St Nicholas College - Rabat Primary A School was recently inundated with birds, fish, cats, dogs, hamsters and other pets.

They were all lovingly guarded by their masters and mistresses, the young children of this school who were celebrating Animal Awareness Day. Actually, it was more of an animal awareness week, which started on Friday, October 3, with the feast of St Francis celebrated at the nearby church dedicated to the saint.

During the weekend pupils were encouraged to do some research on animals. The information and pictures they managed to get were used during class-based and school-based activities.

These included the production of charts, scrapbooks as well as powerpoint presentations about animals and their habitat, their young, their sounds, and the dangers they face.

Some pupils wrote about their pets and described to their peers how they look after them.

A number of special assemblies were organised to enable the different classes to show their work to the rest of the school.

The highlight of the week was the blessing of the animals by the Archpriest of Rabat, Can. Louis Suban, who also spoke to the young congregation about animals as gifts of good which we all have the duty to look after.