After more than a year, the students of primary school St. Antonius Abt finally have a permanent place to go to school. Thirteen months ago, their school on Maasstraat in Acht burned down. After a year of moving, the children and teachers have their own place again. Ultimately, the intention is that they will return to Maasstraat, but the construction of a new school there will take years.
The ribbon of the new school on the Volkerak in the Eindhoven district of Acht is cut amid loud applause and cheering. After the school on the Maasstraat was largely destroyed, it was quite a puzzle to house all the students somewhere. Some of the children were able to stay on Maasstraat, in the part that was not affected by the fire. The remaining classes were bussed to different locations each morning.
Intense year
Ira van Luijtelaar is a group 8 teacher and is pleased that all students are now back together. “For the teachers, the students, it is nice to be a school with a school building again,” she says. “And it is nice for the parents and children that all brothers and sisters are being taught at the same location again.”
Van Luijtelaar noticed that the events had a great effect on the students. “A fire is of course intense to experience. The school you are used to is suddenly no longer there,” she says.
According to Van Luijtelaar, students also had to get used to a different environment and design. “And now, a year later, we are moving to a new building again. That is intense for the children,” says Van Luijtelaar.
A hospital
Group 8 student Lilli was indeed very shocked by the fire. “I really missed my school,” she says. That is why she is happy that she now has a permanent place to finish her primary school period. “And I like that we don’t have to take the bus all the way first thing in the morning.”
But the new building also takes a lot of getting used to: “It looks a bit like a hospital. It doesn’t have a nice decoration yet and it looks boring,” she admits cautiously.
Patience tested
This school is therefore also a temporary solution. In the meantime, the intention is that a new building will be built on the old site of the school. “It will be years before a new building is built there,” says director Kim Keesmekers. “But I’m glad that until then we have a place where we can welcome all students together again.”