The 2017-18 school year sees us celebrating our 50th Anniversary and on 15th September (chosen because of its significance in the Bulgarian academic year) there was a day of celebration. This included everyone wearing a commemorative anniversary t-shirt, a giant horo (a traditional Bulgarian folk dance),  the filling of a time capsule to be opened in 25 years time, an all school picnic and of course, the obligatory birthday cake - which in our case was in the shape of the school!

We also managed to manoeuvre 628 bodies into place in the shape of our anniversary logo while a cameraman with a drone snapped the photographs.

Two days later we had our inaugural AAS Anniversary Golf Tournament at a local top leisure resort.

Our anniversary celebrations will continue in a Grand Black Tie Gala on 20th January 2018.

At the same time we readied ourselves for our next big project, the building of an €8m arts centre at the school which will include a two-storey theatre and music and visual art workshops. The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new building took place on October 10th and on this day AAS hosted a number of dignitaries, including ambassadors. After an audio video presentation to guests and secondary students, the whole school gathered on our new piece of land, in the sunshine, to witness the blessing of the venture by a priest (which is a strongly upheld tradition in Bulgaria).

Finally, after a grand countdown and a shout by everyone of ‘Can you dig it!’,  20 honoured guests, all wearing hard hats,  put their shovels into the ground and turned the fresh soil.

It is hoped that we will be holding the grand opening ceremony of the building in November 2018!