Ermoupoli: 10/10 in the 4th Experimental School review

Top marks, 10 out of 10 in every area, were awarded to the 4th Experimental Primary School of Ermoupoli in the external evaluation of its educational work. The evaluation was carried out by the Governing Committee of Model and Experimental Schools (D.E.P.P.S.) of the Ministry of Education and covers the 2025-2026 school year. The result was announced on Wednesday 19 August 2026 in a text signed by the school’s management and its teaching staff and published by Cyclades24. According to the same text, the committee paid particular attention to the organisation of the internal evaluation, to the documentation of the activities and to the consistency with which the whole of the year’s educational effort was presented, as well as to the cooperation among the teachers and the school’s relationship with families and the local community.

The year under evaluation included seven educational clubs: robotics, programming, journalism, choir, reading for pleasure, natural sciences and creative expression. Alongside these, activities on disability were carried out, introducing pupils to Braille and sign language, as well as initiatives to prevent school violence built around empathy, respect and responsibility. The high point, as described, was the event “200 Years of Ermoupoli – Small citizens, great history” at the Cyclades Art Gallery, where the pupils presented the history of the town and acted as guides themselves. The event was attended by Maria Rellia, a member of D.E.P.P.S. and head of the 12-class Ralleio Experimental Primary School of Piraeus, who acknowledged both the quality of the presentation and the importance of spreading the activity through the local community.

For Syros, this achievement concerns more people than those who attend the school itself. Experimental schools operate as a testing ground for new methods, the results of which are passed on to the other schools of the area; the D.E.P.P.S. evaluation is the mechanism that judges whether that role is being fulfilled. The 4th Experimental School cooperates with the 6th Experimental Nursery School of Ermoupoli and the 1st Experimental Lower Secondary School of Syros, as well as with schools in Greece and abroad, and has been recognised as an eTwinning School for the 2026-2027 period. The library, the computer lab and the school premises were upgraded with the support of the Regional Directorate of Education of the South Aegean, the Directorate of Primary Education of the Cyclades, the Region of the South Aegean, the Municipality of Syros-Ermoupoli and the Parents and Guardians Association.

The school says it does not regard the result as the end of a journey. “The excellent result does not make us complacent,” reads the announcement by the management and the teaching staff, which credits the success to the pupils, the teachers, the families and the island bodies that support its work in practice. It has not been announced whether the full text of the evaluation report will be made public, nor when the next evaluation cycle will begin. The new school year starts in September, with the clubs expected to run again, though for now there is no official announcement about their composition.