Islam is the largest minority religion in Malta, with 17,454 individuals identifying as Muslim (NSO, 2021). Muslims reside within a predominantly culturally Catholic society, where all independent, state and church schools operate under a Catholic ethos—except for Mariam Albatool, an independent school that follows the National Curriculum Framework while offering Islamic religious instruction. This paper explores the experiences of one Muslim family as it navigates questions of identity, belonging, and institutional marginality within the Maltese state school system the children attend. Drawing on separate semi-structured interviews with the parents and their two children, who have completed their compulsory education cycle, this case study reveals how the family perceived both voluntary and involuntary assimilation into the dominant school culture as the safest strategy for mitigating racism and Islamophobia. However, despite their efforts to conform, they continued to encounter institutional racism, particularly through school policies and the absence of sustained professional development for educators on religious and cultural diversity.

Keywords: Muslim family, Maltese state schools, Islamophobia, racism, experiences, assimilation.