This year marked the first time that our school celebrated the life of St Francis on his actual feast day and so we decided to celebrate this occasion with a day full of activities, fun and happiness.
We started off our day with a special assembly, whereby Sr Carmen, our Head of School, talked about the life of our school’s patron saint. Afterwards, Sr Elaine, our Assistant Head, got everyone into a joyful mood when she played her guitar and we sang along joyful songs as a sign of praise to our Lord for the life of St Francis. When assembly was over, we surprised our students with a shower of colourful balloons that fell on the assembled rows from the balconies above! The overjoyed and happy shrieks of the students signalled their delight at this unusual occurrence!
After a short while in the classrooms, students in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6s assembled in our school chapel to participate in an animated mass where joyful hymns were sung by all. Celebrant, Fr Joe Vella, reminded the students about the life of St Francis and how we should imitate this saint in our lives.
After lunch break, everyone was asked to assemble in the school yard since further activities were planned for our students. In fact, the first activity involved the re-opening of our compost bin. Sr Carmen, cut the ribbon and threw in the first green material, consisting of vegetable peels, into the bin. The second activity was the planting of an olive tree so as to mark the first occasion that our school was celebrating this special day. Once again, Sr Carmen cut the ribbon and threw in the first shovel of earth into the pot. Next, 13 students, each representing their respective classes, from grade 1 to grade 6, threw in a shovel of earth as well. This olive tree now takes place of pride in front of our school entrance.
To end of this day of activities, we gave out a croissant to each and every person in school which were gladly received by young and adults alike. Then, after so many exciting activities the students went back into their classrooms to finish off the crafts that their teachers had planned for them.
Needless to say that the students were all happy to celebrate our school’s patron saint in such a way and we were all glad that our first St Francis celebration went off without a hitch!