In his article ‘Elementary education in Malta during the early British period’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, January 25) my friend Lino Bugeja fails to mention the Floriana school, while in his letter ‘Opening of first elementary schools in Tarxien (The Sunday Times of Malta, February 1) Joseph Farrugia honours Tarxien but the honour falls three years later than that of Floriana.

In his book Floriana in Wartime Emmanuel Tonna, an ex-headmaster and an authority on Floriana, declared that “The Floriana school was the first school built in Malta from government funds in 1856”. This was not the first teaching establishment in Floriana; there was a girls’ school at Casa d’Industria.

Boys had no school. Walking through the ditches to Valletta was a hazard families did not approve of. A group of well-off families subsidised a certain Francis Farrugia to teach their sons. In 1841 Nicholas Stabile took over the teaching duties for a shilling a month.

In 1852 the Casa d’Industria closed down. Catherine Burney opened a class for girls at the Magazine built by the Università dei Giurati in August 1852.

The boys’ section was established on the same premises on May 4, 1853. The school master was Jack Le Brun. He was followed by George Iliff on July 28, 1854.

The military authorities bought and converted the premises into services barracks, St Francis Barracks. The Floriana school was soon to be ready for occupation. It was the first school of its type. The boys’ and girls’ sections had two separate yards divided by a row of classrooms. The school was modernised in 1930 and part of another storey was built.

Up to 1952 (my time as a teacher at the Floriana school) this division had not changed except that the school had three sections. The ground floor was for girls and infants and the upper story for boys. During the war the Luftwaffe bombarded the school twice, on April 6, 1942 and on April 24.