History of Our School

Sir Temi Zammit school was originally built by the British services as a naval hospital. The marble plaque on the façade next to the front door shows that the foundation stone was laid on the 6th January, 1915 by His Excellency, General Sir Leslie Rundle. This building was originally known as 'The Mtarfa Royal Artillery & Naval Hospital'.

Over the door, the badges of the Military, the naval medical services and a crown for King George V are sculptured in stone GR for Georgius Rex 1917 on a plaque rests above the main door and these remain a token of past times.

So many hospitals were established on the island from the time of the Knights Hospitaliers in the Middle Ages to WW1 and WWII that Malta was known as the 'Nurse of the Mediterranean'.

The period following the First World War, allowed for a re-organisation of the military medical services on the islands. The Mtarfa Hospital, commissioned in 1912, was opened on the 29th June 1920, even though it had been in use for some time earlier.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Military Barracks with an adjoining Military Families' Hospital were built on Mtarfa Hill. The hospital catering for the families of the troops housed fifty patients. All the patients in the various military hospitals were transferred there and the military hospitals scattered around Malta were officially closed in subsequent years.

During the Second World War, the Mtarfa Hospital and barracks were reorganised as the 90th General Hospital and built up to accommodate a maximum of 1200 beds. An underground hospital was excavated under the military hospital.

At the end of hostilities, the 90th General Hospital was disbanded and reformed on peacetime footing as the David Bruce Military Hospital. This continued to serve the military troops, complimenting the Bighi Naval Hospital, until 1970. For the next eight years, the Mtarfa Hospital served the needs of the British military and naval personnel until its closure in 1978.

This ex-hospital was established as an Area Boys' Secondary School in September 1986. During the period 1980-1985, the post rundown years, the Government who became the new owner of the Mtarfa Military Hospital considered various options: either sell or rent the premises to (a) the Libyans, (b) BUPA, (c) utilise it as an extension of St. Luke's Hospital (in actual fact, the 'refrigerators' in the moratorium needed for autopsy were still functional till the late nineties).

The big wards, clinics, offices and other premises within the old Hospital building were virtually dismantled of all equipment (still in working condition) by the gangs of government workers called in during the summer of 1986. Each ward was converted into five classes but work was not completed at the beginning of the 1986-87 scholastic year.

Eventually, the establishment of another Area Secondary School was affected, with an intake of students from the North of Malta mainly Rabat, Dingli, Mellieha, St. Paul's Bay, Qawra, Balzan and initially from the urban areas of Ħamrun and Birkirkara.

Staff and students of Naxxar Boys' Secondary School were transferred 'lock, stock and barrel' to the new premises, which had been left 'idle' since 1979. The new School was aptly named after the famous Maltese surgeon and historian Sir Temi Żammit, the first Director of Malta's Museums' Department and a distinguished professor of medicine.

The school housed form three, four and five students with Mr Harry Saliba as Head of School. Due to the newly pained improvised classes, teachers preferred to take classes under a big tree in the spacious grounds around the Hospital building.

Scholastic year 1987-88 saw students and teachers from Birkirkara Secondary School, who occupied the Ground and part of the First Floor classes. Mr N. Farrugia was Head of the Junior Secondary School classes. As from scholastic year 1988-89, Sir Temi Żammit School began to cater for all secondary classes and was managed by the following Heads of School: Mr Paul Camilleri, Mr Joe Valletta, Mr Abel Giglio, Mr Paul Attard, Mr Anthony Azzopardi, Mr Anthony Gatt and Mr Carmel S. Micallef, who is the Head of School to date.

Nowadays, Sir Temi Żammit School still stands proudly on a ridge on the north part of the island of Malta and boasts of extensive grounds.

The road to the top of the ridge, which was cut through the rocks, still stands today and a door in the wall marks the entrance to the former operations centre underground, now used for mushroom growing. On the north side, the school enjoys fantastic country and sea views. Directly in front, stands the 'silent city' of Mdina which is a bewitching panorama to any historian. One can also see the old railway station in the valley between Mtarfa and Mdina. The old railway station was used as a restaurant but this has moved to new premises and the old railway station is now closed down.

Sir Temi Żammit Boys' Secondary School is housed on three floors and is quite spacious. Amenities include a hall, a gym, four science laboratories, three computer labs, a home economics room and a technology education workshop.

Today, our school caters for about 380 male students aged 11-15 years and about 85 school personnel including the Senior Management Team, teaching staff, office personnel, facilitators, technicians and minor staff.

MS TANYA AGIUS

Maltese Comenius Co-ordinator & Teacher of English at Sir Temi Zammit BSS Mtarfa)

Bibliography:
P. Cassar, 1964, ibid, p.96-100; C. Savona-Ventura, Malta and the British Navy: the medical connection during the nineteenth century. Part 1. The establishment of the Naval Hospital at Bighi. Journal Royal Naval Medical Service, 1992, 78:p.174

C. Savona Ventura, Military Hospitals in Malta:

http://www.geocities.com/hotsprings/2615/medhist/hospital3.htm

Information on the prime years as an area secondary school provided by Mr Louis Micallef (teacher of Physical education. History and Social Studies At Sir Temi Zammit BSS for seventeen years – 1986-2003), now Assistant Head of School at Can. Paul Pullicino Girls Secondary School, Rabat

Lupton Online Magazine; Out of Salonika; Mtarfa Military Hospital, Malta

http://www.lupton2.freeserve.co.uk/history/mtarfa.htm