The first Government Primary School at Nadur was opened in 1842. It was the second one on the island of Gozo after that in Victoria and the seventh in Malta and Gozo. Nadur as a village was the first chosen since it incorporated Ghajnsielem, Qala and Comino and hence it was the largest village in Gozo. At first, only boys could attend, but later on girls were included too. A small house near the church was rented to be used as a school and the number of children continued to increase. Later on bigger houses had to be found for boys and for girls. In fact in 1850 there were 55 boys and 46 girls attending and in 1858 there were 70 boys and 63 girls.  The curriculum consisted of Reading in Maltese, Italian and English, Arithmetic, Religion, Handwriting, Gymnastics, Geography and Geometry for boys and Needlework for girls. For nearly fifty years (1851-1896) Fr Saviour Vella managed the school not as a head teacher but as a teacher in charge. 

As the schools’ population continued to increase, the Director of Education Can. Paul Pullicino proposed the building of two schools. However this dream was only realised in January 1932 when the present school in Racecourse Street was opened. The head teachers were Fr Michael Galea (1928-1938) for the Boys’ Schools and Ms Teresa Xuereb (1902-1933) for the Girls’ School. During these times, attendance increased steadily until education became compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14 in 1946.

Mr Anton Buttigieg from Qala (1938-1963) succeeded Fr Michael Galea at the Boys’ School. It was during this time that the boys from Nadur Primary School first sat for the Entrance Examination for the Lyceum Secondary School in Victoria. Several Heads of the Girls’ School succeeded Ms Teresa Xuereb until Ms Mary Zerafa from Nadur took over from 1954-1958 and 1959-1980. Under these two heads, school improvement was very evident and the schools were also involved in many extra-curricular activities.

Both Primary Schools excelled particularly in Sports. Sports Day was held at the Silver Jubilee for all Gozitan Primary Schools once a year.  In fact Nadur Boys’ School won the Aggregate Cup for Sports 12 times up to 1972 and the Tug of War for 5 times. At the same time the girls won the first Netball Competition that was organized. The girls had several successes in the Aggregate Cup as well. This shows the love for sports which existed in both schools and the commitment for excellence of teachers as well as pupils. Academically 1 out of every 5 or 6 entrants into Secondary Schools for both girls and boys used to be from Nadur.

In 1974, Maltese Schools became co-educational and from then up to the present time Nadur Primary School has housed all the children of the village with pastoral care and professional dedication. In 1992 the name chosen for the school was ‘Dun Salv Vella’ being the first teacher in charge of Nadur schools. He dedicated 45 years of his life and his whole career to the education of the younger generations at Nadur. 

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