Educational programmes

The educational programmes that take place every year are at the core of the Hill School’s pedagogical work. The educational programmes are associated to the subject matters of the Curriculum and offer the children the opportunity to approach a series of concepts and cognitive subjects through interdisciplinary experiential activities.

The programme “Friendly Mathematics” takes place in all of the elementary school’s grades and is designed in such a manner as to address all our pupils’ learning needs and pace. The programme’s objective is to enable the pupils to think for themselves, to solve problems, to handle the challenges they are handed with assurance and not with fear.

The syllabus and our material are organised in such a way that the children learn to think in a logical manner, to grasp concepts, to connect them in an unbroken logical chain and to speak the language of mathematics. The stimuli for learning a concept are given experientially, through situations from their everyday life. At the same time, through appropriate, specially-formulated material and questions, the children are led to conclusions and generalisations, understand the mathematical concepts and their practical applications and, above all, develop a positive attitude towards the cognitive subject of mathematics.

The “Friendly Mathematics” programme began in 2012, under the scientific supervision of Mr Dimítris Hassápis, professor at the University of Athens’ Department of Early Childhood Education, who oversaw its conception and initial implementation, and continues to the present.

“Time-routes” (chronodiadromés) is an educational programme/route through time and space. The 4th-grade pupils explore Pláka, the school’s neighbourhood. Using words and sketches, they record traces of times past that coexist with today’s daily life, they observe, make assumptions and discover.

During the lesson, the children go outside the school in small groups that then meet in class to share their experiences. Each lesson hides surprises, as well as people encountered, often in an unplanned manner and which enrich the programme’s field work.

The programme “Time-routes” has been carried out uninterruptedly since the academic year 2011-12.

During the educational programme “The Gardens’ Secrets” the children in 3rd Grade explored the National Gardens through a treasure hunt.

The programme’s main goal was for the children to observe the Gardens’ natural environment and its landmarks, approach the landscape through all of their senses and to take note of the signs left by the passage of time and the changing of the seasons.

During their walking tours, the children played orientation games, measured the height of trees and the diameter of tree trunks, acquainted themselves with plants and the myths associated with them and collected seeds and leaves. The “conclusions” of their research were transformed into poems, board games and drawings, as well as a unique guided tour of the National Gardens for their parents!

The programme “The Gardens’ Secrets” was held over the academic year 2017-18.

During the school year 2017-18, the children in Fifth Grade explored the concept of historical time through an interdisciplinary educational programme called “Yesterday and Today in a Fortified City”.

Implemented over four months, its objective was to highlight the changes brought about by the passage of time on places and people’s habits. The subject’s approach and handling was associated to the classes of Language, History, Geography, the Arts, Exploration and Mathematics. The programme was crowned by a three-day excursion to Mystrás, where the children carried out fieldwork, searched for traces of yesterday and today in the village of Mystrás, gave a theatrical representation of historical events, visited the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil in Sparta and played in the region’s Goudés Park.

The educational programme “Yesterday and Today in a Fortified City” was realised during the school year 2017-18.

Using as their starting point the reading and analysis of the book “Pétros’ War”, the 6th-grade pupils dived into Greece’s history during the interwar period and World War II.

In the context of their examination of this period in history, they went on a historical walk in the centre of Athens in the wake of Pétros’ footsteps and sought out the historical remains of this particular period of history in their neighbourhood (25/10/2017). After this, they created a map where they recorded their trajectory -the route followed by Pétros- and the salient landmarks along it. After watching a documentary on the life of Alki Zéi, the book’s author, they sent her an envelope with their letters and invited her to the school.

And indeed, in February 2018, Alki Zéi visited the school, discussed her life, her work and… Pétros with the sixth-grade pupils, and was guided around the exhibition with the drawings and essays that the children had produced during the educational programme.

The programme “Pétros’ War” was held over the academic year 2017-18.

The educational programme “…in a family manner…” is addressed to 4th-grade pupils and explores the subject of family in an attempt to approach the concept from different angles.

The programme’s main objective is for the children to get to know each other better, to explore, to collaborate and, at the same time, to cultivate respect and an acceptance of the other in a collegiality context.

The concept of family is explored though individual and group actions using an interdisciplinary approach and is associated to the Visual Arts, Music and Greek Language classes, as well as the Animated Pictures and Photography workshops, which are held within the Circles framework. In the course of the programme, through the use of research procedures, the children gradually discover each one’s unique trajectory.

The programme “…in a family manner…” took place in the school from the 2009-10 school year through to the 2017-18 period.