According to an announcement from the Formentera Council's Office of Social Welfare, tomorrow marks the start of the enrolment period in free tutoring for year five and six primary school pupils. Office chair Vanessa Parellada portrayed the academic assistance as "geared toward students with learning difficulties and at perennial risk of falling behind, with a particular focus on pupils who are struggling with academic integration and deficiencies in language and maths.”

This year is the first time the tutoring will run the entire academic year, from September 26 to the end of the course, and will be free. The classes, which cost the Council 13,000 euros, have benefitted 112 students over the last five years. Parellada credited the decision to continue the initiative with the positive feedback it has customarily received.

It is expected that some twenty students will attend the Monday-Friday, afternoon tutoring sessions, for which an exact timetable has yet to be set. The schools must help the contracted instructor, Maribel Jiménez, select which pupils will require the extra help. Parents of interested students have from September 15 to 22 to hand in enrolment applications at the Office of Social Welfare.

The tutoring will centre on boosting pupils' scholastic abilities using motivation-based tactics and by favouring a daily-work ethic. The students' school work will serve as a yardstick for additional help in English, Castilian Spanish, Catalan, environmental studies and maths. Furthermore, since learning will be organised in group sessions, social integration and teamwork will also be promoted.

The education office of the Formentera Council announces the start of a new academic term from September 15 at the island's two early-learning centres. One hundred twenty-two children aged zero to three will begin classes tomorrow at Formentera's two escoletes, Sa Miranda and Camí Vell, in nine groups overseen by 17 instructors and an aide.

Education secretary Susana Labrador said the schools had kept their doors closed for the first two weeks in September while teaching staff, service workers, Council employees and outside contractors worked to get things up and running ahead of another year. Labrador put the total cost of the undertaking at €8,475.

Both schools got a fresh coat of paint, something Labrador said only cost the administration €400 since in-house staff could be brought in for the work. Carpenters were called in to change and varnish wood floors at Sa Miranda. Light work was performed on the doors at the two schools, and both centres received needed new shelving. The price tag for the diverse upgrades was roughly €5,200. A storage unit for educational material was mounted at Cami Vell for €875, and a gas tank for Sa Miranda's on-site heating system cost €2,000.

The Formentera Council Office of Education has announced an extended deadline on pre-enrolment for the 2016-17 year at Formentera's municipal music and dance school. The added dates —from the first of the month to September 10— affect in-person registration at the Citizen's Information Office (OAC) as well as online signups on the Virtual Citizen's Information Office (OVAC) and the music school's homepage.

The school of music and dance offers both accredited and non-accredited courses of study in addition to workshop-style music and dance classes for children three and up. Last year roughly 300 people took classes at the school.

The Formentera Council (CiF) Office of Education has announced that from May 4, enrolment applications will be accepted for children wishing to attend the La Miranda or el Camí Vell de la Mola nursery school during the 2016-2017 school year. As education councillor Susana Labrador explained, the deadline for applications is May 18 and provisional lists of accepted children will be published May 30.

Individuals who are interested can download the application in the Escoletes (Nurseries) section of CiF website and at the following link: http://goo.gl/rxXr8e. The application can also be downloaded and handed in in person at the Citizen's Information Office (OAC) from May 4-18, 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday through Saturday.

As Labrador pointed out, the same admissions process will be used for the two schools. “There will be a space on the application for applicants to note which of the two escoletes they prefer,” she added. Children born in 2016, 2015 or 2014 can attend Escoleta de La Miranda and those born in 2015 or 2014 can apply to Escoleta des Camí Vell. Labrador encouraged anyone with questions to visit the La Miranda nursery between 2.00 and 3.00pm.

The current admissions process involves Formentera's two year-long nursery schools, which offered 128 places during the 2015-2016 school year.

The two nurseries operate on a year-long basis and, together, provided places for 128 children during the 2015-2016 school year. Though numbers are expected to remain relatively unchanged from this year to next, Labrador indicated the Council's intent to adapt the available places to the demand registered from island families. The councillor highlighted the challenges posed by early childhood education and, in that regard, pointed to the Council's two main goals: a high quality standard and “zero waitlist”. The latter, she said, “though not exactly a requirement, is a deal-breaker for individuals juggling a family and a job.”