Good schools? St pauls bay? Mosta? Mellieha?

Hi there

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I don't get chance to login too often.

I have two kids in St Paul's Bay primary and they love it.  They are thriving and doing really well.

My son is 4 and in kinder 2 and my daughter is 9 and in year 5.  We moved to Malta from the UK in 2014 so my girl has done 3 years at the school and my boy two years.

You will find people who criticise the school for being too busy, too full of expats, not maltese enough but from our point of view it has enabled our kids to grow, learn, have fun and be supported by great teachers in a mainly English speaking environment.

If I have one criticism it would be that they offer virtually no help to non maltese speaking kids to learn the language despite the maltese exam being compulsory after 2 years in the education system.  It's not a problem on a day to day basis as almost all the teaching is in English but we have employed a private tutor so that our girl can get through the exams.

On the whole we are very happy with the school, don't expect it to be like a UK school, it's a big, noisy, colourful, fun school.  The head teacher is great and the staff are caring, my kids are happy and that speaks volumes.

As for the area of St Paul's Bay, it's the best place to live with kids on the island in my opinion, we're very happy we decided to settle here.

I'd be happy to chat more if you have questions, feel free to get in touch when you move here and we could meet for a play date.

Newbie x

Did your child start mosta secondary as we have our 13 year old who is due to start in September as that is our catchment area we have been told mellieha primary will be for our 4 year old although I would prefer from reading if he could go to St Paul's because there seems to be more expats there from what I have read do I get a choice or no ???

Hi. Mellieha has lots of expats and your 4 year old will be fine there. You wouldn't be able to send to St Paul's if you live in Mellieha. It will go by a the address on your Id card. Also St Paul's is busting at the seams with near on 1000 primary school children! They also start school 1 hour earlier. You'd be getting your 4 year old up at 6 for school in St. Paul's! As for Mosta, There are two schools. Which one would it be?

The school in mosta is mosta secondary zokrija, I gave emailed but had no response that's the school in our catchment did our 13 year old daughter was wondering how she would cope in the lessons would she understand

I have been in touch with mellieha primary they seem lovely.   So it's just to sort secondary school and nursery places.    Such a nightmare when uku gang know anywhere and we won't have a car got a while 😡    Thank you for your help

Hello,
We have moved to Malta recently, we have enrolled our children in St. Paul Bay Primary school. Do you know any good stationery store, one with good discounts, in Malta?
Thank you,
Cornelia

There was supposed to be a new infant and primary school opening in Qawra this September but, owing to corruption in the system having caused the head of the department involved to quit, this has now been put back till 2019 ??? The overcrowding issue is supposed to be addressed by this, but at present, we just have a big hole in the ground and a mobile site office. Depending on the age of the child, this may or may not be of use when you need it. In the mean time, even the Maltese say "this is Malta", so don't hold your breath.

There are loads. As for discount, there isn't really. Different shops are better for different things Lidl and Tal-Lira are quite good for essentials (pens/pencils/copy books) but in all honesty, you are better off going to just the one shop. Give them the list from the school and they'll get it for you. There is one up near HSBC bank in St. Paul's. Paul's Arcade near the Karanne hotel, Charlies stationary near the square and many more. These shops will know exactly what the school wants so you'll have less chance of getting it wrong!

Hello,
What I've heard is that they stopped the work because it's summer and they don't want to trouble the tourists with the noise. And the construction work will begin in autumn.

Vagrant wrote:

There was supposed to be a new infant and primary school opening in Qawra this September but, owing to corruption in the system having caused the head of the department involved to quit, this has now been put back till 2019 ??? The overcrowding issue is supposed to be addressed by this, but at present, we just have a big hole in the ground and a mobile site office. Depending on the age of the child, this may or may not be of use when you need it. In the mean time, even the Maltese say "this is Malta", so don't hold your breath.

What a shambles all that was!  I think the present school does really well considering the influx of  people.

Momojojo27 wrote:

The school in mosta is mosta secondary zokrija, I gave emailed but had no response that's the school in our catchment did our 13 year old daughter was wondering how she would cope in the lessons would she understand

I have been in touch with mellieha primary they seem lovely.   So it's just to sort secondary school and nursery places.    Such a nightmare when uku gang know anywhere and we won't have a car got a while 😡    Thank you for your help

Are you sure it;s Zokrija? It certainly is the better of the 2. My son has had his ups and downs there.  I've haerd worse reports from friends about Lilly of the Valley, which is the other one.

Thank you very much coxf0001

That the one the lady from the education department told me she would be after I gave her our address is there any way of finding out which school it is and how to try to contact them now ??

Momojojo27 wrote:

That the one the lady from the education department told me she would be after I gave her our address is there any way of finding out which school it is and how to try to contact them now ??

I don't know. It's a new system and I know that they split the St. Paul's catchment between the two schools. Maybe that was a one off. Now that it's been settled for a couple of years, then maybe they have certain catchments go to certain schools. If she said Zokrija, I would stick with that. It's the better of the 2 schools. It's also newer and has better facilities.

Make sure you phone in the morning and maybe leave it a couple of weeks as they will be off for 'shutdown' (something that happens here in Malta around this week.)

Thank you for your help and advise really appreciate it

Hi Newbie,

My family and I are planning to relocating to Malta in July 2018 (once the academic year has finished in the UK).

We are looking to move to Xemxija so I will be registering my girls at St Paul's primary.

It is very encouraging to hear your children enjoy attending the school. We were in Malta a few weeks ago visiting schools and we did pop in to St Paul's primary. The admin staff that I spoke to were very helpful and the school had a nice to feel to it. My main concern was the size of the school.
Currently my girls attend a small primary and i'm worried that they will find such a big school very daunting. I know the schools in Malta in the whole are bigger then the UK but even by Maltese standards St Paul's seems to be big.

What has your experience been and how have your children found it?

Also why is the latest on the proposed new school in Qwara? I'm assuming this will take the pressure of St Paul's Bay primary once it is built?

Finally my youngest two would have been due to start reception in the UK in September 2018 but due to being November birthdays will be going in to year 1 in Malta. Did this affect either of your children and if so did it affect their learning in anyway?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but the success of our move really will hinge on the girls settling and so I would really like to make sure I find the right school for them.

Thanks for your help.

Nathalya

Hi ladies
We are relocating from the Uk this year also we are looking to move to Qwara as other half will be based there with work. We have 3 boys aged 6,4,3 does anyone know the catchment area for St. Paul's bay primary at the moment they're at a catholic school which was the only good school in our local area however I find that they push the religion onto the children way to much so won't be putting them into a religious school again 😕 how do you apply for the school etc, our middle boy will hAve his place in the uk for September can I still get him into a school over in Malta, other half will be sourcing the accommodation and schools whilst I sort pregnancy and dogs getting into Malta any help would Be great 😀

Hi
The catchment for SPB school is currently Qawra, SPB, Bugibba, Burmarrad, Wardija, Limbordin and Xemxija. There has been no movement on the new school in Qawra for years and nothing happening in the foreseeable future ad far as anyone can tell.

Applying for school is easy, you will need to have a tenancy agreement already in place before they will accept an application but once you have that both parents go to the school with the kids passports and their own ID, sign a few forms and you're in.   They only take applications on a couple of days a week so best check in advance. 

School will close on 28th June and there will be no admin staff in there again until around September so if you don't apply before end of June you will need to wait till nearer the time school starts again at the end of September. 

With regard to the religion thing, you can opt out of religion as a subject but there is still an element of it which the kids pick up on as it is a Catholic culture here and prayers are said in assembly and in class, it's not too intense though, it's certainly not pushed onto the kids either.

Feel free to ask me any questions, always happy to help!

Just wanted to say hi as we are planning on a move to Malta in September. We are looking to base ourselves in Xemxija so will also be looking at St Paul's Bay for school. I have three girls aged 6, 4 and 4 so looks like our children may be in the same school year depending on Birthdays.
What I have found out is that the year they are put into depends on births year so my 6 year old born in 2012 will be going into year 2 which is what she would have been in the UK but as she is a Jan Birthday will now be one of the oldest in the year. My twins were born in Nov 2013 but where as they would have been going into reception in UK they will be going in to year 1 in Malta so there will now only be 1 school year between my girls.
It is good to know that there will be other newbies at the school gates in September!
Also we have tried to sort accommodation in advance but have been told because of the way the rental agreements work that they can't actually confirm what property is available for rental until 4 weeks before oour proposed move date!

Thank you for all the information it's really useful, hopefully it will be a smooth sailing process 😀

We have 3 boys age 6,4,3 and one on the way. Will definitely look into which school year they will be in. My partner is going over in may on his own to sort accommodation out for us as we are bringing our dogs too and we figured it was the best way to do it. What makes you move to Malta ? My eldest son is super excited that he can live in the sunshine and be by the beach, have you told your eldest about your move ?
It's exciting stuff 😀 xx

You need to sort accommodation out no later then May as there will not be such a wide choice due to holiday lettings, and may be more expensive.