The National Policy and Strategy for the Attainment of Core Competences launched by Education Minister Dolores Cristina on January 27 covers three main areas, namely literacy, mathematics and e-learning or digital literacy. The aim of the policy and the strategy is to ensure that all Maltese children acquire these competences not later than Year 3 of primary education.

Knowing how to read, to understand, to speak and to write both in Maltese and English, are basic skills we all should have. Children who are avid readers are able to write well and sharpen their communication skills. Parents should make a serious effort and find the time to read to their children from a very young age.

As time goes by, they should read with their children, and make it an enjoyable experience for both. Also, when children watch their parents relax by reading a book, this sends a significant and positive message to our children, namely that reading is an enjoyable, everyday experience.

All our children should be able to read, but some need more support to do so than others. This support is already being given and strengthened. A wide variety of books for all young readers may be found at the Public Library in Floriana, and in various district and school libraries, and there is an interesting selection of books for children with dyslexia at the Specific Learning Difficulties Unit in Floriana (opposite the Mall, adjacent to Sarria church).

We cannot improve our writing skills unless we read, and we should read both in Maltese and English. Maltese is our mother tongue and instils in us a sense of national identity. It has also been recognised by the European Union as one of its official languages.

Meanwhile, English is our link to the rest of the world and we cannot overstate its importance. Indeed, the National Minimum Curriculum, which was published in 2000, stressed in Principle 10 the need to strengthen bilingualism in our schools. It considers bilingualism "as the basis of the educational system".

Unless we maintain a high level of English proficiency, we will lose our advantageous position in a very competitive world. Investors, such as those involved in Smart City, chose Malta not only because of our strategic geographical position, our political stability and our climate, but also because our level of English is superior to that of many other Europeans.

Let us work to maintain and improve standards. Let us work hard to ensure our children are bilingual before they finish their primary education. This is a realistic and attainable target already reached by a high percentage of our pupils. Our aim is to increase this percentage.

Some of our pupils are really gifted writers and produce work that is definitely above what one would expect at Year 6. These children are being encouraged to continue developing their potential.

In the 2008 session of the Junior Lyceum Entrance Examination, 5.2 per cent of the successful candidates obtained Grade A in English. The essay in this exam carries 30 per cent of the total marks. It is also significant that there were 28 candidates (14 boys out of 1,211 and 14 girls out of 992 successful candidates) who were awarded Grade A in each of the five subjects that were examined.

Have you ever wondered what sort of essays children write in the Junior Lyceum Entrance Examination? A number of these essays can be found on the website of the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education at www.curriculum.gov.mt.

The section entitled 'Children's Writings' includes essays written during past editions of the examination. At present, there are 27 essays in Maltese and 29 in English. Since they were written during examinations, is it certain that they were written without any help from parents or teachers.

Some essays are descriptive, others narrative and a few are even argumentative. There are also some picture essays. At the end of each essay one finds a critical analysis intended to help the reader evaluate the standard of the work produced.

Parents and teachers should take a look at these essays and analyses. They can be downloaded without any difficulty. Our aim is to help children analyse other students' work. It would be counterproductive for children to study the essays by heart to reproduce them during examinations.

For example, they may be asked to analyse the introduction, the choice of words and phrases, the sentence construction and the use of connectives. They may also consider how the essay is divided into paragraphs, and the importance given to an effective conclusion.

Children should not only give importance to spelling, grammar and punctuation, but also to the effective use of appropriate vocabulary, as well as the essays' originality and use of imagination.

The assessment of other children's work serves to help students acquire the skill of self-assessment and hence encourages them to make the necessary effort to improve their own writing skills.

Apart from this section on the website, the Curriculum Department has also produced two publications some years ago which which focus on writings in English and Maltese and can be easily be downloaded from the website. They are entitled Sample Compositions For Formative and Summative Assessment Purposes and Nassessja: Lenti fuq il-Komponiment respectively.

We are sure these publications have had a very positive influence on parents, teachers and children alike.

Recently, the Directorate also included other essays in Maltese and in English together with comments so as to continue to help children improve their writing skills. These are included on our website under the heading 'Learning to Assess'.

Up to now we have limited ourselves to writings by 10- or 11-year-old pupils in Year 6. Now it is time to extend the age bracket to pupils in other years of primary school and students in secondary education.

Mr Grech is Assistant Director (Assessment for Learning) within the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education.