Portugal

Agrupamento de Escolas Alberto Sampaio (Alberto Sampaio School Cluster) is situated in Braga, a lively and historical city. In spite of being one of the oldest cities in the country Braga has a high population of young people, in part due to its universities.

Our high school cluster integrates a very diverse student population, serving mainly the central and southern part of the city. However, in recent years, it has stressed the trend towards greater diversification, integrating school students from all city parishes. From a sociological point of view, this school cluster includes students from upper-middle and high class families, but also a significant portion of students from families of medium-low and low social level.

As a school cluster, it includes Pre and Primary school, Basic Studies, High School Education (offering courses in the field of Social and Economics, Visual Arts, Science and Technology, Languages and Humanities as well as Vocational Courses on Performing Arts, Multimedia, Electronics, Automation and Computers, Secretarial, Tourism and Programming and Computer Systems) and Adult Education, hosting students who belong to varied age groups, from 3 years old to adults.

We are a multicultural school cluster, hosting students from diverse nationalities such as Brazil, Angola, Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Mozambique, South Africa, the USA, France, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Mongolia, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Romania, Switzerland, Suriname, Turkey, India, Syria, Cameroon, Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, the Philippines, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Moldavia, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestin, Peru, Poland, the United Kingdom, Russia, Tunisia, Vietnam and Zambia, among others, most of them attending Adult Education.

The High School, attended by around 1700 students, has about 45 classrooms, 16 labs, a canteen, a library, sports pavilions, cafeterias, among other facilities, and is very well equipped as a result of investment in various projects over many years. This is a building which was designed to be an active space for the dissemination and construction of culture, science and the arts, open to the community that surrounds it.

Our students can take part in many clubs, workshops and projects to spend their free time at school, in a variety of areas such as: sports, chess, arts, astronomy, languages, robotics and drama, among others.

There are teachers from several different areas: Portuguese, Foreign Languages, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Arts, Physical Education, Design, Music, ICT, Philosophy, Psychology, among other subjects. There are also psychologists, a speech therapist and Special Needs Teachers in our schools. Our school cluster has a long history concerning Special Education, having been the first one in Braga to promote the inclusion of deaf students. After some changes in the field of education, the government has created Resource Centres for Inclusion, which in our school is intended to help students with multiple disabilities.

One of our deepest aims is to provide our students with a huge variety of enrichment activities and strengthen the links between the outer world and our students, somehow allowing them to have genuine interaction with a culture that is different from their own. This would not only strengthen their understanding of global issues but also allow them to build lasting friendships. Most of our students are from poor economic backgrounds and do not have the opportunity to travel abroad and to learn about other cultures. They also have limited opportunities to speak English outside of the classroom and in the speaking classes.

On our school cluster website you can find our educational project and much more information about our schools.