Happy ending to Maria Assumpta Girls Secondary's West Side Story

Maria Assumpta Girls Secondary School, Hamrun, this year took a bash at the Sixties' musical West Side Story for its Prize Day.

We took some liberties with the original script and turned it into something more to our liking. The gangland theme was retained but we decided that in our version nobody would die at the end, and that all would all live happily ever after.

Hence, we set ourselves to dance, and dance we did.

Pardon the superlatives, especially to describe the girls, but they are inevitable. The production really reached a very professional standard, the girls were well rehearsed, the choreography was perfect, the stage-set in good taste and the costumes so lively and well designed.

This year we were also bolder: we did our own musical recording of the scores so that the voices and the ensembles were the girls' own. The conversational accents needed more working on, granted, but the singing was enchanting.

Graziella Vassallo and Leanne McKay, who are already showing professional talent and promise, played the main solo parts.

The rest of the hundred-strong cast, made up of students ranging from first- to fourth-formers, filled the stage with movement, pomp and dazzle.

At the full curtain the audience was moved to lengthy applause and the girls beamed brightly to calls of "bravi". Our biggest satisfaction is that we make them enjoy it.

We put on four show performances this year, including one for relatives, friends and the community. The production team was three-strong this time: Marthese Grech was the producer, mentor and main organiser; Phaedra Borg was her usual strong self in choreography and dance, while our welcome newcomer was Mark Cachia in the music department.

Mary O'Brien handled the wardrobe department single-handedly this year. Technical back-up crew and backstage were led by Emmanuel Aquilina, with Charles Calleja in charge of the props.

It is an all-team effort at Maria Assumpta and the other members of staff involved are too numerous to mention.

In the formal part of the ceremony, I briefly outlined the school's main achievements this year, such as the special needs programmes in literacy, and the students' success in their Matsec results.

I also dwelt somewhat on the aspect of absenteeism among a small cohort of the school's population.

Before I distributed merits among the students, I thanked the staff for being a closely-knit team and for being dedicated to their calling.

Education Minister Louis Galea had words of praise for the students and their progress, and warmly congratulated the parents for being active stakeholders in their daughters' welfare, urging towards higher aspirations.

He also outlined the Education Division's policies to strengthen scholastic systems and expressed appreciation at the whole school's effort.

Other distinguished guests were Carmelo Abela, shadow minister for education, and Joe Buttigieg, College co-ordinator, officials in the Education Division, heads of school and ex-school staff.