Elders week and Languages day and Kataklysmos
The glory of the elderly is their insight, their knowledge, and their wisdom." — Lailah Gifty Akita
Dear Colleagues
As we wrap up another vibrant week at our school, I want to take a moment to reflect on two beautiful themes that have enriched our classrooms and programmes over the last few days: the wisdom of our elders and the incredible tapestry of international languages.
While these might seem like distinct topics, they are deeply connected. Both are about bridging gaps, building empathy, and understanding the roots of who we are.
In our fast-paced, digital world, it is easy to get caught up in the "now." However, this week we challenged our students to slow down and look to the past by honouring and respecting the older generations in our communities.
Our elders hold the living history of our world. They are libraries of lived experience, resilience, and perspective. When we teach our children to respect and listen to older people, we aren't just teaching good manners; we are opening a door to invaluable life lessons.
A Challenge for this Weekend: I have encouraged all of our students to call a grandparent, visit an older neighbour, or sit down with an elderly family member. To ask them a single question: "What is something you know now that you wish you knew at my age?" Please ask them on Monday what incredible stories and wisdom unfolded.
Fittingly, as we honour the keepers of our history, we also celebrated international languages this week. As an international school, this theme is incredibly pertinent. Indeed June 6th is recognised by the UN as Russian language day and this is one of the home languages for our students. We have many others and altogether there are over 28 home languages represented in our school! We also teach English, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian and Hebrew which is an amazing array of languages provided as a school.
Language is so much more than a tool for communication—it is the vehicle of culture, tradition, and identity. This week, our campus felt truly global as we celebrated the multitude of languages spoken within our own community. It was a beautiful reminder of our strength in diversity.
Learning a new language is the ultimate act of respect; it says to another person, "I want to understand your world."
Whether it is a grandmother passing down a traditional phrase in her native tongue, or a student learning to say "hello" in a classmate's language, these moments define what it means to be a global citizen. By respecting our elders and embracing our linguistic diversity, we build a community rooted in kindness and mutual respect.
This week has been a shortened week also due to the public holiday in Cyprus called Kataklysmos. Kataklysmos, or “The Festival of the Flood,” takes place 50 days after Orthodox Easter, coinciding with Pentecost. The word itself—Κατακλυσμός—literally means “flood,” and the festival is inspired by the biblical story of Noah’s Ark as well as ancient Greek mythology and local folklore.
In the Greek Orthodox tradition, Kataklysmos marks the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, empowering them to spread the word of Christianity in many different languages. The element of water symbolises cleansing, renewal, and rebirth—fitting themes for this festival. Celebrations take place across Cyprus on the waterfront. We had our own celebrations last Friday in Waldorf and in our own way celebrating varied languages also honours this festival.
Our IB Grade 1 classes participated in an art trip to Fosaki Pottery Workshop this week - many thanks to Christianna and the Grade 1 team and Class 6 Waldorf visited the Archeological Park in Kato Paphos in line with their studies in Roman civilisation - well done to Matthew and Kennie!.
MYP students took their GL progress assessments in Mathematics and English this week. These results will be shared in the end of year reports. Thanks to all secondary teachers for supporting this and to Grajina for organising them all. Thank you to Avair and IT for their unstinting support once again! In secondary our Grade 8 and Grade 10 students presented their Community and Personal projects and Grade 11 shared their Theory of Knowledge exhibitions and CAS projects, both of which are part of the final DP award. We hope many of you had the opportunity to visit and enjoy these amazing presentations. I know that I really appreciated the variety and the research and work that had gone into them. Many thanks to Daria, Konstantin, Tagir, Marwa and Sharmistha for their organisation and inspiration of our students.
Today and tomorrow we have our annual Art exhibition with art work from across the school community and from a variety of different aged children. We hope you all get the chance to come and view this creative and talented artwork at the Morfi gallery. Thank you to all the teachers who have helped to collect together this artwork and to Natasha, Christanna, Vasia, Boyana and other colleagues who supported to make this event happen!
Thank you for your continued support as we near the end of term. Please remember that next week all lessons continue mostly as normal and students are still completing summative and end of year assessments, so let us not drift into off task activities just yet. I wish you all a wonderful, restful, and conversational weekend!
Best regards,
Deborah Economou
Head of School
The glory of the elderly is their insight, their knowledge, and their wisdom." — Lailah Gifty Akita
Dear Colleagues
As we wrap up another vibrant week at our school, I want to take a moment to reflect on two beautiful themes that have enriched our classrooms and programmes over the last few days: the wisdom of our elders and the incredible tapestry of international languages.
While these might seem like distinct topics, they are deeply connected. Both are about bridging gaps, building empathy, and understanding the roots of who we are.
In our fast-paced, digital world, it is easy to get caught up in the "now." However, this week we challenged our students to slow down and look to the past by honouring and respecting the older generations in our communities.
Our elders hold the living history of our world. They are libraries of lived experience, resilience, and perspective. When we teach our children to respect and listen to older people, we aren't just teaching good manners; we are opening a door to invaluable life lessons.
A Challenge for this Weekend: I have encouraged all of our students to call a grandparent, visit an older neighbour, or sit down with an elderly family member. To ask them a single question: "What is something you know now that you wish you knew at my age?" Please ask them on Monday what incredible stories and wisdom unfolded.
Fittingly, as we honour the keepers of our history, we also celebrated international languages this week. As an international school, this theme is incredibly pertinent. Indeed June 6th is recognised by the UN as Russian language day and this is one of the home languages for our students. We have many others and altogether there are over 28 home languages represented in our school! We also teach English, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian and Hebrew which is an amazing array of languages provided as a school.
Language is so much more than a tool for communication—it is the vehicle of culture, tradition, and identity. This week, our campus felt truly global as we celebrated the multitude of languages spoken within our own community. It was a beautiful reminder of our strength in diversity.
Learning a new language is the ultimate act of respect; it says to another person, "I want to understand your world."
Whether it is a grandmother passing down a traditional phrase in her native tongue, or a student learning to say "hello" in a classmate's language, these moments define what it means to be a global citizen. By respecting our elders and embracing our linguistic diversity, we build a community rooted in kindness and mutual respect.
This week has been a shortened week also due to the public holiday in Cyprus called Kataklysmos. Kataklysmos, or “The Festival of the Flood,” takes place 50 days after Orthodox Easter, coinciding with Pentecost. The word itself—Κατακλυσμός—literally means “flood,” and the festival is inspired by the biblical story of Noah’s Ark as well as ancient Greek mythology and local folklore.
In the Greek Orthodox tradition, Kataklysmos marks the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, empowering them to spread the word of Christianity in many different languages. The element of water symbolises cleansing, renewal, and rebirth—fitting themes for this festival. Celebrations take place across Cyprus on the waterfront. We had our own celebrations last Friday in Waldorf and in our own way celebrating varied languages also honours this festival.
Our IB Grade 1 classes participated in an art trip to Fosaki Pottery Workshop this week - many thanks to Christianna and the Grade 1 team and Class 6 Waldorf visited the Archeological Park in Kato Paphos in line with their studies in Roman civilisation - well done to Matthew and Kennie!.
MYP students took their GL progress assessments in Mathematics and English this week. These results will be shared in the end of year reports. Thanks to all secondary teachers for supporting this and to Grajina for organising them all. Thank you to Avair and IT for their unstinting support once again! In secondary our Grade 8 and Grade 10 students presented their Community and Personal projects and Grade 11 shared their Theory of Knowledge exhibitions and CAS projects, both of which are part of the final DP award. We hope many of you had the opportunity to visit and enjoy these amazing presentations. I know that I really appreciated the variety and the research and work that had gone into them. Many thanks to Daria, Konstantin, Tagir, Marwa and Sharmistha for their organisation and inspiration of our students.
Today and tomorrow we have our annual Art exhibition with art work from across the school community and from a variety of different aged children. We hope you all get the chance to come and view this creative and talented artwork at the Morfi gallery. Thank you to all the teachers who have helped to collect together this artwork and to Natasha, Christanna, Vasia, Boyana and other colleagues who supported to make this event happen!
Thank you for your continued support as we near the end of term. Please remember that next week all lessons continue mostly as normal and students are still completing summative and end of year assessments, so let us not drift into off task activities just yet. I wish you all a wonderful, restful, and conversational weekend!
Best regards,
Deborah Economou
Head of School