Our New Building

Our School Our Future

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Our story so far...

In June 2018 the diggers were poised, the hammers lifted and the concrete was mixed, ready to start the transformation of the old textile factory into a brand new home for the Upper School of St Catherine’s. Work began and progression was rapid as the building was taken from the old into the new.

The discovery of archaeological remains on a large building site in Greece was of little surprise to many. REDEX, the construction company, re-programmed their work to accommodate the team working on behalf of the Ministry and worked around the areas of archaeological remains.

The rarity of some of the archeological finds, dating back to the Neolithic era has meant the work took longer than anticipated, although it will provide an opportunity for some on-site historical learning for our students!

As work progresses the exterior of the building is often concealed with scaffolding or netting but what cannot be concealed is the scale of the building - it is big! It will truly provide the space and freedom for our students to learn and grow in.

Today the interior looks like a typical busy building site nearing completion, the concrete work is finalised, rooms are being created, stairs have been built and the air conditioning has been installed. The whole site projects a message that work is moving forward and even the casual observer cannot fail to feel a sense of excitement that here is a building of significant scale that is going to ensure St Catherine’s stays at the forefront of international education.

The construction is moving into its final stages, we plan to be using some of the facilities of the new building in the academic year of 2019/20, with the whole Upper School moving in fully in September 2020.

The transformation of St Catherine’s is happening and we know the future looks very exciting!

Why does St Catherine’s need to fundraise?

The school was founded in 1956 by Sir William and Lady Peake when Sir William was the British Ambassador to Greece. Starting as a primary school with less than 30 children at the British Ambassador’s Residence, St Catherine’s has grown into an IB school with over 1,200 students whilst remaining firmly committed to its motto of Excellence and Happiness. As we consider the political and economic shifts around us, we feel even more strongly the importance of providing students with the knowledge, understanding and confidence to become successful, reflective and compassionate citizens of the world – now and in future generations.

Whilst we pride ourselves on the quality of our staff, we also acknowledge that our facilities no longer reflect our leading school status. Not only have we outgrown our buildings but we are in need of state-of-the-art learning spaces. We recognise the need to invest the School’s own resources in making a project like this a reality and St Catherine’s has secured support from two major banks to the total of c15m, plus invested the development fund and some income from school fees towards the project.

For an organisation with an annual turnover of approximately c13.5m this is a major undertaking but we know we can reach our goals with philanthropic support.

Unlike many other Independent Schools, St Catherine’s has no historical endowment income, with our main source of revenue derived from tuition fees which is used primarily to fund the school’s annual operating costs. Therefore whilst we can cover the costs of the building we are asking for additional support to ensure the facilities and technology in the new building are the very best they can be.

Our Journey • Phase 1 – Completion of the New Upper School with a predicted phased move in 2020 • Phase 2 – Adjacent Sports Complex in the Wella Building - intention to start in 2020 • Phase 3 – Redevelopment of the Lower School or purchase of neighbouring land close to the New Building to develop a new Lower School

How you can help...

In September 2018 we launched an ambitious fundraising campaign for St Catherine’s and we are very proud of the progress that has been made. Thank you to those who have already supported and helped to make a fundamental difference.

St Catherine’s is committed to the pursuit of knowledge and remaining at the forefront of education. We will use gifts of support to add long-term value; to provide immersive and stimulating learning experiences to enhance the world-class education we provide; and as a Microsoft Flagship School we will be even more committed to using the latest technological innovations which will give more opportunities for students to integrate the latest technology into their classes and support teaching practices that prepare them for a fast changing world.

There are a number of ways you can support the school, you can: • Support a Space in our new Upper School or our Sports Complex to help us be the best we can be in all areas of the school • Take a Seat in our beautiful whole school Theatre. Name a seat for yourself or as a gift and an engraved plaque will be affixed to the seat of your choice • Make Your Mark by making a donation of any size to support a particular area of learning • Support our Green it! campaign to make St Catherine’s an eco-friendly space With your support and commitment we have the opportunity to create the very best international education for our students, cultivating our school’s cosmopolitan ethos and inspiring our students’ curiosity. Collectively the opportunities are endless!

Realising this bold vision for our school would not be possible without the support of our parents and former parents, such as yourselves, entrusting your children’s education with us.

And finally, thank you to the collective generosity of parents, past and present, alumni, PTSA and Friends of the School, we have so far raised over c1m with so many of the St Catherine’s community having donated to date.

Thank you for your support so far – we hope you feel inspired by what is ahead!

Keep in touch…

Visit: The Development Office, CWT Building / Call: 210-2829750 Email: developmentoffice@stcatherines.gr

Phase One - Ground floor

Be Inspired...

On the ground floor at the West end of the New Building is the 400 seat state-of-the-art theatre with dressing rooms and black box classroom for drama lessons. It will also house the canteen for KS3 students which is replicated immediately above on the first floor for IB students.

The 110m² Music Room stands proudly on the North side together with the sound proofed recording studio and practice rooms for all our budding musicians. The STEM Hub is home to The Science Zone with nine amazing science labs, the ICT FabLab, Food Technology Lab and three ICT labs. The North-East side houses the Maths department and learning support classrooms. This is the floor where Mr Smith will have his office together with the Admissions Office, the Development Office and the Medical Room.

First Floor

The Foyer and entrance will house the fabulous egg shaped Conference Room. Go up the stairs and you will see the two floor 222m² Library which will also include an IB Study Room and Terrace, Art Studios with lots of natural light plus the IB Art Terrace and 20 variously sized class rooms for the Humanities and Language Departments. Dr Bond’s office, the Key Stage Head’s offices, Careers / Uni and IB CAS Co-ordinator’s office will all be housed on the first floor. This floor has spectacular views down into the atrium which goes through the entire building and reaches up three floors to the roof garden.

Roof Garden

Be Inspired...

The roof garden is a fabulous open space where our community will meet with nature. It extends the length of the whole building and will provide a garden on two levels with a small canteen area, an amphitheatre and free spaces for social activity and relaxation. It will be a hub for students and our community to enjoy enhanced by plants, shrubs and small trees. This space will also house solar panels and eco systems to ensure the school is as eco-friendly as possible in line with our Go Green! mission.

Phase Two - The Sports Complex

Our Story Continues‌ The planning of Phase Two is nearing completion and we aim to start the conversion of the existing building in 2020, when funding has been secured.

The campus of the new Upper School building will expand to house a brand new Sports Complex for the whole school community to use. We are delighted that it will include a six lane, 25m long and 2m deep indoor swimming pool with tiered spectator seating.

The space will house basketball, badminton and volleyball courts, a 5-a-side football pitch, gymnasium, class rooms, dance area and a climbing wall.

We will also be creating a dedicated alumni space to welcome our students home.

We are very excited about Phase Three when we will focus on redeveloping the Lower School facilities and and we look forward to sharing our plans with you in the very near future.

An example of how the Sports Complex may look

Architects: Nick Vratsanos and Nadia Coula

If you would like to become involved there are many ways you can do so, from joining one of our support programmes below, volunteering your time or making a donation of any size to the project.

Your support will enable the realisation of our bold vision for St Catherine’s.

Sponsor a Space What is close to your heart?

Support a key area in our brand new building such as the Theatre, Science Labs, Music Suite to name just a few

Make Your Mark

Take a Seat

Green it!

Join our Make Your Mark scheme and make a donation of any size to support a particular educational area in school. Help our students to Make Their Mark in the world

Sponsor a seat in the theatre for yourself or as a gift and an engraved plaque will be affixed to the seat of your choice

With your caring support, we can create a greener future. All proceeds will contribute to our eco school vision

Keep in touch‌ Visit: The Development Office, CWT Building or stcatherines.gr/our-new-building/ Call: 210-2829750 Email: developmentoffice@stcatherines.gr Charity No: 313909

This brochure is printed on FSC paper from sustainable forests. Please always remember to recycle

Together We Can Reach Our Goals!