The Senador Sousa Fernandes Primary School in Vila Nova de Famalicão began to be extended and refurbished today. ‘We want this to be a real school with all the conditions and facilities, well equipped like all the other educational institutions in the municipality,’ said the mayor, Mário Passos, at the start of the work, which took place this Thursday.

‘It has always been our goal to improve this school. As well as improved facilities, we're also going to have four classrooms for primary school classes and a room for kindergarten children,’ explained the mayor. Alongside the refurbishment of the existing building and the construction of a new one, there are also plans to reorganise the surrounding area, with the creation of access ramps, a playground with a games area, green spaces and a teaching garden.

In the initial phase of the project, while the new building is being built, the 75 or so children at the institution, also known as Mões Primary School, will continue to have classes in the same classrooms. When the new building is ready, the pupils will move into the latest facilities and the work will centre on refurbishing the existing building.

In the end, ‘this school will have the necessary spaces for all educational projects to be properly developed and Famalicão will increasingly be an educational and qualified territory,’ added Mário Passos.

The contract, awarded to Construções Camposinhos Ferreira, Lda, has a deadline of 540 days. The works involve a municipal investment of around 1.1 million euros. The project has been submitted to the Northern Regional Operational Programme 2030, for financial support from the European Union, through Portugal 2030.