Tarxien Primary in Comenius project visit

Dun Karm Sant Primary School of Tarxien is participating in the Comenius School Develop-ment Project. The title chosen for this project is "Sharing and Comparing Teaching Methods to Meet the Needs of All Students in a Mainstream School". Schools from Ireland, England and Norway are partners in this activity. In the last week of May, Christine Brincat, a Year 2 teacher, had the opportunity to visit Culfadda Primary School in County Sligo, Ireland.

Culfadda is such a small village that its primary school has only 60 pupils. There are only three classrooms. One includes five to seven-year-old children; pupils in the next class are aged eight and nine (our Year 3 and Year 4); the eldest class is that of 10- and 11-year-olds.

Each teacher has an assistant to help with the different age groups. The headteacher herself teaches the older children during school hours and works till the late afternoon to fulfil her duties as head of school. There are also two teachers to help children with special needs. During break time boys and girls enjoy playing Gaelic football and other games on the tarmac-covered playground. Green hills and fields surround this delightful place.

In the two-day meeting, six teachers from the three delegations visited the school premises and spoke to the teachers and pupils. In turn the pupils asked questions to the visitors. This was a learning experience for both teachers and pupils.

Every class participated in the school concert organised as a welcome for the foreign teachers and to which parents were invited. The pupils recited poems of their national poet, W.B. Yeats, and played Irish music with their Irish whistles. Getting to know the teachers who work in the school, meeting the pupils and their parents and watching an interesting school concert gave a good insight to the school's culture; in this way teachers could compare the similarities and contrast differences in their schools.

During the project meeting the teachers discussed future plans and the work which has to be done in each school as a preparation for the final leg of the project, that is, the numeracy strategies in the different schools. The next meeting will be held in Crook Primary School of Durham, UK, during the last week of November, where the delegations will be discussing and making final plans for the project.

This visit was a follow-up to one held last February in Norway, when Vince Peresso and Wilfred Cassar, the head and assistant head of Tarxien Primary School, visited Kroderen School near Oslo. Kroderen is also a small school which caters for children from primary and secondary levels under one administration. Some teachers in the primary sector even take a class in a secondary level for specific tasks and lessons.

The main aim of the Norway meeting was to present, discuss and compare reports by the respective schools on the methodology used in teaching writing. The two Maltese educators, together with educators from Crook and Culfadda, observed teaching practices in the Norwegian school, and had the opportunity to discuss the way writing is tackled by various teachers.

In the next scholastic year this project will end with the Crook meeting mentioned above and then the concluding meeting in Malta.