Preparations are under way for the National Sport School to open its doors for the first time next month, with the first group of 10- to 11-year-old students embarking on what promises to be a rewarding and exciting experience.

This newspaper yesterday caught up with the school’s acting head, George Micallef, who explained that the school will be just like any other, but will cater for students who have exceptional talent in the sport that they practise.

“The idea is to prepare students for a dual career path, so the school isn’t for students who aren’t interested in academic subjects. It will not be easy, but we intend to strike a balance between academic subjects and training, and prepare students for the Secondary Education Certificate (Sec) examinations.”

Mr Micallef said it is a complete myth that sports hinders students in terms of academic achievement. In fact, some of the school’s first students do well in school as well as in the sport they practise. At the same time, the school will also cater for students with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia.

It will be the first co-ed (mixed) secondary state school and will form part of St Benedict College; it will be housed in a wing at the Kirkop boys’ secondary school and the students will be able to use the Kirkop sports complex, as well as the sports facilities of the boys’ secondary school.

“The students from the boys’ secondary school and the National Sport

School will be sharing the facilities, but they will not be mixed,” explained Mr Micallef.

Talking about the selection process, he said the student intake will be a maximum of 40 (Form 1 students) every year, meaning that the number of students will increase by 40 every year and will reach a maximum of 200 by the time this year’s Form 1 students are in Form 5.

Mr Micallef said brochures about the school were distributed among all Year 6 students attending state schools and a meeting was held for the parents whose children were interested in joining the school. Meetings were also held with national sports associations, said Mr Micallef, noting that students applying to join the school needed to have the endorsement and recommendation of the associations.

“We still received applications without such an endorsement, even though this was a clear criterion, and these students were obviously not eligible.”

The first phase of the selection process involved a sports assessment of the applicants by independent coaches; this was followed by a physical test and an interview (which parents also attended).

“We looked at the academic results the applicants obtained during the last scholastic year, although we gave this a lower weighting than the sports assessment, and we also gave a very small weighting to personality, to ensure that the applicants are motivated and ready to make sacrifices. We wanted to ensure that the children themselves want to join the school, not that they’re simply doing so because their parents want them to.”

Responding to criticism about the selection process and about certain parents’ concerns about their children being moved from their original school, Mr Micallef said: “The process was a transparent one and the parents were involved at every stage. We didn’t force anyone to join the school; in fact we had isolated cases of students who were chosen, but finally decided not to take the leap.”

The students will have 28 lessons per week in academic subjects and 12 linked to sport; eight of these (four double lessons) will be in the sport they practise, three will be lessons in the basic sport fundamentals (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) and one will be in the students’ holistic development.

Mr Micallef explained that the latter could be anything from a tutorial on striking the balance between academic subjects and sports, to a talk on table manners, personal hygiene or cyber crime. The students will also have regular visits by a sports psychologist and a nutritionist.

He stopped short of giving details about the exact number of students who will be joining the school, and the difference between the number of boys and girls, but said they have exceptional talent in eight different sports: football, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, karate, basketball, rugby and bowling.

The idea is to prepare students for a dual career path, so the school isn’t for students who aren’t interested in academic subjects. It will not be easy, but we intend to strike a balance between academic subjects and training