More Comenius activities at St Sebastian Primary 'A'

The opening of the new scholastic year at St Sebastian Primary 'A' at Qormi, began with a feeling of excitement and expectancy.

The whole school began working with a sense of urgency to prepare for the Big Day - Comenius Day, as both staff and pupils are calling the event.

This will be held on November 15 when St Sebastian School will also officially inaugurate their Comenius Room. For this event 12 people from four countries - the Netherlands, Germany, England and Sweden - will be the special guests of the school.

St Sebastian Primary 'A' was formally invited to visit Kirschbergschule at Reiskirchen in Geißen, Germany, by the headmaster Ralf Roubrocks. Cherry Hill School, was holding a grand celebration in connection with the Comenius Project on June 8, which was preceded by a whole week of activities.

Ms A. Cuschieri, head of school, and Mrs S. Vella, assistant head, were in Reiskirchen between June 3 and 9. It was a very busy five-day visit with a full programme, which gave a clear picture of what is happening in schools in other countries, in this case Germany.

During the visit, Ms Cuschieri and Mrs Vella met all the staff and pupils of Kirschbergschule Primary School which caters for six to ten-year-old children. Everyone showed great interest in Malta and the children kept asking questions about Malta, the language, the habits and the culture of the people.

All the teachers were eager to talk about the methods they use in their teaching and the headmaster explained how the three different systems of education in Germany work.

Ms Cuschieri and Mrs Vella also met the staff and pupils of the kindergarten and visited a secondary comprehensive school - IGS Busecker-Tal in Großen, Buseck, a very large school with over 1,200 students aged 10 to 16.

The principal, who has been running the school for 32 years, explained that he has built the school on a policy of 'free movement'. The students are allowed to move freely about the school, do their work in 'rest-places' or go to the library. They are also given the responsibility of keeping the place in very good condition. They have lecture rooms and laboratories equipped with the most modern technology.

Another interesting activity for the Maltese guests was a visit to the mayor of Geißen. They were taken round the town hall and the mayor talked about different functions of the local council.

The visit to Germany was enhanced by two cultural excursions, one to Frankfurt-am-Main and the other to Marburg. The Maltese guests were also treated to an interesting evening at a golf course which ended with a dinner together with all the school staff.

The climax of the visit was a grand celebration, during which Ms Cuschieri and Mrs Vella were introduced to the Director of Education. All the pupils took part in a concert, which consisted of drama, music, singing and dancing in connection with the theme "Making Friends in Europe".

This wonderful experience has filled Ms Cuschieri and Mrs Vella with enthusiasm which they managed to transmit to both staff and pupils so that they all feel proud to be part of this project. St Sebastian Primary 'A', Qormi, feels that it is really a part of Europe and is eager to make the acquaintance of as many European countries as possible. The Comenius Project is helping the school realise this ambition.

On November 15, members of the five participating schools (including Malta) will be meeting in Malta for the third time to discuss, plan and evaluate their project. The preparatory meeting took place in Sweden. A project meeting took place in the Netherlands last January and last June Comenius Week was celebrated in the German school when representatives from Malta and the Netherlands were present.

Now colleagues from all five schools will be meeting at St Sebastian Primary in Qormi.