Joao e Maria School

Today we visited a private nursery and school called Joao e Maria School, which means Hansel and Gretal. The private schools here are considered to be better than the general public schools, so a lot of parents send their children to them. The school we visited caters for children between the ages of two months, up to nine years. There are currently 35 children there, which means that children get a lot of individual attention from the staff. It takes a very person centred approach, with individual children having logs about progression, and there are very good links with parents.

The cost to send a child here is about £75 per month, although this is discretionary depending on the income of the parents. It is a non profit making organisation, with all of the money generated going towards wages and the up keep of the school. The head teacher's granddaughter goes here, and that should give a good impression of how much she values the school.

It is Mother's Day on Sunday here and the children gave us a presentation of what they will be presenting to their own mothers tomorrow. It was really lovely to see the children so engaged in a positive, clean and learner focused organisation.