​WELCOME TO THE UPPER SCHOOL!!!​
I remember my first day in Upper School clearly:  taking a deep breath before stepping into the hall - basketballs flying all over the place colliding with walls (and unhappy teachers). Shouts of joy as friends saw each other again after the summer. Introducing new students we’d already met to our friends… Hopefully pleasant memories will stay with you too from your first days in the Upper School.

Welcome 
Now, a month into the year, I’m sure you will have gotten to know your teachers, schedule and classmates quite well.  The Upper School is definitely quite a large jump from Year 6, but there are simple ways to make this transition a lot smoother.  Through this article, I’d like to share with you some advice and resources you have which definitely helped me and lots of my friends adapt to Upper School life. 

Homework
One of the things that will definitely have changed for you is that you’ll have a lot more teachers than you used to, a lot more lesson material, and along with that, I’m afraid, a lot more homework… The school however has made this a lot more manageable.  You have been given a homework timetable that tells you the subjects you’ll be getting homework from each day.  You should ideally have 3 subjects for homework per day.  Now when do you do it?  Best advice: do it the night it’s set.  What most of us did? Left all subjects due next week for the weekend (specifically: Sunday).  The result?  Empty-ish weekdays and PACKED weekends including very late Sunday nights.  You will find what works for you but I’d advise you to try to finish everything the day it’s set as it’s also fresher in your mind while you also have the opportunity and time to ask your teachers for help if you need any.
Of course, make sure that you still leave enough time to enjoy extra-curriculum activities such as sports, dance and music which will not only allow you to have fun but will also expand your horizons and are extremely important for your development as an individual.

Tests & Exams
Don’t leave revision until the last minute.  Any Upper School student that you ask will tell you they have definitely done this more than once.  Have their results been affected? YES.  Revising at the last minute can first of all be extremely stressful – especially if it’s a subject you’re not very comfortable with.  Also, tests and exams are seen by many students as unimportant as they “aren’t the final exam so not our grade”.  True? No.  Firstly, it is taken into consideration for your grade.  A high mark in your main exams doesn’t guarantee you that mark in your report if performance isn’t good throughout the year.  Furthermore, and more importantly, tests give you and your teachers the chance to know your progress and where you’re struggling.  If you study well, you can identify your true weaknesses and teachers will then also be more willing to help you work through them.

Exams. Ouch.  Definitely a COMPLETELY different experience which will be completely new to you.  I remember Mrs. Stewart before my first history exam telling us: “You’re going to sit at least 20 sets of these exams throughout your life, you have to get used to them…”. She was right.  You do eventually get used to them and it does become reality as you go through the Upper School.  How to prepare? The best people to advise you on this are obviously your teachers and also Mrs. Stewart.  All I want to do is encourage you to talk to them and also to revise IN ADVANCE. Don’t expect to go through all your history or geography the night before. It won’t happen.  Make a revision plan and STICK TO IT! Make the plan feasible. Give yourself regular 15-30 minute breaks and make sure to have some time off to meet up with friends or watch a movie.  Definitely take some time off during longer breaks to relax – endless studying throughout holidays can wait till IB…  If you overwork yourself you’ll be exhausted and discouraged from revising further. Also, VERY IMPORTANT while revising and during exam period is to GET ENOUGH SLEEP!! Believe it or not, the average amount of sleep you should be getting is 8 hours!  No use trying to recall date or names of composers when all you’re thinking about is your warm, cozy bed…

Exam Results:
Don’t get put off if the results/grades are not what you expected.  Especially your first mid-terms are more of a tryout/introduction to the way of examinations and what is expected of you.  Definitely take them seriously but don’t stress over them.  It is important for the following to be achieved through these exams:
1) Revise – try to identify revision techniques that work well for you (read on for some tips)
2) Understand how exams are set up and what is expected from you revision-wise and during the exam
3) Identify areas of weakness – regarding revision, exam taking, exam technique, time management (in and before the exams), actual knowledge gaps in subjects etc.

Revision Techniques:
Everyone revises in different ways and finds different methods useful.  You might want to research the different ways in which people learn: some people learn best when they see things, others when they hear, and others kinesthetically (e.g. explaining to someone else).  Below I’ve included a couple of ways to help your revision:
  Read through your textbooks and keep your own notes of important concepts.  Use colors and markers if that helps
  Mind-maps and diagrams showing progression/consequences of event might be useful for lessons such as history or chemistry
  Download and listen to podcasts (e.g. while going to school etc.)
  Watch videos on Youtube® to clarify/explain ideas
  Do practice exercises, interactive activities online (a simple search on Google® will bring up a couple)
  Teach material to another family member/friend/pet
  Get someone to test you on material
  Use flash-cards for key words or concepts you need to learn
  Write out definitions and key concepts and stick them around your room
Try them out and see which ones work for you!
 

Ms. Ivana & Form teachers:
Along with a developing academic life, you will also have a developing personal life. You might have some disagreements with your friends for instance and find yourselves hanging out with different groups of people. Ms. Ivana is there to help you through any problems or concerns you might have and she is really a brilliant person to talk to.  Anything that you share with her is absolutely confidential.  For those of you who don’t know, her office is in the small corridor leading to the science labs (across Mr. Tite’s art room) and her office hours are posted on her door.  Your teachers are also really great people to talk to, especially if your concerns have some academic basis and for instance want some advice on how to manage workload etc.
I hope that at least some of the above advice has been helpful to you! Best of luck throughout your time in Upper School and have a great year !



- Zoe Kalos​

Debate at St Catherine’s

The beginning of the school year brought another successful debate year to St Catherine’s. The first event on the school’s debating calendar was the 2013 World Schools’ Debate team tryouts, to select Greece’s national team for the World Schools’ Debate Competition.  23 young hopefuls gathered at Athens College on Sunday 16th September and after taking a 45 minute quiz on their knowledge of current events, (with questions such as who is Oscar Pistorius and what is the Mars Exploration Rover called) the debating began. There were two rounds that are summarized below. 

Round 1: This house would lower the voting age
Team proposition defined the voting age to be lowered to 16 and discussed how these teenagers are stakeholders and have shown responsibility – for instance in school – and how they should be allowed to have a say in their future.  The opposition then discussed the principles and benefits of the status quo in addition to the negative effects this measure would have on the political spectrum and society.

Round 2: This house believed that a strong dictatorship is better than a weak democracy
This debate required team proposition to take a strong stance and argue why strong dictatorships provided benefits including stability and national security and how this strong dictatorship is more beneficial for the country and for individuals.  On the other hand, team opposition discussed how the concept of a democracy is completely against the concept of a community which our society is based on while also arguing that from a weak democracy it is much more feasible to evolve to a strong democracy.  To add, the concept of civilians wanting to overthrow the dictatorship in addition to the economic downturn, which a dictatorship allows for, were argued by the opposition.
Each team consisted of 3-4 members who were picked at random and each person in the team had to speak for 8 minutes.  Each participant was judged on the content of their speech, their structure and their style. At the end of the day, 12 out of the 23 debaters moved on to the next round to select the final five that will make up the team. Out of the 12 individuals that made it through to the next round, 3 were from St Catherine’s. Congratulations to Costas Mourselas, Achilleas Saradaris and Zoe Kalos for making it so far despite not making it into the final five.

The following weekend St. Catherine’s hosted a debate tournament with debaters invited to participate from various schools. There were four rounds followed by the finals. The debate motions for the four rounds were:

 

• This house would legalize multi-partner marriages for both men and women
Team proposition discussed how society is evolving and it is now a false ideal to have a single partner while also explaining how this won’t cause any problems to children.  To add they discussed the decreasing divorce rate and more content families.  On the other hand the opposition argued where the current status quo rests (the ideals of a single-partner family) and the fact that polygamy is not socially acceptable.  To add, social impacts of this measure being imposed were also discussed.



• This house believes that Anders Breivik should be allowed to choose the death penalty over the 21 year prison sentence he received
Team proposition discussed the freedom of choice that he deserves as an individual and then the idea that prison may not actually educate him but may lead him to become more violent. Team opposition argued that he has no right to these rights since he has taken fundamental human rights from the 91 people he killed while also discussed how by allowing this, the law system is undermined as it is giving rights to a mass-murderer.



• This house would not allow media filming, reporting or photography of public figures or celebrities that is unconnected with their profession, unless explicitly invited
Team proposition argued that celebrities are still humans and they have a right to privacy, especially when their actions are unrelated to their profession. To add, the idea that this is all a distraction from their profession was discussed. Team opposition argued for the freedom of the press in addition to the celebrities’ knowledge that with their profession comes extreme and often intruding media coverage.



• This house would allow all countries to have nuclear weapons
Team proposition argued how most countries have them anyway and how making them legal will allow for stability and transparency. To add, it was argued that the weapons will act as a form of deterrence and how if all countries know the other has them, they will be less likely to attack.  Team opposition proposed the political, economical and social downturns this measure will have – more aggressive politics, money being channeled into making these weapons and the public feeling unsafe.  To add they also pointed out that a balance won’t be reached as some countries will always be producing more weapons and alliance could be detrimental to world peace.
The team that made it to the finals and debated on whether “Golden Dawn” should be allowed to remain in the Greek Parliament, Achilleas Saradaris and Francesco Lovascio also made the top 10 speakers of the tournament, with Achilleas placing third and Francesco placing eighth alongside Harry Drake.
With many more debate tournaments to come we are extremely excited that the debate season has finally started after 2 months of waiting and we send a warm welcome to all the new debaters in the team.

​

​

- Erato Kallitsas  & Zoe Kalos 

​St.Cats Cross-Country Invite to Syngrou Park

​
Last Friday, October 5th, the annual get together of three separate schools located in Athens took place. A cross-country meet, organized by ACS, was inspired by the beautiful and natural setting of Syngrou Park. This central location, a 10-15 minute drive from St. Catherine’s school campus, proved the perfect arena for this event to be held. ACS kindly hosted the occasion with an athletic edge, in which Byron College, ACS, and St. Catherine’s all participated. It was a social and competitive occasion.  The mood was most certainly optimistic, and the students (of all ages) were eager to earn places for their schools. The 5 kilometers that these students ran, resulted in a victory for St. Catherine’s with five of our students achieving 1st,3rd,4th and 5th in the over 16’s run, and 2nd in the under 16’s. Having had no official cross country training prior to the run, this was a significant and entertaining occasion for the fit athletes representing St. Catherine’s.​

Running the complicated trails of Syngrou Park, all participants were exhausted when they reached the finish line. If there was a consistently smooth jogging path that allowed the group of runners to keep a steady heart rate, this event would not be as difficult as all three schools made it out to be. Dashing from the start line, little were aware of the uphill component, which further characterizes the success of a competing athlete, and gives him/her reason to note their achievement as boast worthy.
An ACS student from the under 16’s group, finished first. Viewers were quick to stop their boisterous conversations among one another and encourage the panting boy sprinting at full speed to make that extra push for a better time. Coming in second, wearing the white and blue of St.Catherines, was Nicholas Bougos, not far behind the determined ACS runner, he broke away from the main pack and took it that extra mile. ​

The end of the opening run (the under 16’s) meant that it was time for the seniors to put their legs to test. The starting line was full of strong-minded individuals, who had set out to win. As they approached the starting line, and awaited the official’s approval to dash off the starting point, little could throw them off achieving this ambition. Fueled by the prospect of earning a medal, the St. Catherine’s students finished in 1st, 3rd,4th, and 5th. Congratulations go out to Morgan Mitchell, who finished with a time of 20:41, Adam Groves, Lewis Watson, Aidan Mitchell and Elliot Watson, for having made it to the finish line. They gave it their all to climb up the steep inclines of Syngrou park, and sprint down the downhill parts only moments after.  The event promoted St. Catherines’ athletic edge, and all schools were grateful for ACS’s hosting of the event. St. Catherine’s will certainly look forward to their next Cross-Country meet after this event proved worthwhile!



-Morgan Mitchell