Lasallian colleges in Malta move towards co-education
From next year, De La Salle College and Stella Maris College, including St Benild School, will move towards a co-educational setting. The transformation shall take place over an 11-year period.
In the 2025/26 scholastic year, the Year 1 intake will be divided equally between boys and girls at all the Lasallian schools. Entry will take place through the usual procedure of the Church School ballot, which is organised nationally by the Secretariat for Catholic Education.
Other year groups are not affected. All students who currently attend De La Salle College and Stella Maris College will continue to attend a boys-only setting within their year group.
Co-education shall be phased in gradually, year by year. The first co-educational Year 2 group will be seen in 2026/27. The senior schools shall accept the first girls, for Year 7/Form 1, in 2031/32. The transition will be completed in 2035/36.
The decision to move towards co-education was taken by the governing body of the schools — the Board of the Trust of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers) in Malta. It follows extensive consultation with stakeholders, including staff members, parents and students.
The Trust’s chair, Joe Gilson, said the decision is based on St John Baptist de La Salle’s universal mission, the teaching of Pope Francis and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
From their beginning, Lasallian schools have promoted curricula and learning environments that form the whole personality of students, as preparation for their family, civic and human responsibilities. Pope Francis insists the ethos of the 21st-century Church must embody the Christian spirit of authentic, inclusive dialogue, not least between men and women.
This living heritage will shape the gradual transformation of Malta’s Lasallian schools into co-educational environments, spaces for boys and girls to grow and mature in a community where respect and inclusion, irrespective of gender differences, are taught as a way of Christian and human life.
