Three external judges visited San Anton School this morning to judge our Grade Seven Entry for the Dan Pajjizna Competition.

Mr Frank Spiteri and Mr Joe Agius from the Ramblers Association together with Ms M.A Spiteri from the Education Directorate were greeted by Ms Vicki Anastasi – Head of School, Ms Rosanne Demanuele – Asst. Head of Junior Sector together with Property Manager Mr. Joe Attard – the Dan Pajjizna Competition Co-ordinator and the Grade Seven students who formed part of the Dan Pajjizna Team.

The students together with Mr. Attard walked the judges through the exhibition and the students excitedly related various anecdotes from their outings and pointed out the various flora, fauna and items of cultural interest sighted during their field trips.

The party then moved outdoors to the School`s Nature Area where the Judges had an opportunity to appreciate the ecological work done by the Students contributing to the beautiful surroundings.

Dan Pajjizna is a competition organised by RAM-The Ramblers Association of Malta under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and was open to our Grade Seven Students.

The aim of this competition was to enable the students to discover and explore the School`s environs, with a particular focus on features of cultural, historical, folkloristic or environmental interest.

Since our school is located within the beautiful valley of L-Imselliet, we were spoilt for choice in our selection of country walks. The routes we chose led us to the small hamlet of Bingemma, Dwejra towards Abbatija and Is-Santi, which is also another small hamlet in the Mgarr locality.

In preparation for this exhibition, the students participated in a total of six field trips on weekends and holidays, since October 2007. These trips enabled them to take note of and photograph these features of interest. Excitement ran high, and a total of three thousand photographs were taken by the students themselves. The more artistic of the group were inspired to sketch the Bingemma Chapel on site, whilst others created clay models of other historical features.

Nineteen Grade Seven students participated in this competition led by the competition`s co-ordinator Mr. Joe Attard, the School`s Property Managerand a keen environmentalist. He also looks after the School`s Backyard Habitat – an environmental and nature conservation area within the school grounds and has co-authored two books on local flora and fauna entitled “ The Maltese Countryside.”

The competition will be judged in April 2008 along with other entries from competing schools. The best judged entry will receive a book token prize of €700

Good Luck and well done to all the Dan Pajjizna Team below for their effort, initiative and hard work.

Fenella Bauert, Emma Borg, Aaron Borg, Arianne Bezzina, Emma Coleiro, Matthew Cutajar, Catriona Cutajar, Sean Ellul, Steve Fava, Nico Fauser, Pia Grech, Matthew Grech, Amy Grech, Naomi Lorefice, Stephanie Muscat, Sophie Muscat, Sharon Portelli, Marina Shishkina, Nicolo Tanti , Mr Joe Attard