St. Ignatius College Prof. Edward de Bono Handaq Middle School

Science and the Environment
June 5th is celebrated as World Environment Day. The date serves as a yearly reminder that protection of the environment is a priority.
Normally, science lessons are held in the school’s seven labs. During this scholastic year, both Year 7 and Year 8 students had the opportunity to do field work in the Dingli and Buskett area. Accompanied by their educators and using scientific tools, they immersed deeply into the surroundings. Students assessed, analyzed and recorded their findings. Surely, all this empowered them to understand more and to protect our planet.
These images are all from one of the visits and highlight our students’ commitment.

Students in both Year 7 and Year 8 attending the accredited break club Think! had the opportunity to reflect on and compare the skills and abilities they had developed in relation to their thinking through a self-assessment exercise. This followed their experience of learning about and practising the Thinking Tools and the Six Thinking Hats, all developed by the late Dr Edward de Bono. Students who complete the full number of required hours, typically over a period of two years, are awarded a Non-Formal Award at MQF Level 3.

On 26th May 2026, the Annual Book Champion Awards Ceremony was held, during which our school library was proudly presented with both the Gold Award and the Platinum Award.
In addition, our school received €200 worth of book vouchers from the National Literacy Agency to further enrich our library collection.
A truly remarkable achievement for our school community!

Congratulations to two exemplary, hard-working students of German, Liam and Kyle Bonnici who were nominated for the Erik Award 2025-26 and were awarded a Special Recognition Award. They were chosen among other state school and church school students of German for their enthusiasm for German, active participation, steady progress, and positive support of classmates during activities. Their nomination also demonstrates excellent engagement with German beyond the classroom through independent learning, media exposure, reading, and real-life language practice abroad, reflecting a genuine and sustained commitment to the language.

On behalf of the National Literacy Agency, I would like to congratulate the following student from your school on being awarded prizes related to the World Book Day competitions 2026:

Kylie Galea
Year 8C
1st prize in the Year 8 competition

The Italian Department at Handaq Middle School recently organized a crossword competition entitled “Giochiamo con le parole” for all students studying Italian at school. The competition attracted enthusiastic participation from a large number of students, and due to the high level of interest, the winners were selected through a draw. Congratulations go to Isaac Tonna (7C), Jodie Azzopardi (7C), Diamond Grech (8G), and Kay Abela (8K), who were each presented with a book in Italian as a prize. Well done to all the students who participated, and congratulations once again to the winners!

During their English lesson, students of Year 7F participated in debates with their classmates focused on the topics of banning social media for people under 14 years of age and on the pros and cons of online shopping. Such debates help students learn how to structure their thoughts, understand different viewpoints, build logical arguments, and boost their confidence in public speaking. Well done to all the group for being so well prepared and for the enthusiasm shown.

On Thursday 7th May our school Athletics Team participated in the finals of the Malta School Games 2026. All our students did their best and managed to place well in some events. Well done and keep it up!

The Italian Department at Ħandaq Middle School is launching Episode 7 of the podcast Ciao! The aim of this podcast is to encourage our students to speak in Italian about a variety of topics, including food, travelling around Italy, Italian celebrities, and much more. Alongside the video clip, there is also a worksheet that students can complete to turn the activity into a listening and video comprehension exercise. Well done to all the students involved in this podcast! We encourage everyone to support their hard work by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This is the link to the seventh episode:

Episodio 7 Ciao! Il Podcast Scarica (download) l'attività e rispondi a tutte le domande abbinate a questo podcast. Clicca qui:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y5IMHMNqMbnw_kbNiyEJYPtzIz...