WELCOME TO COLÉGIO DO VALE
It is with great joy that I welcome you to Colégio do Vale, a project designed to reflect the identity, energy, and ambition of our educational vision.
I take on the role of Head of Colégio do Vale with a deep sense of responsibility and enthusiasm, confident that we are part of a vibrant, engaging, and inspiring community. Here, we believe that education is built on close relationships, stimulating challenges, and unique opportunities for growth and that is exactly what we aim to continue offering to all our pupils and families.
I invite you to explore this digital space, which also serves as an open door to the life of the school, the projects that drive us, and the achievements we celebrate together.
The best is truly yet to come.
Joana Querido, Head of School
Part of the Forfar Education Group
Since its founding in 1992, Colégio do Vale has established itself for its pedagogical quality and, in the summer of 2024, became part of the prestigious Forfar Education group.
Forfar Education, founded in 2019 by CEO John Forsyth, is a leading British education group that owns outstanding schools and nurseries in the UK and across Europe.
At the heart of Forfar Education is an experienced and passionate team who understand exactly what a school needs to thrive, innovate, and succeed in a constantly changing world.
The mission is simple yet ambitious: to create truly inspiring schools, where self-confidence flourishes and academic excellence is the foundation of every achievement.
Our foundations
At Colégio do Vale, we see each day as a new opportunity to grow, learn, and overcome challenges. Here, we turn curiosity into skills and enthusiasm into achievements, preparing our students for the 21st century with confidence and creativity.
Our goal is clear: to be a school of excellence, where quality is evident in every project, every lesson, and every smile, and to be the natural choice for parents and guardians in our community.
Our foundations
At Colégio do Vale, we believe in an education that prepares each pupil for a global and ever-changing world. We promote learning that embraces diversity, centred on respect, adaptability, and the development of a global and compassionate awareness.
More than simply transmitting knowledge, we seek to develop skills, values, and attitudes that allow each student to grow in a balanced and fulfilling way.
The educational practices at Colégio do Vale are comprehensive, diverse, and inclusive, resulting from the joint work between students, educators, and families, both within each stage and across the different phases of the educational journey.
Our mission is simple, yet ambitious: to support every child and young person in discovering the world, providing safety and autonomy so they can explore paths, learn, and grow with confidence. We aim to nurture students who are competent, responsible, motivated, independent, caring, and, above all, happy!
Our foundations
At Colégio do Vale, everyone – children, young people, and adults – is encouraged to live by and practice the values that are part of our DNA.
They guide us every day and define the culture of our school: Commitment, Responsibility, Safety, Integrity, Excellence and Innovation, Communication, Success, Education, Teamwork, Balance, Fun, Autonomy and Freedom, Consistency, and Gratitude.
Here, each value is lived in practice, helping us grow together and build a strong, inspiring, and happy community.
Testimonials
We believe in an education based on close relationships, challenges and opportunities for growth.
Get to know our facilitiesAcademic year 2026/2027
Educational Project
We believe in an education based on close relationships, challenges and opportunities for growth.
Since its founding on September 21, 1992, Colégio do Vale has operated as an integrated school serving children and students from kindergarten through 9th grade.
As a school that defines itself as a social organization where everyone interacts and has the responsibility to play an active role, all of Colégio do Vale’s activities are based on the following guiding principles:
- The Student as a Knowledge-Building Subject
- Curricular Autonomy and Flexibility
- Diverse Learning Experiences
- Education for Citizenship
- Equal Educational Opportunities
- Inclusive Education
- Active Family Participation
- Responsible Participation of All
Our Educational Project must be an effective response in building a collective consciousness more focused on the world, on others, and on the preservation of historical, cultural, and environmental heritage.
Colégio do Vale, through its Educational Project, expresses itself as a social organization that builds knowledge that is both individual and collective. Through the interactions of its internal structure, while also transcending borders, it provides meaningful learning experiences to educate intellectually and morally prepared citizens, capable of operating in a competitive world, yet also cooperative, tolerant, and supportive.
The curricula encompass the essential and structuring learning to be developed by the STUDENTS, with reference to the Curriculum Guidelines, the essential principles of the MEM - Modern School Movement, in the Nursery and Kindergarten, the Profile of the Student on leaving Compulsory Schooling, the Social Security Guidelines and the Ministry of Education's Programmes, the Pedagogical and Curricular Matrices, the Competences to be developed in the 21st century and the local and specific characteristics of Colégio do Vale, with the aim of adapting them to its context as a school designed and assumed as an organisation with its own identity, pedagogical autonomy and decision-making power.
Colégio do Vale is committed to the future projection of its students and aims to ensure that, by the end of primary school, they have developed the Competence Areas listed below, which aggregate competences understood as complex combinations of knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable effective human action in diverse contexts:
- Language and texts
- Information and Communication
- Reasoning and Problem Solving
- Critical thinking and creative thinking
- Interpersonal relationships
- Personal Development and Autonomy
- Well-being, Health and Environment
- Aesthetic and Artistic Sensitivity
- Scientific, Technical and Technological Knowledge
- Body Awareness and Mastery
We want an Educational Community that generates conscious, responsible, supportive, participative, critical, educated and healthy citizens who collaborate with the various players in the educational process, who are responsible and aware, and who collaborate in mobilising efforts so that everyone has a human and/or professional space that is compatible with the functions they perform.
The Educational Community's direct stakeholders in the educational process are the Students, Parents and/or Guardians, Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff of Colégio do Vale and it is important that everyone is aware of and participates in the daily construction of our project, in accordance with the inherent responsibilities and competences of each one.
The full version of the Education Project is available to parents and guardians on the Inovar consultation platform.
CÓDIGO DE HONRA DO ALUNO
Our team
Want to be a part of it?
Send your CV to recrutamento@colegiodovale.com
John Forsyth
CEO
Andreia Jardim
Pedagogical Director
Nursery and Kindergarten
Cristina Raposo
Pedagogical Director
1st, 2 st and 3 st Cycles
Daniel Gonçalves
Director
Human Resources
Patrícia Almeida
Coordinator
1st Cycle - Primary School
Sónia Costa
Coordinator
2 st and 3 st Cycles
Cristina Ruivo
Coordinator
Admissions, Administrative Area, and Transport
Ana Pádua
Coordinator
of the Educational Support Assistants
Manuela Ferreira
Coordinator
Food area
Marta Bentes
Coordinator
Escola de Línguas & Dual Diploma
Teresa Azevedo
Coordinator
Extracurricular activities
Joana Querido
Head of School
Ana Piteira
Manager
Marketing
Cristina Ruivo
Coordinator
Admissions, Administrative Area, and Transport
Ana Pádua
Coordinator
of the Educational Support Assistants
Manuela Ferreira
Coordinator
Food area
Marta Bentes
Coordinator
Escola de Línguas & Dual Diploma
Teresa Azevedo
Coordinator
Extracurricular activities
Joana Querido
Head of School
Ana Piteira
Manager
Marketing
News
Pedagogical Protocols
Colégio do Vale considers it essential to maintain regular communication with the community and the outside world, and has therefore always established educational/training protocols.
In this regard, the School is recognized by the following educational institutions:
Internship Center of the following Higher Education Institutions and Universities
Internship Center of the following Secondary Schools and Vocational Training Centers
Certificados por
Members of
