More or less every 10 years, the government (of the day) takes a look at education and devises a ‘new approach’, full of promise, to the curriculum. But, we’ve seen some dissenting voices recently, even from erudite personalities at the heart of Malta’s educational establishment. One of the supposed shortcomings of the new curriculum many point to is its rigidity; its inability to allow schools room to experiment, innovate and inspire.  In fulfilling the curriculum requirements, schools may have little time left to offer experiences that differentiate them or are adapted to their particular student intake.

Increasingly, there are parents in Malta wondering how to breathe fresh air into their children’s education and opt for alternatives to the state-church school dominated sector, and the fairly limited choice of international and/or private schools which do make some attempt to do things differently.

Unsurprisingly, a good many parents seeking alternatives to the current educational offer are foreigners living in Malta. Their assessment of the local educational options is serving to highlight also to local parents though the limitations of Malta’s schooling.  Clearly, foreigner parents here, who have no Maltese roots or prior linkages to the Islands, are reluctant to have their children straitjacketed in an educational system serving predominantly a nation’s aims, as they  see it, rather than children’s needs, whatever their cultural background.

They are banding together, attracting interested Maltese parents, and trying to work out how to bring alternative educational approaches to the Islands, within whatever legal frameworks they are duty bound to operate. Alternatives they are looking at, like the Waldorf system, are well established elsewhere in Europe but have yet to find a place in Malta.

Julian Saez and his wife Deirdre – Spanish and Irish nationals respectively – are two such parents. They school their two young daughters at a Waldorf school in Spain for half the year, but spend the other half year in Malta.  While relatively happy with the schooling here in Malta, they can see how it falls short in delivering the enlightened schooling their daughters receive in Spain.  Julian is on a drive to see whether it’s feasible to set up a Waldorf or similar type of school in Malta. Here’s he explains why he and Deirdre are on a mission to find out.

How did you end up being interested in educational models and methods?

My wife, Deirdre, is a very experienced psychologist, with a long background in education.  I’m an engineer and one of my passions is learning and teaching. I’m also lecturer in Murcia University in Spain.  So I suppose we’re both more attuned to thinking about educational systems and aware of pedagogical methods than many parents.

What frustrates you about traditional national curricula?

Through my learning about education, I found that to have the potential to succeed in life, and in school, you need more than the traditional approach based in IQ.  The IQ-competitive model of education has been demonstrated to be obsolete (it started life in the ‘60s).

For decades, a lot of emphasis has been put on certain aspects of intelligence such as logical reasoning, math skills, spatial skills, understanding analogies, verbal skills and so on. Researchers were puzzled by the fact that while IQ could predict to a significant degree academic performance and, to some degree, professional and personal success, there was something missing in the equation. Some of those with fabulous IQ scores were doing poorly in life; one could say that they were wasting their potential by thinking, behaving and communicating in a way that hindered their chances of succeeding.

After researching which pedagogical models emphasise concepts of emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and multiple intelligence and take them into consideration in devising a learning programme, I discovered the Waldorf education as an optimal model.

Why did the Waldorf model strike you are a more enlightened educational option?

Julian & Deirdre's daughters with friends at their Waldorf School in Spain

We did some analysis of various European models of education, from personal interest, and discovered some illuminating facts. The EU’s Cost of School Failure report, 2007, places Malta at the top of the European Union league table in terms of school failure rates, at 41.6 per cent. That is, children who do not complete school leaving exams or fail to stay in education beyond the statutory minimum age. Finland ranks the best performer both in the ‘Cost of Failure’ report and in another study, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), looking at the proficiency of students in core subjects – maths, reading, sciences.

So, we asked ourselves what Finland was doing that could lead to it ranking number one. I looked at their educational model and saw similarities to Waldorf pedagogy. Finland has other special factors of course contributing to its overall educational success: the high professional standing of teachers; free pre-school places; a lack of emphasis on the competitiveness in education, and more.

We visited a Waldorf school in Spain and I liked very much what we found. Since placing our three-year-old girls in a Waldorf school in Spain, we have been amazed at the excellent education they are receiving and notice too how happy they are.

Now that we live half the year in Malta, we’d like to see our daughters having the possibility of receiving this model of education here too.  I also think that Maltese people and other foreigners living in Malta should have more options when it comes to choosing the type of education they would like to have for their children.

In brief, what is the Waldorf approach to education?

The key to Waldorf is its premise that success is not about achieving certain scores and working hard, but that real success is much more about feeling good about yourself, being happy and optimistic, being able to enjoy healthy relationships, being fulfilled in work and having the capacity to enjoy the adventure of this fabulous life.  It supports children to develop their full potential as human beings.

It recognises that childhood is for children not little adults. Waldorf therefore encourages children to be able to play, explore, discover and discern their way to knowledge and understanding rather than sit at a desk and be fed information that may or may not actually serve them in life.

Dance, theatre, creativity and music are the natural ways that children engage in life when given permission to do so. They are core in the Waldorf ‘curriculum’ for example.

What steps are you taking to see about bringing a Waldorf or similar style educational model to Malta?

Step 1: Contacting parents interested in having this type of education for their children

Step 2: Defining a shared vision

Step 3: Defining a scope for the project, plan and schedule

Step 4: Drafting a budget for it

Step 5: Going ahead with the project.

These steps are not necessary sequential, indeed, once we’ve got a group of parents interested, we would already start actively looking for teachers and thinking about a convenient place to start the school.

How can anyone interested get in touch and participate?

Email me, Julián Sáez, at waldorfmalta@gmail.com.

Photo: Lucidtech

I stood outside the Asmiov Robotics tent. I felt at home, a grown-up robotics playground called the hi-tech EXPO in Milan, that ran from the 14th till 19th December, and hosted some of the leading technology companies in the world; in total, over 140.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an amazing place. It’s where hypertext, the fax machine, cancer-causing genes and the GPS were invented. In Milan, they were showcasing their WIMAX wireless energy transfer technology. It can launch energy, without the need of wires, through two metres of air. The technology works because of coiled magnets present in separate devices but which resonate with each other. Place a table in the way of this energy, no problem, WIMAX gets through it without a fuss. Concrete? Not an issue for WIMAX.

I stood there gob smacked, watching a grainy skype video image as an MIT scientist powered an LED bulb using a WIMAX energy source located a metre beneath a table. Their vision is to bring these energy transfer devices to your wireless homes and to embed them in concrete to charge your electric car, whilst parked. MIT has several patents in this technology, it could make millions, and it also has over 3,000 PhD students.

From a small town in Italy, I talked to Laura Margheri, a PhD student in Bio Robotics. She was developing a soft robot based on an octopus. The robot was flexible, made out of silicon and could grasp an arm. It’s still in development, but once complete it could scour the sea floor monitoring the state of the environment, studying marine life and crawling through pipes to find blockages or leaks.

Malta wasn’t to be left out of this exhibition, with local company SIB Laboratories Ltd exhibiting therapeutic Russian space technology. They are bringing this technology to hospitals through collaboration with a number of organisations including the Russian Academy of Sciences, Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri from Italy, and the University of Malta.

SIB Laboratories Ltd is adjusting the Regent™ suit and Korvit™ foot simulator to bring to a hospital near you. The Regent™ suit is purely mechanical having straps, belts, and elastic cords that put pressure on your body when you move around. It was developed for Russian cosmonauts to prevent bone and muscle loss at zero gravity. On Earth, Russian scientists claim it can speed up recovery after brain injury or stroke.

The Korvit™ foot simulator is an incredibly simple machine having two rubber balloons on each foot through which air is pumped. The balloons inflate that are meant to make your body feel like you’re out for a stroll when lying on a hospital bed. They claim it can get stroke patients on their feet in half the time. Now, a local team led by Prof. Kenneth Camilleri are studying this equipment, if validated and improved, these technologies would be a powerful and economical way to treat patients.

These amazing projects show the benefit of funding PhD students. Malta is tapping into EU funds (University alone has received over £40 million), but we are not tapping into our brainpower.  Pushing businesses to fund PhD students would finally start turning Malta into that fabled catch phrase: a knowledge-based economy.

Supporting PhD students to do research is the most cost-effective way for companies. PhD students do not cost much, I did a PhD in Edinburgh and used to earn £12,000 per year, local students normally get less, a similar price in euros would extract the best young minds in Malta for the project. A PhD lasts 3–4 years, so in total it would cost around €36,000–€48,000. The benefits are a patented discovery that can be sold.

Are there any other costs? Perhaps equipment and materials but nothing extensive, the University of Malta has recently upgraded a lot of its facilities, companies simply need to support the hands and brains to use them.

PhD students are also highly motivated because they have to publish articles or create patents to move forward in their careers. They often work beyond a 9 to 5 job, for example while researching in Edinburgh I regularly worked 10 hour 6-day weeks, because I wanted to succeed. For companies, this drive implies a potentially high return, at low risk.

Malta will never attract the near US $10 billion endowment that graces MIT (our GDP comes in at around $8 billion), however we could attract a lot more money to support our best minds. They can be attracted to remain or come back to Malta, instead of being lost to the ever perpetual brain-drain to Europe, USA and Australia.

About the Author
Edward Duca has a PhD in Genetics and currently exploring the world of science writing and communication. He thinks that science is not just for himself, but for everyone to enjoy and inspire. Find him on his blog, ‘An Unexpected Science Nugget.’

Malta's schools start back after summer - finally!

Malta is back to school. I’ve just spent three hours labeling school books, pens, bags, drink bottles and you name it, anything that can and will be lost or mislaid. At the 11th hour, I discovered I had to mend a school shirt minus buttons that have vanished somewhere over summer… and now, nearing midnight, I’ll be making the dreaded ‘No, I don’t want sandwiches’ lunch box.

There’s nothing so far in my preparations for back to school that’s so very different from those parents anywhere in Europe face. But, hang on, yes, there is a one glaring difference – I’ve had a month more than many of my European counterparts to get to grips with book lists and buttons. Because Malta gives its kids a whopping three months summer holiday; this year’s was 13 weeks +. The holidays are so long in Malta that it’s been known for some teachers to get seasonal jobs as cabin crew  - Air Malta’s difficulties have no doubt put paid to that little earner this summer.

My question to Malta’s educational powers that be is why, oh why do our kids go back so late when countries equally as hot have their school kids at their desks from early September?  Only one school in Malta I know kicks off at the beginning of September, because it follows the International Baccalaureate curriculum and needs to. It copes.

The answer, I am told by a man in the know, is that a collective agreement with teachers a good few years back, if not decades ago, has enshrined this three month vacation.  Teachers got a good deal and there isn’t any indication this situation is likely to change for years. Meanwhile, we all know, educationalists too, that the short school year, among the shortest in EU countries, means our children have to cram, cram, cram to get through the curriculum. The tradition has put paid to a more paced development for our children, both social and academic. Some would argue that the summer holidays more than compensate and that not all learning is done in class. But Malta has a very traditional, exam-led system that puts a lot of pressure on kids. Alternative or more imaginative learning is not order of the day. And parents tend to put pressure on children to perform, from very young ages too.

So, parents out there contemplating an expat move to Malta, be warned, especially if you are both working parents and don’t have convenient family around to lend a hand with childcare.  Summers are long, very long. Not just hot!

Today, I celebrate the return to school but incredibly so does my son; even he says three months is a long time, and he’s keen to get back to see friends and have some structure and routine.

Perhaps that’s the lesson in all this. Malta’s long summer holidays prevent the “whining school-boy, with his satchel…creeping like snail unwillingly to school” (to quote Shakespeare’s As you Like it‘). And to steal from Shakespeare again, you could say there’s method in this madness after all.

Addendum: apparently Bulgaria sees 16 weeks school summer holidays! And the UK’s kids aren’t ‘Uber’ performers despite having the shortest summer holidays in Europe.

Malta should celebrate its bilingualism, but let each language play to its strengths

My son is in primary school and is taken out of class four days a week for extra Maltese lessons, along with four other children who are either foreign or are part Maltese, part another nationality. He, and most of the others in this group hate being singled out. English is the language of instruction throughout the school day except during regular Maltese lessons. If he carries on to tertiary education in Malta, he may go to the University of Malta where English is also the language of instruction. A few weeks ago, the university senate decided that it will allow students to sit exams only in English. Gone is the right, for example, for a physics student to opt to sit papers in Maltese. But Maltese at school leaving level remains a university entrance requirement.

The paragraph above hints at a multitude of issues surrounding the country’s use of Maltese and English, both official languages. The university’s move has brought to the boil what has always simmered in Maltese society – its uneasy relationship with two languages, each of which has its rightful place and use in Malta today. Here are the key issues bandied about right now:

1. Practicality: Maltese is of little ‘use’ beyond Malta’s confines, while English is a lingua franca and world language. English therefore is essential to Maltese children’s education if they are to access knowledge, careers, education, society and more outside these shores. University students, reading any subject, including Maltese, are required to digest texts in English and it is mainly through English that they will exchange ideas with overseas’ counterparts.

2. Cultural Identity: Maltese is an important part of the Malta’s cultural identity and history, just as Gaelic is to Wales or Ireland. It needs to be kept alive, spoken and written, and celebrated. We have several young inspiring writers in Maltese who are making sure the literature and language are relevant to today’s youngsters.

3. Nationalism: Some people equate use of a particular language with nationalism. This is a sad move as it causes conflict between users of the two languages for the wrong reasons. Pride in one’s culture is desirable and speaking a language is part of a cultural identity. Nationalism, which has no place in any debate, should not infiltrate sensible discussion of the use of Maltese and English, both of which, and let’s remind ourselves, are joint official languages.

The sooner people feel at ease with both and use them at the right times, playing to each language’s strength as the situation demands (as the university’s move shows), the better. The EU recognising Maltese as an official language is a diplomatic, politically sensitive decision, but has little justification in practical terms. Goodness knows how many hundreds of thousands of Euro are spent on translating the wordy EU texts into Maltese when, as a journalist friend told me, barely anyone picks up the Maltese texts from the press pigeon holes!

As to my son, well, he will continue with Maltese although it’s my right to not have him learn Maltese at all. A recent article in the UK’s Saturday Telegraph paper cites research showing that bilingualism helps children’s learning in all areas: their brains become more nimble; they are sophisticated communicators connecting to people from all backgrounds and are sensitive to notions of race and culture from an early age; they have more self confidence and do well at school; they become adept at thinking about ideas and concepts in different ways. If well taught in both languages (not a mish-mash pidgin version of both), children will develop a higher ‘metaliguistic awareness’, or understanding of just how languages work. This means they can more easily learn a second or third language. And that’s a great benefit.

So, instead of fighting about Malta’s language question, let’s celebrate its bilingualism but let each language work where it works best for individuals. But I do want my government literature to be in English too – at the moment it’s a haphazard affair and perhaps symbolic of the uneasy relationship authorities have towards the languages. I think also that someone will soon challenge whether Maltese need be a blanket entrance requirement for university – for certain subjects only surely?

Photo: Amanda Holmes

Viewing is one thing, doing is another: the dilemma of a would-be volunteer

Being a volunteer for a good cause comes naturally to some people. We all know of someone who fits this category, and we admire them. But what happens when we’re put on the spot and asked to ‘help out a bit’? Our pained expression belies our guilt at really wanting to do some good, but then we start thinking about our limited time, the pressures of work and our own families (kids’ extra-curricula activities take up our time, there’s the supermarket shop to fit in, an MBA to study for…and so on).

We’ve all been in the ‘I would help, if I could, but you know what it’s like….’ situation. But late last year, a group of students at the University of Malta came up with a new style of volunteering which makes it far easier for us to give some time, using our particular expertise, when and where we can. There are obligations, but within a far more manageable framework of volunteering. Here’s how it works, in their words.

What is Get up, Stand Up?
GetupStandup is a new voluntary organisation created to offer more channels for activism in Malta. The desire to promote love and friendship among all people is at the core of our beliefs. In Malta, there are many community-oriented projects, but the areas of human rights and cultural acceptance are often neglected. So, our initial focus has been on improving the conditions of immigrants, spreading awareness about human rights and campaigning for improved inter-cultural relations.

Whilst the immigration issue is close to our heart, there are many other social causes which we feel deserve more awareness. The environment, education and poverty, are particular aspects of human life which we feel passionate about, and which we want to devote our energies towards changing.

A new approach to volunteering
We feel that there are plenty of people who have a passion for social causes, but many don’t end up getting involved with any projects because of a fear of long commitments. Our website is designed to allow people to commit to roles within different projects and events. This means that you can choose a role depending not only on how much it interests you, but also to the extent of time you can give to it and playing to your strengths and areas of expertise.

Get Involved
Each project or event that we take on is coordinated by one or two project managers. This means that any project can be undertaken by the group, as long as there is a project manager to take responsibility for it. So if you can identify with our causes, or you feel like a cause you are passionate about ties in with our group, please contact us!

Apart from affecting change with small steps through our projects we also feel passionate about creating an environment where we challenge ourselves. Thomas Edison summed it up when he said “Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress”. We want to create an environment where young people challenge their beliefs and think creatively without the inhibitions of dogma. We hope to create a platform for debate, discussion and friendship!

Come and visit us here: www.getupstandup.org.mt

Final word (Editor’s note)
Clearly, some roles like project manager need people who can commit more. But, the ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ way in which we can give time frees us up to help with less worry about committing and at least gives some projects man-hours that otherwise would never come their way. Finally, don’t be cynical about this initiative; and note too that being generous and compassionate lifts our own spirits and can bring us well being (if we still have the need to think of ourselves as we volunteer).

Photo: Walter Lo Cascio

Diversity and inclusion don't usually sit together. Perhaps it's time they did.

Today, I finally had some time to catch up on in boxes on various social media, and browse around – to learn, research, and think about what we should have more of on Malta Inside Out. I am glad I did. Because I came across a message from the British Council, Malta, about a competition they ran last summer under the Council’s Inclusion and Diversity in Education project (INDIE) for schools. If you haven’t heard about this yet, do read on…

The Council had asked anyone who felt inspired by INDIE, to use their mobile phone cameras to make a three-minute film about the meaning of ‘diversity’. This was music to my ears. Malta is so often characterised as a society that relishes tradition, homogeneity and uniformity and one increasingly intolerant. So I did read on…

Malta was active in competing in its INDIE country cluster, which includes young people from the UK and Spain. Marlon Formosa from Kirkop Boys Secondary School won second prize. I clicked through to watch a wonderfully moving, sensitive piece of film about a boy called Deemar who suffers from a very rare condition called Metatropic Dysplaysia.

About the film
This is what Marlon says about his friend and his film: “I like him [Deemar] because in him I don’t see any disability but a great ability to fight against his physical limitations and have a positive attitude towards life. When the head of school told us about the INDIE Goes Mobile short film competition, Deemar came into my mind straight away.

“In creating this short film I found great help from his Learning Support Assistant, teachers and students altogether. But the main protagonist was Deemar himself.

“The first part of the video is about Deemar thinking about the problems he encounters in everyday school life. On the other hand, during the second part Deemar realises that he can be, and is a part of the school family.”

If you haven’t seen it, take three minutes out to watch Marlon’s film ‘Deemar’ below. He, Deemar and countless other young people like them are the people Malta can be proud of.

Read more about the winning entries.

Photo: Walter lo Cascio

Dr Edward de Bono: low-tech presentation for high-powered thinking.

I went to a talk by Edward de Bono yesterday. He’s on a week’s visit taking time out of his world-hopping schedule. It’s always enlightening to hear him and you come away wishing you’d studied his creative, lateral, parallel and ‘Six Thinking Hats’ methods of thinking. Life could be so much simpler or richer, perhaps. His approaches are at once easy to grasp yet not; easy to imagine implementing, and then again, for most of us, near impossible to do so in our daily routine. Can you work to his systems alone or do you need a groundswell of ‘de Bono’ adherents to put things into practice?

At least for an hour today listening to him, I was thinking, not ‘just doing’, as Nike puts it. De Bono’s answer to my queries above came when he said that creative thinking takes discipline, and training. One needn’t have innate talent to embrace it. Phew!

Dr Edward de Bono is Malta’s 20th century icon; our only world-renowned brand and personage. There are of course others who pass muster on some international stages – there’s Dom Mintoff (a former Labour Party prime minister) whose name some people overseas still mutter in connection with Malta; and Frank Zarb, a US citizen born of Maltese emigre parents, who was chairman of the NASDAQ in the dotcom boom and bust years. But no one comes close to de Bono fame. His biog says he’s been chosen as one of the 250 people who has most contributed in humanity’s history.

De Bono, now aged 76, was still the smooth speaker he was when I interviewed him around 15 years back one sultry August when he was in Malta for his annual month of book writing (he’s prolific; one or two a year). He presented yesterday using an aged overhead projector and acetate slides. His point is that we often confuse technological power for the power of creative thinking. No laptop and PowerPoint for him. He had four coloured pens and scribbled away to illustrate his points, projector whirring noisily.

He talks with colourful examples of his thinking systems in action; name-dropping excused as this is a man who has sat and advised world leaders, Nobel Prize winners and chief economists and executives for well over 40 years.

Today, he was addressing a small hall of local IT students. He starts with a joke, and flashes a few inches of jaunty socks and wears a tie which seems to have the letters of the word ‘thinking’ strewn over it. His only trappings of the arty interpretation of creativity; de Bono’s definition of the word is about sensing or creating value, not aesthetics.

De Bono is fleetingly ‘home’ in Malta. It’s a place he’s always been keen to be associated with, for all his world travel and fame. The newest venture he’s set up, The World Centre for New Thinking has its seat in Malta, at Bighi, an old British naval building overlooking Grand Harbour. Its website says ‘from the oldest civilisation, comes the newest thinking’. I like the strapline, but do wonder to what extent this oldest of civilisations is putting this new thinking into practice. May be just doing is the hardest part after all!

Further info, see: The World Centre for New Thinking and also Edward de Bono’s portal.
Dr Edward de Bono was speaking at STC Training Ltd, Malta, which runs courses in creative thinking and innovation.

Photo: Courtesy of STC Training Ltd

Kids' schooling is at the centre of any expat family's decision to move to Malta

If you are planning to move to Malta and uproot with your family, it’s a life changing event, not only for you but for your young budding Einsteins. You may be able to take it in your stride, but your kids – if they’re over the age of five – will probably have an opinion about your plans and so may not be in agreement with them.

I remember so clearly the day we all sat around the kitchen table in the UK to discuss our move to Malta. The news was met with, “Where’s Malta?” and then floods of tears. Our eldest child aged 10 at that time found the news the most devastating having had a best friend from day one reception with whom he was inseparable.

English and Friendly
The first visit to a new school can be pretty daunting for any child, but for those that are on the shy side it can be more difficult. As English is the language of choice in the playground, and of teaching in most of Malta’s private sector schools, it makes it much easier for an English-speaking child to settle.

On the first day of school the Maltese children were particularly welcoming, all saying “Hello” without being prompted by the teacher and appearing genuinely interested and pleased to meet a new member of the class. The Maltese children, as well as being friendly, appear to have a strong sense of self worth and are particularly confident, a real positive attribute that I have begun to notice in my children.

How does the curriculum compare?
Our concerns about the quality of the curriculum in comparison to the UK were settled quite quickly as our eldest child was using exactly the same text books in maths and it seemed very similar in other subjects. The examination process at IGCSE levels also appears comparable to the UK, which is great if you are only here for a few years and your child is at that important age.

Homework
The homework workload during term time is particularly high. The senior school children have between one to two hours of homework every evening, this does take sometime to get used to, however, on the flip side 12 weeks holiday in the summer goes some way to compensate for it. Homework is taken extremely seriously at school and therefore is always completed in our home!

Maltese and Religion
Maltese and religion are not compulsory subjects for non-nationals, and you can decide whether you would like your child to participate. If not, then there’s some time to study or read in the library for the senior school and, in our case, a course of media studies for younger children.

Life now they’ve settled in
We have now been in Malta for 18 months and have all settled down to Maltese life. Although I know my children would never have chosen to come to live in Malta, I feel that they have grown through the experience. They have both Maltese and expat friends and have formed some strong friendships. They have friends for tea and sleepovers as we did in the past and masses of affordable after-school activities. I am sure they will find it more difficult, than they expect, when the time comes for us to return to the UK.

Photo: Leslie Vella

Now, what to do with the little tigers this mid term?

Next week, Malta’s school kids have three days off for mid term. It’s barely a month since they went back to school after the endlessly long summer holiday, so thankfully mid term is short.

I had no idea until around a week ago that things are organised in Malta to occupy the little dears for the mere three days. So, if like me, the usual outings – beach (weather permitting) or Playmobil Funpark don’t appeal (horrendously crowded and been there, done that lots of times), you’ll be relieved to hear that there is something intelligent, fun and creative for kids to do. And some new venues and activities are coming on stream, which, word has it, are proving popular. They might be booked up for this mid term, but get on the mailing lists for the future!

Two that stand out are: the workshops at St James’ Cavalier, Centre for Creativity, Valletta; and the music and art sessions at the Carmelite Priory Museum, Mdina. And for something authentically seasonal, the Manikata Pumpkin Fair should be a nice diversion for kids Sunday 1 November, from 10.30. See our article on pumpkins too.

St James Cavalier

The Centre has been running a programme of Family Sunday afternoon sessions in the creative arts. I went to Halloween mask and model making last week, for instance. Now, the Centre is running on 2 & 3 November, a creative workshop for 4-7 yr-olds, from 09.30 – 12.30. Price per child, Euro 15, and booking by Friday 30 latest!

Older children (9-12 yrs olds) are catered for with a performance workshop animated by Austrian artist Luise Kloos who has been working with children, their fantasies and stories for several years. Children will be encouraged to form, perform, invent and move. Sessions are free, but on a first-come-first-served basis for 25 places. For this, and the younger kids’ workshops, contact: Amanda Palmier on (+356) 2122 3216 or email schoolsprogrammes@sjav.org.

The Carmelite Priory Museum

A newcomer this year as a cultural venue and a real gem of a place to visit any time, the Priory in Mdina is opening its doors to children for mid term workshops in music and art. Sessions are 2 & 3 November; choose from morning or afternoon. The Music Workshop will be held in the Oratory under the direction of Christine Gauci; in it, children will work on melody, rhythm and other related activities. The Visual Art workshop will be held in what’s described as “the peaceful surroundings of the Cloister” (peaceful, with kids?) under the direction of Maxine Claire Attard. All materials are provided.

What I really like about the Priory’s sessions is that “accompanying adults are invited to relax in the Old Priory Café or attend a Lectio Divina which will be conducted by a Carmelite Friar.” Now, call me elitist, but that seems a dream compared to many a mid-term venue I’ve had to suffer. Children and adults also get a tour of the museum by curator Michelle Galea.

Workshops are Euro 6.75 a child (including light refreshments) and are not suitable for the under fives. Booking is recommended since attendance is limited to 20 children per session. Places are still available as we go to press. Phone on 27020404 or email: carmelitepriorymuseum@gmail.com.

Photo: Anne Muscat Scerri