I don't know how old your son is, but there are several very good
schools that teach in English.

My son is 15 and has been going to St. Edward's since we arrived here 2
years ago. He has gone from hating school since the day he started at 5
years old to absolutely loving it. We have seen him grow in terms of
confidence and it is great. In fact, he may be enjoying it too much!
The school takes boys from Kindergarten age through to Year 11, and is
planning to re-open the 6th Form in 2009 offering the International
Baccalaureate. He is currently doing iGCSEs under Cambridge University
and MATSEC (the Maltese State exams). There are about 10 English boys
in the school I think, but none in my son's year. There are also
Germans, Russians, Italians, but it is mainly Maltese. We are really
pleased that after less than 2 years at the school, he has been made a
Monitor (one step below prefect), with a promise of prefect at the start
of next term. I think this is a really good measure of how well he has
fitted in there. The downside is that it is in Cottonera (which is a
long way from Mosta where we live and a long way from the areas you are
likely to consider), which makes it a long journey, but he seems to
thoroughly enjoy his time on the bus. OK enough "advertising" St.
Edwards...........

Other good English teaching schools are St. Michael's at San Gwann, and
St. Martin's in Swatar. There is also San Anton but the reputation
there has gone done a bit I understand, although I believe the Head
Mistress there is American. Plus St. Andreas, but I don't know anything
about that except that my dentist's son goes there! My son has Maltese
friends at all of these schools. One of the things I like about the
Maltese schools that teach in English is that the kids very quickly make
Maltese friends and are assimilated into the Maltese social side. Even
though all teaching is in English, a lot of playground conversation is
in Maltese (but by no means all of it, because a good number of Maltese
kids are actually quite poor at Maltese). I was amazed the first time I
heard one of my son's friends talking to him in Maltese. OK, he mostly
answers in English, but he has picked up a huge amount (and a lot more
than just the sear words!). And he has friends in all the schools I have
mentioned, so it is really easy for them to mix.

In terms of coastal areas to live in, and depending on the age of your
son, I would steer clear of the St. Julians and Sliema areas, simply
because it is too easy for them to get caught up in the really good
social life here. If you live away from there a bit, it is a lot easier
to control how often they could, for how long etc., even though
sometimes you do feel like a taxi service. And of course, they are
probably the most expensive coastal areas.

In terms of the legalities, I will leave that to others to answer. If
you are an EU citizen, you have the right to come here, but you do have
register for health entitlement, an ID Card and all that but it is not
difficult. The Work Permit situation is odd though. As EU citiizens, we
should have freedom of employment, but my husband needed to have a work
permit to teach (and he also had to be registered as a certified teacher
by the government).

Hope this helps but let me know if you need more information
Susan

________________________________

From: britishexpatsinmalta2@...
[mailto:britishexpatsinmalta2@...] On Behalf Of
Suzie_Hennon
Sent: 22 May 2008 12:06
To: britishexpatsinmalta2@...
Subject: [British Expats in Malta] lots of advice needed



Hi everyone. My partner has been offered a job in St Pauls Bay and we
are planning on relocating to malta in July. I have so many questions
so thought I'd ask for your help. Firstly can anyone tell me which
are the best costal areas to move to? I am hoping to send my son to
the International school in Pembroke as I would like him to be
educated in english, on that su8bject are there any other english
taught schools I could consider?

What preperations do we need to make to move to malta from the UK, is
there a visa or residency order we need to apply for?

Any information you could give me would be great as my partner is
currently in Iraq and therefore all preperations are left to me - my
heads in a spin!!!!

Thanks again x






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