Transformation of the Former Escola Pere Calafell

The first project is the transformation of part of the building which housed the former Escola Pere Calafell. The project will create a new municipal nursery school for the neighbourhood of Sant Martí de Provençals, in the district of Sant Martí. In this case, the new facility means the transfer and enlargement of the current L’Esquitx nursery school, freeing up the space it currently occupies at the Sant Martí community centre.

The building, at C/ Andrade, 184, consists of a basement, a ground floor and two upper floors, as well as a playground. As it was already used for teaching purposes, the project consists of work to adapt it. A second stage will see the project adapt further teaching space in the building to create a municipal music school. The work entails an investment of 3,855,372,17 euros and should conclude in April 2023.

New municipal nursery school and child-rearing space in the Teixonera neighbourhood

The second project is for a new building on a municipally owned site in the neighbourhood of La Texionera (Carrer Arenys, 83), in the district of Horta-Guinardó. Steps are also being taken to expropriate a property in the neighbourhood of El Carmel, where a new municipal nursery school will be built. This project entails an investment of 3,705,109,24 euros and the building is expected to be completed in September 2023. Two services will operate at this new facility: the municipal nursery school, with seven groups and 107 places, and a municipal child-rearing space with 60 places. The centre will also be open to the neighbourhood.

Elsewhere, a process is also under way to expropriate a property of 753 square metres at C/ Santuari, 56-68, in the neighbourhood of El Carmel. The goal is for the space to be used for a new municipal nursery school. An agreement has already been reached with the owner to proceed with the expropriation and for the property to become municipally owned.

More resources to improve inclusive and educational quality

The two projects mean an overall investment of 7,560,481,41 euros and will see the network of municipal nursery schools grow to 104 centres, adding over 129 new places (107 at the new school in La Teixonera and the additional 22 places at the centre in Sant Martí de Provençals on top of the existing places at L’Esquitx).

The municipal network of nursery schools has received 7,662 applications for the 4,460 vacant places for the next school year. This represents a 14% increase compared to the volume of applications last year (6,720 in total).

As from the next school year, an additional 1.6 million euros will be allocated for staffing to carry on improving the quality of this service in terms of inclusive education and teacher-pupil ratios:

• More educational support: the average time given to infant groups by support professionals is to increase from 4 hours to 4.5 hours a day. This type of support staff works half days and complements the task of the permanent educator. Among other things, this helps split groups at centres with six classes, which most nursery schools have.
• Improvement to move forward in inclusive education: initial minimums are established to provide support for infants with special needs, reserving 2.5 hours a week. This represents an improvement for nearly 300 infants provided for by the municipal network and enables tutors and educators to give them more personalised support. This provision has a projected cost of half a million euros per school year.
• Pool for special needs hours: besides the initial minimum support for special needs, educational support hours are distributed throughout the course for infants who need it most and have been identified for early assistance. This pool has doubled since January and over the 2022-2023 school year will provide more hours by professionals in mental health, speech therapy and physiotherapy, as well a new itinerant nursing service. The cost of this service is 208,000 euros.

S’han iniciat les obres d’una escola bressol municipal al districte de Sant Martí i a mitjan juny començaran els treballs per a una altra escola bressol a Horta-Guinardó.