Summer school students close out 2014 session with a bang

escola estiuRollicking games. Eager kids. Proud parents and teachers. All were present yesterday in Sant Francesc and Sant Ferran, where a joint celebration between local schools marked the end of the 2014 summer school session.

This year the Formentera Summer School opened its doors to 160 boys and girls aged 3 to 12 and split activities between three local schools: Sant Francesc, Sant Ferran and La Mola. Included among the programme's staff of professionals was one head counsellor, twenty-two day camp counsellors and – for students with special learning needs – one instructor certified in Special Education.

Dolores Fernández Tamargo, councillor of Social Welfare and Youth Services, was on hand at the final closing ceremony that was celebrated at Sant Francesc's Mestre Lluís Andreu Primary School. She saluted the fact that the Formentera Summer School programme “gives boys and girls a fun, educational place to be in summer. It's also extremely important that the programme provide options for working families. For the majority of households in Formentera, summer is the busiest time of year.”

This year's activities were all conceived as extensions of the same unifying theme: “Time-travellers”. Students tread a path through different periods in Western history, with perspectives that were at times local and at times global. According to councillor Fernández Tamargo, the goal was to “impart a respect for diversity of customs, ways of thought and forms of expression. Parting from a place of tolerance and learning, we wanted to come away with raised awareness regarding the importance of cooperation and harmonious living between different cultures.”