Our Story

Our Founders

NIKOLOPOULEIO was founded in Larissa, Greece in 1959 by Dionysios and Despina Nikolopoulou, two cosmopolitan world travellers with a shared love for the beauty of the English language.

Their mission was to connect learners, peers, and instructors to a world of global life skills, as pioneers in interactive language learning and vocational education in Greece. 

parents - founder - Nikolopouleio

Our First School (A Central –‘A Kentriko’)

NIKOLOPOULEIO was founded in 1959.

NIKOLOPOULEIO’s first iconic building at 29 Lambrou Katsoni Street, which was officially launched in 1962, quickly became famous as a school for world skills, offering a range of classes, lectures, painting exhibitions, art workshops. The school was actively leading in the publishing of literary journals and English language textbooks.

Having attended specialized seminars in the UK, at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and London, the founders combined their passion for learning with a drive to create a highly-successful education hub focused on providing :

  • Skill-based and cosmopolitan language learning
  • Training for English speaking Secretaries and Business administration assistants
  • Life skills and employability skills through courses such as accountancy, decorating, stenography, typing

The recent photography exhibition held at our A Central school during our Diamond Anniversary (2019) year, was a visual flashback representing decades of successful and innovative operations.

Nikolopouleio Language School Entrance 1 - old
photo exhibition - Nikolopouleio
old teaching - Nikolopouleio
old classes - Nikolopouleio
old art exhibition - Nikolopouleio

Our Second School (B Central –‘B Kentriko’)

1995 marked the next important milestone in our story, when we opened our second school at the intersection of Koumoundourou and Tagmatarchou Velissariou streets, in Larissa.

NIKOLOPOULEIO Today

2019 was NIKOLOPOULEIO’s Diamond Anniversary, celebrating sixty years of innovation focusing on  language education and multicultural awareness.

As a celebration of this important milestone and in order to pay tribute to the vision of Dionysios and Despina, we launched our new Diamond logo, drawing on the sepia hue of the original brand colour, widely used during the first 30 years of our operation.

The diamond is a visual representation of the NIKOLOPOULEIO journey; a symbol of durability, longevity, quality and excellence.

brochure sample - Nikolopouleio
diamond logo - Nikolopouleio

Values

The NIKOLOPOULEIO values govern all of our activities as an organization. The learning environment we offer honours the intent and integrity of our founders, and their commitment to being relevant in the modern world. Our values include:

  • Professionalism
  • Creativity
  • Excellence
  • Personal responsibility
  • Work ethic
  • Cultural awareness
  • Cooperative learning

Educational Philosophy and Methods

As an educational organisation, NIKOLOPOULEIO is a comprehensive, 21st century international language school.

Our focus is on the learners and their needs, and our philosophy is the cornerstone of the framework that guides our approach, supported by our  extracurricular programmes, unique to NIKOLOPOULEIO:

Citizens of the World – Cosmopolitan Competencies©, My School in the City©, Multilingual Ateliers©

philosophy and methods - nikolopoulei language school

At NIKOLOPOULEIO we are placing the student at the centre of the educational experience. The student learning journey is fully supported by our teaching and management teams, external advisors to programmes, coaches, as well as our office managers.

Integrating the parents in their childrens’ learning journey, we launched a parental advisory board, in 2019.  The aim of the board is to focus on actively engaging the parents’ views in the educational process; this is important for giving us a co-owned direction in terms of future offerings and services at NIKOLOPOULEIO.

Parental Advisory Board - Nikolopouleio

Meet the Team

NIKOLOPOULEIO is proud to have in its team a global community of experts, teachers, educators, advisors and entrepreneurs, excited about helping us create a unique learning experience in our schools. 

Our management philosophy focuses on autonomous empowered teams that can undertake and complete all stages of their activities with confidence, facilitated by clear, professional school practices, and supported by our external personal/organizational development consultants, who are familiar with the school environment and the role of leadership in the educational process.

NIKOLOPOULEIO is supported by two office managers who receive continuous coaching in order to facilitate excellence, and better support the work and processes of the school.

Learning and growing with our students

Our teaching team consists of several   language teachers (English-French-German-Spanish-Italian) with a broad set of skills, educational competences and qualifications, as well as study and work experience abroad. The majority of our teachers are university graduates and holders of postgraduate qualifications, having specialised in a range of areas, such as linguistics, English and American literature, innovative teaching methodologies and  e-learning and educational innovation pedagogies amongst others.

Our teachers are active co-creators in formations following the Action Learning set method, meeting regularly to help each other learn from their joint, shared experience. They benefit from studying and applying, in-depth, topics of global contemporary educational interest. Hosted by a facilitator, the sessions are structured in order to enable each individual in the group to achieve their own  learning objectives; colleagues support and challenge each other to make progress on their goals. The Action learning team outcomes feature in our website blog.

Action Learning Sets - Teacher2 - Nikolopouleio
Action Learning Sets - Teacher - Nikolopouleio

Our Management Team

akis nikolopoulos - Nikolopouleio

Panagiotis Nikolopoulos –Director of NIKOLOPOULEIO

The son of the founders, Panagiotis is a highly experienced  teacher of English, having taught for 27 years. He holds a BA in English Literature, a Masters in Linguistics from the University of Reading, and an MBA from the University of Middlesex in London. He is actively involved in applied academic research in the field of Management. In 2018, the European Management Academy honoured his article on Global Knowledge Workers as the best article of the year in the distinguished European Management Review magazine. Along with his sister, he is the co-creator of the extra-curricular programme, Cosmopolitan Competencies- Citizens of the World ©. Based on the core NIKOLOPOULEIO vision, and its expertise in providing consistent quality of foreign language teaching, the programme encourages and empowers students to acquire a world-class mind-set.

Katerina nikolopoulou - Nikolopouleio

Katerina Nikolopoulou – Senior Development Advisor of NIKOLOPOULEIO

Daughter of the founders, Katerina (Katya) joined NIKOLOPOULEIO in 2005 in an advisory capacity, working on business development, communication, technology infrastructure, and pilot extracurricular programmes. In 2012, she launched the Skills for Life pilot programme, aimed at helping students acquire skills for a globalized work and learning environment. As a young student, she attended NIKOLOPOULEIO classes herself, achieving language certifications in English, French, German, and Spanish, as well as the English language teaching qualifications by the age of 19. Life at NIKOLOPOULEIO, as a learning environment, was her inspiration to continue her professional and academic career, push learning boundaries and create a real cosmopolitan mindset. She is responsible for the strategic planning of ‘Cosmopolitan Competencies- Citizens of the World ©’ and ‘My School in the City ©’ as well as all other extracurricular activities. She is also responsible for external collaborations and partnerships with institutions, organizations, and schools, both in Greece and abroad.

OUR LOCATIONS 

A Central:      

Our iconic first school is located at 29 Lambrou Katsoni Street.

29 Lambrou Katsoni Street, 41223, Larissa, Greece

(+30) 2410285355

B Central:      

Our second school is located at the intersection of Koumoundourou and Tagmatarchou Velissariou streets.

18 Tagmatarchou Velissariou -Koumoundourou Street, 41222, Larissa, Greece

(+30) 2410535732


Find out how to sign up to our programmes