Saint Joan Antide - GUIF sleep over.

Mid-term holidays bring a breath of fresh air to us all! Easter celebrations and the beginning of spring also brought with them an exciting live-in for our eldest students who form part of the group called GUIF (Growing Up Is Fun).

Year 5 and year 6 students attending St. Joan Antide School Gudja, together with the participation of some of the Form 1 and 2 students from Immaculate Conception School Tarxien, were eagerly awaiting this live-in that was held at Olivia House at Marsascala. Sr. Doris Mc Kay together with some of the dedicated teachers in charge of this group also spent three days with the children at our retreat house where various educational, spiritual but above all fun activities were held!

The programme for these three days (25th - 27th March) was speckled with various items to which all of the children participated eagerly. During their stay at Olivia House, the girls had the opportunity to get to know each other more deeply through different ice-breakers and games held indoor or out-door on the beach. The children were also shown various religious Power-Point presentations after which they were encouraged to discuss, reflect and share their feelings with their friends upon the spiritual subjects being presented. The aims behind these presentations were mainly to enhance spirituality among our girls, and encourage group effort and team work. Children had mass together and time for prayers, nonetheless our girls also had time for solving puzzles in groups, putting together jigsaw puzzles, preparing short talent shows together with their room-mates… and lots of other educational fun activities!

The drama workshop held by the beach by our special guest Mr.Alan Fenech was the highlight of our second day at our Marsascala residence. All the girls laughed and collaborated together to imagine and form funny statues with their bodies and improvise short sketches being given only a few props to work with! All girls were encouraged to participate and soon even the most shy and reserved characters dropped their masks and proved themselves to be fine actresses and imaginative story tellers!

The girls also had short keep fit sessions together, long walks along the promenade or by the country, time for free play and pyjama parties. After eating out together, children spent their evenings watching movies or relating ghost stories which were more amusing than spooky!

The list of things experienced during this sleep-over is almost endless, however we are more then sure that our children enjoyed their stay with us since us teachers enjoyed ourselves as well. Besides, such live-ins encourage children to learn further life skills and thus become independent young ladies