Malta - British Expat Forum

Hi Roadcode, and welcome to the forum

you have asked a lot of questions in one post, which makes it a bit daunting to answer - also, your post is in the schools/education and some of the queries are better suited to other parts of the Malta forum. Can I suggest you break up your post and post your questions in the relevant places please.

Roadcode

Re the education, if you read the start of this thread through you will see most of your Questions re school are allready answered.

Its got quite a bit of good info relevant to what you ask

Evening Roadcode - lot's to think about. A few questions on language of teaching and typical commutes have been answered in this post.

The State schools will apparently teach in English if even one child cannot be taught in Malti. However this may be patchy in practice and does still leave the social aspect (i.e. playground will probably be mainly Malti) I have found all the schools pretty helpful when approached directly (they are on hols now, but expect the admin side will still be open) and also the Govt. admissions office (Ms. Mariella Hili, Head Principle office on 21443749) really helpful on the realities of language and religion.

Commute from Gozo to the uni will be c. 90mins, as will commute to the airport................weekly fine, daily????

Hope that helps

JJCE

Dear Roadcode - wow you have certainly gone for it - well done

I have contacted the girls school in Rabat (state) and her answer was that if there is a child in the class who is non Maltese speaking the teachers will endeavour to teach in English . I have heard other people on this discussion group say the same thing too.

Commuting to the mainland for school seems to be an issue regarding travel times but this might work out better for University as class times are not so early

I have found the school I approached really really helpful so my advice is speak to them and see what they say

Best of Luck let us know how it works out

The Biggest issue with school in my opinion is as mentioned before "Fitting In In The Playground" kids can be and usually are eceptionally Cruel (I have seen it in the UK when a nepalese boy joined my sons local school and was just left out for weeks) . The state schools will in the playground pretty much only speak and play in Maltese whereas private school learn and play in English as generally there is a decent populous of non Maltese kids.

This is the main reason for me going private after all its a huge upheaval for the kids after having allready taken them away from their friends in the UK, making my boy as comfortable and happy at school right from day one without having to understand Maltese was my priority

Hi, I have since contacted both boys and girls, state and church schools on Gozo and both are happy to accept the children. The Gozo College boys and girls seems to offer a much better subject range.
I have read on other forums that parents found the comprehensive is alot more difficult.
So is a comprehensive referring to a state school??
Are the secondary schools graded? Which is the best?
Which offers the most sports?

Thanks

Hi VikiB, Did you sort out education in the end? Got me an 11 yr old boy and, not tied down to Malta / Gozo can relate to your first post. Would be interesting to see what path you have taken or will take.

Have a good one

Hi, what facinating reading, some many fab' plans....
Our's seems rather easy;
Who can recomend a good private school in Malta, not too concerned where it is, seems everywhere is accessable.
Or does anyone know of a good website?
Thanks. Eric

You're posting in the wrong bit - this is about Gozo Schools

Check out the other posts about San Anton / Saint Martin's College/ Verdala, for info about private schools on the big island. These three seem to be the most popular with ex-pats.

ooops...
Thanks pumabob

Quote:

Or does anyone know of a good website?

Yes. This one.

You'll not find a better place on the internet for all things Malta-related. Why would you ask us such a question?

Because they are new and don't know any better.

Once they have been on here for a while, they will behave like the rest of us when you are about.

Thanks, Bob!

We were away for more than a week and got home yesterday. Did you miss me? Did anyone miss me?

Did you all do some weird stuff while I was away?

We always miss you

At the risk of going off topic the only weird thing we did was invite an Irish couple and their 2 kids for lunch on Saturday. Suzy got the wine bottle(s) out and by 2am it turned into a sleep over. Then Sunday we all met up with more Irish folk, loads more beers and wine/whiskey, finally getting home round 10pm.

I'm not drinking again......... until next week anyway

Hello roadquote,
we are thinkung about moving to Gozo starting summer 2013 with our three girls (7,11,14). How did you decide about the schools finally? Is the school taught in maltese mostly? How difficult is it to learn? Would you do it again?
Thanx for your help...
WOlfgang