Carlos Gomes de Sá

Aver-o-Mar School experienced an intense day today, or rather an intense afternoon, because in addition to student competitions and regular activities ( mentoring, school sports and theatre), there were two activities open to the community: the launch of a book and the cleaning of the community organic garden.

In a separate article, you can find information on the launch of the book “Contributos para uma Escola Ubuntu – a visão de Diretores/as de Escolas Ubuntu” (Contributions to an Ubuntu School – the vision of Ubuntu school headmasters), highlighting the community’s involvement in the cleaning of the community organic greenhouse.

The greenhouse, installed inside the school, and after having been the stage for the practice of the former Horticulture and Floriculture Courses, has been used for various projects, ranging from interdisciplinary projects to specific activities in Science, Physics, Geography and Art classes. In addition, there are plots that are tended by students/classes, specific projects, staff and members of the community, especially the immigrant population.

This afternoon, starting at 2pm, the Eco-Schools project, under the coordination of teacher Filipe Santos, held a session to clean and organise the area, both inside and around the school, in order to start to reforest the arable area, in line with what has been happening in recent years.

The challenge was set before the community, with dozens of students taking part, as well as others carrying out integrated activities in this area, teachers and staff, and members of the community. The school board also set the lead, and Sílvia Costa, a former student at Aver-o-Mar School and now a municipal environmental councillor, who has closely followed the progress of the Aver-o-Mar School Group, was also involved in this activity.

The challenge was set before the community, with dozens of students taking part, as well as others carrying out integrated activities in this area, teachers and staff, and members of the community. The school board also set the lead, and Sílvia Costa, a former student at Aver-o-Mar School and now a municipal environmental councillor, who has closely followed the progress of the Aver-o-Mar School Group, was also involved in this activity.

This year, a new boost will be given to the greenhouse. Therefore, in addition to the traditional crops, different projects will be developed in the area of IoT, with the installing of sensors and several automation systems, in a partnership involving the two “Ciência Viva” projects at the School Group, one linked to the sciences and the other to robotics.

Once again, the ECO-ESCOLAS club is challenging all the classes in the group to collect plastic bottle caps and cork stoppers and to take part in the “Plastic bottle cap and cork stopper collection competition” at school level.

The classes that do the most (the one that collects the most caps and the one that collects the most cork stoppers) will be the winners! They will be entitled to a prize for all the students in the class, a school trip to Lipor, to take part in an activity in the sorting centre and/or ant garden in the morning and to play in the Adventure Park in the afternoon.

This activity will take place until near the end of the 3rd term ( to be decided).

Students who have these materials to hand in should do so in Hall B, next to the operational assistant, indicating their class. Delivery should be made using water jugs (plastic), or in paper boxes (only this box is valid).

The members of the Club are counting on your participation in this activity that emphasises the preservation of ecosystems!

And the motto is:

“TOGETHER WE CAN DO MORE FOR OUR PLANET EARTH!”

The Eco-Schools coordinators

The future of the planet depends on the behaviour of each and every one of us, and that’s why our school continues to take part in Escola Electrão 2023/2024.

Escola Electrão is an Electrão project that aims to raise awareness and involve teachers, students, staff, parents and the community in general in the recycling effort by gathering used electrical devices and batteries.

Last October, the school made its first drop-off of waste to Electrão.

Now that the results of this first collection are in, it’s time to publicise them.

So, between waste, discarded electrical and electronic equipment, screens, television sets and monitors (CAT.2), nearly 1400kg were delivered! With regard to batteries, 20kg were handed in!

We’ve reached an appreciable figure, but we can’t stop there, so we’re calling on the whole community to continue delivering this type of waste to the school, which will dispose of it correctly.

If you have broken batteries, light bulbs, ink cartridges, small and large household appliances, remember that our school is an electron collection point. Deliver them to school and we’ll take care of recycling them.

Join us and @electraopt and deliver all your used electrical equipment to our school for recycling.

At the request of Professor Elsa Montenegro from the Porto Higher Institute of Social Service (ISSSP), four ERASMUS students attending master’s degrees in Social Service and Social Intervention in Childhood, Youth at Risk of Exclusion, from the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, came to the Aver-o-Mar School Grouping on 8th November to get to know the school reality and the work carried out by the school social service.

They visited the Elementary School of Refojos, Elementary School of Aldeia and Aver-o-Mar School of Aver-o-Mar, as well as their facilities and educational professionals. They observed the intervention carried out by the social work technician with students who are immigrants and there was also time for a meeting to share good practices and intercultural projects.

According to them, “I found it very interesting to see the three schools. I saw that the communication between the teachers and non-teaching staff was very kind and loving and also the bond with the children looked very positive. I think Aver-o-Mar has a lot of facilities that can benefit all the children in growing up into a developed, balanced adult. In addition to this, I think that there are a lot of projects that can really help the children who need some more attention. Interesting and worth full that this preventive projects exist. I think that you are doing well!” (Iza,Netherlands)

“It was a great experience to visit the schools and learn something about education in Portugal. We were very welcomed at the schools and everyone we spoke was really friendly. Andreia told us enthusiastically about the way the schools work. I want to thank for this experience.” (Carlijn, Netherlands)

“We just wanted to thank you for such a great excursion at your schools. It was very interesting and beneficial!” (Petra, Czechia).

Let´s record this moment for the future!

Aver-o-Mar aCross borders!

On 15th November, in collaboration with Safe School Police , the students of the RF3A class of the Refojos Elementary school attended the “Safe Road” session, where they watched the following videos: “The first three rides”, “Anastácio’s ride” and “Maria’s clicks”.