San Anton School twins with Staffordshire school

San Anton School has started a twinning programme with Cooper Perry Primary School in Staffordshire, UK.

The initial contact was made at an International Comenius Conference, held at St James Cavalier two years ago, when two members of staff, Ms Angele Calleja and Ms Sharon Naudi, established links with Mr Steve Hall, headmaster of Cooper Perry.

This first contact was followed up by a school visit, where some 20 pupils and members of staff from Cooper Perry visited Malta and spent a morning at San Anton Middle School, getting to know teachers and pupils.

Common ground was discovered when it was found that the pupils from Cooper Perry had worked on a Gozo project and had actually visited our sister island. Every year our San Anton School's grade seven pupils carry out a similar visit to Gozo in conjunction with their project.

The following year, two members of staff from Cooper Perry joined our grade sevens on their Gozo project excursion, which was led by Ms Isabelle Depasquale. This was followed by a visit by two members of staff from San Anton School, Ms Calleja and Ms Depasquale, to Staffordshire last December, where the object of the study visit was to evaluate the possibility of taking a group of children to Staffordshire on a twinning programme this coming June.

During their stay in England the children will be lodged at Wedgwood Memorial College, a hostel that caters specifically for groups of school children.

Some of the excursions planned are: Chester Zoo, Black Country Museum, Cadbury World and Waterworld. It is also envisaged that the children will have plenty of opportunities to spend time with their new friends during activities, such as barbecues, games and a day out with the English families to get to know each other well.