Need your real life experience with kids in Sliema area :-)

Hello !

I am Elina from France, considering the idea of spending a year or so in Malta with kid!

Does any of you have experience with private schools around Sliema?

How is the daily life in this area with kids?:

-Transports to get to school (without car)
-Activities suited for kids
-Opportunities to meet new friends
-Natural areas and parks easily accessible for playing outside

I have a concern about the overall quality of life, particularly in Sliema and surroundings, as I have read that the air has become very polluted and therefore not healthy for children.
... Is that true???

Looking forward to reading your feedback, and hopefully getting to socialize together if we actually move there!

- there are government transport, can be hard to get a place in it and the drivers are insane, my wife will never use them
- depends on ages, it can be difficult to find things here, especially in summer
- plenty of expats in Sliema but as you mentioned its a madhouse, would never live anywhere near myself. We moved to St Julians at first and moved as far as possible from it soon enough
- there isnt much by way of natural areas in malta, the play grounds are not of good quality.  We have basically a petting farm, some play areas, a few soft play areas (avoid the one in st julians). In summer its too hot to really go outside.

Also realise malta is very small, if you have a car (kind of essential) location doesnt matter as much as you might imagine

Hi!

Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your experience!

What do you exactly mean by "a mad house"?
Do you refer to construction noises, traffic jams, crowded streets?
I would like to have a clearer image.

When you mention that your wife would never use the public transportation, do you mean it is potentially dangerous?
In case you have kids, then how do you bring them to school? By car?

I have read also that using the car is almost impossible due to the very bad state of the roads?
But then, how do the buses and transport of goods can function if this is true??

Many negative info is appearing since a couple of days and I am beginning to freak out a bit!

The paradise I had in mind seems to vanish!   :-/

Sliema/at julians/gzira has many many construction sites and if you are next to one they work all hours. Even illegally into the night and the police will do nothing. There is also not enough parking and no green areas just cement.

The roads isn't that bad don't worry.

The drivers who provide the kids transport drive recklessly and the vans have no safety equipment - lots of talk of adding and I have seen some with safety belts recently at least.

We take kid to school by car.

Thank you for yours answers!

We are coming to spend a couple of weeks by the end of July, so I will finally get a real experience.

I hope that the place is good for holidays at least! :-)

Agree with everything Volcane says especially about not trusting the drivers of the school buses, and driving your children to school instead.