Australian school students visit Greece as part of their educational program

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY ATHENS

PRESS RELEASE

Australian school students visit Greece as part of

educational & cultural program

On 11 June 2012, the Australian Embassy in Athens received 46 students and teachers from St Spyridon College in Sydney, Australia.

St Spyridon College is a co-educational school providing education to some 700 students from kindergarten to Year 12. It was established in 1983 by the St Spyridon Parish of South East Sydney, under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. St Spyridon students come from 20 different cultural backgrounds.

The visit is part of the school's annual program aiming to immerse students in the Greek language, culture and history. In Athens, the students laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Syntagma Square and at the Commowealth War Cemetary in Alimos. The students were received at a reception hosted by Ambassador Jenny Polyxeni Bloomfield at the Australian Residence. During their stay, the students will tour archaeogical sites and visit various parts of Greece.

As part of this year's ANZAC Day commemorations, St Spyridon College students took part in an on-line communication with students from Livadohori in Lemnos, during which students reflected on Lemnos' bonds with the ANZAC campaign and discussed the historical links between the two nations.

"These visits reflect the strong and enduring people to people, educational and cultural links between Australia and Greece - underpinned by the 500,000 strong Greek community in Australia and over 100,000 Australian citizens living in Greece", said Mrs Bloomfield.

"The strong bonds between our two countries are felt especially keenly during these difficult times for Greece. Australia believes that Greece will be able to overcome its problems, and we stand ready to assist in any way that we can".

Greek is one of Australia's major community languages, spoken at home by some 250,000 Australians, and is among the top ten languages studied at Australian schools. In 2011 the Australian Government identified Greek for inclusion in Australia's national curriculum as a foreign language to be offered to students in Australian schools. This is an important development for the maintenance of the Greek language among the Greek-Australian community, in addition to community schools.

ATHENS

11 June 2012