It is the organisation’s aim to ascertain that the students’ voice is heard within Sir M.A. Re-falo for Further Studies. Apart from this, the mentioned student organisation will try to establish a link between the school staff and the students in a continuous effort to inform students of both their rights and obligations. By doing so the organisation shall expose stu-dents to the concepts of democracy and reciprocate respect from an early age, including the understanding of the rules that govern both within the school context as well as the society we live in.

Apart from this, all members will work to or-ganize fund raising activities for the organisa-tion at various periods of the year, hoping that this will increase the co-curricular experience of the school. This will ensure that students will develop a critical mind growing both aca-demically and socially.

The members will be doing this work with the help of a coordinator, who will be repre-sentative of the school’s administration staff as appointed by the head of school who will see that the rules and regulations of the school are not infringed and also serve as a the basic link between the students and the administration of the same school.

January

• Election held at Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies. Five members of the executive elected: Joseph Masini, Freddie Mifsud, Daniel Aquilina, Joseph Vella, and Andrew Grech.

• First meeting of the executive. Posts assigned unanimously: Joseph Masini - President, Daniel Aquilina - Secretary, Joseph Vella - Public Relations Officer, Andrew Grech - Fi-nancial Controller, and Freddie Mifsud - Events Organizer and Logistics Coordinator.

• First consultation meeting held with the administration of the Sir M.A. Refalo Cen-tre for Further Studies.

• Meeting held with representatives of the Gozo University Group (GUG).

February

• Monthly meeting held to discuss the statute and series of discussions entitled “Voice Your Thoughts”.

• First consultation meeting with representatives from the Guidance Office of the Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies regarding the transition of students between Form 5 and the post-secondary level.

March • Sixth form After Exams Party held in collaboration with the Gozo University Group (GUG)

• New Facebook page of the organisation set up.

April• Joseph Masini on behalf of Students’ Voice takes part in a conference organised

by the Gozo University Group (GUG) at the University of Malta - Gozo Campus.

• First of series of discussions entitled “Voice Your Thoughts” organised at the Cit-tadella Centre for Culture and the Arts. Targeted at students studying Maltese at an advanced level, the protagonist was University Professor Manwel Mifsud.

• Visit by Students’ Voice members to the University of Malta Junior College. The delegation was led by President Joseph Masini, and was shown around the Jun-ior College premises by members of the Kunsill Studenti Junior College (KSJC). A cordial meeting followed with members from the KSJC, during which both members committed themselves to collaborate together to tackle student apa-thy. A joint press release by the two organisations was published afterwards.

May

• Second of a series of discussions entitled “Voice Your Thoughts’” organised at the Cit-tadella Centre for Culture and the Arts. Targeted at students studying Environmental Science, Home Economics, and Geography at Advanced and Intermediate Levels, the protagonist was Ambassador for Climate Change Dr Simone Borg.

• Statement issued on the decision of the MATSEC board to revoke a previous ban on drinking water during the A and O level examinations.

• Online suggestion box introduced for students to send in their suggestions and complaints regarding the Annual Examinations timetable.

• Meeting held with members from the Emergency Response and Rescue Corps (E.R.R.C.) regarding the first edition of the “Sixth Form Health Day”.

• Students’ Voice files application for full membership in Agenzija Zghazagh. Applica-tion formally accepted.

• First edition of the “Sixth Form Health Day” organised at the Sir M.A. Refalo Cen-tre for Further Studies”. Organised in collaboration with the E.R.R.C., and the School Administration, together with other oganisations, the event included numerous physical activities, as well as information and healthy food stands, a photography exhibition, and demonstrations by health and safety representatives. The event was also attended by students from the Sacred Heart Minor Seminary of Victoria.

• Final meeting held with the Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies administration.

• Final meeting of the executive held to discuss the events of the past six months, and to lay down the vision for the future months.

Throughout the past six months, we focused on the principle of holistic education as part of the duty of every student.

We set the promotion of debate and active dis-cussion as one of our main goal throughout our term. In these past six months, we worked to instill these values in the students we rep-resent, through events such as the “Voice Your Thoughts” series of discussions, held between the months of April and May 2012.

In these two discussions, students had the opportunity to discuss sub-jects such as the Maltese language and Climate Change with experts in these fields, namely University Profes-sor Manwel Mifsud (Maltese) and Am-bassador for Climate Change Dr Simone Borg.

In these discussions, the students had the opportunity to ask their own ques-tions to these protagonists, thus encour-age discussion and thought activity on issues which affect students beyond their scholastic life.

Another goal we set during the past six months is that of promoting an active lifestyle, which is a challange every

students has to face when balancing between school life and other aspects of one’s daily activities.

Through events such as the “Sixth Form Health Day”, held in May, we set out to present our vision on how such a way of

life should be: practical, easy, and most of all, enjoyable. The events organised during the “Health Day” proved to students

that “health living” is not to be associated with dull diets and boring rules to follow, but is instead a simple approach one has to discover and undertake.

In the upcoming months, we shall be more committed than ever to continue promoting this value as part of our concerted effort towards the benefit of the students we represent, in both scholastic, as well as personal lives.

In the past six months, Students’ Voice has been working hard to meet with several organi-sations and institutions, in order to discuss how we can collaborate for the end benefit of the students we represent.

As soon as the incumbent executive got elected, it focused on a strong, healthy relation-ship with the Administration of the Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies. Indeed, one can easily conclude that such a collaboration has beared fruit which today can be seen and experienced by all students, resulting in activities such as the “Health Day”, held on the school premises, as well as special permissions for students who attended the “Voice Your Thoughts” discussions, also held in collaboration with the school staff and administration.

Furthermore, we set out to meet other organisations, such as the Emergency Response and Rescue Corps (E.R.R.C.), with which we have not only organised a successful event, but also agreed on fu-ture collaboration in order to promote a healthy lifestyle as part of our holistic approach towards education.

With Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, we discussed each other’s vision for what the Sixth Form period means, and how students should be morally, and not only academically prepared for the University life, which is one of the most challenging and life-shaping experiences in a student’s life. We agreed that the key to success in this regard is to collaborate further, and try to find practical solutions which appeal to students in the Sixth Form environment.

However, the most important collaboration we forged was with the “Kunsill Studenti Junior Col-lege” (KSJC). We had the opportunity to see the work which past and present KSJC administra-tions have done, and how this has contributed to reduced the problem of student apathy. Dur-ing a meeting held with their Maltese counter-parts, Students’ Voice members had the op-portunity to discuss both similarities, as well as differences between Gozitan and Maltese post-secondary institutions, and agreed to continue collaborating in the future, in order to ameliorate the experience of the students we represent.

Another main objective we started work-ing on is the transition of students between

Form Five and the post-secondary level. We believe that this is a chal-lenge which must be undertaken in order for students to have the smoothest possible introduction to the Sixth Form experience.

Following several meetings with the Guidance Office at the Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Fur-ther Studies, we agreed that such an undertaking should be done in collaboration with the school Administra-tion. We were clear on the fact that we want to help with the structure al-ready in place, and not set up new elements which, we believe, may end up hindering the transitional process instead of helping it to succeed.

Therefore, throughout the past six months, we worked on an action plan aiming at achiev-ing a smoother transition for students entering the post-secondary level in October 2012. We shall be doing this through a new hand-book, an online help desk, as well as a special

The Students’ Voice executive would like to thank the following:

• The Administration of the Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies.

• The Sixth Form Guidance Office.

• The President, members, and volunteers of the Emergency Response and Rescue Corps (E.R.R.C.)

• H.E. Gozo Bishop Mario Grech.

• The President and members of the Kunsill Stu-denti Junior College (KSJC)

• The Gozo University Group (GUG)

• The Eco-Gozo initiative.

• The curator and staff of the Cittadella Centre for Culture & Arts.

• The Health Promotion Department.

• The Civil Protection Department.

• Sacred Heart Minor Seminary.

• G.P. Agius de Soldanis Secondary School.