School administration, staff members and children from St Francis School, Cospicua, recently experienced an exciting moment. On November 14 our school welcomed our Comenius project partners from Scotland, Belgium, Poland, England and Germany.

On the arrival of the first three delegations - the Poles, Scots and Germans - our children welcomed them in their classrooms. I, as head of school, introduced the guests to each class, while pupils welcomed them heartily.

During the class visits, our partners showed great interest in the children's textbooks. The children asked them questions about their school, their country and especially if they were enjoying their stay here.

On November 15, our school welcomed the delegations. Some of the Year 5 pupils waited in excitement at the school entrance to give them a welcome card, created with the help of their class teacher for this special occasion. All the other classes waited patiently for the guests in our school yard. On entering, the guests were greeted with hearty applause.

As usual we started the day with our school assembly. The school hymn and the national anthem were sung by the pupils and staff members. Year 6 children presented the guests with the school logo together with their names. After my introductory speech our guests were taken to our school hall as it was time for our first project meeting.

The hall was well decorated for the occasion. Being the host school, our school featured a multimedia presentation of its history. Being a school in one of the Three Cities plays an important role in our history. This was followed by a long discussion about the children's and teachers' healthy diaries. The mayor of Cospicua also welcomed the guests.

The great day in our Comenius Week finally arrived. On November 16, members from the Education Division, Mother Provincial of the Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus, together with our Comenius partners were welcomed by our schoolchildren.

Each and every class with the help of the Drama and Music teachers presented an item related to the project "Health and welfare education in the European primary school". After each item, pupils from each class presented gifts to our guests. Year 4 children also invited them to dance.

All the schools in the project presented a Power Point presentation about the three main areas of health education - exercise, healthy eating and mental welfare. This was followed by discussions about various methodologies and approaches of teaching in different schools.

The delegates were very impressed by the way of teaching in our school and asked many questions. Discussions about the 'calendar' for the six schools were held, followed by the dates for the next project, to be held in the UK. The school looked beautiful. The main entrance was decorated with flags of the six countries, together with the European, Vatican and our school flags. Being a Church school, run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus, one could also see the statue of St Francis.

A welcome board in six languages was also at the school's entrance. Boards and corridors were decorated with the children's work, while pictures and information about the six countries were displayed in the classrooms.

Representatives of the partner schools visited various historical and cultural sites.

I would like to thank all the staff members who worked so hard to make this week another successful event. Also, I would like to thank the EUPU for giving our school and our students the opportunity to benefit greatly from this project.