The Liceo M.A. Vassalli is situated in

Tal-Ħandaq Tal-Ħandaq is an area in Qormi, Malta. It is a low hill, situated on the left side of Mdina Road in Qormi. Places Etymology Tal Handak is the British spelling of the town of Tal-Ħandaq. History In the old days it was a rural area, with a few ...

Qormi Qormi ( mt, Ħal Qormi ; pronounced in the Qormi dialect), also known by its title Città Pinto, is a city in the Southern Region of Malta, southwest of Valletta in the centre of the island. It has a population of 16,324 (as of March 2018), mak ...

(

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

) on the site of the former

Royal Naval School Tal-Handaq The Royal Naval School Tal Handaq was a school for children of personnel of the British Armed Forces posted to Malta between January 1947 and July 1978. Formerly known as the Naval Children's School and HM Dockyard Children's School, it had occu ...

(1947–1978). The Junior Lyceum was founded in 1981, and offers secondary education to male students aged 10 to 16. The school complex is characterized by

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British engineer and inventor Majo ...

s and small blocks in a random layout. Having formerly been a barracks during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

this layout intended to give the site resemblance with a Maltese village, in order to give camouflage from the air. The present uniform consists of a white shirt, green tie, grey jersey, dark grey trousers and a green pinstriped blazer This school was extremely popular in the 1980s when it was run by its energetic

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

, John Michael Testa. A number of prominent Maltese people attended the school including members of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

David Agius, Clyde Puli (

Partit Nazzjonalista The Nationalist Party ( mt, Partit Nazzjonalista, PN) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Malta, along with the Labour Party. It is a Christian-democratic, and conservative political party, and it has been also described a ...

) and Carmelo Abela (

Partit Laburista The Labour Party ( mt, Partit Laburista, PL), formerly known as the Malta Labour Party ( mt, Partit tal-Ħaddiema, MLP), is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party (Malta), Nationalist Party. It sits on ...

) and others Mario Farrugia Borg European Parliament Candidate, (Jason Micallef - former

General Secretary and head of

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

2018 European Capital of Culture, Anton Miceli - Culture Official,

Massimo Ellul Massimo Ellul is a Maltese businessman and active in the voluntary organisational field. Ellul is the chief executive of a group of companies in the marketing and management consultancy field operating in Malta, Manchester, Edinburgh, Sicily ...

- international marketer, Terence Farrugia - Bay Radio Station Manager, and several lecturers at the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

). Converted

British Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

huts and buildings surrounding the school's

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

were the backdrop of the school, which made it the only secondary school in Malta where students went to their

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

s instead of the other way round. The school is currently being modernized and rebuilt (where needed) and is set to become one of the newest schools in Malta.

External links

RN School Facebook page

Liceo M.A. Vassalli and RN School Tal-Handaq - Website contains over 400 photos of the school buildings plus other school related images

Educ.um.edu.mt

Talhandaqnostalgia.org photo gallery of RN School days with old photos of Malta included
* https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1388925841121369&set=g.6533863249&type=1&theater&ifg=1 Liceo Vassalli - Tal-Handaq on Facebook: Contains photos of John Michael Testa head of school] * https://www.facebook.com/groups/209420386116832/photos/ * https://www.facebook.com/groups/1710464412502149/photos/ Educational institutions established in 1981 Schools in Malta Qormi 1981 establishments in Malta {{Malta-school-stub