Schoolchildren might not know what CHOGM stands for, but they will soon like the sound of it, as November 27 will be declared a school holiday to mark the event.

It will be the day Queen Elizabeth II will be in Malta for the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, a three-day summit that will bring together 53 heads of State and of government.

An Education Ministry spokes-man confirmed that a circular was sent to all heads of school asking them to pencil in the school holiday in their calendars. In the circular, the education authorities said they welcomed the request made by the CHOGM organising committee to declare the day a holiday for schoolchildren.

Malta Union of Teachers president Kevin Bonello said this is in line with worldwide practice when there is a big national event. “It is common that, whenever there are national festivities that all the population may want to attend, a school holiday is declared so children have the opportunity to be present too,” he said.

In March, Buckingham Palace and the Maltese government announced that Queen Elizabeth would be in Malta for the opening. She will be accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, her eldest son, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The visit will be the monarch’s return to CHOGM having missed the last meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2013. That was the first meeting she was unable to attend in 40 years.