Schools have closed for the winter… but they have opened for the summer. Hundreds of children have started attending summer schools – with no books and no lessons, just to have fun, play and make new acquaintances.

Few children get very excited at the mention of school. Waking up early, homework, silence in the classroom and all matters associated with school are pet peeves for anyone under 14 years of age. However, come the end of June, when school is no longer actually compulsory, most children are over the moon about attending summer school.

It is easy to understand why a child prefers summer school to regular school. In summer school not only are the hours shorter, often school is not even daily. Furthermore, the teachers who do not have deadlines to meet are in better humour. Ultimately, the subjects covered at summer school are those subjects, children adore at normal school – crafts, sports, science experiments and drama. Often, in normal schools, minimal hours are devoted to these subjects, which are very important as they help children develop social skills like sharing and working in a team.

In Malta, summer school attendance is on the increase. Most summer schools are affiliated to an education establishment and in fact, many children go to a summer school at their “winter” school.

Summer school is particularly relevant as both parents are often working during the summer holidays, and the grandparents, with whom children traditionally stay, often have very busy social lives or are not yet retired.

One may argue that by sending children to summer school, they are not actually having a break from school and that can be true; therefore it is at the parents` discretion that the hours of summer school are not too long, the children still have time to simply watch cartoons all afternoon, catch up on their reading or just loaf around the house. Childhood offers such a luxury and it should not be taken away.

Summer schools are not only organised by Church schools or private schools. The government also understands how important summer schools are and runs SkolaSajf. The Skolasajf programme runs from mid-July to the first week in September. It caters for primary school pupils from Year 4 to Year 6 who attend both state and non-state schools.

Skolasajf also admits children with special needs in the mainstream classes. All Skolasajf Centres open daily from Monday to Friday between 9am and noon. All the activities, at Skolasajf, promote the creative work of children. Skolasajf also organises an Animal Awareness week and conducts activities in association with Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, Sedqa, St James Centre for Creativity, Campus FM and Weetabix.

This year, the main topic is the conversion to the euro from the Maltese lira, and a number of activities are being held to create more awareness among children about this important changeover. The activities are being held in collaboration with the National Euro Changeover Committee.

In addition, Maltese centres are encouraged to twin up with Gozitan centres and organise joint activities. A Fieramaratona to celebrate pupils’ creativity is held at the Maria Regina Girls’ Junior Lyceum Sports Ground, Blata l-Bajda, during the last five days of Skolasajf. Each and every centre will have its own stand where they can exhibit samples of their work. In addition, short performances by all the Skolasajf centres are given on the main stage at the Greek Theatre of Maria Regina School.

Summer Schools in Malta

Sunshine Sports, which started out as St Aloysius’ Sports, has its origins in 1994. Organiser David Azzopardi says that in the beginning the school only catered for the students of St Aloysius’ College and offered a variety of sports lessons. A year later, the school had already expanded and students from other schools were attending these specific sports sessions.

The sessions were only held in the afternoon and basketball, athletics, tennis, volleyball, football, self-defence and swimming were offered to the students. Over the years, due to demand, general sports lessons were also offered in the morning.

In 2000, St Aloysius’ Sports evolved into Sunshine Sports. Today’s format offers daily sports, whether it is general sports or a sport in particular. Drama, Crafts and Science are also on offer. Private clubs teach certain sports like tennis, and each club does its own fundraising events, however in the long run, all these fall under the Sunshine Sports umbrella.

Although children can attend Sunshine Sports every day, 90 per cent do not do so, preferring instead to attend two or three sessions a week. Children, obviously love the way school is enjoyable and everything offered, albeit educational, is also fun. Sunshine Sports runs hand in hand with St Aloysius’ College in a professional setting with qualified teachers. David Azzopardi feels that children gain a lot from sports and the maxim mens sana in corpore sano is very true.

Sophie’s Theatre, which runs at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, also has its roots in the 1990s when Marie Therese Cassar and Raymonda Decesare discovered that they had a common interest - stage performances. Together they furthered their knowledge and with the help of Alfred Mallia and John Suda decided to form a drama group. The roots of Sophie’s Theatre lie in this drama group, which used to meet at the school as part of the mid-day activities.

Eventually due to re-structuring, the drama group went on hiatus, but once a new auditorium was built on the school premises, the group was back in action. After a special performance to inaugurate the new auditorium, many parents approached Mary Therese Cassar and Raymonda Decesare and requested that this drama group turns into an after school drama group and a drama summer school. Many working mothers wanted to leave their children in a safe and familiar environment and so the drama summer school was born and became known as Sophie’s Theatre after the patron saint of the school – St. Madeleine Sophie.

Sophie’s Theatre offers a range of activities; beginners’ piano lessons, acting, singing, dancing, improvisation, theatre games, making props, poetry recitals and the making of percussion instruments. Every summer, at the end of the courses a show is prepared for the parents.

Raymonda Decesare says that she hopes that the children enjoy it as much as the organisers do. Many students in fact return year after year. She adds that she thinks that summer schools are important. Without the children actually noticing, their memory span increases through the learning of drama pieces and fun poems. Each child also feels realised, more confident and most of all has plenty of fun.

Furthermore, a Summer Camp is also run the Convent of the Sacred Heart. The organisers Maria Said and Sue Plumpton both garnered experience working for English School and knew beforehand about the high level of responsibility required. This Summer Camp has now been held for the past four years.

A typical day at Summer Camp starts at 8.30am. However, in contrast with normal school it is not a very big deal if students are 10 minutes late. The first activity is usually a multi-sensory activity, which warms up the children and is apt for all ages. This is followed by fun and games, a treasure hunt or even a cookery lesson. The second activity, after a short break, is usually art and crafts. The crafts include painting, face painting, finger painting, tie dying – basically any sort of messy activity which children love to do but parents are wary of doing at home. At the camp, children also make puppets, have sand castle building competitions and needlework activities. All activities are weather appropriate and most of all child appropriate. If the children seem tired, arts and crafts, which are quite relaxing, are very apt.

Maria Said and Sue Plumpton think that summer schools are important for a several reasons. The summer holidays are long, so Summer Camp offers a programme where the children are challenged and stimulated intellectually and creatively especially as research shows that children’s IQ decreases in summer. Summer schools are also important because they encourage social interaction. Summer school is like a mini society where children

start establishing their own identity.

A family from Mosta sings the praises of summer school. Stephen and Helen are parents to 10-year-old Daniel and four-and-a-half year old Nicole. They all look forward to the summer holidays and the way that they can spend so much time together. However, the parents still have to go to work and eventually the children do get bored.

Stephen and Helen like the way summer school is so stimulating for their children. Daniel has been going to summer school for the past five years and loves it. He likes having so many art and swimming lessons. His summer school is organised by the school he attends during the scholastic year. Some of his friends attend the same summer school so it is a great way to keep in touch with his school friends. Daniel also loves the fieldwork sessions they have in Buskett. Little Nicole is also very excited about starting summer school mainly because she loves to play and like this she is going to play all the time with many other children! Daniel and Nicole do not attend full weeks of summer school, as their parents rightly believe that the summer holidays are also there to spend time together.

Summer Camps overseas

In the Unites States of America summer camps are practically a rite of passage. Children, go away from their families, into an area of wilderness and in this environment they build on their social and survival skills. However, some camps can be more specialised in nature and offer focus on just one area, whether it be losing weight, intensive sports training, playing an instrument or even fireworks and explosives! In the USA, many camps are affiliated to a particular religion. Jewish summer camps are particularly popular. During these summer camps the activities on offer are like any other summer camp however they also present Judaism to children who due to several factors may not know so much about their religion. During the camp, children can learn about Jewish celebrations and customs, as well as learn Hebrew.

Summer camps are also very popular in Finland. Post-World War II, Finnish educators were convinced that due to urbanisation, youth was going to grow up alienated from the countryside. Summer camps were devised where Finnish youth could get in touch with rural Finland and these summer experiences would aid their development into decent citizens. Many of these summer camps are run by evangelic and orthodox Lutheran churches and are known as Confirmation camps. 90 per cent of all youths attend these camps. These camps aim to combine the traditional concept of religious school and the newer concept of summer camps in order to battle secularisation of the society.