JA exchange in a cold climate

ByElaineBusuttilGili

Junior Achiever (JA) Malta recently took part in an Erasmus Exchange with two schools in Norway and Sweden. Amongst the 28 participants, 5 students from St Edward’s College and their link teacher got selected to take part in this great opportunity. The activities took place in Storlein (Sweden) and Trondheim (Norway). The objective behind the exchange is entrepreneurship and cultural immersion. Our hosts organised winter wonderland games, and sledging, a visit to a biathlon school, team building workshops, site seeing and more.

The students found themselves transported to a culture where all activities have to be factored around accessibility due to climate. Coming from a sunny island where ‘miserable weather’ generally constitutes a day or so of rain and wind and where temperatures never fall below zero, managing snow was a completely different experience.

From an entrepreneurial point of view, our students not only exchanged views and ideas but were also exposed to different value systems which motivate these budding businesspersons.

All in all, a very challenging and positive, sometimes even magical, experience.

Collective Agreement

A meeting was recently held at the College as part of the process of negotiations for the new collective agreement for the teaching staff. The two sides headed by the Headmaster Mr Nollaig Mac An Bhaird and the President of the MUT Mr Marco Bonnici continued to explore ways in which sustainable improvements to the teaching staff’s conditions of work could be made.

Traditional Maltese games

ByBerniceZammit

Since the beginning of the scholastic year, the Maltese lessons have been reorganised to be delivered in a theme-based way. Studies have shown that this teaching approach, which consists of combining different curriculum areas around a single topic, takes advantage of the interests of the students and gives the classroom a sense of direction and community. Young people’s attitudes, skills and knowledge are meaningfully developed by drawing on their interests and life experiences. A desire to learn more, prompts inquiry and conversation, which leads to fervent engagement in the educational process.

During the past couple of weeks, the theme chosen for our Year 5 students has been that of traditional games. The children worked on a reading comprehension text portraying different Maltese traditional games like the passju (similar to hopscotch), skipping rope, playing marbles, to mention just a few. Afterwards, the children were given time to have a go at these games themselves. At a later stage, this was linked to a Social Studies lesson where students coming from different countries were also encouraged to present to the class their own traditional games.

New Arrival

New kid on the block, indeed! Graham and Camilla Macleod have welcomed a new addition to their family. Weighing in at 2.89kg, this little bundle of joy is set to enrich not only the life of his parents but also the wider community.

Welcome to the St Edward’s family, little one!

This is London calling

BySamanthaAbela

Trips abroad are, in my opinion, the best experience for young people to learn new skills in a short time. From packing all the necessities and things in case of emergency, to taking care of personal documents, to handing in forms, exchanging currency and responsible spending, to boarding a plane or a ship alone and doing the check-in… regardless of whether our boys are frequent travellers or not, trips with school are a different experience altogether. The level of independence they gain and the satisfaction of ‘having made it back on my own and with all my luggage’ is an impressive feat for most of them and even more so for their parents! For the latter, it is understandable that they worry about their children, however I am always met with immense gratitude and our school community is aware that all our educators care for the children as if they are their own flesh and blood.

I’ve been organizing trips for several years and a lot of planning is involved. It is an exciting process but also a huge headache. Yet, the thrilled smiling faces full of anticipation at the airport makes it worth it! The tired feet, the rosy cheeks and the never ending list of mischief you hear about days after you return; its priceless.

One of the most sought-after trips is the one done in Year 8 where we visit London. We try to go about the city and experience both public transport and also do a lot of walking (almost 2hrs daily!). We check out the major landmarks and the trip has both educational and fun aspects. It is also the last trip during which parents are invited to join. This year we were happy to have a nice group of mummies with us who helped our boisterous group of 21 boys!

From Westminster Abbey, to Madame Tussauds, the Natural History Museum or the National Gallery; we feel that we made St Edward’s College proud. The boys were engaged, asked questions, and behaved responsibly. New friendships were formed and loads of memories were made some of which immortalized by glazed selfies or synched up Tiktoks for sure! The best story tellers though are the boys themselves, so here are a few anecdotes from their end!

A special shout out and thanks to Ms Annette Agius and Mr Javier Formosa for accompanying me on this journey.

Henry Wang, Yr 8X writes:

The London Trip was really fun and educational. We went to the National Art Gallery, the Madama Tussaud’s Wax Museum, and the Westminster Abby. The National Art Gallery has plenty of paintings that were drawn by famous artists, and we got to learn about their history. The painting that I liked the most was Sunflowers by Van Gogh.

The Wax Museum was very entertaining too, we saw many wax statues of many main characters and movie scenes. Being personally on the scene feels unique and exciting.

Then the Westminster Abbey, it was a giant cross-shaped building with a splendid golden interior. There were also tombs of many kings, queens, and other celebrities.

Timmy Ellul Year 9x writes:

On the 3rd March 2023, I went on an amazing school trip with 20 other boys. After spending four days together these boys have become my friends! We visited Buckingham Palace, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the National Gallery and the Sherlock Holmes Museum. However, the highlights of my trip were definitely visits to Westminster Abbey and Madame Tussauds, and the Harry Potter walking tour.

Westminster Abbey is a beautiful cathedral. This is where St Edward the Confessor is buried. I was very lucky to have been chosen to visit the shrine of St Edward together with Ms Abela where we said a prayer for our school. At the Madame Tussaud wax museum we saw many celebrities including Queen Elizabeth and King Charles, singers such as Freddie Mercury, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran, actors like Emma Watson, Hugh Jackman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, characters like ET the Extra Terrestrial and Shrek, and other famous people like movie director Steven Spielberg and Winston Churchill. I struck a pose with many of them and took some smashing photos. The Harry Potter tour was the highlight of my holiday. We met up with Mike our tour guide wearing a bright yellow rain jacket and a yellow umbrella. We followed him round many streets used in the filming of Harry Potter movies like Diagon Alley used in ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ and the Ministry of Magic from the movie ‘Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part 1’.

This trip created so many memories which I shall never forget!

It was always a dream of mine to go abroad with my friends and the London trip was the right opportunity. On the first day, we went to visit Buckingham Palace and after we went to see the Westminster Abbey. The placed that I liked the most was without doubt Madame Tussaud because I took a lot of photos with celebrities and with famous footballers such as Paul Scholes, Pele and my idol Cristiano Ronaldo. We visited a lot of Museums such as the Nature and the Science Museum. I felt very sensitive when I helped a homeless man and suddenly I saw a big smile on his face and then he was able to go and buy some food. One aspect that I enjoyed the most was when we stayed at the Hotel in the room playing games and having fun together, playing pranks on each other, visiting each others’ rooms and eating sweets; it was a blast! It was a really joyful experience which I shall never forget

Continues Pg 16

Olympic ambitions

By Samantha Abela

On Friday, 24th March, the Year 7s and Year 8s were visited by the young sailor XXX who is one of Malta’s representatives in the upcoming Games of the Small States of Europe which will take place on our island between the 28th May and 4th June 2023. In total the athletes will take part in 10 different disciplines which are: Athletics, Basketball, Judo, Rugby Sevens, Sailing, Shooting, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis and Tennis. Over 1000 athletes, coaches etc… will be visiting Malta during this event. We are lucky that this is the 3rd time hosting, the first being in 1993 and the second in 2003. The Games will welcome eight other countries – Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino. The mascot chosen is ‘Puka’ a derivative from the typical fish ‘Lampuka’. It is colourful, cheerful and reminds us all of our Maltese culture and friendliness. The Logo is also the ‘Luzzu’ eye, also very typical and synonymous with our islands.

The students learnt not only about the nature of the games but our young speaker who is only 16 years old inspired them to continue working on their sporting achievements and yet also focus on school. He is, at the moment, juggling his GSSE commitments whilst also attending orals and future exams for his MATSEC exams. He spends hours of training a week (some at sea and some at the gym) and is also friends or in a competitive rivalry with some of our Edwardian sailors too. He highlighted the need to always have a back-up plan and a career that it is not only sport oriented. Work-LifeSport balance is key and not easy but thankfully he finds support from his teachers and even his family.

This was a truly unique experience for our boys, most of whom are aiming at excelling at different sporting disciplines. For decades, St Edward’s College has in fact been very proud to have helped in producing top tier athletes in multiple disciplines. Currently we have very successful sailors, footballers (even of Futsal), basketball players, water polo players, trilithon competitors, synchronized swimmer and more!

Revenge of the ...Teachers!

When a game gives you lemons, make lemonade. This is what the teachers’ team did in the annual footie match with the outgoing Year 11s. From an ignominious scor of 2-0 in favour of the students, the teachers pulled their socs up and turned the tables to a 3-2 win. Well done both!

SAVE THE DATE!

We may not have had a spring fête this year but we intend to celebrate the coming of summer properly with what may be the first BBQ of the season. Why come, you ask? Well, here goes:

• Good food and plenty of vino

• Family games

• Safe children’s area

• Group activities including treasure hunt

• Art auction

• Music and dancing

So, get your 1920’s glad rags together and make sure you’re part of the crowd we’re expecting.