Youth Programme at Guardian Angel School

Staff at Guardian Angel Special School decided that there was no better way to celebrate the European Year of Disabled Persons than by involving the students and themselves in a European project. Thus the school became the first special school in Malta to participate in such projects.

One of the projects in which the school was involved falls under the Youth programme.

Youth exchanges are aimed for those aged 15 to 25 and promote activities which involve students in disadvantaged situation. The programme promotes themes such as fighting drug abuse, anti-racism, and social acceptance.

Two teachers, Nick Agius and Audrey Vassallo, have been in contact with Selly Oak Special School (Birmingham) for over a year to develop a daily programme for the exchange. Year 5 B students from Marsaxlokk Primary were also involved in the programme.

With full consultation with all stakeholders (students and staff) it was decided that the theme would be food, and the project would be named "Understanding yourself through food". The main idea was to help students develop a sense of independence - preparing food by themselves, and inter-cultural exchange, understanding other cultures.

Students from Birmingham had to choose three traditional recipes to show Maltese students how to prepare them and vice-versa. The Maltese students prepared the traditional bigilla u hobz biz-zejt, minestra and pudina, while the English students prepared cottage pie, pineapple upside down and apple pie.

Apart from the hands-on experience, the students were given the opportunity to visit two local catering outlets - Is-Sajjied Restaurant and Santa Lucia Confectionery, both at Marsaxlokk. Here they had the opportunity to get first-hand experience of the work involved in this industry. Focus was placed on hygiene matters and teamwork during this kind of work.

The programme reached its climax when the students presented the food prepared at a stall in the traditional Sunday open-air market at Marsaxlokk.

The daily programme involved various social activities such as bowling, unihok, barbecue day, pizza night, and a disco. The exchange started on November 6 and ended six days later, and the students were hosted at the Marsaxlokk Hostel. It was a great experience for both teachers and students, Maltese and English.