Teachers at a Cospicua secondary school are marvelled by a 15-year-old boy’s ability to befriend and involve fellow classmates with severe communication problems.

Andrea Gerada, a Form 4 student at the St Margaret College Verdala Boys’ Secondary, will be awarded the Peace Lab’s Pope John XXIII prize for kindness.

The school’s head, Joseph Ellul, said that teachers and learning support assistants had informed him of Andrea’s “outstanding” kindness. The teen did his best to involve all the students in his class, irrespective of their condition, in both classroom and extra-curriculum activities.

“LSAs have been talking about how astonished they are at his ability of managing to involve and communicate with various students whom the majority of people would find it difficult to engage with,” Mr Ellul said.

Ever since he was still in Form 1, Andrea has been forging close friendships with students who have severe autism and other conditions.

During PE lessons and sports activities, he would take it upon himself to approach his disabled classmates and persuade them to participate rather than watch them spend the lesson staring.

During this year’s sports day, PE teachers observed Andrea’s altruism when he chose to take part in fewer activities in order to be able to involve disabled students, Mr Ellul continued. This despite the fact that Andrea himself is a very athletic teenager and excels at shot-put and football.

LSA Elaine Cassar said she used to support a student with autism two years ago. Every morning, Andrea would greet the boy and during certain lessons made it a point to sit beside him.

“If the student was not yet ready or if he was crying for one reason or another, Andrea would help pack his satchel. When the student was upset, Andrea would try and calm him down,” Ms Cassar recalled.

There were times where Andrea would stop playing with his peers during the PE lesson, choosing instead to accompany the student in running or walking around the track, she continued. Other times, he would play ball with him so he would not feel left out.

“On one occasion, he stopped his peers from kicking the ball to score a goal, went up to the student, held his hand, walked him to the ball and helped him score. He then erupted into leaps of joy together with the student.”

The student she supported grew very fond of his new friend, Andrea, and would ask for him every time he did not see him around, Ms Cassar said.

“Words are not enough to express our gratitude towards Andrea’s kindness. Every day, we are so touched.”

The Peace Lab award is given to schoolchildren aged between seven and 15 in remembrance of Pope John XXIII, affectionately remembered for his kindness.