EYE SPYwednesdaY, FebruarY 8, 2017 | issue 63eyespy@timesofmalta.com

Friendship and adventurePAGE 2

power cutPAGE 4

the part-time time travellerPAGE 4

PSCD teachers also covered topics rangingfrom different leadership styles to effectivecampaigning strategies.

Election Day had all the bells and whistlesof a real election. A number of students wereengaged as electoral commissioners whocrossed out electors’ names from an impro-vised electoral registry and stamped eachballot before the electors cast their votes. Theexperience turned out to be an excellentlearning opportunity for all students.

Only 2.5 per cent of the votes were invalidand the students’ voting patterns showed

that even a student as young as 7 is able tovote with intent. Furthermore, the candi-date’s position on the ballot did not affect the outcome.

Student council members meet regularlyevery fortnight to discuss ways to implementthe ideas that they had proposed during their campaigns.

The role of the student council membersalso includes representing their school during formal events and acting as a voice for fellow students with theschool administration.

ThehappyschoolstudentcouncilAn analysis of a student council election inGozo revealed that boys have four timesmore chance of being nominated andelected than girls.

This was the outcome reached from therecent election at the Gozo College VictoriaPrimary School.

Twenty-four candidates from 12 differentclasses contested the elections.

Prior to the election students from Year 3 upto Year 6 participated in lessons during whichthey learnt about the democratic process andnominated two candidates from their class.

Election Day had allthe bells and whistlesof a real election

2 TIMES OF MALTA eYe spY ●

ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE SENT TO

Eye Spy, Times of Malta, 341, St Paul Street, Valletta VLT 1211,or e-mail: eyespy@timesofmalta.com

Today’s front-page story was an eye-opener for me on two counts. I wasreally pleased to read that children are being so responsive to the dem-ocratic process and participate wholeheartedly in the school councilelections when they are held.

However, on a completely different note, I was saddened to read thateven at such a young age, girls are sidelined and boys have a betterchance of being elected.

This situation is reflected in every-day life even for us adults. Womenare often ignored when it comes to being promoted to top managerialposts. There has also been a lot of discussion about the difference inwages of men and women.

And this phenomenon happens not only in Malta but in most civilisedcountries. It has also, for instance, been brought up by a number ofrenowned actresses, who say that there is a huge discrepancy in wagesfor male or female actors.

In 2017, why is it news that three women have been given top mana-gerial posts? Why does it become newsworthy when a women is electedto a high-profile post?

There has been so much talk about gender equality, equal rights,equal pay etc.

It is about time we put our foot downand start respecting each other for ourcapabilities, for our brains and not forour gender.

You’re EYE SPY

Hello everyone,

Dear Pete, Studio 18’s latest piece,devised in collaboration with itsyouth Creative Lab and forming partof the Spazju Kreattiv programme,will be put up at St James Cavalierbetween February 24 and 26.

Aimed at children and families,this piece is teeming with story-telling, magic and puppetry, accom-panied by live music. 

Directed by Jean-Marc Cafà, withmusical direction and compositionby Francesco Grech, the showboasts a team of 20 young perform-ers and designers.

This performance explores thewonders and struggles of childhood,coated and moulded in such a wayto suit our young audiences.

Little Pete and his unique petSplint live a simple life in a quiet lit-tle village, guided by the neighbourson their street. One day, a stormerupts and an unexpected visitorfinds his way to Pete’s doorstep. Thismeeting is only the beginning ofwhat fast becomes a special friend-ship and adventure – an adventureforged by the many stories sent toPete by his extraordinary mother!

The production is recommendedfor children aged 6 to 10.

Ph Yeo

see competition on page 4

best wishes

Messages from relatives and friends must include the parents’ written permissionfor them to appear in Eye Spy, plus the full name, address and contact number ofthe sender, the birthday date, where relevant, and arrive at least 10 days before

the publication date. Images must be in Jpeg format and at least 200KB.

This is a free space for you to send bestwishes to family and friends for birthdays,anniversaries and special occasions.

Friendship and adventure

We would like to wish a veryhappy birthday to Angèle who hasturned 7, who lives in France but isstill an Eye Spy reader.

Many kisses and a big hug fromher cousins, uncles, aunties and herbeloved nanna and nannu.

We love her very much and aremissing her a lot . xxx

Now they are back and bigger andbetter than ever!

Scottish toy company H. Gross-man Ltd introduced the latestwave of aliens at the London ToyFair.

The Hatch Em Uber GrowingAlien will produce an Alien Mon-ster up to 72cms in length! Thisgrowing Alien is the biggest in a newrange of growing extra terrestrials. 

Alien Eggs took the toy world bystorm in 1999 winning numerousawards including the coveted ToyCraze of the Year. The popularity ofthis range has never waned; theyhave now gone on to sell over 22 mil-lion and the sales show no sign ofslowing down.

New for 2017 is The Hatch Em GrowAlien range, a unique design, com-pletely designed in the UK, which willadd to the success story at pocket moneyprices – simply immerse the egg in waterand wait for another little alien to hit theplanet! Or if you bought the Mega egg avery large alien will show up.

Remember Alien Eggs?

In toy heavenHave you been complaining that you did not getenough toys last year. I’m sure it’s time for you tothink again.

Recently-released figures suggest that the averageUK child received £350 worth of toys last year, whiletoys by Lego, Playmobil and Spin Master are pre-dicted to be the top sellers of 2017.

Two police command centres, one by Lego and theother by Playmobil, are among the best new toysnamed at The Toy Fair, an annual trade event at London’s Olympia.

Spin Master – which was behind last year’s hitHatchimals – made the list of potential bestsellers for2017 with the Paw Patrol Terrain Vehicle Rescue set,a Build a Terrible T-Rex Head, a Sensory DiscoveryRobot and a Mobile Vet with Hanoverian Foal.

On average, £350 was spent on each child aged upto 9, with an average toy price of £8.35.

The survey shows that the UK trend of year-roundtoy buying was “relatively unique” in comparison tothe continent, with just 22 per cent of sales taking place in December.

ST PAULMartina guErrEra,6, Paola

Well done. Keep up thegood work.

writE thE titlE ofYour PicturE,togEthEr withYour naME, agEand addrESS on

thE Back ofEach PicturE.PlEaSE do notwritE on thE

PicturE itSElf.

thE artiSt of our Star PicturE will rEcEivE a €15 tokEn for toYS, courtESY of thE ModEl ShoP, Birkirkara BYPaSS, iklin.

gallErY’S Star PicturE iS...

T WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017 3

otos: Sacha Attard-on

St Paul’s shipwreckSt Paul was shipwrecked on our island on his way to Rome to face charges.He was welcomed with kindness and they lighted a fire to warm them from the cold. As the fire

was lit, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake but suffered no ill effects.Maltese people said that he must be a special man and it was a miracle. He remained for all

the winter.While he was here he cured Publius’s father who had a serious fever. Publius had converted to

Christianity and was made the first bishop of Malta. We celebrate St Paul’s feast on Friday.

Rihanna Agius Young, 7, Tarxien (Kulleġġ San Ġorġ Preca, Primary School A)

Ja-naya Aquilina, 6, Paola (Kulleġġ San Ġorġ Preca, Primary School A)

4 TIMES OF MALTA eYe spY ● WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Don’t do that I shouted. He ignored me, the wind was strong. I wasdesperately praying for the night to be over. I was scared we were goingto lose the roof. I heard funny noises that were making me anxious.Trees were crashing loudly. When I woke at 7am to wake my nephew

Alfie for school, the wind was still howling. I looked out of the windowand to my surprise I saw leaves and fallen power poles all over the place.Once Alfie was dressed and ready to go to school he got up to go and

switch the television on, not knowing the dangers of what he was doing.“Don’t do that!” I shouted; he ignore me.With a flick of a switch, everything erupted – with chandeliers blown

to the ground, glass all around. I called an ambulance as I could see hewas badly injured and I was sure that he had received an electric shock.We rushed to hospital. Before I realised Alfie was in a hospital bed. I

lay next to him for comfort. A few minutes later I heard a bell. I openedmy eyes, not knowing what was happening, to find no accident; just mylovely nephew and I in bed.Turns out it was my alarm clock waking me from a horrible dream, a

nightmare in fact.

Power cutKatie Vella, a student at San AndreaSchool, sent in this short story.

You may find this hard to believe, but I oncebuilt a time machine. It was made from scrapwhich my friends and I found at a junk place inmy town in Munich. My grandpa helped us to build the time

machine. Grandpa had a pickup truck whichhad big pieces of junk. One day, he pulled upand in his trunk he had an old little boat, a mag-ical clock and some old wires. There was also anold door with a key. We finally started building the time machine.

My friends, Grandpa and I put all the piecestogether. Then we found a broken radio in a cor-ner of Grandpa’s garage. So we attached it to thetime machine. Suddenly, as we were finishing off our time

machine, the key started to glow. Then the radiostarted to speak: “Put on the hats and I’ll takeyou on a magic adventure.”

We all climbed into the time machine and ittook us back to 1945. We found ourselves closeto the battlefield. “Come into the shelter,” saidone soldier. We asked what was happening and they said:

“Don’t you know? It’s World War II. We are inreal bad luck.” We all ran towards him and he cried, “Follow

me!” He took us to a shelter and he asked us ifwe wanted food. We said yes and he gave ussome dried fruit. Then he gave us a glass of milk.He showed us a room where we could stay. Suddenly, the magic key began to glow. We

got twirled out of the adventure! The radiostarted speaking and said, “Did you like theadventure?” Oliver explained why he didn’t likeit. The time machine spoke again and said, “I hope you will enjoy the next adventure in the future.”

Join Liam Lindemann, a Verdala International School student, on a journey back in time on his magical scrapmachine.

The part-time time traveller

win 2 tickets to dear pete

competition

Would you like to win two tickets to go and watch Dear Pete at St JamesCavalier? All you have to do is let your imagination run wild.Write an original 300-400 word story and send it in via e-mail on

eyespy@timesofmalta.com or to Eye Spy, Times of Malta, 341 St PaulStreet, Valletta VLT 1211.All entries should include a full name and surname, age and a contact

number. They should reach Eye Spy by February 20.All entries will be uploaded to Studio 18’s social media pages.