Dwardu's Scoops - End of Year edition

Volume 1, Issue 19

Newsletter Date28/06/2022

St Edward’s College

Dwardu’s Scoops Record interest in St Edward’s College

By Nollaig Mac An Bhaird, Headmaster

Dear Parents and Guardians, Today is the last day of the Academic Year 21/22. From 13.00 on, your children will be missed here at college, but I know that you, and they, can look forward to some ‘quality time’ together!

Despite the pandemic we have had a very productive and successful couple of years. This in great measure to staff, students and parents.

I do not want to dwell on the pandemic, except to let you know that our ‘darkest days’ were probably this past January, when many of us received our Booster Shots. There was a week

In this issue….

End of Year…............... Page 1,5 Stars and Suns……….Page 2 A final hunt ………….Page 3 Penpals ………………Page 4 New Arrivals …………Page 5 Thank You ……………Page 6

when, each day, we had 18 staff out. Again, it is in great measure the professionalism, and caring, of staff, that we could remain open and have all students not miss any learning.

We also managed to complete the School Development Plan, SDP, which has targets, deadlines and persons responsible, set for the coming three years. The SDP has had input from staff, students and parents and is detailed. The main headings are Curriculum, Communication, Facilities and ‘Wellbeing,’ for both staff and students.

Dwardu’s Scoops

Bianconeri finalists

A group of our Year 5 students, who are part of the Maltese Juventus Academy participated in the Juventus World Cup in June 2022.

Some of them also managed to reach the final of their category only losing to an academy from Chile on penalties.

The Solar System Year 3Y had the task of designing a poster on The Solar System, a much more exciting way of learning about the planets that surround us!

Page 2

By Margaret Bartolo

Volume 1, Issue 19

A final scavenge

By Annette Agius

Summer is approaching and will be with us very soon; this means we had to say our goodbyes. To celebrate our last session, we had a photo scavenger hunt around the college. The young students were provided with a list of items and they had a limited amount of time to find them and take photos of them. They worked together in two groups and their creativity flourished. It was clear that they were enjoying the activity. Some took the lead as leaders, while others took the roles of followers and negotiating positions.

Overall, I believe this experience was very fruitful for our young students as it offered them some time away from the normal lesson structure and made them feel more at ease and satisfied with themselves. I was glad to see them work cohesively together as a group towards an ultimate goal.

Czechia this out

By Graham MacLeod

Boys in class 4Y this term have been lucky enough to receive personalised letters from students at a school in Czechia (the Czech Republic) and are working on their replies, to be sent in the coming days. The school is called Adventure School and is located in the town of Sulice, around 30 minutes from Prague, the country’s capital. At St Edward’s, we are fortunate to have friends and alumni all over the World, and one such example is Faud Engineer – an Old Edwardian. He and his wife Eva work with and teach at Adventure School, and they were extremely keen for their students in Czechia to have the opportunity to connect with current students at St Edward’s.

We have enjoyed video calls with the students, and also now handwritten letters – an opportunity to practice this still-relevant skill, and to learn about lives in other parts of Europe from people of their own age that live there. The boys have really enjoyed the experience of communicating with students from across the World in this fashion, and we will wait eagerly for more replies and letters in the future!

Page 3

Dwardu’s Scoops

Being so close to the end of the year, the boys are excited about their final exams. To run through the covered work in Year 4x, we are trying to find fun ways to make it engaging and, at the same time, challenging. One of these tasks included finding the 3D & 2D shapes using just the shapes' properties.

The boys were given clues on what the shape might be. They then brainstormed the best way to use these properties to build the 3D shape using the given straws. The boys then had to name their shapes. They quickly realised that the number of edges was equal to the number of straws and that the number of connectors depended on the number of vertices their shape had.

After successfully managing their first shape, the boys were very eager to give it another try with a different 3D shape.

Staff Development: Early Years discussing ‘Reflection and Quality’ with Prof Valerie Sollars Page 4

Volume 1, Issue 19

New kid on the block Welcome to Ms Hailey, much anticipated addition to the Caruana Smith Family as well as to the Edwardian Family.

We will miss you Compared to past years our numbers are very strong at this point. Here I would ask you, if you know, to let us know whether you will be returning to St Edward’s. We have had, to date, 91% of parents contact us with their continuation letters. There are waiting lists in all years, with the exception of year 11 and Year 12, IBDP. Year 12 will reach its maximum intake, I suspect, by end of July, if the interest continues as it is at present.

We have achieved the current interest in St Edward’s thanks to the excellent teaching of all staff and, in no short measure, to parents who recognise that we are a school with high expectations, standards and a caring approach to our students.

Some points for the coming academic year, including fees, length of school day and learning resources have been communicated to you via the MySchool System. At this point I can only wish you all a well-deserved break which, we hope, will be taken in safety and serenity.

Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable summer!

Page 5

St Edward’s College

St Edward's College Triq San Dwardu Birgu (Citta Vittoriosa) Cottonera - BRG 9039 Malta, Europe

At St Edward's College we strive to create exemplary citizens in this increasingly globalised and technological world, placing strong emphasis on character formation, genuine intercultural understanding and leadership skills which will assist them to contribute to the well-being of society.

Phone: +356 2788 11 99 Email: communications@stedwards.edu.mt

Enjoy Summer Safely

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen ...but not Goodbye

By Sylvana Debono

From Latvia to South Africa. From Hawaii to Malaysia. This is the reach which Dwardu’s Scoops has spanned over the 2021-22 scholastic year. With an average readership of between 500-600 per issue, most readers are accessing Dwardu’s Scoops on their desktops even if this majority is rather slim as 43% access the college newsletter on their mobile devices. Over the month of May alone, when 3 Issues were published, these got an average of 1,700 reads each.

Dwardu’s Scoops would like to thank all those teachers, heads and pupils who contributed to this suc-

cess, tentatively at first and then with increasing alacrity. A special shout here goes to Julian Coppini and Luigi Portelli as Cub Reporters for the newsletter. Lastly, thanks to Headmaster for the trust and faith he showed in this venture.

We thank you for your readership and promise one thing: There’s more where that came from!