Escola Ocata

The Ocata School is the outcome of Masnou citizens’ concern to have public education available. A commission met in 1838 to provide education to 100 children abandoned due to not having resources to pay the schoolteachers’ wages. Two years later, free primary education classes for boys were started, and classes for girls were added in 1848.

The poor conditions of the rental home on Carrer del Rastillo –now Jaume I– that was used as the public school and the donation of lands by Miquel Amat Lluch favoured the construction of a new building starting in 1904. The works were financed through a municipal loan granted to residents.

The building was designed by local architect Bonaventura Bassegoda i Amigó, who also created the Masnou Casino, the new cemetery expansion and several vaults.Classes started in the 1905-06 academic year and in 1909, King Alfonso XIII awarded the title of ‘Honourable Village’ to Masnou for its work in education.

Since schooling started, it has been mixed sex, which is why it is known as the ‘mixed’ Ocata School. The primitive building, with a symmetrical layout, assigned boys to the north wing and girls to the other wing. A top floor was added in 1967 to house new classrooms.