Children 'amazed' by new school set to open in September

New building will finally replace portacabins after 12 years in use

NEW Year, new school – kids in La Xara are looking forward to a spacious, modern classroom complex from the start of the September term.

The brand-new building is still under construction, but already has stairs, says mayoress Maite Pérez Conejero.

She says primary pupils, who take lessons in the pre-fab buildings next door, were 'amazed' when they saw the school they would be using from next term.

None of them, unless they have moved from another town, have ever known a classroom built of bricks and mortar, since portacabins have been used for the past 12 years.

Before that, an old, overcrowded building with a leaky roof which fused the electrics and flooded the rooms out every time it rained – forcing teachers to send the kids home – was in use.

Protests and campaigns over the appalling conditions children had to learn in started so long ago that the pupils in reception classes at the time have now long since graduated from university.

“Up until 18 months ago, when a double roof was fitted to the portacabins, children had to sit in class with umbrellas whenever it rained,” Sra

Pérez Conejero reveals.

The new school will have three reception units for children aged three to six, and six primary school classrooms, plus a dining hall and PE hall.

Works will cost a total of €3 million and are making 'great progress', says the mayoress.

Huge windows mean plenty of natural light – but with filters to cut the glare - and a lovely view across the Benimàquia peak and the Montgó, and reinforced insulation keeps the cold and excess heat out.

The next school to be rebuilt – another made entirely of prefabs – is the Raquel Payá special school in Dénia, and a 'pioneering' centre in Jalón designed for kids aged from three to upper-sixth form.