On Wednesday, 23^rd November, the PE department held an exciting, fun-filled day for families to raise money for this year's chosen charity endeavour that we have called Play for Thessaly. The aim of the day was to have fun, lots of laughs and plenty of energetic activities to create a sense of team effort and the pure enjoyment of participation. Our children were joined by their parents at the gym for a collection of physically energetic games. There were also raffle tickets on sale with some wonderful prizes including an all-expenses paid trip to see Panathinaikos BC play in Bologna next month, a luxury holiday on the island of Paros, meals out, jewellery and much more!

In November we wore odd socks to celebrate how it's ok to be different, and we learned about not crossing the line with teasing other people. Odd Socks Day is always a success! Our responsible and respectful pupils in Year 6 showed their schoolmates through an interesting assembly, what the difference is between harmless banter and hurtful bullying. ‘Do you know when to stop?’ they asked. This was the question that had our pupils thinking more deeply about the issue and we are sure they will keep talking and thinking about it.

Our school hosted the Under 16 boys’ football and girls’ volleyball tournaments with six international schools taking part.
After a long hard-fought day both our boys and girls won their respective tournaments without a single defeat.
These excellent results, reflect all the hard work the team members put in throughout practises this academic year. Well done to all those who took part! And a special thank you to the coaches Mr Strzemiecki and Ms Dikaioulia!
 

On Thursday 26^th October, our three Year 2 classes were taken to visit the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation as part of this term’s art & design curriculum on Portraits & Sculptures. The guides at this wonderful museum introduced the children to contemporary art pieces from both Greek and foreign artists including works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Degas and Kandinsky. The pupils were taught about the use of colour in art and were especially happy to be given the opportunity at the end to create their own interpretations of what they had seen.

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!

Throughout the first few weeks of school pupils got a taste of our available after-school clubs which are starting on Monday 2^nd of October. Coaches came and presented clubs such as Cheerleading, Karate, Rhythmics, Rugby, Tennis and Yoga during PE lessons which pupils thoroughly enjoyed.

The school provides a wide variety of clubs which operate every day to cater to the interests of every pupil.

If you are interested in signing your child to any club, you can do so by contacting Ms Koutsoubidou in the administration building.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible and wish all members an eventful year with plenty of tournaments, presentations, games and most importantly, a lot of fun!

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!

Between 6^th and 10^th June, Year 6 groups were taken on a trip to Milias Camps in Central Greece for an exciting few days of fun activities and group events. The teachers and pupils were treated to a range of things to do that included swimming, hiking up a hillside to an ancient castle ruin, walking an artistic river trail at Pavliani, learning archery, mountain biking and technical wall climbing too. The cabins were buzzing with the voices of excited children and the canteen meals were wolfed down by the children who worked up an appetite with all their non-stop activities and exercise! Take a look at the photos which show just how much they experienced at camp.

On Friday 26th of May, Year 4 visited the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens as part of this term’s art curriculum. The children thoroughly enjoyed a chance to appreciate the finer things in life, namely Art. They also had the opportunity to conjure up some artistic efforts of their own! Very original!

On Sunday 28^th May, at the Peace & Friendship Stadium, the municipality of Piraeus held a competition titled FIRST® LEGO® League Festival. Our team of budding Lego and Robotics experts from the junior school represented St Lawrence College and made us very proud. The pupils had endeavoured to create eye-catching Lego constructions and to control them robotically with focus and determination.

FIRST® LEGO® League introduces science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16* through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experience through a guided, global robotics program, helping today's pupils and teachers build a better future together.

They did very well and are sure to go on next year and achieve even more! Well done, children!

On Friday 28^th April, the children of our Early Years classes, FS1, FS2 and Reception, took a trip to the Oasis Activity Farm Park for an adventurous day meeting all kinds of creatures great and small. The children loved feeding the curious donkeys, the hungry chickens and cuddly rabbits. They brushed the horses and visited the vegetable garden where they harvested some of the produce straight from the ground.  It is so important that we teach children where their food comes from and that we help them develop respect for all animals too. A great day of learning in the springtime sunshine!

Last weekend two of our Year 10 pupils Elise Katholos & Kimberly Wang travelled to Cambridge University to take part in the finals of the International Competition for Young Debaters based on their performance at the Greek qualifying round in February. The competition took place at the world-famous Cambridge Union Debating Society. There were teams from all over the world and all over the UK, each of which was the best in their region, so the competition was extremely tough.

Our debaters had just 15 minutes to prepare for motions like whether for-profit universities should be banned, whether prisoners should be allowed to volunteer for medical trials in exchange for lighter sentences, and whether immigrants should prioritise the protection of their traditional culture over assimilation. It was a fantastic opportunity not only to test their debating skills, but also to meet some of the brightest minds of their generation in one of the most iconic academic locations in the world. When asked about the whirlwind 48-hour trip, Elise said, “the entire experience was so much fun, I learnt so much and I have made many memories I will never forget.” 

Parents of our junior school and Early Years Foundation Stage pupils are invited to a parental workshop that will be presented by our visiting school psychologist, Dr. Hadjipateras Giannoulis, and our school counsellor, Ms Stefania Zarri.

Dr. Hadjipateras Giannoulis and Ms Zarri will be presenting on the topic of ‘Dealing with peer conflict and bullying: promoting your child’s friendships’.

The workshop will take place on Monday 15th May at 9:15-11:00 a.m., and will be held at the Efilena Estate, next door to the school campus. There will be time for questions and coffee and refreshments will be available. Parents will be able to drop off their children at the school gates and continue to make their way up Anemon Street to park inside the Efilena grounds.

If you would like to attend the workshop, please contact juniorschool@slc.gr

To celebrate World Maths Day this week, SLC junior school made sure to take their learning outdoors and prove that maths is for everyone. A range of fun activities was available and every pupil was able to access maths at their own level with differentiated tasks for each year group. They played games of catch to practise rounding, sticky darts to add and subtract and ping pong for multiplication. Even bottle flipping was involved as the children practised fractions.

Proof that maths really is fun!

On the last day of term, 7^th April, Spring was certainly in the air at St Lawrence College. The sun shone brightly on the school as the pupils wore their Easter bonnets with pride and paraded around the playground in a traditional springtime celebration. The theme for making their creations this year was Recycling – the judges were looking for creativity and originality with old items reused on straw hats and caps of all shapes and sizes. Easter eggs were the much sought after prizes on offer – yum! Who doesn't love a chocolate egg for Easter?