St Aloysius' College (Malta)
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| Mottoes | Latin: Serio et Constanter ("Seriously and Steadily") |
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| Established | 1907 |
| Religion | Predominantly Catholic |
| Location | Triq il-Ferrovija l-Qadima Birkirkara Malta  |
| Staff | ~100 |
| Students | ~1000 |
| Gender | Male (Secondary School), Mixed (Sixth Form) |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | 3 |
| Colours | Blue, Green & Red |
| Former pupils | Old Aloysians |
| Website | whttp://www.jesuit.org.mt/sac/ |
Coordinates: 35°53′46″N 14°27′37″E / 35.895979°N 14.460183°E
St. Aloysius' College (often abbreviated to SAC) is a Catholic college run by the Jesuits in Birkirkara, Malta. It was founded in 1907. The College served as a hospital for Allied soldiers during the Second World War. The current rector is Fr. Patrick Magro SJ.
Amongst its students were former President Emeritus Guido de Marco, former President Emeritus Edward Fenech Adami, Leader of the Opposition Joseph Muscat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Tonio Borg, and the Chief Justice. Other personalities include international composer and musician Robert Cremona, children's author Saviour Pirotta, and celebrity singer Ira Losco.
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[edit] The Secondary School
The secondary school of St. Aloysius' College is a boys-only college located in Old Railway Road (Triq il-Ferrovija l-Qadima), Birkirkara. It is three storeys high with another storey underground, and incorporates a small inner ground and a large hall which serves as a Theatre for cultural events held at the College. Such events include the Soirée, the Secondary School Concert and other important events such as the celebration of the Eucharist during important days of the Jesuit calendar. The building was last renovated in the summer of 2006. The college celebrated its centenary in the scholastic year 2007/2008.
The school is known for its emphasis on discipline. Each form has a prefect, who is responsible for all the students in that particular form. He forms part of the board of the secondary school, and his primary role is to maintain a level of discipline, respect and authority over the students in his respective form. Each class has a Form Teacher, who acts as a mentor for the class, and moreover as a representative of the students in relation to school authorities such as the Rector, Prefect of Discipline and Prefect of Studies. Each class also has a captain and a vice-captain; these are two students from that particular class who are in charge of during the changing of periods. Each division also has a division captain and a vice-division captain whose role is complementary to that of the class captain and vice captain. This disciplinary system makes sure that all students follow the rules and that order is maintained.
The college is equipped with science laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology as well as two computer labs and four chapels. These last include chapels dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, one of the three most important Jesuit saints, and La Storta Chapel, a unique chapel in itself. The college also has a sports complex facility with a gymnasium; a pavilion that serves as a basketball and handball court; courts for volleyball, badminton and indoor 5-a-side football; a full-sized UEFA-compliant turf football pitch; a 400m athletics track; and two tennis courts. A swimming pool is being built, scheduled to be completed by 2012. This will probably be the last construction project related to sports facilities.
[edit] Classes
As from the scholastic year 2009/2010, a new system for the classes was introduced. Instead of letters (1A, 1B, 1C...) each class has been named for a Jesuit (Francis Xavier, Pierre Favre, Aloysius Gonzaga...).
[edit] The Students' Council
Another feature of the Secondary School is that it has its own Students' Council. Elections take place annually and every student is eligible to contest. The Council is formed of 10 members, with two representatives from each form. The Council's President must always be a fourth/fifth former, depending on the time of year. The Council is responsible for the majority of the events that occur within the school, including the organisation of casual days and the Form 5 School Leaving Party, better known as the Social.
[edit] The Sixth Form
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St. Aloysius' College Sixth Form has been in existence for the best part of 30 years. The Sixth Form offers four major kinds of courses, these being the Science Course, Maths Course, Commerce Course and Arts Course, each taking around two years. All courses are assigned two classes each, the exception being the Arts Course with three classes, as the number of applications for it is generally higher. The college accepts around 220 new students per annum, provided that they have passed their core subjects at O Level. The college is well-equipped with biology, chemistry, physics and computer laboratories, a media room, a library and an assembly hall. A chapel is also situated within the premises. The college is in high demand for sciences and prospective students need to have a lot of 1's.
The Sixth Form also hosts many events in the course of the year, and is perhaps most famed for its Cultural Soiree, which normally takes place towards the beginning of February and has a reputation for being excellent. It is always a very successful event, with ticket sales reaching approximately 1,700 for the year 2009. The Soirée generally contains many items, including dancing, acting, singing and music. It always concludes with an 45-minute-long musical directed and choreographed by the students themselves. Recent examples of these musicals were Cats in 2006, and Jesus Christ Superstar in 2007. In 2008, the musical was Hairspray, followed by Mamma Mia in 2009, Lion King in the year 2010 and Moulin Rouge in 2011. Every year, the stage crew also presents a small act dubbed the "crew item".
[edit] The Sixth Form Students' Representative Council
Another feature of the Sixth Form is that it has its own Students' Council. Elections take place annually with every student eligible to contest. Generally, elections take place around early October. The Council is formed of 10 members, five coming from the Upper Sixth Form and five from the Lower Sixth Form. The council's President (currently Chris Spiteri) must always be an Upper Sixth Former. The Council is responsible for the majority of the events that occur within the school, including the organisation of events such as "Unplugged", "The Christmas Dinner" and the famous Soirée.
[edit] Saturday schooling
From its inception in 1907, St Aloysius College never held classes on Wednesday but instead on Saturday morning, making it the only school in Malta to do so. On October 13, 2006, a decision was made by Maltese Jesuit Provincial Fr. Paul Chetcuti and College rector Fr. Patrick Magro to replace Saturdays with Wednesdays in an attempt to conform to the practice of other schools. In the view of some, this resulted in St Aloysius' College losing its uniqueness.[1] The change took effect in September 2007, when St Aloysius' College adopted the same schedule as its fellow Sixth Forms, De La Salle College (Malta), Junior College (Msida), Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (Naxxar) and the new St. Martin's College Sixth Form (Swatar - Msida), which opened in September 2007.
[edit] Extra-curricular activities
_Outer_Ground.jpg)
At the College, all students are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities in order to enhance their experience during their two years at Sixth Form. Among other activities, the school promotes the following:
- Battle of the Bands
- Subsonic
- Unplugged
- Secondary School Concert
- Charity work
- Cultural Soirée
- NSTF Mini European Assembly
- President's Award Scheme[2]
- Public Debating Activities (e.g. BCA Speak Your Mind competition & Science Forum)
- Young Enterprise Scheme[3]
- Young Scientist competition
- S.A.C. Fest
- Music festival
- After School Sports
The college also has its own Scout group, one of the oldest established on the island.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Robert Arrigo - Member of Parliament and Businessman
- David J. Attard - Professor of International Law, Chancellor of the University of Malta [4]
- Tonio Borg - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Robert Cremona - Composer/Musician
- Guido de Marco - President Emeritus of Malta
- Mario de Marco - Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, son of Guido de Marco
- Edward Fenech Adami - President Emeritus of Malta
- Tonio Fenech - Minister of Finance
- Ira Losco - Celebrity Singer
- Saviour Pirotta - Children's author
- Ugo Mifsud Bonnici - President Emeritus of Malta
- Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici - Minister for Justice and Home Affairs
- Joseph Muscat - Leader of the Malta Labour Party, Member of European Parliament
- Frans Sammut - Maltese writer
- Ċensu Tabone - President Emeritus of Malta
- Francis Zammit Dimech - Member of Parliament and ex-Minister for Tourism and Culture
