Agrupamento de Escolas Trigal de Santa Maria

The school is located in Tadim, 15km from Braga. It is located in a semi-rural area, where the majority of the population works in agriculture or small factories. Our students are between 3 and 16 years old and are divided into 13 schools from kindergarten through high school. The dispersion of the buildings means that the creation of an identity that is unique to the grouping can only be done with the goodwill of all the players, but above all by the extensive volunteering of the teachers, staff, students and others, from the educational community. The group has more than 900 students, 103 teachers (from different education cycles) and 47 operational assistants and 6 technical assistants. The annual activity plan is quite rich and covers all education cycles. Whenever possible, activities in which more than one cycle is involved are privileged, so that students can feel a greater belonging to the group. Being a public school our main mission is to provide integral training for children and young people, through the teaching of the regular school curriculum issued by the Ministry of Education, and also to prepare our young people to be informed, committed and socially participative citizens, with reference to framework that defines the student's profile upon leaving compulsory education. The target group of our activity is children and young people between 3 and 16 years old. However, some of our initiatives target other audiences, such as the elderly and people in disadvantaged social situations. In this context, at Christmas time, food is collected annually for the creation of solidarity Christmas baskets, which are distributed to the neediest families in the school, in a discreet way, by one element of the board (usually one of the few elements to be have access to the identity of the family concerned) so that their identity is not known (as a means of compliance with the GDP). We also have members of our school community (operational teachers and assistant) who participate on a voluntary and regular basis (weekly or fortnightly) in the collection and distribution and food by REFOOD. We also carry out student volunteer promotion activities, where students collect various types of materials (clothing, toys, school supplies and others) that are delivered to the Padre David e Oliveira Martins Social Center and to Caritas. We also carry out activities to create clothing and protection against the cold, using materials donated by various local companies but with special emphasis on Ultriplo, whose recipients are homeless or socially challenged.