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for the state school option, you can take a look at this thread re st. clare/pembroke: /forum/viewtopic.php?id=476802.  my children go there.  in my opinion, it is a good option for many expat families. 

st. clare is heavily foreigners so most of the instruction will be in english and all the children, even the maltese ones, feel very comfortable speaking in english, too.

maltese english is not quite english-english or american-english.  so you might feel a bit flustered with the grammar component of the english instruction at times.  but it's not much different at most schools, including privates.  and you can reinforce good english at home.

i don't know much about south african education, but the style of teaching here, both in state and private schools, is much less lax and permissive than in the US, from where we hail.  that has its advantages and disadvantages. 

for three-year olds, i don't think there's much academics to be discussed but for the later grades, it seems pretty solid at state schools.  and i do believe educational achievement depends largely on the student and the parents and much less so on the school itself. 

i would certainly give the school due consideration.  good luck.

Great thank you for your response.