Our school presentation
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Our school is on the outskirts of the city of Braga, with about 140 000 inhabitants, the 3rd most populous city in Portugal, a city located in the extreme north of Portugal, 80 km from the border with Spain.
Our group of schools is formed by 5 primary schools, 3 kindergarden, an elementary school and a secondary (the secondary school - Esmax; the E.B.2,3 Frei Caetano Brandão (where this project is being developed - students from 9 to 15 years old), E.B.1 da Gandra; E.B.1 de Maximinos: E. B. 1 de Estrada; E.B.1 de Gondizalves and E.B.1 da Naia; Preprimary of Naia; preprimary of Estrada and preprimary of Gondizalves.
The number of students is around 1800. We are a reference school for blind and we have students from different countries and different economical/cultural backgrounds, like Brazil, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Andorra, France, Spain, Canada, China or the African continent.
We have Classical Dance as vocational/artistic learning in the curriculum as well as Classical Music, integrated in the normal curricula of the public schools. So, the students in this articulated artistic/vocational learning at the end of the cycle have a double certification: the normal curricula and the certification of artistic learning.
We have students from various social classes but there are many students with economical difficulties due to the financial crisis the country is in. Unemployment is considerable (2017 - 11%) as well as the emigration of young people (looking for their first job). The schools are in the perimeter area of the city of Braga, and the school has students from the city centre as well as from the rural areas surrounding the city. This fact implies that the school is a TEIP school which means that is a Educational Territory of Priority Intervention; it has students from low economical and low cultural background (the percentage of students with economical subvention is 38%); there are several students specially from different ethnic groups that abandon the scholar system (specially gypsies, African and some with low economical background). The quality system associated to the curricula is the formal and certificated system extended to all Dance and music vocational/artistic schools.
Actually, our students are involved in 4 more Erasmus+ Projects, about Ecology, Music, Radio and Refugees.
Throughout the school year, involving several professors and students, from various disciplines and projects, we have many sport, artistic and cultural activities: theater, dance, musique, arts, exhibitions, many contests, radio school, school vegetable garden, etc.
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Our group of schools (Agrupamento Escolas Maximinos)
And our logo
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Our school, where this project is being developed (Escola B 2/3 Frei Caetano Brandão)
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