# Schools



## Guest (Feb 25, 2010)

I have two children 11 and 12yrs of age right now. Neither of them are fluent in Portuguese but we are working on it. I am moving there in roughly a year or so give or take and I checked out the cost of international schools knowing that even with a job I can't afford the prices.

What I was wonder for those that are there with children.. Do international schools do financial aid at all? Do public Portugal schools only teach in Portuguese or do they also teach in English. 

I'm just shaking my head wondering how I'm going to afford it all. Anyway, any info you can give that I may not have found via internet etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks.


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## Suz (Feb 24, 2010)

HJD76 said:


> I have two children 11 and 12yrs of age right now. Neither of them are fluent in Portuguese but we are working on it. I am moving there in roughly a year or so give or take and I checked out the cost of international schools knowing that even with a job I can't afford the prices.
> 
> What I was wonder for those that are there with children.. Do international schools do financial aid at all? Do public Portugal schools only teach in Portuguese or do they also teach in English.
> 
> ...


I have two children (10 and 12 years of age) and they both attend Portuguese school. Portuguese public schools are taught in Portuguese. In 5th grade, the children start studying English as one of their subjects. In 7th grade, the children are then required to add another foreign language; the options being Spanish, French or German. When we first moved here, we enrolled our oldest (at the time she was almost 4 years old) at the local private school (Colegio Internacional de Vilamoura). Admission was a bit difficult as we had to prove that we could afford to keep our daughter enrolled at their prestigious private school. In addition, my daughter was subject to an interview to see if she met the school criteria! Safe to say that we did some homework and soon canceled our enrollment at CIV. We looked into all the surrounding primarias (elementary schools) in the area and even spoke with neighbors with school aged children regarding their opinions. To date, we're more than pleased with our daughter's education. We are of the mentality that "you get out of it what you put into it". There are truly great teachers and then their are others who should have chosen another profession. My daughters speak Portuguese and English fluently and my 7th grader is now mastering Spanish. I am very active in their school and make it a point to meet with their directors often. I have found that many Portuguese parents are extremely relaxed when it comes to their children's education- in the end, these are the children that fail. It also has a lot to do with their social class; some of the parents only completed grade 4 or 6. It is a vicious cycle and some of the parents I have spoken to are completely ignorant as to education and it's importance. Legislation went into effect this school year (2009/2010) that all students in the 7th grade and below are now required to complete 12th grade. It used to be 9th grade. This in itself is a great improvement.
My advice to you, would be to save your money for college and enroll both your children in Portuguese public school. After all, if we choose to live in this country, the least we can do is speak the language. If you would like to chat with me in greater detail, please let me know. I hope that I have shed some light on your situation. 
Regards,
Suz


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## Suz (Feb 24, 2010)

Here is a link to the school fees at CIV.

Colégio Internacional de Vilamoura

Keep in mind that a very good salary here in Portugal (based on your qualifications) is 750-950 Euros/month. 
Suz


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## Foota (Mar 1, 2010)

*who Knows?*



Suz said:


> I have two children (10 and 12 years of age) and they both attend Portuguese school. Portuguese public schools are taught in Portuguese. In 5th grade, the children start studying English as one of their subjects. In 7th grade, the children are then required to add another foreign language; the options being Spanish, French or German. When we first moved here, we enrolled our oldest (at the time she was almost 4 years old) at the local private school (Colegio Internacional de Vilamoura). Admission was a bit difficult as we had to prove that we could afford to keep our daughter enrolled at their prestigious private school. In addition, my daughter was subject to an interview to see if she met the school criteria! Safe to say that we did some homework and soon canceled our enrollment at CIV. We looked into all the surrounding primarias (elementary schools) in the area and even spoke with neighbors with school aged children regarding their opinions. To date, we're more than pleased with our daughter's education. We are of the mentality that "you get out of it what you put into it". There are truly great teachers and then their are others who should have chosen another profession. My daughters speak Portuguese and English fluently and my 7th grader is now mastering Spanish. I am very active in their school and make it a point to meet with their directors often. I have found that many Portuguese parents are extremely relaxed when it comes to their children's education- in the end, these are the children that fail. It also has a lot to do with their social class; some of the parents only completed grade 4 or 6. It is a vicious cycle and some of the parents I have spoken to are completely ignorant as to education and it's importance. Legislation went into effect this school year (2009/2010) that all students in the 7th grade and below are now required to complete 12th grade. It used to be 9th grade. This in itself is a great improvement.
> My advice to you, would be to save your money for college and enroll both your children in Portuguese public school. After all, if we choose to live in this country, the least we can do is speak the language. If you would like to chat with me in greater detail, please let me know. I hope that I have shed some light on your situation.
> Regards,
> Suz


I was interested in your posting and have a couple of questions that i can not get answered by the appropriate body of people.
we moved over to portugal almost 3 years ago bringing our daughters of 19 and at the time 12
Our daughters where excepted into the local school all be it only 6 months for our eldest daughter who feels as we do that that 6 months was very helpfull in picking up a bit of the language and it also helped her to socialise.
Our youngest daughter found it realy hard to settle in but after 2 years now speaks portuguse to a very high standard but she still has issues with some of her teachers.
We have gone into school to try and resolve these issues but do speak enough portuguse to be able argue the point for our daughter.
Our daughter was caught up in some trouble with another pupil and the mother of the girl pulled our daughter away from the girl by her hair.
This as far as we are concerned unacceptable behaviour by an adult to a 14 almost 15 year old child so again we went into school to ty and find out the reason for this.
We where met with appalling behaviour by the school director who raised his voice to us in a very disturbing way he then proceeded to talk over our bussines while a cleaner another techer and some other people we did not know where still in the office.
We left the meeting drained as we could not undertand all the director was saying. we asked if there could be a translator present and they said no we should by now speak enough portuguse to be able to understand all that was said.
a month or 2 after this insident we recieved a letter asking us to come to a meeting with a child phycologist we arrived at the meeting and there where 8 people at the meeting including the police this alone was very intimidating we asked if they could provide a translator only to be told that if they where in the uk there would not be a translator.
As my partner worked in a school for over 10 years teaching she knows that the womens comments where wrong, and help translating is available in most situations in the uk (and europe) can anyone tell me where we go from here.
Our situation is far from perfect we moved here 3 years ago and it took 2 and a half years to get planning permission for our house the money from the sale of our house in england has almost gone on living expenses we had intended to open a studio for the arts as we are both qualified community art workers i also have a degree in Music technology and digital arts and this was how we going to provide our income due to the length of time getting our plans approved this is going to take longer than anticipated..
But the most important thing is to get heard within the school. if anyone knows where we can turn too please let us know.


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## Guest (Mar 19, 2010)

Thank you very much for this information. I'm going to be finding out more myself as I make a trip over before the move to deal with talking to schools etc. Anymore information please feel free to let me know as I believe I can't ever have to much.


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## sarah.rawlinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Hi, thought i would mention home education,my 9yr old boy is home educated and also has a private tutor few hours a week.


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## sarah.rawlinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Oh my god! I am truly shocked at the way you were treated by so called professionals! my advice would be to contact a local english speaking solicitor. I live in the UK but still own a property in Portugal which is for sale. In the uk as you will know every goverment building has posters offering non english speaking translators which should have been offered to you. I know a Portuguese woman that has come to the uk to live who has been housed in a council property has had endless operations on the NHS claims every benefit available to her works for cash in hand and has a translator provided for her at her daughters school!!!! try leading the same life style in Portugal impossible!
Im sorry that you have been treated like that in a EU country they need to move forward .
All the best Sarah


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## EHF (Jan 20, 2010)

sarah.rawlinson said:


> Hi, thought i would mention home education,my 9yr old boy is home educated and also has a private tutor few hours a week.


Can you tell me how you went about home schooling? How much does it cost to have a tutor there? We are planning to move to Portugal from the USA sometime in August I have 6 children the two older ones only have a couple of years of high school left before they graduate I really have been trying to come up with a way so that the move won't set them back and also so they have the option of coming back to the states to attend college if they choose.


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