Moving to malta

hiya i moved to malta at the end of may with my three children who are 4,3 and 5mths. from the uk.

my 4 and 3yr old are due to start our local state school in oct. all we did was phone the school and lok round, then when we decided we wanted them to attend we went to see the principal they needed our passports there birth certificates and our tenancy agreement.

i had a letter last wek to say they had been accepted and what class they would be in. i will get another letter nearer oct to tell me which uniform to buy and where from and that kind of thing.

the school day is very diff to the uk they go from 8:30 to 1pm untill they start secondary school and the year runs oct-june.

state schools are all taught in maltese although the teachers and nearly all children can speak and uncerstand english. so my children are being held back a year to help them pick up the language.

church schools are taught in english as are private schools. but when looking for a job and i know to start univerity here they have to speak and write both english and maltese. even italian too for some jobs.

my sil is 13 and attends a private school she was 11 when my in-laws moved out and i know my mil is very very impressed with the standard of education here compared to the uk. but i have nothing to compare it to.

i do know my children will be in a class size no more than 12 for there entire time at primary school.

as for medical treatment

you have to register your children at the peoples reigistry in valetta and they will be issued with an id number (they use id numbers for everything here even purchases in shops and tv services etc) although saying that ours have yet to come through and o9ur passport numbers seem to be fine to use.

we see a private gp who charges 7euros (this is our choice. we are registered at the local health clinic where we could se a gp for free but it would be whoever was on at that time) this way i have our dr's mobile number and she comes to us whenever we need her. my 4yr old had gastro-interitus soon after we moved in and she was fantastic he ended up needing to stay in hospital overnight (they kept him in to observe him due to his age) i cannot praise the hospital here highly enough it is brand new so clean and the staff are fantastic. this was all free again as we had no id number they took passport numbers.

ummm just trying to think whatelse may be of use....

i cant think right now but feel free to contact me if yopu think of anything

regards
melissa

Hi Thanks for your message, ive not been on here for a while as i  couldnt remember my password! but thanks for the info...im still in England at the moment...How are you liking life over there? Better than the uk?

Hi Georgiegirl

i think lifestyle depends on what you are looking for. I find it much more relaxed, less emphasis on consumerism and i can see even from my very young children they feel a lot less peer pressure. for example in the uk my 4yr old was constantly getting stuck and ending up hysterical at the top of soft play centers. Here he is much more confident to say to other children "i cant do that" and as a result he can now do a lot more adventurous activitys.

we have only really been here for the summer so spent most of our time at the beach or pool. Therefor it is hard for me to really comment on whether its a better lifestyle then the uk yet.

i wish you luck in whatever you decide, so far we love it here