Τhe Cluster of Schools named AGRUPAMENTO DE ESCOLAS JOSÉ ESTÊVÃO was created in April 2013, however the schools which are in its origins are older and have a long way done. Its Secondary School has more than 150 years old. This cluster of schools works with pupils from 3 years old up to the adult population. We have around 2 850 students between 3 and 20 years old. Regarding teachers and staff, we have around 270 teachers and 100 staff. In this cluster we also have another five schools besides the secondary one, where we develop the national curriculum with special emphasis on Science, Arts, Sports, and disable students. As it is a big cluster of schools, we deal with different types of pupils who develop their skills in different places of our own city of Aveiro. In fact, we deal with a huge range of different types of students because our social context is different since the schools have different localizations and their publics have different backgrounds. This way we serve a very good group of pupils with good social context, families support and backgrounds, but we also have a significant group of different pupils without family support with whom we develop different ways of teaching, different ways of learning, considering their own social, physical and familiar environment. In this different dynamic we also include several classes of the Professional Courses (VET Courses in the secondary school) in different areas such as ICT Programming, Sports, wooden furniture and construction design, photography, and communication and digital service.
Our Cluster of schools has a special role concerning the teachers and staff formation, education for lifelong living. It is the head of the consortium responsible for the Training Teachers (Professional Development) and staff who belongs to the Schools nearby Aveiro. For 20 years, we have been responsible for identifying, planning, organizing and executing all types of needs of teachers for more than 1000 teachers and 300 staff. Since we are aware of the importance of the changings inside the classrooms, as well as the importance to form citizens for international challenges within the soft skills for the 21st century, we go on trying to motivate our community to achieve a new stage, since our aim is to develop a serious and deep work with the students. During these years we developed several different projects related to Technology, Human Rights, Future Careers, Science and Experiencing inside classrooms; The Best experiences of teaching and Learning; developing soft skills for VET courses students.
According to the Portuguese Educational System we include in our classes students with different types of disabilities with whom we have to work with. The curriculum approach and development are based on each students’ features and capacities. AEJE has also 9 teachers of special needs (besides all others) who directly work with these students. For the Secondary level we also have a special unity to work with students with disabilities related to mental, physical issues but in greater depth. Teachers, staff and parents develop net work trying to find the best solutions for each student.
Website: https://geral1804.wixsite.com/aeje