During the past months our year 6 students were busy observing and discussing the ongoing problems that planet Earth is facing and finding solutions on how to help and minimize such issues.

Through this project a good number of aspects and skills were explored and practiced. To begin with, the boys were encouraged to observe what is happening around us through various discussions, videos, newspaper articles, reading comprehension texts and information available online. In order to experience these issues first hand, in groups the students had to take care of a plant. Such plants were sown and assembled with wires to Kitroniks and Microbits; which were also coded with specific instructions. Every group used a different solution to water their plants with; each one of these representing the different environmental issues. Data about the conditions of the plants was recorded weekly with photos and bar graphs, until final conclusions were reached.

For the concluding stage of this project, the students were encouraged to think about the issues discussed, the data collected, and the conclusions drawn, and come up with a sustainable invention to tackle one or more of these issues. With the help of some parents, who gently volunteered to help, the students gathered different ideas into one sustainable structure. After researching, they planned and designed their inventions, and eventually they also built prototypes of such structures, using recyclable material. Throughout the whole process, the boys collaborated using their personal strengths and shared their ideas to reach a common goal.

To celebrate such an amazing educational journey, all the inventions were presented in detail by every group to their parents and other distinguished guests. The implementation and success of this project would not have been possible without the hard work and support of Mr Simon Peter Schembri, all the year 6 LSEs and teachers, the school assistant head Ms Veronique DeGabriele Ferrante, as well as Ms Roberta Trapani Maggi, Ms Pamela Fenech and Ms Natalie Lombardi Calleja from the secretariat.

Ms Daniela Buttigieg

Primary Teacher

On Sunday January 15, the traditional Feast of St. Anthony the Abbot was celebrated in the Conventual Church of St. Mark in Rabat, with the rite of the blessing of the animals. A lot of people with their animals took part in the mass, the procession, and later the much awaited ceremony of the blessing of the animals in St Augustine Square in front of the church.

The celebration started with the mass presided over by the Prior Provincial Fr Leslie Gatt O.S.A., followed by a short procession with the statue of the saint. Back in square in front of the Church a prayer was led by the celebrant and than the first to be blessed were two horses of the Police cavalry. A good number of horses and donkeys followed. It was than the turn of the domestic animals particularly a large number of dogs, cats, birds and turtles. A few less frequent animals attracted particular attention, such as a snake, an owl and a calf.

The devotion to the saint in the Augustinian Church of Rabat actually goes back several centuries. Since the time of the Knights of St John, it has been a custom for the Grandmaster to send his animals to be blessed on the feast of St Anthony of Rabat. In 1806, the renowned artist Xandru Farrugia, carved the of Saint Anthony in wood.

The figure of Saint Anthony the Abbot has a connection with the Augustinian tradition. The life of Saint Anthony and his strong example encouraged Saint Augustine at a decisive moment in his life and helped him on his journey towards conversion. For many years the Augustinian friars were even called hermits and devotion to Saint Anthony was something very common in their churches.

On Friday, January 27, Fr Josef Sciberras O.S.A. defended his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Church History and Cultural Heritage, at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome. Following his studies for a Licenciate in the same Faculty, Fr  Josef continued to increase his interest in the field. Meanwhile, the idea of ​​pursuing further studies for a doctorate started to materialise particularly in his interest in the figure of Mons. Paolo Micallef who was the only Maltese Prior General in the History of our Order, a figure who had never been accurately researched.

After the years of formation in Malta, Fr Paolo Micallef O.S.A. served as a friar in Italy and in 1855 he was actually serving as Prior in the community of Fermo when he was called to serve as Vicar General of the Order through the direct intervention of Pope Pius IX. Later he was elected Prior General. Following his years at the helm of the Order, he served also for some months as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Gozo, bishop of Citta del Castello and than Archbishop of Pisa.

After several years of hard work, last Friday 27th January, fr Josef presented his doctoral thesis, in which he particularly studied the years fr Paolo Micallef O.S.A. served as Prior General between 1855 and 1865. It is a work that brings to light the sterling service that Fr Paolo gave to the Order following years of decadence.