General information 

The Nuno de Santa Maria School Group aims to be an organic unit of reference, at local and national level, innovative in its proposals and pedagogical practices, as well as in the formation of critical, conscious and enterprising citizens, committing themselves to provide their students an education that allows them to position themselves in the world and prepare
themselves for their diversity, complexity and unpredictability, providing themselves with indispensable information, knowledge, ability to adapt and overcome, to have a happy existence. It is located in Tomar, about 120 km from Lisbon. It has about 2200 students from 3 to 18 years old from kindergarten to upper secondary. The students of the school are
distributed by 15 schools. 23% of them have economic problems, 7% are students with special educational needs and 19 students are autistic. There are about 220 teachers and 80 educational assistants. We also have 2 psychologists, speech therapist and hippotherapy. In addition to the normal courses of study procedures, there is a professional multimedia
course in the secondary and a vocational course in the third cycle. In order to develop a broader range of competences in young people, schools in 2nd and 3rd cycles and secondary schools offer a number of clubs and projects in which all students can participate in order to enrich their cultural, scientific, social and physical skills. The group has experience in
Comenius and Erasmus + projects, we have been receiving students from AFS for twelve years, having received a student from Mexico this year.
We have organized exchange experiences with France and Italy for second and third cycle students. study visits to the European Parliament (Brussels), secondary school students, economics and the European School Club have been organized for several years. Our students' social needs are even more important for us than their academic necessities. We do
not only want our students to be good in the exams; we try to encourage them to discover their own competences. We would like to strength intercultural links with other European countries, to compare the different educational systems as well as know different cultures and share our experiences with each other.

​Activities and experience in relevant areas

​In our school there is a Conflict Mediation Office, made up of teachers who are available to help students in case of any need. According to school statistics 10% of kids are emotionally abused intentionally or unintentionally by their parents. Difficult family situation led one of our students to a selective mutism. Conflicts between parents, divorces, financial
problems, lack of education, problems with addiction to alcohol in families lead some children to serious behavioral emotional or mental disorders. Such students lost their selfconfidence, have educational problems and come into conflicts with others more easily. We cooperate with Regional Social Care, Police and psychologists due to take care of abused
children’s families. We teach our students how to cope with difficult emotional situations and how to be an assertive adult in Europe, taking into account the fact that the human psyche is shaped in the early childhood age. As our Erasmus+ project and school’s aims are similar we believe to prevent child abusing in our school and share some innovative pedagogical
tools.
Moreover, nowadays, the internet provides outstanding opportunities for learning, communicating and having fun. But we have to be sure our children are safe. Therefore, there are some things we are doing with the help of families to minimize the risk of 'grooming' and sexual abuse online. We gave them a seminar and focused on:
• Staying connected with your child's online life, and asking what they like doing online, who they enjoy talking to etc. Most abusers online will try to isolate children from protective adults in their life.
• Getting them to show you their favorite game / activity - they are more likely to tell you if something is going wrong if they feel like you understand the environment a little.
• Not taking technology off them if they tell you about something that is going wrong online. Many children will keep secrets about what is happening online if they are worried adults will restrict access to technology.
•Encouraging children to protect their personal information online.
Main people involved in this project:
- Two elements of the Group's executive body, experienced in project management, budgeting, evaluation, dissemination and internal teacher training;
- An element of the Group's treasury, experienced in the management of funds in previous projects;
- Erasmus Coordinator, (experienced in coordinating Erasmus +, evaluation, dissemination, validation of skills acquired - Europass Mobility), e-Twinning, School Education Gateway);
- Special education teachers with large experience in subject. English teacher (experienced in coordinating innovations at school), ICT teacher (experienced in computerization of school, ICT tools, contacting with media), Drama teacher (experienced in theater plays) Music Teachers (with experience in the organization of concerts and other musical activities developed at school and in the community).