Portuguese public school or international private school?
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:17 pm
I just want to add my experience here in case it benefits others:
We moved to Portugal recently with 3 children (all school age) and none of us spoke Portuguese. On the advice of an English lady who moved to Albufeira 20 years ago we decided to put the 2 youngest into the free Portuguese school system. I’m so glad we did and here is why:
Portuguese public school is free to residents/International private school is not
Portuguese public school do not require school uniform/International private school has expensive compulsory uniforms
Portuguese public school has subsidised snacks and hot lunches/at International private school you need to take a packed lunch
The benefits of the international school were that our 9 year old did not speak Portuguese so was able to continue his education with minimal disruption. The 2 younger children are kindergarten age or ‘Jardim da Infância’ as they say here (compulsory school does not start until after you turn 6!) so it was the natural time for them to take on a second language easily. After 3 months they are understanding Portuguese. I’ve been so impressed with the preschool too. They go on trips to Faro and Lisbon, do loads of social activities with the parents and participate in all the local festivals. It’s been a great way to integrate into the culture. A baptism of fire, yes, but we’ll worth the effort in my opinion and the children will be bilingual and just as Portuguese as anyone in the long run.
Happy to chat to other people about my experience if it helps. There’s quite a lot know about enrolling.
We moved to Portugal recently with 3 children (all school age) and none of us spoke Portuguese. On the advice of an English lady who moved to Albufeira 20 years ago we decided to put the 2 youngest into the free Portuguese school system. I’m so glad we did and here is why:
Portuguese public school is free to residents/International private school is not
Portuguese public school do not require school uniform/International private school has expensive compulsory uniforms
Portuguese public school has subsidised snacks and hot lunches/at International private school you need to take a packed lunch
The benefits of the international school were that our 9 year old did not speak Portuguese so was able to continue his education with minimal disruption. The 2 younger children are kindergarten age or ‘Jardim da Infância’ as they say here (compulsory school does not start until after you turn 6!) so it was the natural time for them to take on a second language easily. After 3 months they are understanding Portuguese. I’ve been so impressed with the preschool too. They go on trips to Faro and Lisbon, do loads of social activities with the parents and participate in all the local festivals. It’s been a great way to integrate into the culture. A baptism of fire, yes, but we’ll worth the effort in my opinion and the children will be bilingual and just as Portuguese as anyone in the long run.
Happy to chat to other people about my experience if it helps. There’s quite a lot know about enrolling.