Agrupamento de Escolas Fernão do Pó is a school campus with all levels of education from Pre-school to Secondary Level. There are about 1550 students attending the school with ages between 3 and 18 years old. The school also has a department of Adult Education and offers courses in the evening for adults. Most students come from a low social background with economic difficulties. As far as the Secondary Level of Education is concerned, the school offers courses in several fields, either in Regular Secondary Level or Vocational Courses. The areas are: Sciences and Technology, Economics and Languages and Literature. Besides regular secondary level, there are also Vocational Courses in Environmental Tourism, Cooking and Catering. These courses convey a level 4 qualification (Secondary level of Education + Professional Certificate). As the only VET provider in the town for the past 10 years, this school has been a crucial tool to enhance these students’ qualifications and offer real educational and cultural opportunities to minimize the lack of equity usually present in these communities. There are about 100 teachers and 700 students in the in the lower and upper high school level/basic and secondary education school.

The school has excellent facilities and high qualified human resources, including members of the staff with Masters Degree and Post Graduate Studies in the areas relevant to this project. Considering the excellence of the school facilities, which has now perfect conditions to provide training not only in professional areas such as Tourism and Catering, but also in the areas of sport and sciences, we intend to improve our human resources skills in order to ensure the best professional development to our staff and learners.

The long experience in previous projects, both national and international, has enabled the organization with the know how to participate fully in projects related to these areas. There is a highly motivated group of staff members connected to the project, assuring the quality of the work to be done throughout the process. Our students are very active and eager to get involved in all types of projects and willing to participate actively in this one.

Our school is also involved in several projects concerning school sports and healthy lifestyles. We are also a pioneer school as provider of a sport like golf as an offer for students, besides many other sports activities.