School plans a third storey
Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
San Anton School plans to expand upwards by building a third floor on a large portion of its current footprint through an €800,000 investment, The Times has learnt.
The investment will give the private school 10 more classrooms, a resource room and a multipurpose hall that can accommodate all the children in either the junior or the senior sector.
San Anton, an independent not-for-profit school set up by the Parents’ Foundation for Education, was built in the early 1990s above the picturesque valley of Imselliet.
Despite controversy over the environmental impact of the school at the time, the site later came to house a second school, San Andrea, set up by the same foundation.
“This is a major investment for the school and one which must be carefully conceptualised, planned and financed.
“Our plans are to go ahead with this investment in summer 2013,” San Anton School’s board chairman Simon Flynn told parents in a circular over the past days, stressing that the school would go through the appropriate processes.
“Our plans are to fund the investment over 12 years, meaning that those who benefit most from the investment will ultimately end up paying more for it,” Mr Flynn said. An increase in fees will kick in “after the investment is completed”.
In the circular, Mr Flynn explained that the demand for the school had reached record levels: “We are fast running out of space that we need to expand for both classrooms and other activities”.
The board has even decided to “exceptionally” add a fifth class in pre-grade to meet the demand and rebalance school numbers to compensate for those years where not all grades were filled in the past.
However, even with this fifth class, there are still waiting lists.
“This does not mean that we are looking at increasing the school population. Once numbers have reached our optimum capacity, we will revert to the four classes per grade model on which the school is based,” Mr Flynn said.
Meanwhile, the school’s dream of having a fully-equipped theatre within the school was not financially feasible within the current space constraints.
The school recently benefitted from a Budget scheme which allocated €1 million divided among independent schools.
“We shall be applying this amount, and a bit more from our internal resources, towards acquiring interactive whiteboards in every class, equipping every teacher with a laptop and significantly improving the equipment in our science labs and in the junior sector,” Mr Flynn told parents.
One of the main difficulties facing those who attend the school is the daily traffic congestion.
San Anton has now teamed up with San Andrea to approach the authorities about how this problem could be alleviated.
“There is no magic quick fix solution to this problem. Real solutions involve measures such as widening roads, constructing new roads and even the expropriation of land,” Mr Flynn said, adding that all avenues were being pursued.
“But I am going to have to ask for everyone’s patience until we get there.
Meanwhile, I also appeal to everyone to respect the rules.”
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Adriano Spiteri
Sep 12th 2012, 16:21
Mr Cassar Torregiani's rationale is based on economy. How pathetic.
The Government should not go on ruining the environment because of the necessity of a private school willing to expand. Whoever took the decision to issue the permit for a school did a huge mistake in the first place.
A trade-off between the Government and the school would clean the valley and make it possible for the school to expand, elsewhere.
But if this is unacceptable for the private entity, why should the environmental damage be acceptable for the general public?
Mr Christian Cassar-Torregiani
Sep 12th 2012, 18:49
Adriano, you are mixing issues here. My comment about the private sector was that government should provide incentives when private sector initiatives save public funds and this should apply to all sectors.
With regards to this specific initiative, the plan to add more classes to this particular school, will be a) within the existing school premises and b) on top of existing school building, which is of least detriment to the environment.
Finally, those who have an issue with the access road being too narrow to service both schools should have taken up the matter with the "planning authority" of 25 years ago. One cannot keep on complaining that the main road becomes over-congested due to this problem and then complain again when a suggestion is made to solve it.
J. Abela
Sep 11th 2012, 20:34
What a joke of a school! How about starting by organizing proper and affordable public transport for your students? But no, you brush off responsibility and let every single one of your spoiled students to be driven by their parents in huge polluting SUV's and in the process create traffic chaos in Mgarr Road every single morning! You should be responsible for transporting your students to your school because you decided to build your school in the middle of nowhere.
And whoever is blaming the authorities for narrowing Mgarr Road. Mgarr Road was a two lane road and remained a two lane road. It was just properly designed and it works perfectly fine when there isn't the traffic chaos created by San Anton and San Andrea. I know so because I use it every single day.
And what are you people suggesting? That the government should have gone through the expense of widening Mgarr Road to accommodate some lazy students who want to be driven to two schools that should have never been built where they are? Fat chance.
Mr Christian Cassar-Torregiani
Sep 12th 2012, 10:17
J. Abela, you have a very misguided attitude towards the great majority of those parents who make huge sacrifices to send their children to private schools.
With ref to transport for students at both San Andrea and San Anton Schools, school transport exists and has been there since the very inception of the schools.However as in the case of any other school--whether government, church or private, there will always be parents who opt to drop off/pick up themselves, and the fact is that both schools together have a huge population of nearly 2000 students and teachers.
As to your very biased remarks where you state that : ""every single one of your spoiled students are driven by their parents in huge polluting SUV's"" you are way off the mark in your statement, and where you dreamt up the idea that all parents who send their children to such schools own SUV's is beyond me. The photo above vouches for this and shows how wrong you are.
Finally, you are wrong again with regards to your reference to the road. The road in question is not Sir Temi Zammit Road, or as you refer to it the " Mgarr Road ", but the access road from there to the schools. As I have already mentioned in a previous comment, the planning authority at the time (nearly 25 yrs ago) should have considered this when deciding to issue the original permits. And the sooner this issue is corrected, the better it will be for all road users, including all those vehicles that get stuck in traffic on Sir Temi Zammit road nearly every single morning.
Paul Cirillo
Sep 11th 2012, 18:00
Before expanding any further, the Parents Foundation for Education should first consider to start paying back monies due to parents whose children attended both San Anton and San Andrea schools. My son finished attending San Andrea school SIX years ago and until now I have not yet received a single Euro from my refundable contribution totalling to € 2096.
Thomas Borg
Sep 11th 2012, 19:08
Same story here...
Mr Christian Cassar-Torregiani
Sep 11th 2012, 13:13
@ Joe Vella : You have misread what I have said. I never stated that government (public funds) should be used to finance private investment. What I said was that whenever initiatives by the private sector save public funds, it is in the government's interest to incentivate such initiatives because ultimately it converts to even more savings of public funds (i.e. your and my taxes).
This is why I also gave the example of the Healthcare sector.
@ John Meilak : I never stated that the educational sector-or any other public service sector for that matter-should be handed over to the private sector.
However as we all know nothing comes for free, and the fact that children get a free education at government schools, and that we all get free healthcare at Mater Dei, means that these funds come from somewhere, and its all from our own pockets.
Coming back to the issue, I fully agree that it is indeed a pity that along the years the various planning institutions did not bother about basic essentials when deciding to approve or decline permits, however once a permit has been approved in the first place, the two way traffic congestion issue which should have been seen to by the planning authority of a quarter of a century ago, should be sorted-sooner rather than later.
Mr Christian Cassar-Torregiani
Sep 11th 2012, 11:49
What most people should realise is that the more students that are sent to private schools, the more money the government saves, reducing its own requirement to fork out its own (i.e taxpayer) funds for both capital and recurrent expenditure.
The same applies to other private services such as for example the Health sector.
Therefore both the government and the taxpayer should be pleased whenever the private sector takes initiatives that save public money, and any fiscal incentive that encourages such private investment will equate more public savings.
Coming back to San Anton School, when the permits were issued for the school at L-Imselliet back in the late 1980’s, the PAPB (The Planning Authority’s and Mepa’s precursor) should have ensured that the access road leading to the school was wide enough to take two way traffic congestion, but the authority’s short-sightedness did not. Therefore the widening of this road is basically correcting what should have been done a quarter of a century ago.
Finally, with reference to the comments proposing multi-storey car parks on the school sites, such projects are non starters : they will be massively under-utilised as they would be used not more than 60 minutes per day during drop-offs and pick-ups. Also because they cost a lot of (parents’) money, which if anything is best invested in the actual educational needs of the students.
joe vella
Sep 11th 2012, 12:16
my understanding is Mr Cassar Torregiani, that you do not mind if state funds are used to finance the requirements of a private institution because through their existence, they reduce state costs!
my thinking is that if the school needs better facilities, itself and those parents who opt to have their children attend such schools, need to raise the finance that is needed to improve the facilities and consequently their services and revenue
nobody seems to be complaining about adding an extra storey, the concern is that once a permit was issued for a parcel of land in an agricultural area to be developed, now we are at a stage where we have requests to snip away adjacent land which would eventually lead to a total obliteration of such land
we have had so many such instances that now everybody is very wary of this eventuality
John Meilak
Sep 11th 2012, 12:30
Well private schools such as this one charge exorbitant fees for their services Mr Cassar-Torreggiani - and only a small portion of the population can afford those fees. I do not agree that education and healthcare should be handed over to the private sector completely because you will prevent many people from getting such services, to the detriment of the whole economy (i.e. producing an educated workforce). Education must always remain free because it is a cornerstone of our economy.
With regards to the school itself - an eyesore right in the middle of the countryside, and enough said about this. Widening of roads? Yes right and the eradication of more flora and fauna that is. Is that the education that we're going to teach our children?
G Schembri
Sep 11th 2012, 11:16
A good way to avoid traffic congestion is to start and end school half an hour later that way the school buses will avoid the rush hour traffic, and the students will leave home a little later, they might even be able to catch the bus after sun rise.
Joe Fenech
Sep 11th 2012, 11:08
Well done MEPA for issues a permit in the first place and for continuing to contribute to destruction of Malta!
joe vella
Sep 11th 2012, 11:03
here we go again, more construction, which means larger car park, possibly underground, larger roads etc
so we have a petrol station being excavated further down the road and now this project,
if it goes on very soon this stretch of land will become a development scheme, same as happened in other places, snatch a bit here, snatch a bit there and then eventually the whole thing goes!
I cannot imagine why nobody thinks of proper traffic management first, before we go for land capture!
the main problem at this site is that parents and school transport simply park at the first opportunity without bothering about blocking the passage to other vehicles
the school should put in place a proper traffic management, by making sure that traffic is kept flowing, parents who bring their children to school themselves can either drop the students and drive on or else park on the perimeter and the children walk down a pathway to the school thus keeping the access road free for other traffic
Adriano Spiteri
Sep 11th 2012, 10:48
As it is, built at the middle of a valley, this school is an eyesore already.
Since when are permits issued according to needs?
D Borg
Sep 11th 2012, 10:48
daily traffic congestion....that's for sure
'Real solutions involve...widening roads...'
Well the road to Mgarr was wide enough before, however some experts at MTA decided to wipe off a lane with a wide pavement that one may drive a truck on, but which no cyclist dares to use lest he damages his reproductive organs!
So let's revert to the 'old' road design, and have the same experts foot the bill from their pockets.
Cassio Galea
Sep 11th 2012, 10:40
Pity it isn't a sixth form.... But still glad to see this school is expanding. Even if everyone thinks it harms the natural environment. Little do they know what a great environment it is to learn in. Peaceful, far away from any noise, great staff, and most of all cares about their students.
Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Sep 11th 2012, 10:24
Din hi l-problema meta tibni fil-kampanja fejn mhux suppost, wara tkun trid iktar toroq u iktar simentar. Nissuggerilhom jorganizzaw xarabankijiet.
Franco Vella
Sep 11th 2012, 10:16
What about traffic management ? there is a big problem already, first need to tackle traffic problems around both schools.
ALFRED AZZOPARDI
Sep 11th 2012, 10:12
I think the long-standing parking problem should have been given priority- investment wise- how about a below street level multi-tier parking complex below the existing parking areas within the schools' compounds, incl. San Andrea's. Very convenient to expect tax payers to fund widening/construction of roads and farmers to have their land expropriated.
Also, when will parents who have had their children at the school receive their past returnable contributions to the shool, many of these children have already completed tertiary education.
Franco Farrugia
Sep 11th 2012, 09:34
Expropriation of land? Does this man think that he's the Government? Every effort must be made to ensure that this development does not further harm the natural environment. Much harm has been made already.
Please choose the reason of your report below: