Sa Miranda nursery school kicks off 2014-15 academic year with new classroom and 58 new students

Escoleta2014 aula novaSa Miranda nursery school (known commonly as l'escoleta) which falls under the administration of the Formentera Island Council's office of education, opened its doors this morning to pupils and proceeded through the first day of the 2014-2015 school year without a hitch.

For 58 pupils, today was the first day of classes ever. Counting the centre's 40 returning students, Sa Miranda will take in a total of 98 students the 2014-15 academic year. The Sa Miranda centre is composed of one classroom for newborns, three classrooms for ages 1-2 and three for 2-3 year olds.

This year's enrolment figures represent an increase of 18 pupils compared to last year (when a total of 80 were registered). The increase was made possible thanks to remodel work performed at the school in July and August. The changes – a new classroom, a new cafeteria and a more hygienic vinyl flooring in the centre's oldest classrooms, as well as general maintenance and a new paint job – have left Sa Miranda shining. The total cost of these improvements was 90,000€.

With teacher-pupil ratios unchanged, the physical remodel of Sa Miranda is not expected to negatively impact the quality of education there. To ensure this continued quality, the Council of Formentera has hired two new educators, bringing the total number of teachers at the centre to twelve.

Sa Miranda nursery school is an educational centre belonging to the network of public nurseries in the Balearic Islands. The pedagogy employed at the school -and the style of organisation- are founded on the principle of the right of the child to receive an education that is constructed around his real needs (physical, psychological, emotional, personal, intellectual, social, etc.)

It is the hope of the educational staff at Sa Miranda that the centre be a place of mutual respect for different cultures, non-discriminatory and democratic, where equal opportunities are promoted for all pupils and full respect is given the surrounding natural, social and cultural environments.

The Formentera Island Council devotes a substantial part of the office of education's annual budget to the administration of the Sa Miranda nursery school. Yearly funding for the centre tops 460,000€, and the largest portion of that amount goes to staff hiring. In 2013, the Formentera Island Council received 3,733.26€ from the Govern Balear in Palma for maintenance of public centres of early education like Sa Miranda.