End of year event 2026: image over substance

The end of year event for the Greek School in Cardiff took place on the 27th of June at the school fields of Thornhill Primary with the theme “Olympics”. Since 2013, when I started getting involved with the Greek School, these have always been a highlight in the academic year and I welcome the committee continuing to organise them. However, in recent years the character of these events has changed and I am making a few points below, which I hope the committee will invite everyone to discuss. Please allow discussion to happen in a structured way. Regarding the theme of the Olympics, I thought it was a little bit out of context. The last Olympics were two years ago. This year is a World Cup year. I can see that the theme was meant to connect with the “gifts” received (see below), but basketball and football are a bit distant from the “Olympics”. OK, no problem.

Students graduating in gowns

It is completely weird to see students in graduation gowns when they finish their Greek GCSEs. No student in Greece wears a gown when they finish school. It is not the reality in Greece or Cyprus. It does not even happen in Britain. In Western Europe, only university students wear hats and gowns during graduation - a tradition that stems from Medieval times - but no relation to Greek schools. Plus the Greek School is not an awarding body for GCSEs. So why are we forcing this weird tradition to our kids? The answer is simple: because it looks good in photographs. The substance of the certificate they receive remains the same with or without gowns. So, image over substance.

Students who are not graduating still in gowns

The more problematic issue is that at the celebration of the 27th, students who had not completed their GCSEs also wore gowns. In fact only 2 of the 6 students wearing gowns had actually completed their GCSEs. The rest will be at school for another year preparing for GCSE exams next year. Why were they wearing gowns? The answer is simple: because it looks good in photographs. Showing 6 students in gowns has more of an impact than showing 2 students in gowns. However, the substance of the fact that they did not actually graduate does not change regardless of gowns. So, image over substance.

Even if we accepted that it is a good idea for Greek School students to wear gowns after GCSE (it isn’t), by making students who have not completed their GCSE wear a gown, it reduces the value of the gown itself - it is unfair for the ones actually graduating.

Gifts received

If I understood correctly what was happening, the Greek Embassy donated football and basketball court equipment to the Greek School as well as some football T-shirts. So we, as a School, gave an award to the ambassador to thank him (see below).

Forgive me but am I the only one who thinks this is at least enigmatic? I am asking the obvious question: The Greek School does not have a yard which is able to accommodate a basketball or football court. In fact we do not even have space to store such equipment. How are we going to use it? Is the idea that the equipment will stay with the Thornhill Primary? I really do not see how this will work. Will we book the Thornhill Primary to go and play football and basketball? When? Has anyone been in the evening, mid-winter at the Thornhill Primary fields? Not exactly ideal. Public transport is difficult and it takes at least 45min to drive from the centre of the city at peak times.

Was this really a priority for the School?

Our School is a language school with limited class hours per week and with the objective to teach the Greek history and culture to our children. Is football and basketball really a priority? Don’t get me wrong, I love football and basketball, but I have been taking my kids to our local basketball court in Cardiff for the past 10 years to play, and really I have no expectation from a Greek language School to train my kids in basketball. I want the Greek language School to teach them to speak Greek.

So, I do not want to sound ungrateful, but we received gifts that are irrelevant to our scope and rather difficult to use anyway. But of course receiving gifts from the ambassador of Greece looks good in photographs. So image over substance.

Awards

The ambassador of Greece in the UK was given an award, presumably for purchasing the basketball and football equipment for the School. In my 13 years being involved with the Greek School in Cardiff, no ambassador has ever visited the School (that I am aware of anyway). I am sure of the current ambassador’s good intentions and I have no criticism towards him personally, but the Greek Embassy in London has never helped our School in any meaningful way. So why are we honouring the ambassador? How has his contribution made a substantial difference to the School? We need teachers, money to pay teachers and money to pay the rent, please. We need the Embassy to actively support the School.
The company Navarino was given an award. None of the parents had heard of that company. Are they linked to Cardiff or Britain at all? Why are we receiving gifts from companies we have no connection with and why are we advertising them? Presumably they sold the equipment in a discounted price? Did they donate money to the Embassy? They did not even turn up to receive the award which was rude to say the least or the gift was of insignificant value to them.
There was another person who received an award. No-one had seen him before or knew who he was. He did not know anyone either. It is still a mystery who he was and why he received the award. No connection with the community whatsoever. Am I going mad?

What is the meaning of giving awards to entities that are not part of the community and have not helped the School? The awards lose their meaning. The answer is simple: it looks good in photographs. Again, image over substance.

I applaud of course the recognition of parents who have contributed a lot of their time to the School. Well done to them and I also thank them. It is motivation for other parents to contribute as well. That recognition could be expressed with a simple “thank you” from the head-teacher. There is no need for awards!

Proposals

I am proposing a restructure of the end of year celebration event for next year:

Hold the event at a space with shade options and an indoors option. A good space we have used before is the Rudry Parish Hall.
Get rid of the gowns - they are irrelevant!
No awards and no speeches! Just ask the head-teacher to hand out the certificates and thank people.
Keep it more as a community activity event, and not a stage/audience event.
Yes to the food options.
Yes to games and more of them. Games that reflect Greek culture (let’s teach our kids μήλα, αμπάριζα, etc.)
Yes to Welsh, possibly through more games from the Welsh tradition.

We should stop using the School events as a chance for social media attention (the image) and make it more about the community (the substance). Let us reflect on where we are and where we should be.

The Greek Leek

P.S. As the summers in Britain are getting hotter and hotter, being outside in the sun for many hours mid-day is not a good idea. Also, start on the advertised time, it is not nice for the parents to wait in the sun for so long. Finally, I have done AV setups in the past and I know it is difficult to get such technology functioning outdoors, plus it’s an expense and a safety risk. Let’s reduce the speeches and the need for microphones.