On Friday 21st December, Year 6 went to Blanos Bowling in Glyfada as an end of term treat. The children had hours of fun ten-pin-bowling, roller-skating and trampolining to their hearts' delight. The children had been looking forward to it for weeks since they found out they were going, and an air of pre-Christmas excitement was clearly felt by all. 

On their return to school, there was barely time to pack their things before they all headed off for a well-deserved Christmas holiday. Happy Holidays Everyone!

On Monday 17th December, year 3 took a Christmassy trip to Paradise Park.

Pupils dove into the Christmas season with a fabulous day out and about. They really enjoyed themselves, engaging in a number of different festive activities at this popular site. They rode in Santa's sleigh and crafted and decorated snowflakes made out of wooden lollipop sticks. They danced and even learned how we make hot chocolate!

Roll on Christmas Day!

On Wednesday 19th December 2018, the hall was filled with young children from our Early Years classes and their families who'd come along to see their unique take on the nativity story. There was laughter and smiles all around!

The Noisy Nativity was an entertaining tale about a group of teachers teaching their students what Christmas is really all about. They took them back to the time of the birth of baby Jesus...in a very noisy way! There was singing, clapping, stamping and playing musical instruments throughout. All the well-known nativity characters took part: Mary, Joseph, the angel, a donkey and other stable mates,the three kings, innkeepers and shepherds watching over their flocks! Well done to our youngest children for putting on such a wonderful Christmas production!

On 5th December the Year 8s enjoyed the new and immersive exhibition, ‘Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius’ that has come to Athens. As part of our history course on the Renaissance our pupils had the opportunity to explore the life and work of this great artist and inventor, 500 years after his death.

Masterpieces, inventions, codices, and drawings from the Renaissance master came to life in an experience that was simultaneously entertaining and educational.

They viewed 75 models of his inventions, natural reproductions, interactive machines and copies of his famous codes, with more than 200 exhibits that have been designed in collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Rome. 

The experience allowed our pupils to delve into the mind of a truly Universal Man.

On Saturday 1 December, we hosted the Athens round of the Cambridge Schools Debating Championships. Several teams from a number of schools in Athens competed for a coveted spot in the final. After some hard fought debating, three teams qualified, one from Pierce College, one from HAEF and in first place, one from St. Lawrence. We wish good luck to Bella Kontogiannis and Rea Karkabi, who will be representing SLC and pitting their wits against debaters from the best schools in the UK and around the world at the Cambridge Union in March.

This month, everyone at St. Lawrence College was delighted to learn that one of our pupils, Xinting He, has received a prestigious award from Cambridge Assessment International Education to acknowledge her outstanding performance in the June 2018 examination series. Xinting, who is currently studying A Levels in Year 12, was recognised for achieving the highest mark in the world for IGCSE Mandarin Chinese.
The Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards programme celebrates the accomplishments of learners taking Cambridge examinations in over 40 countries around the world. Thousands of candidates take a total of over 800,000 IGCSEs every year and to get the highest mark in a subject is, therefore, a huge achievement. Congratulations Xinting on your wonderful success!

On Wednesday 21^st November, Year 6 was the first junior school group to take an active trip to the Hellenic Cosmos Museum in Athens to participate in a really cool ‘live’ exhibition. With high tech features to bring ancient and modern Olympic sports to life, the children tried out a range of sporting events alongside some of the greatest names in sporting history. Tired but happy children returned to school with a smile, and it’s not long till years 4 and 5 have their turns too!

We start them young at St Lawrence College with their love of nature and all things in the countryside! On Friday 16th November 2018, FS1 and FS2, our two and three year olds that is, visited the Cultural Park in Keratea. Since it's olive harvest season all over Greece right now, the children experienced picking olives using different kinds of equipment like mini rakes, scoops and more. They loved learning about how olive oil is made and they even had a hand in making olive bread. What a lovely time was had by all! 

Another debate season began with success for St. Lawrence on Saturday as 16 of our pupils took part in the annual St. Catherine’s School debate tournament. After 4 tough rounds against many of Greece’s top debaters, Bella Kontogiannis and Harry Karaiossifides were the top ranking team and although they were knocked out in the semi-final, Bella was named the top individual speaker of the competition. Next in the debate calendar is the Athens round of the Cambridge Union Schools Competition which we will host on the 1^st of December.

On Sunday 11th November pupils, parents and staff from St. Lawrence College joined other school communities, representatives from countries all over the world and members of the public to honour those servicemen and women who have died defending freedom and protecting their country over the last 100 years. Remembrance Day is marked every year since 1919. This year’s Remembrance Day was extra poignant given it is exactly 100 years since the armistice that ended The First World War.  

This year’s service of remembrance in Athens was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Alimos. The service was directed by the British Military Attaché, Captain Tim Ferns and led by the Anglican vicar in Athens, the Reverend Canon Leonard Doolan. Pupils from Byron College provided readings, singing and music. This follows St. Catherine’s school pupils doing so in 2017 and St. Lawrence College pupils in 2016. 

Following the laying of wreaths by the ambassadors and representatives of countries such as the UK, Ireland, the USA, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Canada, Romania, Australia, New Zealand and India among others, there followed the laying of wreaths by pupils of schools. Two of our Year 6 pupils, Max Stephenson and Leo Droggitis, both house captains in St. Lawrence College, laid a wreath on behalf of all pupils, parents and staff of our school.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn” (lines from ‘For The Fallen’, by Laurence Binyon)  

On Monday 5th November, St Lawrence College hosted the inter-school, over 16 girls volleyball tournament. All international schools of Athens took part in what was an exciting and hard-fought competition. In the end St Lawrence College managed an amazing 1st place, beating  ACS in the final 2-0. Our team made it to the last match after beating both St. Catherine’s and Byron College 2-0 in the qualification round. We are incredibly proud of our amazing team and congratulations to everyone involved!

The Archaeology Club started its third year with a new project: the study of the island of Delos. Drawing on the experience of adopting an ancient theatre in the previous two years, the members of the Club will study the theatre as well as other remains of the site. The Delos Project offers a unique opportunity for our pupils to experience and appreciate the function of a whole ancient settlement, as Delos is an uninhabited island, an island which is an archaeological site by itself. To start this project, the Archaeology Club travelled to Mykonos and visited the island of Delos on the 26th of October 2018. The pupils experienced a walk through the ruins of the ancient sanctuary, the foreign temples, the theatre and the residences as well as the cave with the altar of Hercules. They are now ready to start their research and study of the site.

On Friday 19th October 2018, all and sundry gathered at St. Lawrence College for a celebration of all things autumnal. There were the usual collection of fancy dress ghosts, ghouls, witches and zombies as well as what must surely be the biggest and best display of carved Jack O Lanterns Athens has ever seen! It's amazing how the families of the Junior School, whose classes have this annual pumpkin competition, become more and more creative with every passing year. The time and effort that goes into putting together our amazing pumpkin display is astounding, so our sincere thanks go to all who contributed to it again this year.

As well as the Halloween flavour in the air, there was plenty of entertainment for young and old with a DJ to get everyone dancing, stalls of goodies and gifts and those where you could buy drinks soups, mouth-watering hot dogs and souvlaki to indulge in too! The pupils of the Senior School Council organised games and activities to amuse all kinds of willing participants so all in all everyone was kept quite busy! Here's to next year!

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 Saturday 7^th October our school participated in the 10^th ‘Race for the Cure’ in the centre of Athens. The ‘Race’ is organised every year in many big cities around the world and Athens is one of them with the participation exceeding in numbers many of the corresponding events abroad. The aim of the occasion is to raise awareness to the fact that breast cancer can be cured if diagnosed early and therefore prevention through medical tests is now a possibility that can no longer be ignored. As we have for the past ten years, our school once again took part in the run and the walk with the pupils, parents and teachers of our school all being there in Zappeio on what was a sunny Sunday morning to declare our desire for a world with less pain and more hope.