"There is no such thing as 'away'; when we throw anything away it must go somewhere," said Annie Leonard. How true!

On Friday, 19th May 2017, Ms Kokkalis' year 3 class gave KS2, teachers, families and friends a most valuable lesson in an eye-catching manner. The 3 R's: Recycling, Reducing & Re-using were shown to us with skill and sensitivity as the children reminded us all how important it is to take care of the environment by not wasting our world's precious resources. 

In addition, to make sure we were all paying close attention, this class then took the unusual step of challenging us all to a dance off - and boy did we all have the moves like Jagger! It was a seriously fun way to end the week and send everyone home with a smile and a spring in their step for the weekend. Bravo Year 3!

As Michael Jordan said, "Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game!" 

Well that is certainly what was the order of the week at St Lawrence College with two sports days for years 1, 2 & 3 on Tuesday 16th, then for years 4, 5 & 6 on Friday 19th May 2017.

Both days were fortunate with the weather so the children were happy to run down to the sports field and participate in the well-organised events of our PE department. First there was the Skills Circuit with its wide variety of activities followed by flat races for each year group. The finale as always was the Tug-of-War for parents as well as the children, before medals and certificates were handed out to winners.

What an exhausting day it was - but the children certainly seemed to get a lot out of it. Well done to everybody who took part and gave their all for their team. Bravo Macedonia, Epirus and Attica teams!

On Friday 31st March the Junior School Science Fair was held and deemed a great success by all. KS2 pupils carried out various scientific investigations showcasing both their talent and knowledge to the rest of the school.

Following the event, St Lawrence participated in the COBIS Science Award 2017 by submitting a short video clip where pupils outlined the major steps needed for a scientific investigation.  The clip won 1st place out of more than 105 entries from 36 COBIS schools from all over the world with more than 730 people involved.

More information can be found here  

We are honoured to have won such a prestigious award.  Well done to the teachers, parents and pupils involved!

On Tuesday, 16th May, Year 4 visited the beautiful coastal village of Vravona, Attiki, for an excursion which combined geography and history. As part of this trip, the children went to see the extraordinary ancient ruins at the Temple of Artemis. They had a tour of the Museum and were able to see many artefacts which had been found both on site and in the surrounding area.

Later, the children walked along the mudflats towards the estuary, looking at the features of the landscape and its wildlife. It was an enjoyable and educational day!
 

We are very excited to announce the opening of the 2017 Art Exhibition of St. Lawrence College senior school later this month.

The exhibition is our opportunity to showcase the varied work produced by our students, mostly based around our chosen theme for this year, which is ‘Contrasts’. Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils have produced wonderful art work both individually and collaboratively. Their projects aim to demonstrate a celebration of Art elements in an expressive and imaginative way. 

There will also be a chance to view our Art & Design A-Level coursework. This is a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the talents of our senior pupils. Their portfolios are of exceptional standard both in their control and use of media as well as in the development of personal ideas and themes. 

Finally, you can enjoy the results of our photography competition, which was held recently in the school. Pupils and teachers were encouraged to submit their favourite photograph of 2016/1017, again on the theme ‘Contrasts’.
 
You can visit the exhibition in the Exhibition Centre, the building immediately in front of the administration block, from Monday 15th May until Friday 26th May during school hours. You will also have an opportunity to view this during the hours of our parent/teacher meeting held on Monday 22nd May.

We look forward to seeing you there!

On Monday 15th May 2017, the Foundation Stage 1 and 2 classes visited the fire station in Elliniko on a school trip that always goes down well with our little ones. It was an excursion to reinforce their current topic of learning, ‘People who help us’.

The children enjoyed seeing and learning all about the fire-fighters' protective gear, their equipment and they even got to wear a fire-fighter's helmet themselves too! The children took turns spraying water with the fire hose, and sat in the fire engine as the siren sounded loudly. What fun!

On Friday 12th May 2017, Ms Archolekas' Year 1 class taught us all about the importance of reading and writing in a sweet little assembly called The King's Sectret. This poor old king couldn't read, nor could he write, and he kept his shameful secret hidden from all. He decided that whatever he couldn't do, others across the whole of his kingdom shouldn't do either. How ridiculous, you may say. Well, yes! That's exactly what all the children said when all writing was banned by this bossy old king. 

In exploring the unthinkable idea of living a life without the written word, the children soon realised just how important it is in our daily lives. When the children found out about the king's secret, they offered to help him learn to read and thus embarked on a wonderful journey of learning together. 

When faced with a challenge, we must never give up, but must persevere in taking small steps towards our goals. How true that is. Thank you 1A for a super assembly!
 

life would be a mistake," according to Friedrich Nietzsche. Who could disagree?

On the evening of Friday, 12th May, music filled the air as the Annual Music Concert was held in the cultural hall. Our talented pupils from KS1 up, shared with us the results of their many hours of determined practice. We heard the choir sing songs from Mary Poppins, beautiful piano recitals, violins and guitars being played with varying degrees of complexity but always with an edge of growing confidence and a desire to please the crowd. 

The specialist music teachers supported their children with accompaniments that added to the atmosphere of celebration in this valuable added element of the children's learning at St Lawrence College.

On Friday, 12th May 2017, the Early Years department at St Lawrence was full to the brim with youngsters who are already enjoying their early education with us, as well as many other children who are planning on doing so. The Open Day, which introduced our staff to new groups of youngsters and introduced those children and their parents to us, was a big success all round. 

There was a wide range of activities that the children participated in: mini tennis, yoga, PSHE, maths, literacy, movement to music and of course singing too. Every face was smiling and everyone looked really pleased to be a part of such a fun day.  From 10:00 am when the activities began, until their winding down session which included a plentiful buffet at 13:00, the happy cries of children having a whale of a time echoed throughout the garden and the whole of the Junior School.

We look forward to welcoming these children back come September. Well done to the Early Years staff who put so much effort into that day, as they do each and every day!

Yesterday, 24 pupils from Years 4-10 enjoyed a VIP day with the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows, at the Hellenic Air Force Base in Tanagra, Viotia. They had all earnt their places on the special day out with winning entries in a writing competition. And what a prize they enjoyed!  The visit commenced getting up close to the Hawk planes and they learnt about the workings of the planes from two of the team engineers. After seeing the pilots, pupils were given a private full display by the Red Arrows. The loops, wing-overs, fly-pasts and steep turns were incredible. St. Lawrence pupils saw just why this RAF team is considered to be one of the world's premier aerobatic display teams. Their speed, agility and precision were amazing. Pupils left feeling inspired by the great team work and leadership that they had seen!

The annual St Lawrence College Swimming Gala took place on Thursday 11th May in the beautiful Athens sunshine. After some tight races and some incredible victories, the results were as follows:

Attica: 630
Epirus: 980
Macedonia:1050

These points will be added to the Sports Day totals to decide the final scores at the end of the year.

We also have some new school records to add to our record book:

50 m freestyle year 8 girls: 35,62 Emily Valmas
50 m breaststroke year 8 boys: 37,82 Angelos Mylonas
50 m breast stroke year 8 girls  : 44,02 Katrina Lemane

Congratulations to everyone who took part and we look forward to seeing you all at the end of year celebrations where our house champions will be formally announced.

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.”   Muhammad Ali.

This was the message that Ms Frederick's year 4 class tried to teach us all in today's assembly for schoolmates, family and of course their friends. What a lovely demonstration of friendship they gave us - with examples of all those ways we show how we care for our friends and those people who become so special to us. Well done 4F on a super thoughtful assembly!

...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!

Well, Monday 8th May started the week off with a bang! It was an excitingly different morning for Years 2, 3 and 4 when “The Beast” visited St Lawrence College in the Cultural Hall. The English Theatre Club’s musical rendition of 'Beauty and the Beast' had the children mesmerized and actively engaged in their production of this classic. “Beauty” was put in jail, entertained by Mrs Potts the Teapot, Lumiere the Butler, Cogsworth the Clock and let’s not forget Philippe, the horse everyone wanted to pet as he trotted around the audience! We all enjoyed the music, the Beast, the laughter and the message that LOVE can transform any beast into a human again.

The following day saw the turn of Years 5 & 6 to enjoy another captivating, interactive performance by the English Theatre Club. The pupils laughed unstoppably at a hilarious performance of 'Plaza Hotel'. The cast invited members of the audience to participate which they did willingly and took on the roles of Juan the Cockroach Exterminator, Suzy the bride, the Mexican band and many more! We could not stop smiling and laughing as they had us captivated at every moment, following the shenanigans of Billy and Suzie’s wedding day in the disatrously disorganised Plaza Hotel. We're already looking forward to next year's treat if they come back a third time to us!

On Friday, 5th May, there were rumours of Bananas in Pyjamas running down the stairs, but it turned out to be a false alarm... it was just some rather excited children from Ms Treharne's and Ms Katsamba's classes wearing pyjamas and singing that song.

"Bananas in pyjamas are coming down the stairs,
Bananas in pyjamas are chasing teddy bears!"

The children had fun playing in their night-time clothes all day long, indulging in their favourite breakfast cereals and making fingers sticky with buttered toast & jam! Their teddies joined in all the fun too so no one missed out on any bedtime treats! 

You know what they say too: "If being in your pyjamas by 7pm is wrong, then I don't want to be right!"