...is contagious, pass it on," as Albert Einstein said.

Year 2 were inspired by their annual visit to the excellent Vorres Museum in Peania. First stop, Mr Nektarios Vorres talked us through some of the inspiring art works in the exhibition. 

After a short snack in the beautiful adjoining gardens, the children were then more than happy to attend a workshop where they were invited to make their own collage using recycled materials, inspired by some of the art they'd viewed. 

Finally, they all enjoyed a walk through the folk art section of 19th century buildings, courtyards and gardens in the expansive grounds of the Vorres Museum, Paiania. Here are housed antiquities, icons, ceramics, popular artefacts and other objects that were used in daily life centuries ago. A most rewarding cultural experience indeed!

On Friday, 5th May, Ms Terzian's Year 1 class took us off to the faraway land of... the United Kingdom, to witness a rather unexpected twist of events in the fairy tale of Snow White. As was always the case, Snow White was indeed the fairest in the land and this unchanging truth inevitably angered her stepmother who demanded her execution! However, Snow White escaped to London and chanced upon a friendly London cabbie who rescued her by whisking her off to Wales, then Scotland, then Northern Ireland. The children illustrated each of the four countries of the UK beautifully with music and verse as they chased the princess around the whole country. The resolution came after Snow White caught a leprechaun who granted her 3 wishes - that she would be returned home safe and sound, that her stepmother would no longer be wicked and that her rescuer would ask her to marry him! So they all lived happily ever after!

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!

37 pupils will be taking part in the annual Panhellenic Forensics Tournament which, this year, is at Anatolia College in Thessaloniki. There will be over 400 participants from almost 20 schools from all over Greece. For more information see the Association’s website www.pfa.gr . You can also follow the finals on Sunday live here  

On Wednesday 15th March, Year 5 dashed off to Planet Physics, a new museum that promotes science learning in a fun, interactive format. As the children have been studying the topic of light, this trip was the finishing high point of their course of study. They witnessed use of a prism to demonstrate how white is not a colour: when white light is directed onto a prism, light is refracted into different colours. Additionally, a colour wheel (Newton’s disc) was spun very quickly and once it was spinning very fast, all that could be seen on the wheel was white. Our pupils thought it was quite impressive! Following this, coloured shadows were made and mixed using a blue, red and green laser which overlapped, producing a variety of coloured shadows. A whole range of other exhibits were available for the children to manipulate including a plasma ball and a theremin (a musical instrument which requires no physical contact). All in all a fascinating trip that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

On Tuesday 14th March, Years 5 & 6 participated in an exciting soccer tournament hosted by St Catherine's School for a number of international schools here in Athens. What a day they had! With all the skill and enthusiasm they could muster, both the boys' teams and the girls' teams took on other schools and managed to win almost all of their games! They were buzzing with excitement and pride even when they returned to school afterwards, and it's true to say they are dying for another chance to repeat their success at other venues when the opportunities arise. 
Bravo to the PE department and many thanks to St Catherine's School for creating such a fun event for the children. 

On Friday 10th March, Ms Pavlounis' Year 5 class held an assembly called Children's Rights in which we, the audience, were taught about the most important human rights for children according to the United Nations. 

The need for us to understand how lucky we are in the life we live was presented in a way that helped us all consider the differences that exist in the living standards of children between today's developed and developing world. 

Bravo to the children for showing us the need to think of others and be thankful for what we have.

On Tuesday, 21st February, Year 6 trekked into the centre of Athens for a day of historical fact finding. One group visited the Acropolis Museum in order to closely examine the statues and ancient artefacts there which add to the children's understanding of topics studied in the classroom. The other group visited the National Gardens and the Old Parliament on Stadiou Street and gained some appreciation of great figures in Greek politics of the past.

A trip to the city centre is always a pleasure that is enjoyed by the children, especially when they've got their friends along for the ride.

Year 2 had a super outing to Planet Physics in Vrilissia on Friday, 17th February. 'Oohs' and 'aahs' were heard continuously as the children witnessed all that was on offer. They were astounded by the range and variety of hands-on scientific exhibits at the centre.

Everyone had a chance to make a wave, make music with a theremin (amazingly, a musical instrument that you don't even touch) and actually "be" a conductor of electricity, lighting up a fluorescent light via a plasma ball! Most amazingly, that wasn't even the main light show; there was so much more! The children observed a laser light travelling as well as light being reflected and refracted. Lots of exclamation marks here because there were endless enthusiastic exclamations there!!!

The World Scholar’s Cup was back in Athens this year calling young scholars to explore our ‘Unlikely World’. The 2017 Athens Round took place at Ekpaideftiki Anagennisi School in the Northern Suburbs on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th February. 

Ten teams of our school participated in the WSC, five in the Junior Division and five in the Senior one. Going through various events, such as Debates, Collaborative Writing, multiple choice papers and interactive competitions in Science, History, Literature, Arts and Social Sciences, all our teams qualified for the Global Round. We were happy to see pupils of our school in the top team of the tournament as well as in top places in different events or subjects. 

Many thanks to all the teachers involved, to Ms Kyriakopoulou & Ms Sapountzaki for organising and coaching the school delegation as well as to Ms Lagonikos, Mr. Courts, Ms Brown, Ms Papadatos, Ms Kramer, Ms Andrews, Ms Lazaris, Ms Spiliotis, Ms Douglas & Ms Galloway for preparing lunch time sessions to support the pupils in their preparation.

On Friday 10th February 2017, St Lawrence College hosted a mini-basketball tournament for the Year 5 and 6 pupils of our school, as well as our fellow international schools of Athens: Byron, Campion and St Catherine’s.
 
The atmosphere was electrically charged as the children shouted their support, chanted for their school and yelled with delight as their friends on court scored points. This was a 'friendly' thus no official scores were kept but the players were keeping their own scores and enjoyed every moment of the competition!

By the time everyone had completed their rounds of 3 or 4 games against other schools, the children were worn out from all the excitement! And boy, are they looking forward to our next meet! Well done to the PE department for organising such a fun-filled activity!

There are always fevers spreading like wildfire every winter, and on Friday, 10th February, a serious case of DISCO FEVER hit the pupils of Years 4, 5 & 6! The children excitedly piled back to school on Friday evening for a few hours of crazy dancing and exuberant antics in the cultural hall. Teachers loved seeing the children delightedly laughing, grinning at each other and spinning their little legs as much as they could in time to the music... and occasionally not so in time to the music but it's the effort that counts, isn't it?

With the classic half time snack of pizza and juice on offer to revitalise any weary dancers, the dance competitions continued the fun and saw many-a-pleased child take home a pair of cinema tickets for their whole-hearted efforts. Bravo kids!

...was first an amateur," as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said. The St Lawrence Junior School Art Club has been underway since September encouraging the amateur in every child to come to fruition. It has a great collection of works to show for their efforts again this year. Our Lilliputian artists have been busy in this popular after school club creating their own mini masterpieces!

Paintbrushes have been at work making a slew  of new color combinations and creative designs. Newspapers and magazines have been combined, cut and stuck in unusual collages that seem to jump off the paper at you. Shaving cream has even become Santa Claus' beard! Sports themed paintings positively burst with energy!

What new ideas await our budding artists in the coming months? Watch this space!

And that's just the children! On Wednesday, 1st February, Year 4 took themselves off to the Athenaion Cinema in Athens to participate in a 3-D interactive programme all about wildlife in Greece. They learned about the animals and their habitats as part of the children's current unit of study in Science.

The children responded ever so enthusiastically to the experience and answered many questions on the topics explored.  Our little experts did so well in fact, that Nicholas Giannopolous and Leo Droggitis excelled themselves, winning first place out of the three schools who attended the show.

All in all, it was a highly entertaining and super informative experience for these young scientists who are growing up to have an excellent awareness of real-life issues are of relevance to them here in Greece.

On Thursday 26th January, the St Lawrence College boys' basketball team participated in a tournament for Years 7 & 8, hosted by Campion School. Four international schools of Athens participated and our boys triumphed, as they won all three games, getting 1st place!

As always, we are extremely proud, and will see them on the courts again soon.