The pupils of years 4, 5 & 6 were burning up a serious fever, DISCO fever nonetheless, on Friday 24th November 2017. They had a blast, it has to be said! The dancing was frenetic, and when THE HAT was placed on their heads, boy did they go for it! They were searching out the spotlight to show off their talent and enthusiasm for getting down to the music. 

Of course as usual, the pizza, juices and litres of water were consumed with as much gusto as the music, so all in all it was undeniably a success. Well done to all the children and teachers who participated so enthusiastically and kicked off the weekend to a roaring start!

On Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Year 4 had a special visitor, Mrs Navarro, who came to talk to them about her specialist subject, the Maya civilisation. This was a valuable visit to enhance the children's understanding of a topic studied in History.

Teachers and pupils were fascinated by her interesting and insightful presentation which made clear her in-depth knowledge of this subject. Everyone found it both informative and enjoyable, a fact that was reflected in the many questions put to her. The children's curiosity was piqued, and she taught them many amazing facts about this great civilisation.

Many thanks to Ms Navarro!

More than 51,000 runners, from some 100 countries, took part in the Athens Marathon races this weekend and St. Lawrence College was represented as always! We had an enthusiastic group of teachers and pupils taking part in the 5km and 10km races. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the sporting events and the atmosphere throughout the city centre was electric. Finishing in the Panathinaikon Stadium was a truly memorable experience for all involved. Next year we are hoping to enter an even bigger team….so great training if you're interested!  

On Monday 23rd October Ms Treharne's and Ms Katsamba's Reception  classes went on a fun outing to Jumicar in Nea Makri, Attiki. The children had loads of fun learning all about a most essential life skill - road safety. They practised their knowledge of the ‘law-abiding’ highway code whilst riding mini battery-powered cars. Great fun!

They also got to enjoy a short mini-train ride and they observed a police dog following instructions from his trainer. To finish off and expend some of their energy, they all had fun on the bouncy castle and slide too. The teachers ended up taking back to school a weary but happy bunch of little ones. What a super day out that was!

On Tuesday, 17th October 2017, Year 4 children and their teachers visited the beautiful coastal park near Vravona, Attikis.To enhance their learning of the Geography syllabus, they took a leisurely stroll along the mudflats towards the estuary, studied the features of the area and its wildlife, and saw firsthand how the water cycle works.

They also visited the extraordinary, ancient ruins at the Temple of Artemis, exploring the site and learning about its history. Later, the children were given a guided tour of the Museum there, and were able to view many artefacts which had been found both on site and in the surrounding area.

It was an enjoyable and rewarding day for all.

Father Christmas will be visiting St Lawrence College and meeting all the children of the Junior School in his grotto!  The Christmas Elf will be accepting letters to Father Christmas that the children have written with their teachers, offering treats and photographing the momentous visit. Thursday, 14th December.

Dear Parents,
I am delighted to invite you to a very valuable presentation for the parents of our pupils happening later this month at our school. A leading figure in British education, Mr Andy Buck, will be speaking on strategies that can be used by parents to support their child in his or her education. This really is an opportunity not to be missed and is equally applicable for parents of pupils from any year group across the junior and senior school.

Andy Buck’s influence on education and schools in the UK has been immense over the last twenty-five years. After headships of two schools in the UK, Andy was designated as a National Leader of Education, so outstanding were the improvements in his schools. In 2009 he was appointed as a Director of the National College of School Leadership in the UK, which is the premier training provider for UK Headteachers.

In addition, Andy was appointed as the Managing Director of one of the UK’s largest academy chain of schools, United Learning, and was responsible for setting up the UK government’s Teaching Schools programme – where new teachers are trained, assessed and gain full teaching qualifications while employed in schools.

Somehow, Andy has also found time to set up two educational organisations which support school leaders, ‘Leadership Matters’ and ‘#honk’ and has written five influential books on education and leadership. True to his roots as a Geography teacher, Andy is currently the Honorary Vice President of the UK Geographical Association and is Education Advisor to the Duke of Edinburgh/International Award.

Clearly Andy is a very busy man and so I am thrilled that he is able to visit St. Lawrence College for two days and work with senior leaders of the school, middle leaders, pupils and parents.

Andy will speak to and answer questions from parents in the Cultural Hall at 09.00am, Friday 29th September. The session will last approximately 90 minutes and as I anticipate this will be a very popular event, I ask parents to contact the junior or senior school by phone (210 8917000) or email (juniorschool@slc.gr or seniorschool@slc.gr) to tell us you will be attending and to help us plan the event.

I strongly urge you to come as firstly Andy’s advice to you will be very valuable as you support your child in their learning, and secondly because you will find the experience highly rewarding and entertaining – Andy is a fascinating and engaging speaker and will really challenge how you think about education and learning! I look forward to seeing you at this exciting event.

Sincerely,
Phil Holden
Headmaster

We all love those long hot summer days soaking up the sun and splashing in the waves, don't we? That's why the last day of term is such a special treat for our junior school graduates. They get to spend their last day before moving on to senior school at the beach with their teachers and friends.

On Thursday 15th June 2017, Year 6 happily headed for Avlaki beach in Porto Rafti for a fun-filled day playing, swimming and eating ice cream. As you can see from the smiles on their faces, they loved every minute of it. Goodbye and good luck to all of them! 

Ms Orfanogianni's Year 6 class took a trip down memory lane, albeit from their futuristic perspective, in the last class assembly of the year on Friday 2nd June 2017. They transported the audience of schoolmates, teachers and family members to the year 2077, where they held a school reunion the likes of which have never been seen before!

The children made us laugh with their ambitions, their so-called achievements and their mixed recollections of all their varied experiences at St Lawrence College Junior School. 

Well done, children, on an assembly that made us all feel both sad and happy about the end of this era for our graduating year group. We wish you the very best of luck for your move to senior school in September. Onwards and Upwards!

"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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

April is Autism Awareness month and this week St Lawrence College would like to get this opportunity to promote autism awareness and acceptance for this lifelong condition, which affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. We want to make as many people as possible to realise that we are all different and social in our unique way. We consider this to be a very important part of your child’s learning experience as learning about difference is imperative. We strongly believe that helping young people and teachers to understand autism as they grow up will equip them to accept and empathise with children and adults who have autism. 

Throughout the week there will be blue ribbon pins available at the school’s receptions as an effort to raise money and awareness. All proceeds will go to support the creation of * ‘Avali’ an initiative of Ms. P. Alexiou, a mother of a child with Autism and the **Specialised Unit for children with Autism at the Children’s General Hospital of Athens Panagiotis & Aglaia Kyriakou’.

We will be supporting ‘ Blue T- shirt’ as part of World Autism Awareness Week 2017! Wear your light blue T-shirt in school on Friday 7 April 2017.  We want everyone to wear their blue T-shirts for the day, and show they are not afraid to stand out for autism (staff included and parents too). Parents can send in their pictures for us to put on the website to show their support.