The Missionary Society of St Paul’s primary school in Rabat, which welcomed its first 100 pupils in September, was officially inaugurated yesterday.

It planned to increase the number to 300 over the next three years, said its director Fr Silvio Bezzina.

The opening of a primary school as an extension of St Paul’s Missionary College forms part of the government’s education reform that brought about the end of the Common Entrance and the Junior Lyceum examinations as the entry requirements in Church and state schools.

As from this scholastic year, students are being admitted into Church schools exclusively through a ballot system.

The primary school building of the St Paul’s Missionary College lies on the former DePiro Youth Centre, adjacent to the secondary school, which opened in October 1964 and has 262 students.

The primary school has been designed with the educational needs of all students in mind and is equipped with state-of-the-art educational tools, including interactive whiteboards in all classrooms.

The school, on which construction works started in 2010 and were completed in “record time”, also has a gym, a dining room, a computer room, a library and rooms for children with special needs.

The inaugural ceremony included a special programme in the college’s auditorium, starting with prayers and including music and an address by Education Minister Dolores Cristina.

St Paul’s Missionary Society Superior General Fr Bernard Mangion officially opened the premises, which were blessed by Archbishop Paul Cremona.