Brand-new school for Palmera will treble pupil capacity

A MUCH-NEEDED new primary school in Palmera is set to go up with works to start in August for a budget of €3.4 million.

The village, to the immediate north of Oliva on the N-332 before L'Alqueria de la Comtessa and Bellreguard, will have its brand-new centre ready for the start of the 20212022 academic year.

It forms part of what is known as a Colegio Rural Agrupado (grouped rural primary school - CRA), where a single school has separate branches in different villages which would otherwise have too few children to justify having their own, individual schools.

These local branches mean funding can be pooled and children do not have to travel far, sometimes not even out of their village, for class, even though their school's head office is located in another part of the district.

The CRA Mondúver-Safor has branches in Palmera, Potries, and Barx, which also serve neighbouring villages.

Next September will see kids from Palmera in a building with a modern gym, kitchen and canteen with space for 120 children in two 'shifts', a library, three-quarters of an acre of sports grounds, gardens, a pupils' allotment and two playgrounds for infants and for juniors, three reception classes for under-fives, one for under-threes, and six for other age groups.

It will be built on an 1.25 acre plot on the 'new' part of the Paseo, and is designed for up to 243 pupils – around three times the current number, in case of a future 'baby boom'.

There will be an L-shaped main block for the secretarial area, canteen, kitchen and classrooms, and a second block with a gym, changing rooms and toilets - both linked by a covered 'tree tunnel'. Each of the classrooms for children aged five and under will have its own toilet block.

The on-site car park will be 429 square metres, or space for approximately 40 vehicles.