Primary schools in Greece

Aims and Structure of the Primary School

The aim of the primary school is the mental and physical development of children. These aims can be broken down into 6 objectives as listed below:

• To develop and widen the link between a child's creative
  activity and the objects, events and phenomena that they study.


• To develop the schemas and organisation of each child's
  abilities to accommodate and assimilate knowledge, to cultivate their
  coordination skills, physical and mental health.


• To acquire and understand important ideas and be able to
  gradually move from concrete thinking to abstract thinking


• To be able to communicate effectively both in writing
  and speaking.


• To slowly develop an understanding of morality and
  humanitarian issues as well as the important values of both their own and
  other societies and cultures.


• To cultivate each child's appreciation of aesthetics in
  all art forms. To be able to appreciate works of art and to express their
  own creative abilities.

Primary school education takes place over a period of six years and the above objectives are built into each school year. Any child who has reached the age of 5 years and 6 months on the 1st October of the year of enrolment will begin in Year 1. Evidence of a child's age must be proven by his or her birth certificate. Promotion from one grade (or year) to the next takes place if, according to the opinion of the teacher, pupils meet the evaluation prerequisites that demonstrate the degree to which they have acquired the knowledge corresponding to their grade. Whenever and wherever individual differences occur, an effort is made to deal with them by paying the child individual attention in the context of his/her grade or class unit. When a child completes their primary school education they receive a certificate of studies which is then used for the enrolment into Secondary school. The ratio of students to teacher in each class can vary depending upon the number of schools in the area, the population of the location, etc. Generally, however, it is about 25-30 students in a class. In some cases though, when special local circumstances exist, a one-teacher school could be established, regardless of the number of children who attend it.

• Year 1, age 6 to 7


• Year 2, age 7 to 8


• Year 3, age 8 to 9


• Year 4, age 9 to 10


• Year 5, age 10 to 11


• Year 6, age 11 to 12

The daily program begins at 8.10 and ends at 13.30. The school
hours for the 1st and 2nd grade are 25 hours per week and for the
3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade 30 hours. Some Greek schools operate by a "double shift" (morning –
afternoon) and the afternoon timetable for such schools is made up in the same way.

The weekly timetable of schools of Primary Education has been
defined by Ministerial Decision. The daily program of school duties is set
up by the Director of each school, in cooperation with the teaching
staff.