Over 260 schools in the Alicante Province decided on Friday to implement the continuous day, more than thirty of which are located in the Vega Baja.
Voting has been going on for the last 4 weeks, however the voting centres were set up at almost every school in the area on Friday, the final day of the poll, with parents given the opportunity to decide whether to continue with the system as at present or to introduce the new school day which will start at 9am with the option of running through to 5pm. The result was an overwhelming vote for change.
In Torrevieja, all state schools voted in favour, with the exception of the Colegio Amanecer which did not vote.
In Orihuela the following centres voted in favor: Andrés Manjón, Villar Palasí, Fernando de Loaces, Ismael García (La Murada), Nuestra Señora de Belén (La Aparecida) and the colegio de San Bartolomé.
In Callosa de Segura there was a massive vote for change at all state schools and in Rojales the only school in the town, the Poet Miguel Hernández (formerly Prince of Spain) had 64% of parents voting in favor.
The three public schools in Dolores, Virgen de los Dolores, San Francisco de Asís and Cardenal Belluga, also voted in favour of the change.
Parents of Catral’s colegio público Azorín recorded 1027 votes in favour with only 11 votes against. The decision to record a ’No’ vote on behalf of parents who failed to show still gave ‘change’ voters a 77.8% share.
Supporters of this new educational model say that schools will be able to better organise their curriculum’s and teachers their training modules. It will also enable improved organisation of training for teachers, coordination of activities in schools and especially the reconciliation of work and family life, because with the new continuous day the parents have a much longer window during which time they can pick their children up from school, either 2pm, 3.30pm or 5pm.
It is understood that most schools will introduce the new curriculum on 1 October which will see the new school day from 9am to 2pm followed by comido in the school cafeteria until 3.30pm after which there will be free extracurricular activities until 5pm.
Regional Educational officials are confused however by the way the vote went across the entire Valencian Community with just 37 centres voting for change in Valencia Province and only 14 in Castellon, compared with 264 in the Province of Alicante.
