hit our school as the children are starting to feel the pull of this super sport. As it's still early days yet, the children play tag rugby which teaches them how to learn all the important skills of the game without the danger of tackling and body contact. With equally enthusiastic pupils from St Catherine's School to compete against, there was much to play for this week, all in the friendliest of spirits of course. 

Mr Rizos, the rugby coach, was very pleased by the response and feedback he got from staff, pupils and parents who came along to watch. The senior school rugby players who helped to referee were also impressed at the children's drive and determination. Watch this space for more action to come!

Thursday, 23 March, saw a new and successful whole school initiative take place, which saw everyone on campus read in silent unison for two D.E.A.R reading sessions, signalled by a special bell. Pupils and staff constantly had their novels ready at hand but were not aware of the actual times that the reading sessions would take place. Everyone was clearly enthusiastic about stopping whatever they were doing and simply enjoying their quiet reading. The aim of this initiative is to encourage a love of reading for pleasure and was one of the main activities planned to show our school's support of World Book Day.