All schools in Attica have been ordered to remain closed on Monday 24^th and Tuesday 25^th January 2022. This directive, issued by the Greek authorities late on Sunday 23^rd January, also applies to St. Lawrence College.

Parents of pupils have been emailed with details on how their children will receive full lessons online through the Microsoft Teams platform. Headmaster Phil Holden commented “The familiarity with online learning that teachers and pupils have acquired through the experience of covid lockdowns allows us to meet these brief closures caused by extreme weather. I am confident that whatever the cause of a school closure, we can now meet our pupils’ needs online”. It remains to be seen whether the closure will be extended to Wednesday 26^th January and parents are asked to monitor their emails for updates as further announcements are made.

December is always a fun time at school and this month has been no exception. Our youngest cuties in Early Years classes have been baking all kinds of Christmas goodies to take home for their families, including cookies and cupcakes with chocolate, sprinkles and sweetness galore! 

Just looking at the concentration on their faces is enough to melt the heart, and listening to their chatter as they cook happily under the guidance of their caring teachers brings a smile to your face too. What a day! 

At the end of the summer term in May and June 2021, a number of pupils who receive tuition from our experienced team of peripatetic music teachers sat for important music exams with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. And what an outstanding set of results they achieved! We wish the warmest congratulations to our pupils to our young pianists:  

• Mike Enyuan received Grade 6 Distinction 

• Xizhe Ji received Grade 6 Merit 

• Lawrence Papadakis received Grade 1 Merit 

• Julia Min received Grade 1 Distinction 

• Abby Su received Grade 5 Distinction 

• Leona Zhu received Grade 5 Merit 

And for our young guitarists too, we heartily congratulate them: 

• John Esther received Grade 5 Merit 

• Kimberly Wang received Grade 4 Pass 

Here we are at the start of an exciting new school year, the academic year 2021-2022. As St Lawrence College enters its forty-first year, the pupils have made a super start. They have come into school today with smiles on their faces and a spring in their step. The classes are calm and teachers are getting to know their children already. It’s an exciting time and we are all prepared for whatever we may face this year!

Here’s to a successful year ahead!

On consecutive Fridays, the 4th and 11th June, our senior and junior school drama clubs put on their wonderful performances. Both plays, 'The Lost Tribe of Arrendale’ and ‘The Spirit of the Jungle’ were versions of famous stories adapted by Dr Lindy McMullen, our drama club teacher.  Our pupils had managed to persevere through a lockdown with online rehearsals, then on our return to school it was all about preparing for each of the big nights. They did an outstanding job, performing like professional actors and making all their families and teachers proud of them. Well done to all who participated! 

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! 

The little ones in Early Years are learning about ‘people who help us’ so took a close-up look at firefighters. The teachers took them around the school to look for fire extinguishers and identify school’s safety features. Following this, the children painted their own fire-red pictures with their hands and finally relaxed with a garden picnic in the shade. This third term since our return to school has been packed with fun! 

Congratulations to our pupils who participated with great success once again in the Panhellenic Forensics Tournament which, for the first time, was held online on 1 – 4 April.

St Lawrence participated in many events: Oral Interpretation, Monologue, Impromptu, Group Discussion and of course Debate. We had two finalists: Harry Courts (Comic Oral interpretation) and Dimitris Thodis (Impromptu Speaking), both Year 12. We also had three Honourable Mentions: Charlotte Galatis (Dramatic Oral Interpretation), Jason Spanoudis (Comic Monologue) and Lenora Kirkland (Comic Monologue), all Year 12 pupils. 15 schools and around 400 pupils from many parts of Greece were involved, making it a very successful tournament.

Many thanks to our teachers who helped by coaching and/or judging, Ms Stephanie Stafford (Head Coach and Judge), Mr Russell Courts (Debate Coach and Judge), Ms Argyri Kladouchou (Coach and Judge), Ms Peggy Iliadou (Coach and Judge), Ms Rania Kouvari (Judge) but also to SLC alumni who came back to help coach and judge: Stefanos Strzemiecki (Coach and Judge), Rosie Vorri (Coach), Achilleas Papadimitriou (Coach), Melina Spanoudi (Judge) and Arietta Valmas (Judge). 

On Thursday 4th March 2021, World Book Day brought fun and games to online learning. Despite not being face to face at school, the teachers and children enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book characters for all to see. There were some wonderful costumes and interesting interpretations of some well-known characters created by authors of the past and present. Everyone from Mulan to the Cat in the Hat, from Artemis Fowl to Gangsta Granny and even the Mad-Hatter as well as the Queen of Hearts made our lessons come to life today!

In the past month, St. Lawrence debaters have taken part in two online competitions. Two weeks ago, some of our senior debaters pitted their wits against the best in Greece at the Cambridge University Athens Schools Competition, and last weekend, 12 of our younger orators entered the International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD), which was also organised this year by Cambridge University. All of them performed well in tough debates and received some valuable feedback from some experienced judges. Special mention to Kristian Narcessian who finished amongst the top 10 individual speakers in the ICYD competition. Also, many thanks to the teachers and ex-pupils who gave up time on the weekends to help judge.

On Friday 29th January, 'Book Character Day' was held here in our Early Years section of the Junior School. Our littlest pupils looked their cutest as they dressed up in some imaginative costumes for a fun Friday at school! They chose a range of their favourite story characters to represent including Little Red Riding Hood and even the Big bad Wolf! By bringing their favourite story to school, they were able to share the enjoyment with their classmates and teachers. What a lovely day!

During the weekend Friday 11th to Sunday 13th December, fourteen pupils from St. Lawrence College participated in the Costeas-Geitonas MUN Conference, following a long tradition of pupils from our school taking part in this event which is held every December. This year’s Conference was held online and, despite the challenges, our pupils were as excited as ever and participated with enthusiasm, dedication and commitment. Everyone is very proud of them, especially their teachers and their parents, as they sacrificed much free time preparing for the event as well as participating for long hours over the weekend, discussing important international issues with their fellow delegates from other schools. And they are already discussing their participation to the next MUN Conference! A special mention needs to be made of Eleni Kalendi, Joanna Sakkadas and Christina Beykou who held Chairing positions in the Legal Committee, the Environmental Commission and the International Court of Justice; positions of great responsibility and ones that required extra work from them even during the summer. And they held those positions like true ladies! This event seemed to prove once again that young people are the only hope we have for a better future!

In these unprecedented times our school's Services Society managed to complete two projects during the first part of the Autumn term. All of us together, pupils, parents and teachers, continued our support for the Soup Kitchen in Anavyssos, a philanthropic organisation with whom we, as a school, have longstanding strong links, by providing them with much needed food items for their everyday operations. 

We have been supporting the unaccompanied refugee young teenage boys of FAROS for a few years now. Currently there are 22 young boys who have very little to occupy them in their spare time. The Services Society, assembled 22 back-pack bags for them, packed with items as varied as notebooks, pens, pencils and other school supplies, drawing items, small puzzles, cereal bars, toothpaste and toothbrushes, Dettol soaps and disinfectant gels. We also donated to the organisation that takes care of them books that both the English and the Greek Departments kindly offered. It is certainly with great pleasure that we gave these bags to the 22 boys, who have experienced tremendous struggles in their lives so far, something constructive to do in their free time.

Many thanks are offered to all of those involved in these projects from precious young volunteer helpers of the Services Society from the Junior School through to the oldest Year 13 pupils who have never refused to contribute and help.

On Tuesday 27th October, St Lawrence College exhibited a celebratory air with lots of Hallowe’en fun!  The children and teachers came to school dressed for the occasion  and had a day of active learning with an autumn theme! The family efforts with classic pumpkin carving were outstanding again with some breath-taking designs!  

As we head towards the end of June 2020, the children of the junior school are quietly unwinding and dreaming about the summer holidays ahead. The teachers are really happy to have had these few weeks back at school to reconnect with their classes and finish off the academic year with some semblance of normality. What a rollercoaster of a year it was! But when we can take the time to sit with our children in a shady spot, read a book or discuss a topic of interest in class, we realise the importance of just being together as a group and sharing the pleasure of each other's company. That's what school is about, after all.