St. Peter's International School

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Background

St. Peter’s International School (SPIS) is the longest established international school in Palmela, Portugal. The School provides a competitive, high-quality education which meets the needs of a diverse student population. The School’s pedagogical method is unique and teaching is highly personalised and differentiated to each student. Sports and all artistic areas are always encouraged and considered essential to all students.

The School is proud to be over 25 years old and still investing in excellence while providing a multicultural environment with around 40 different nationalities, which means students are always in contact with different cultures and languages.

SPIS offer a bilingual curriculum from Kindergarten until Grade 4, the Portuguese curriculum with extra lessons of English, Spanish, Latin from Grade 5 to Grade 9, and finally the option of the National Portuguese curriculum or the IGCSE+IB for Grades 9 to 12. This means the School covers a lot of options in terms of curriculum and, for that reason, students have a complete education that allows them to continue their studies in Portugal or abroad.

SPIS has a constant desire to evolve and improve the curriculum, the facilities and the conditions for all students and families; the School ceaselessly seeks to do more and be better every day. In short, all at SPIS believe that its students can achieve their maximum potential, be happy and fulfilled from an earlier age.

Considered one of the safest countries in the world, and with weather and a climate that catches everyone’s eye, SPIS has welcomed many families from all around the globe over recent years. To further develop the relationship with other countries, the School is proud to launch St. Peter’s International Boarding School, with a brand new building and boarding offering that will mark the beginning of a new approach, with a more bilingual environment and international curriculum. With comfortable rooms and access to a modern and safe campus, boarding students will feel very much at home.

Ethos & Aims

In a world that is constantly changing, in which society lives at an ever-increasing pace, education has taken on a leading role, bringing with it the highest of social responsibilities.

SPIS is an international school that provides a competitive, high-quality education to meet the needs of a diverse population. Its fundamental principles are centered on the integral development of the child, valuing academic and personal success, based on attitudes, practices and values that contribute to the growth of the individual.

SPIS’s mission is to build self-reliant, critical, creative students, who have the necessary skills and abilities to perform well at a personal, social and professional level. Thus allowing them to pursue their studies, and actively integrate into a rapidly changing and increasingly globalised society.

Considering the cosmopolitan spirit of the School, in which students of different nationalities work together, the English language acquires particular importance in SPIS’s educational context, and is present in the syllabus from Kindergarten to Secondary School. The acquisition of other languages is also vital – Spanish, German and Latin – and allow students to gain an in-depth understanding of the School’s social context, as well as an insight into different world views and cultural realities. This in turn encourages a cross- -disciplinary development of knowledge and values, as well as greater competitiveness in the world of work beyond.

Structure

The School currently includes a multidisciplinary teaching team, who are experienced and qualified to create innovative and challenging learning environments, in all teaching areas. Since its founding, the School has never stopped growing, innovating, modernising and investing in a diverse and multicultural educational context, responding to the needs and expectations of its students who come from all over the world. Teaching activity is planned as a team, seeking to achieve academic success, giving value to education with the aim to continuously improve the quality of teaching and learning.

SPIS develops formal, enjoyable and artistic learning activities, based on interpersonal relationships and meaningful content, which provide support to students while building their knowledge of the world and simultaneously discovering themselves.

SPIS consists of five sections: Pre-School, Primary School Junior School, Middle School. Secondary School and the International Section (IGCSE and IB Diploma). The composition of the School is as follows:

Nursery and Kindergarten 120 pupils - day students, from the age 6 months to 6 years old. The Coordinator is Mrs. Catarina Simão

Primary School 255 pupils - day students, from the age 6 to 10 years old. The Coordinator is Mr. José Henrique Junior School

Middle School 595 pupils - day students, from the age 10 to 15 years old. The Coordinator is Mr. Pedro Mata

Secondary School 323 pupils - day students, from the age 16 to 18 years old. The Coordinator is Mrs. Vanda Ramos

International Section 121 pupils - day students from the age 14 to 18 years old. The Coordinator is Mrs. Telma Fresta

Throughout its sustained growth, the School has benefitted from the ongoing development of its facilities, gaining a considerable amount of physical space, creating the scope for students’ numbers to grow substantially. For the start of the next academic year (2021- -2022), SPIS will open St. Peter’s Boarding Residence, an innovative addition to the School’s provision which will provide outstanding facilities catering to boarders from all over the world. The School will also benefit from a new cafeteria and social rooms.

Academic

SPIS offers a broad academic curriculum with a wide choice of subjects at Secondary National Curriculum and also at the International Curriculum (IGCSE and IB Diploma).

Early childhood is a fundamental stage of children's lives, the first years being particularly important for their physical, intellectual, and emotional development. In Nursery School and Kindergarten at SPIS, the School has developed its pedagogical approach, bringing together best practices from various methods from around the world.

SPIS offers a differentiated curriculum in both Portuguese and English, using the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning Methodology), and bases its educational approach on values of academic and moral excellence. It offers its students a high academic standard, a quality teaching environment and provides a solid personal and social education, built through the development and acquisition of syllabus, skills, values and behaviour.

The English language continues to have a significant role throughout these teaching levels, during which the students are able to complete an international certification with the University of Cambridge. With the School’s ethos based on reciprocal kindness and respect; sports, arts, and the specific knowledge of different subject areas are a constant presence in a context which is in permanent adaptation to current academic models. The dynamic contexts and the differentiated approach adopted in the classroom, the extra support lessons and reinforcement of contents, as well as sessions which develop skills and study techniques, contribute to the acquisition of progressively more elaborated competencies.

In the International Section, SPIS is proud to offer its students a unique opportunity to immerse in a multicultural educational context and culture. Cambridge Assessment International Education is a part of Cambridge University, and prepares school students for life, helping them to develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning. The IB Diploma Programme (DP) is an academically challenging and balanced programme of education that prepares students, aged 16 to 19, for success at university and life beyond.

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