A high standard of education, discipline and sports have deep roots in the ethos of St Edward's College. Feeling that its future lies in continuing with its original guidelines, the college is currently undergoing a restructuring process. Simonne Pace hears about a strategy for the future of the college, which includes having its own kindergarten school, and the reintroduction of a more specialised Sixth Form and boarding facilities.
Borrowing THE WORDS of a former headmaster at St Edward's College to best describe an Old Edwardian, college headmaster Anthony Saliba says he is a person who can stand up and be counted.
But, obviously, the college today, attended by almost 600 boys, is not the St Edward's of old. Originally a college for Catholic boys, run on English public school lines, St Edward's has had to adapt substantially to changing times. A year after its 75th anniversary, the college is going through an important restructuring process.
In colonial times St Edward's was a boarding school for boys. The numbers at college were small, in the range of 50 to 60, when the college started, and primarily it prepared boys for business and the Maltese army. In fact, many of the students who came out of the college reached the highest positions in government service as well as the Army and the business sector.
"Today St Edward's is a successful boys' school which takes in intelligent boys, and boys with lesser capabilities and learning difficulties. So we cover the whole spectrum of the pupil sector," Alfred Mangion, chairman of the college board of governors, told The Sunday Times.
A business entrepreneur, Mr Mangion has been chairman for two years. The board of governors is appointed by the board of trustees, whose responsibility is that of looking after the trust Lady Margaret Strickland left to the college.
"We have looked at the college, its management and finances, and have realised that certain corrections must be made," Mr Mangion said. "It was for this reason that the college Sixth Form, which was no longer viable, closed down two years ago.
"However, insofar as the future of the college is concerned, we feel we will reintroduce a more specialised Sixth Form where only a few subjects will be offered."
Being a boys' school, every year a discussion comes up as to whether St Edward's College should go co-educational. Numbers are dwindling, the birth rate is falling and there is strong competition from other independent schools, most of which are co-ed.
"However, we feel that St Edward's should continue to be a boys' school. As a matter of fact, in Britain in particular, there has been a thought to move away from the co-ed form of education.
"We feel therefore that the future lies in continuing with the original guidelines of the college," Mr Mangion said.
"However we feel that we should also look in different directions, probably the first being whether the college should have its own kindergarten facility."
St Edward's has a number of local feeder schools, which normally assist in passing children over to the college, "but we feel that if we had our own kindergarten school, that would also help in giving the numbers of pupils to the college itself".
Another strategy the college is considering is a market for boys from overseas.
"We feel that there is also an opportunity with an existing market for Malta for foreigners who want to send their boys to countries offering an English-speaking education; thus the need to offer boarding facilities for these pupils. If we are to continue having an entry level of about 30 to 40 new boys every year, then we will have to look partly overseas to also try and attract more numbers."
About five per cent of boys at St Edward's College are foreign but "now that Malta has joined the EU and there is a bigger influx of foreigners, the number should increase".
The college feels there is a potential to reintroduce the boarding system in future. Of course, St Edward's will never be totally a boarding school again but the college will offer facilities for weekly, day and permanent boarders from overseas countries.
"This is the strategy for the future," Mr Mangion said.
St Edward's College, also well known in the past for its success in sports, has given some of the major sportsmen to the country and, although recently the college hasn't given the proper attention to sports, because of the little time the curriculum leaves for students, as from this year "we are again looking very closely at this subject, making sure that all students participate in sports activities and also by investing in more teachers and facilities".
In fact, the Junior School pitch has just been turfed and the football ground is next on the list.
"As from this year the college will have about 35 extra hours of sports available for its students. Sports is never enough and we're lucky that it is not so individual, as much as other subjects in the curriculum. Thus it's more of a collective effort," Mr Saliba told The Sunday Times.
When Mr Saliba was appointed college headmaster four years ago, he immediately realised that he needed to cope with the new changes in the curriculum, which, he admitted, "were quite a few".
However, his headship wasn't a new experience. Mr Saliba taught at the college for eight years and prior to that was also head of Middle School for three years. He also "had the privilege of teaching in the Church, state and independent sectors - almost seven years at Stella Maris College and then Junior College, before joining St Edward's".
However, his headship, which coincided with the changes being experienced in the national minimum curriculum - new ideas in assessment, a wider and broader curriculum, the involvement of parents in school, the introduction of new subjects and the importance that was laid on subjects, like media education, PSD and technology education - was still a major challenge.
"And we managed probably to cover a long way in a short period," Mr Saliba said. "St Edward's is just like any other school but is special because a lot of importance is given to character formation.
"What makes it so special is also a sense of ownership, which keeps our boys united even after leaving college."
"The key is communication," said Chris Naudi, chairman of the PTA at St Edward's. "We have an excellent relationship with the headmaster who attends all our meetings and gives us constant feedback.
"The college is more alive now that we are letting people know that we exist and there's a lot going on - we have written a letter to all parents which we've sent by 'boy mail', asking for an e-mail address; sports teachers are coming to college during break time to hold focus groups for boys; and one area we're looking at, with the headmaster, is to bring in an athletics teacher/specialist for boys wanting to go into athletics in a big way," he added.
The PTA is also currently focusing on fund-raising, because "we want to push the idea of sports further. We've got such lovely grounds, which haven't been used to the maximum. The next thing on the agenda is really to have a fully fledged football pitch at college, ideally big enough for 11-a-side tournaments."
The focus of the PTA, set up in 1984, is to promote more communication through the college Website, which is currently being updated. The SEPTA committee has grown in the past six to eight months when new members joined - "fresh blood, new ideas" - to make things move much faster.
An official statute was also adopted. The main objectives of SEPTA are to establish a liaison between the college and parents to their mutual benefit and the ultimate well-being of the children; to recommend to the college administration matters concerning the boys' education; to foster communication between college, teachers and parents; and to promote the active participation by parents in all aspects of their children's education and welfare.
St Edward's College obtained excellent academic results in IGCSE and SEC exams this year - overall pass rates of 76% and 83% - a 19% increase over pass rates obtained in 2002. The boys obtained a 92% pass rate in environmental studies, the first time the boys sat for this subject. The college also obtained a 100% pass rate in both French and Italian.
"Maybe our greatest strength lies in what others consider to be our weakness. The fact that we are a mixed ability school, therefore we don't only enrol pupils who are gifted, is a positive achievement," Mr Saliba said
"We are investing in the future to give more importance and attention to boys who are academically weak. In fact, this year, for the first time, we will be having a full-time teacher for boys with specific learning needs, like dyslexia, and dyspraxia (a lifelong developmental co-ordination disorder), who will co-ordinate with the class teacher to help improve study skills, time management and all other skills, which would make the boys a success at the end of their stay at college."
The college is also highlighting the importance it gives to extra-curricular activities, such as the live-in weeks, held in the ex-Headmaster's House on college grounds.
"This is something we've been experimenting with for the past three years. A group of boys from Senior School, apart from attending school normally, can then experience community life - a mini replica of the old boarding system," Mr Saliba explained.
The boys buy and cook their own food, invite their parents over and try and live together as best they can. The idea has also been extended to Junior School (Junior 5s).
"The boys learn certain skills which are difficult to pass on through normal lessons. This goes well over and above academic life. There is team spirit, teamwork, a sense of solidarity, the value of tolerance and the need for respecting others. I would put these 'live-ins' at the core of our educational programme," he said.
"Our greatest challenge is always the fact that we treasure our traditional values - self-discipline, sports, and being of service to God and all brethren. We give our boys commitment to the community. They learn to be leaders and to face challenging situations.
"Most of all, we try to retain the values that have ultimately characterised the foundation of St Edward's College - we do our best to instil a sense of achievement and excellence. Excellence is never enough. Our boys are self-confident, good leaders, and good spokesmen within a happy community."