Schooling

Hi, we have a 13 yo daughter (and 8yo son) and moved here just in time for the start of this term (Jan 4th 2010) - what would you like to know?

Tim

Thanks Tim,

I am hoping to get our son into a school that will concentrate on his needs as he is needing a little more attention and time. i don't want to put him into a high pressure situation, it will not work for Richard. Also the costs if you can give me some indication. thanks

Where will you be moving from? Though I myself am British we moved to Malta from 10 years in the US and thus our kids only knew the US school system.

The schooling system in Malta is rather like the UK system. You are going to have a number of choices to make: Public vs Private being the foremost. We chose Private mainly for 2 reasons: 1) They teach in English and Maltese is simply taught as a language in he same way as French and Italian; 2) less emphasis on religion.

Our 13yo does not even take Maltese lessons as it was felt that at 13 she would be too far behind the others, but our 8yo is talking Maltese and doing well.

We chose San Anton school for a number of reasons that I can go into and although we are overall happy with our choice it has not been without issue - though at least partly cultural that we probably would have run into at any Maltese school. We have found the upper eschelons of San Anton staff very understanding of the issues students moving into their school from another culture experience...perhaps some of the teachers themselves have not been quite so understanding...again that may have been the case at any school.

Private schools people look at on these forums are:
San Anton (both)
San Andrea (both)
St Martin (senior) + Chiswick House (Junior)
St. Micheals (both but in separate campuses)
Newark (both but in separate campuses)
St. Catherines (both)

Also don't forget the Verdala International School which teaches US style but is quite a bit more expensive than the others (approx 3x) and in case they didn't have openings when we needed it.

Sorry if I missed any schools out. We shortlisted 4 schools before we arrived in Malta and had tours of each after which we reduced our list to 2 and then finally picked 1. I recommend you take a similar approach esp. as you seem to have some extra concerns about the attention your child will need.

I'll post San Anton costs separately - the private schools all have a small registration fee and then also a refundable deposit and then termly tuition costs...they vary some but are all in the same ballpark, except Verdala, which is quite a bit more.

Tim

Please see this thread that includes rough San Anton costs - I can be more precise if needed.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=24469

I believe San Anton is in the same ballpark with St Martins. Some other schools are less expensive (Newark for instance) - it's a personal decision on value though that I will leave up to you.

The refundable deposit is supposed to work this way at San Anton (only time will tell if it actually does!):
You have 2 choices:
1. Pay refundable deposit per family - which you get back the year after your youngest child finishes at the school;
2. Pay a special NON refundable annual fee of €400 per family for up to 3 years...this is a special nod to expats who may not be in Malta for a long time. If your kids continue at the school after 3 years you MUST pay into the refundable deposit scheme...no credit is given for the annual fees, that money is gone from you forever. We have chosen this for our first year and will reassess when the next school year starts.

Tim

Hi...My name is Mari...we have relocated here from Ireland.My son & I have been here since June 09, and my partner still works between here and Ireland.
My son is 11 and attends the local state school.So far he has settled in far better than id expected! My main concern was that kyle has a form of dyslexia which affects him mathematically....but the school were very heplful & understanding of this.
There does seem to be a divide at times between the local and foreign kids but not to the point that its upsetting kyle in any way and I think this is bound to be the case in the beginning. So far I am really pleased with how kyle has settled into school. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions...hope thats of some help,and goodluck with the move!!

Mari

Thankyou Mari, for the info. being new to any country will have it's callenges but we are a hard workfamily. Richard our son is a bit slower than most. example he did a english test today and only completed 70% of the work because of time. He at present is in a private school with only 18 to a class, government classes can go up 45 puple. i think that Richard would get lost in that situation. Anyhow, i am hoping and praying for the right choice. Thanks again for the info.

chris

Class sizes at San Anton and St. Martins are below 20 I believe...much better than we were used to in the US public school system. Newark has even smaller class sizes - actually too small for our liking.

At the recent testing, San Anton (and maybe others, I just don't know) made special arrangement for children who were more challenged.

Hi Chris...kyle too,like your son came from a school with very small class numbers. He was in a 2 room 2 teacher school in the country in Ireland.....with 27 pupils in the school!!!! so big change
I thought it might be helpful for u to know that in Kyles school and I would imagine in private schools too, children with special needs,that have been formally diagnosed and with reccomendation sometimes qualify for a facilitator...ie one on one help during the school day,supplied by the government. I'm not sure how difficult this is to organise as kyles learning difficulty isnt severe enough to need it.

If you need phone numbers for the dept of education I can pass them on to you as I found these hard to come by when i first arrived!

We looked into the private schools here too and I would have gone with San Anton if we had gone down the private school route.In the end we felt the state school was the right choice for us.

Im sure you and your family will settle in fine:)...its definatly hard at first for the kids,but I found that finding a out of school hobby for kyle was a great way to help him make local friends so he has now been a member of the local martial arts club for a few months, and is loving it!!

Mari

Hi Mari,

It's great to hear your perspective, especially from the state school choice, I'm glad it's working out for you and your son. When we were initially looking at schools we really discounted state schools when we were told that they taught primarily in Maltese (Malti I suppose to be correct!) - is that NOT the case? We thought it would be too difficult on our kids at 13 and 8 to go straight into that environment. Please elaborate...maybe our initial information was bad and lessons are taught in English...in which case maybe we will reconsider the state school route for the next school year.

Thanks
Tim

Hi Tim...Lessons are taught in English......Religion and history text books however are printed in Maltese but the teachers in kyles school allow for this and teach in both maltese and english for the foreign kids...there are quite a few foreign children in kyles school and all seem to be getting on well. I know two of kyles friends have only been here since the summer 09 like kyle and have settled well. At the first parents day I found all the teachers to be very helpful and all felt kyle was doing very well.

They are assessed at the beginning of form 1 and placed into classes according to their ability for the core subjects ( English,Maltese and Maths) which was great for kyle as it means he can get the help he needs in the subjects that are difficult for him but still be able to excel in his strong subjects.

Hope thats of some help..feel free to ask if you have any further questions

Mari

Thanks for the info Mari - very interesting, it seems our initial info was inaccurate and we could have saved a tidy sum in costs by sending our kids to a state school...oh well, live and learn...but we are by no means unhappy with our current situation.

I'll ping you if we have any more questions - for now our kids are happy and settled at San Anton and we are not going to disrupt that, but this is certainly useful info for others currently making such choices.

Tim

Hi Tim , Mari

thank you for providing the excellent information on schooling.
Mari do you know if all state schools are instructing in English or are there only a few. We have a 7 year old, and were looking at alternatives to the private school options.

Thanks

Mari - may I ask which State School your son goes to?

Tim

I was hoping that someone would give me feed on homeschooling, this is really very big in South Africa. maybe someone out there has some thoughts

Hi again...Kyle goes to Naxxar Boys Secondary..which is the local school for us living in St.Pauls Bay.Also,school transport is free once attending the school within your catchemant area.
I can't say for sure that all secondary schools teach in English..i would imagine it depends on the number of foreign students attending....but this can be clarified with the department or education.As far as I know they all teach in English though...like i said history,religion and obviously Maltese books are printed in Maltese but the rest are in English so i would imagine thats accross the board as these are the standard text books.
(Eagle) I have an expat friend with a daughter in our local primary so I'll see what i can find out for you...Im nearly sure she is being taught in English too.

Tim...great that your kids are happy and settled...It was such a relief for me to get kyles first few weeks of school over and have him survive!!!Although I think i was more scared for him than he was!!

Its great to hear other parents experience of relocating here...keep in touch all.

Mari

Mari,

Thanks for the info. We live in Naxxar - so that would be very convenient if we decided to switch from private to state! I am going to send you a PM as I thnk my wife will want to ask you some specific questions, if you don't mind.

Tim

Hi Tim...got your PM...i have forwarded my email...tell your wife to feel free to get in touch!

Mari

Hi Mari,
I am Michela. Tim gave me a hint about this discussion (Tim, thanks a lot). We will be relocating to Malta this coming June from the US, but we are Italian. We have a 12 years old daughter (will be 13 in August) and a 5 years old boy. Last month I called the department of education in Malta, and they told me that Malti is mandatory, and if my children do not speak it, they will have a lot of troubles. Does your son speak Malti, now? Was it difficult for him to learn it? I could be open in considering public school for my son, since he will start his first grade (or form) in September, but for my daughter, I am not so sure. We moved from Italy to the US more than 4 years ago, and she did not speak a word of English, so now I would hate to put her through it again. Any advice is highly appreciated. Thank you in advance and I really hope to meet you all once we get there.
bye
Michela