Agrupamento de Escolas Madeira Torres is cluster of schools, ranging from kindergarten to Year 12 (3 years-old to 18 years old). This school year, 3000 students attend our school. Besides regular courses, the Agrupamento has 4 vocational courses: Tourism, Sport, Computer Studies and Social Child Support.

Our school is located in a small town, 50 km away from Lisbon, set in a rural area where most people have abandoned traditional occupations such as wine growing and now work in the services or in building. The region has been affected by the widespread economic crisis as most small sized firms have now closed down and the number of the unemployed has been growing steadily. The previous development period ceased and many immigrants from eastern Europe left because work opportunities no longer exist.

Besides being a disadvantaged area in what concerns economic development, the cultural offer is not enjoyed by the common citizen as the average qualifications are low and most people do not show interest in learning more. This is particularly true if we analyze the cultural background of most of our students’ parents. However, some traditions manage to unite generations and go on being major cultural events in the town life, as for instance Carnival, Saint Peter´s fair (July) and the festival of the vine and wine (November).

The school is the stage where some innovative cultural activities are performed and where parents gather to accompany their children. The school has been involved in several projects, such as Comenius and its school management is always open to new projects that enlarge and enrich students ' horizons. Many students belong to different social backgrounds (working class and lower middle class) and there is a small group of students who belong to disadvantaged social contexts and others with special needs.

Number of schools/students within the Agrupamento:

• 6 Kindergartens with 256 students
• 5 Primary Schools with 316 students
• 1 Basic Education (2nd and 3rd Cycle) with 794 students
• 1 Basic and Secondary Education with 1673 students
• There are 198 SEN students enrolled in the Agrupamento (kindergarten – 8 and Basic and Secondary Education – 190)

Divided between the different schools, there are 280 teachers, 14 technical assistants, 4 senior technicians and 67 Operational Assistants

The school that will be directly linked to the project is Jardim de Infância da EB1/JI da Conquinha.

We have in kindergarten 2 educators with 25 children and 1 educator with 20 children, for having a child with SEN (Special Educational Needs), for a total of 70 children.

Age 6 - 12 children; Age 5 - 31 children; Age 4 - 24 children; Age 3 - 3 children

Room 1 - 25 children; Room 2 - 25 children; Room 3 - 20 children; We have children with 3, 4, 5 and 6 years in the same room.

There is a child with autism who has a support teacher and an Individual Educational Plan (PEI).

Educators - 3; Operational Assistants - 4, one of which is to support the child with autism and another 4 Operational Assistants for the Family Support Service (SAF).

There are 3 rooms with about 50m2 each; 1 canteen; 2 bathrooms for children and 1 for adults, 1 cabinet for the supports for children with SEN and 1 office.

We have an outdoor space of about 6.778m2 that we share with the children of years 5 and 6 (10-12 years old) In the recreation we have slides, some trees, grass, a space for vegetable garden and the rest is clear space.

Group of Schools Madeira Torres - Kindergarten and Basic school Conquinha – Torres Vedras, Portugal

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