The St Paul’s Bay primary school has become a pioneer in the changing ethnicity of Maltese classrooms, assistant head Mark Azzopardi told the Times of Malta.

“The issues being faced by many schools across Malta today were first dealt with by us years ago. We’ve had to come up with solutions before there were any policies, and it has largely worked very well. We treat all of the children who come here as equal students,” he said.

The 1,100 students attending the school, in one of the largest educational districts on the island, increases by an average of 15 new children every week, many of who are not Maltese. Mr Azzopardi said nearly two-thirds were foreign, and many could not speak Maltese or English and held a variety of spiritual beliefs.

The school administration, however, developed a series of solutions to address this, among them the school’s induction centre, which focuses on teaching students basic English – similar to an English as a foreign language centre. For students who are not Catholic, the school developed an ethics course which non-Christian children can attend instead of religion classes.

Assistant head Mark Azzopardi.

For Mr Azzopardi, who has worked at the school for 13 years, these are similar solutions to those used to tackle other social challenges in previous years.

“This school used to be labelled as one full of children from broken homes because it was in an area known to host many people starting out on a new life after a separation, and we dealt with it. Now this is a phenomenon which has spread all over the island and is seen as normal.

“Many school districts are now starting to experience migration in the classroom. We, however, have been dealing with this for years now. It’s normal for us,” he said.

The school has often found itself in the national spotlight for its rich cultural diversity, something celebrated by a series of ‘one world’ arts and crafts installations lining its hallways. Most recently, however, it hit the headlines amid claims that Maltese students were being bullied by their Muslim peers for eating ham sandwiches.

The issue was mentioned in passing by a local priest during a homily but gained momentum on a number of right-wing social media groups calling on Maltese to “stand up against the cultural invasion”.

These children don’t think in terms of conflict between religions – that is something we adults poison their minds with

The issue coincided with a separate controversy surrounding a group of Muslims’ search for a new outdoor prayer space – a long-standing search but one which sparked a protest by members of the Għaqda Patrijoti Maltin last Saturday.

Speaking outside the bustling school yesterday, a group of around a dozen parents shot down rumours of religious and cultural discord between students.

“My son has always come to this school and I can tell you he is best friends with a Muslim boy. These children don’t think in terms of conflict between religions – that is something we adults poison their minds with. They are all friends and couldn’t be happier,” one parent who regularly volunteers at the school said.

Catherine Micallef, whose son also attends the St Paul’s Bay school, said she had never heard of any problems with Muslim students.

“On the contrary, they mix together so much, they have parties together and are friends. Whoever is saying this is an issue clearly doesn’t know the school at all,” she said, as a row of students of different ethnic backgrounds shuffled out of the school for a field trip.