Three major local organisations recently joined forces to fund an after-school educational programme for the boys residing at St Joseph Home in St Venera.

Aimed at improving their qualification success rate, the three organisations – HSBC Malta Foundation, Vodafone Malta Foundation and Island Hotels Group Holdings plc – committed a three-year annual collective sponsorship to support the project entitled ‘Higher Success Platform for Children in Care’.

St Joseph Home looks after an average of 16 boys between the age of 8 and 18 who have been removed from their natural home due to challenging circumstances.

Through the programme, the boys will receive personal attention and academic tuition for three hours per week during the year’s scholastic period. The programme will continue to run during the summer months, but with a different focus.

St Joseph Home director Fr Frankie Cini said: “We are seek-ing to build the confidence and aspirations of our boys. We believe that an individual educational programme shows the boys that the home believes in their ability to make it in life. “This project gives them the opportunity to achieve results at the same level of their peers who are not in care.”