Developing health and welfare education in the European primary school

With Mrs L. Gauci, co-ordinator of the three-year Comenius 1 project, entitled "Developing health and welfare education in the European primary school", I, as head of St Francis School, Cospicua, recently travelled to Scotland for a second meeting. We met our partners from Scotland, Belgium, Germany, England and Poland to discuss the stages of the project.

Our school organised a logo competition between the students. The best logo was chosen by the students' themselves. Later some of them travelled to Scotland to compete with other logos of the five countries.

The school participated in Healthy Week, which aimed to highlight ways of keeping healthy. Teachers organised activities and lessons linked to health.

For lunch, children brought with them healthier food. Lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, brown bread, cereals, bananas, apples, oranges, pears, water and other healthy food was brought to school so that students would be aware of eating healthy food instead of the usual junk food.

Besides this there were other activities going on, such as children brushing their teeth and talks by a dental hygienist.

During Healthy Week students and staff members prepared a weekly diary. Some students did this with the help of their class teacher and others with their parents.

During our meetings in Scotland, chaired by Mr William Spalding, the partner schools exchanged letters and Easter cards. Diaries were also exchanged and activities discussed and evaluated.

In Scotland we visited McLean Primary School, where we were given a guided tour by the principal, Mr Spalding, who welcomed us heartily. We went the classes, from nursery to primary school level and observed how lessons are conducted.

We also visited the computer laboratory and saw Year 6 children engaged in computer animation. Teaching methodology was similar to our school, with the slight difference being that the teacher is more of a friend and guide to the pupils than an authority.

We interacted well with the partner schools, especially during break time. Discussing differences and similarities between our students and schools was fascinating. We were also entertained to a fabulous concert by the Scottish children.

A meeting was arranged for us with the mayor of Dunfermline, during which we were bombarded with questions about the Maltese education system. We were then taken on a walking tour of the city.

We would like to thank all members of staff for their kindness and hospitality, especially Sharon, Leanne and Margaret, who were incredibly helpful and friendly, and also Mr Spalding, who gave up a lot of his time to be our guide, dinner host, van driver and also a good friend. The experience was a special one indeed.

The group members, although tired, physically and mentally, by the end of the week, returned home full of inspiration and enthusiasm. We are looking forward to November for another interesting meeting in Malta, which will highlight methodologies.

This will allow further development of new approaches to teaching aspects of health and welfare education in the different schools.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the Comenius agency for giving our school and our students the opportunity to benefit greatly from this project.