A few years ago, Plato wrote; ‘Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.’

Edward – Lonely, he would appreciate you getting in touch

Some of you already know of Edward. To date he has written two blogs. After reading them I realise that he is feeling very lonely. You can find the link here;

http://stedwards.edu.mt/news-college-blog/

At this point we are hoping that some of our boys will be able to write to him and cheer him up. This is the address for emails;

[email protected]

I do know for a fact that he would like in particular to hear from the boys in Junior School. What part of college they are missing, what is their favourite time of the day, what they talk about (he used to hear everything!), some of the tricks they play on one another and on the teacher …

Edward will also tell stories of the days he has seen, maybe even some of his ghost stories.

Dads and Nannus, and some of our mummies that attended Sixth Form. I already know of several stories, I will omit the names, from past students. Join in, let us know which drainpipe was the most reliable to climb down, where did you practice before climbing out windows to walk along the 2^nd floor ledge(!), where were ‘disagreements’ settled, who was the marbles champ in your year. Were there ever potatoes in the potato patch, which section of the boundary wall did your parents throw the ‘goodies’ over.

Student and parent behaviour during lessons

The worst thing is that the majority of parents don't even answer me.

In three days of lessons, I had 32 assignments not handed in on time (the vast majority not handed in at all!) 

I wrote around 22 reports for Year 10 and 12, and I wrote about 10 more private emails to parents of Year 9.

The above is from a teacher. There are more instances throughout college, so the issue is not only with the year groups mentioned.

Firstly, parents please do not bring your children snacks nor lunch during lessons. This can cause other children to want the same, hence disrupting the lesson.

Secondly, the procedures that we have in place are being applied to virtual lessons.

• Students missing the lesson will be marked as absent.
• Late work will not be accepted unless there is a valid reason
• Students misbehaving during a lesson will be reported to parents with the Head of Section in copy. (playing loud or offensive music in the background, gestures that are insulting, muting other microphones …)
• If the misbehaviour continues with the class being disrupted the student will be removed from the lesson and the parent informed. 

Classroom Management

During lessons a teacher can control this. If your child is not ‘warned/supervised’ at home that good behaviour is fundamental the student can disrupt others. Students are to attend the lesson on time – not before the teacher is in the group. Some teachers are moving from lesson to lesson, finishing up an explanation from a previous lesson. Students must wait!

Any student (or parent for that matter) who makes a recording of the lesson that is later found to be used not for it’s intended purpose, (shared with other students, modified to mock/bully the teacher or another student, and more…) will face very serious disciplinary measures which may, depending of the severity of the case, result in a suspension or expulsion from college.

I have often reminded our boys that they are at St Edward’s College. We have higher expectations and standards that most others. Do not let us down.

Winter/ summer uniforms

This has always been a huge talking point for us. The number of emails, some frustrated and angry, I receive around this time of the year on this topic is always interesting. Sadly, this year the issue is mute. We can all look forward to the Maltese autumn to regenerate our enthusiasm for the converse, summer to winter!

Your choice this year as to when you will change uniforms!

GDPR and access to MS Teams

We are using MS Teams. As a parent you must opt-in for your child to continue using Teams. Parents need to reply to Ms. Domenici’s email. Consent can be given by replying to her email. For ease of reference, please include the full name of your son and preferably the class in your reply. 

We have been lenient on admission to lessons this week, in other words we have allowed access without having received a reply.

From Monday, April 27^th if you have not replied your child will be removed from the lesson