St Aloysius' College (Malta)
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St. Aloysius' College (often abbreviated to SAC) is a Catholic college run by the Jesuits in Birkirkara, Malta, founded in 1907. The College served as a hospital for Allied soldiers during the Second World War. The current rector is Fr. Patrick Magro.
Amongst its students were former President Emeritus Guido de Marco, President Edward Fenech Adami, Minister for Justice and Internal Affairs Tonio Borg and Minister for Tourism Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech. Other personalities include the British-based Composer/Musician Robert Cremona and celebrity singer Ira Losco.
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The Secondary school of St. Aloysius' College is a boys-only college found in Old Railway Street B'Kara. It is three storeys high with another storey underground, incorporating a small inner ground and a great, majestic hall which serves as a Theatre for cultural events held at Saint Aloysius' College. Such events include the Soiree (courtesy of the Saint Aloysius' College Sixth Form), the Secondary School Concert and other important events such as the celebration of the Eucharist during classical days of the Jesuit calendar. The building was renovated last in the summer of 2006.
The school is known for its high level of discipline. Each form has a prefect, an adult who is responsible for all the students in that particular form. He forms part of the governing board of the secondary school, and his prime role is to maintain a level of discipline, respect and authority over the students in his respective form. Each class has a Class Teacher, who acts as a home room teacher for the class, and moreover a representative for the students in front of school authorities such as the Rector, Prefect of Discipline and Prefect of Studies. Each Form Year has a Master of Discipline who oversees this hierarchy. This disciplinary system makes sure that all students follow the rules and thus order is maintained. However, students are allowed to voice their opinion when reprimanded discipinarily in order to maintain their right of judgement.
The college is equipped with computer laboratories, science laboratories of physics, chemistry and integrated science and also various chapels. These 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 pavillion that serves as a basketball and handball court, toogether with courts for volleyball, badminton and indoor 5 a-side football, a full size 11 a-side turf football pitch which complies with UEFA standards and two tennis courts. The outdoor pitch was a great and very important project which required thousands of maltese liri to complete. A swimming pool is being built, scheduled to be completed by 2010, and will probably be the last construction project related to sports facilities. SAC has always been a great advocate of sport and physical exercise, as is shown by the dedication displayed by the school authorities in completing these costly projects.
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 one taking around two years. All courses are assigned two classes each, with the exception being the Arts Course having three classes, as applications for such a course are generally high-on-demand each year. 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 Sixth Form also hosts many events throughout the course of the year, and perhaps is most famed for its Cultural Soiree, which normally takes place towards the beginning of February. It is always a very successful event, with ticket sales reaching approximately 1,350 for the year 2007. The Soiree generally contains many items ranging from dancing, to acting, singing and music. It always concludes with an 45 minute-long musical directed and choreographed by the students themselves. This year, the performance on show was the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar, and was directed by five students from the Upper Sixth Form.
Another feature of the Sixth Form is that it has its own Students' Council. Elections take place annually with any student eligible to contest (generally, they take place in around mid-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 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", "Battle of the Bands" and the Cultural Soiree. This year's musical will be "Hairspray".
Since its inception in 1907, SAC never held school on a Wednesday but instead on a Saturday morning, making it the only school in Malta to do this. On October 13, 2006, a decision was made by Maltese Jesuit Provincial Fr. Paul Chetcuti and College rector Fr. Magro to replace Saturdays with Wednesdays in an attempt to conform with other schools. albeit dissent from a large portion of the students who believed this differance being an integral part of the aloysian identity. [1] This will be in effect as of September 2007 and will see SAC adopt the same schedule as its fellow Sixth Forms, De La Salle College (Città Vittoriosa), Junior College (Msida),Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary (Naxxar) and the new St. Martin's College Sixth Form (Swatar - Msida), which will open in September 2007.
At the college, all students are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities in order to enhance their experience throughout their two years at Sixth Form. Among other activities, the school promotes the following:
- Battle of the Bands
- Charity work
- Cultural Soirée
- NSTF Mini European Assembly
- President's Award Scheme (Malta)
- Public Debating Activities (e.g. BCA Speak Your Mind competition & Science Forum)
- Young Enterprise Scheme (Malta)
- Young Scientist competition
- S.A.C. Fest
The college also has one of the oldest scout groups on the island.