Another successful concert by special needs students

Dun Manwel Attard School of Wardija has kept its appointment for yet another Christmas concert, a yearly event that has been synonymous with this school for quite a number of years.

This was a two and a half-hour concert, professionally presented on December 5. Slowly but steadily they went through all the necessary details to teach, assist and prepare their students to evolve their drama and music talents.

The concerts consisted of three plays and three musical items. The six classes prepared the three drama items. Each group involved all the students in their classes throughout their respective performance.

The students from the two junior classes presented the audience with a play revolving round the village crib, thus helping to create a Christmas spirit among the audience.

The welcoming address delivered by one of the students was followed by the second presentation, performed by the two senior boys' classes. The modern message passed on by our young was direct and to the point.

The third presentation prepared by the girls' class and the boys intermediary class took us into the world of fantasy and dramatised Jack and the Beanstalk.

Seven students delivered the Christmas message, mainly centred around the challenges being faced in this day and age.

The concert moved on to the musical part. The school guitar group accompanied by students played and sang Christmas carols. The school's percussion band followed. All the students participated in this band. The last item of the concert brought together the whole school population, including the teaching staff. They joined together in the school choir singing various Maltese songs.

The Assistant Director at the Education Division, in charge of the section, in his concluding speech thanked all involved for an excellent performance.

A special reference was made to another initiative taken by the school in conjunction with other schools catering for students with special needs: last May this school was the driving force for the performances of a musical drama, Ghalik. This gave the students the possibility to perform outside their school environment when they presented the musical drama about the last days of Christ on earth at the Catholic Institute in Floriana.

The students' satisfaction has always been that whenever they perform to an audience, they always do so to a packed house. The backing that they have always received from their tutors, family and all others who sustain them in their current situation, has encouraged them to look positively, achieve their utmost and prepare tangibly for their future. This will definitely be for their own benefit, for the benefit of their respective families and that of society in general.