First mixed-sex State school is to open its doors next year

Sixth year boys attending St Clare’s College will as of next year join girls at Pembroke secondary to form Malta’s first co-educational State school, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo announced yesterday. The conversion of the Pembroke school into a co-educational facility will take place over a five-year period, with next year’s cohort of 160 students – roughly 80 of each sex – gradually rising through to form five. Primary students graduating from St Clare’s College face distribution problems, with them being dispersed around schools in the college’s Pembroke, Gżira, St Julian’s, San Ġwann and Sliema catchment area. Creating a co-educational school in Pembroke would solve these fragmentation problems while also ensuring long-term sustainability in an area with sharply declining birth rates, Mr Bartolo said. “We considered refurbishing some existing schools, but we wanted a long-term solution. At least four independent schools have successfully adopted the co-educational model,” the minister said. Although he did not exclude other colleges going down the co-educational route in the future, Mr Bartolo made it clear the Pembroke school was not a pilot project for nationwide...