Agrupamento de Escolas Henrique Sommer

Agrupamento de Escolas Henrique Sommer, Maceira, in Leiria (AEHS) is a Portuguese state institution of education, constituted by the Head school (from the 5th to the 12th grades), 7 kindergartens and 5 primary schools, in a little town on the centre west coast of Portugal. Altogether, 1070 students attend AEHS, 127 teachers and 41 staff people work there.It is an inclusive organization that, in addition to the regular curriculum attended by a wide range of students from different backgrounds and experiences, offers a wide variety of courses and programmes designed for special populations: Professional Courses for secondary school students who want a specific professional training; Special Needs Education for children/students who attend specific programmes organized according to their individual special needs, including a special sector designed for autistic children. Some of the school’s aims are: • to provide a positive, democratic and friendly environment with various extra-curricular programs and opportunities for all students, including those with special needs and with foreign background in order to support their personal and professional development; • to develop their many-folded skills - humanities, sciences, foreign languages, ICT, sports, entrepreneurship; • to educate young people committed to solidarity, inclusion, thus actively contributing to a more tolerant society; • to foster their active citizenship and intercultural dialogue in Europe by organizing national and transnational partnership programs (school strategic partnerships, e-Twinning, youth exchanges, European Voluntary Service/European Solidarity Corps). On the other hand, Lifelong learning is also a priority in our Educational School Project. An adult who wants to improve his/her qualifications can either attend Evening Classes or enroll in our “Centro Qualifica” to see the full range of his/ her knowledge, skills and competences, regardless if acquired within or outside the formal education system, recognized and validated (identified, documented, assessed, and/or certified). Maceira is an ancient little town, lying in an industrialized region with some touristic interest points. People in the area live mainly from industry, altogether with a subsistence agriculture. Presently, the area is slowly recovering from the consequences of the economic and financial crisis. Therefore, employment opportunities are improving, but emigration is still high, mainly among young people, who are looking for better opportunities abroad, mostly in the European Space. Summing up, the main objective of our institution is to provide various means of both formal and non-formal education to students and all the Maceira community, by promoting different activities so that students and their families could become more sucessuful, open minded and more tolerant with many-folded skills and competences.