Students and educators will be welcomed at the new primary school in Victoria, Gozo next week – the start of the new school year.

The Government said that this new educational environment was completed through an investment of around €18 million.

This project involved the building of a new primary school in Victoria, replacing the old school which was situated in a building in Varjringa Street and dated back some 170 years. The expansion and modernisation of the local middle school in the same campus also made up part of the project.

The Government said that this campus is unique, in that it contains a child welfare centre, kindergarten, primary school, middle school, secondary school, as well as the Sixth Form.

“Today we are seeing a new school, modern and well equipped,” said Minister for Education Clifton Grima, while on a visit to the school with Minister for Gozo and Planning Clint Camilleri.

The new school has 16 classes for primary education and 10 classes for kindergarten, as well as classes for specific subjects, including science, information technology and art. The primary school and the kindergarten together can accommodate around 650 children.

The school spans 8,000 square metres, with 3,000 of them for children’s sport and recreation.

It was explained that the excavation and construction works were carried out under the supervision of archaeologists from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, this was because archaeological remains were found on the site.

These finds were preserved by building an archaeological interpretation centre within the school building. This will help the school children in the knowledge of the importance of respecting and cherishing the cultural and historical heritage, the government concluded.

After delays and 4 different proposed locations, the plans for the new primary school on this site were first submitted in December 2017

Then in August 2019, the remains of a stone quarry dating back to Roman times were found on the site earmarked for the new Victoria Primary School, with the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools saying that “the discovery would affect the programme drawn up for the construction of this school.”

The foundation stone for the new school was finally laid in November 2020, the cost at that time for the project was quoted as €10 million.

 

Photo: DOI

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