A total of 91 primary schools across Malta and Gozo celebrated their outstanding achievements in connecting children with nature through BirdLife Malta's Dinja Waħda schools programme.
Following on from the successful Secondary Awards a couple of weeks ago, the primary schools' accomplishments for the last scholastic year were recognised at the Dinja Waħda Primary awards ceremony 2017-18 which was held at the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta on Tuesday under the auspices of the President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca who has this year become the patron of BirdLife Malta's Dinja Waħda programme.
This year, 60 schools received gold awards, two schools received silver awards, eight schools were awarded with bronze awards and 21 schools with certificates. Six schools also received a blue banner, after being awarded the gold award three years in a row.
The awards were distributed to schools by President Coleiro Preca who was joined by BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana, BirdLife Malta Education Manager Sarah Brady and Charles Azzopardi, Executive PR & Marketing at Bank of Valletta. Representatives from all the participating schools including students, teachers and headteachers together with other education officials were also present.
Apart from celebrating the success of schools involvement during the last scholastic year, today's ceremony also marked the launch of a new year (2018-19) of engagement in the initiative.
BirdLife Malta's Dinja Waħda initiative forms part of the NGO's commitment to protect wildlife and its habitats through outdoor activities for school children both in school grounds and through educational visits to Malta's nature reserves to help them connect with nature. The programme is run in collaboration with the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education and is supported by Bank of Valletta. It has been running for more than 20 years.
One of the highlights of this year's Dinja Waħda Primary prize-giving ceremony was the presentation of BirdLife Malta's new Erasmus+ project One World Learning which will shape the future of the Dinja Waħda programme. Through this new environmental education programme, which includes six international partners, we shall be disseminating research which will be carried out about Maltese children's connectedness with nature and inform the schools on how the Dinja Waħda programme will be evolving. The final outcome will also be shared with all European member states through the BirdLife international partnership.
BirdLife Malta would like to extend its congratulations to all the participating schools for their hard work this year as well as give a special thanks to the Dinja Waħda coordinators who ensure the running of the programme in their school and support the teachers voluntarily. Without these coordinators, children would not be able to develop the skills, knowledge and values to protect the environment gained through participation in the Dinja Waħda programme.
Bank of Valletta provides support to Dinja Waħda as part of its corporate social responsibility programme for the community, in which it operates.