TESTIMONIALS
In November our 6th to 9th grader students were able to attend an excellent course on Oracy, coordinated by School 21, in London. This activity involved students from the different schools in all the countries that are part of our Erasmus+ partnership. Here is the final evaluation of the Course’s coordinator about CSJ’s students performance:
“I was so impressed by the CSJ students throughout our International Community Ignite process in which students each wrote and performed their own speech.
CSJ students were consistently engaged, providing thoughtful responses in our daily sessions and operating with an impressive level of English. The speeches from the CSJ finalists were testament to this: beautifully-written, emotionally-engaging and delivered with real confidence and flair.”
Clio Chartres, Middle School Oracy Lead at School21
PARENTS
…to Diogo this experience (during confinement time) was highly important, especially because he knows that, at some point, he won’t be able to attend classes at CSJ and he understood that the school offers him an effective and safe alternative.
I’m very grateful that you exist and for the opportunity you give us to have Diogo in such a wonderful school.
Matilde Correia
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for the support you have been giving to our little ones- from what I’ve been told from my friends the other schools haven’t been as successful. This fills us with pride for the privilege of being part of CSJ’s wonderful family!
A very warm virtual hug,
Ana Pastória
First of all, thank you for the great support in this challenging time.
We are very impressed with how fast the school was able to set up the online system and also how great it works most of the time. So overall we are very happy with the system and it provides some structure with the time table that seems very beneficial to keep the day on track for the children, forcing to make them plan their day accordingly.
Ellen Simonia
CSJ’s Summer school, even in a different format, has been mentioned several times, here at home. Lourenço refers that, time and again, “I’m praying that at least Summer School will take place”.
I would also like to thank you for all the efforts you have carried out throughout this atypical school year. Thank you very much for having solved “the problem” so quickly and in such an organized way.
I can’t help expressing my enormous satisfaction for having moved my son from another school into CSJ. There are problems everywhere and perfect institutions are a utopia, but the way CSJ overcomes problems and faces reality, knowing for sure that each child is unique, makes all the difference. Thanks for everything.
Inês Cravo Roxo
Congrats Teacher Cláudia, Teacher Cátia and Teacher Maria Miguel for all your time, and care for the children and their Mothers’ help and attention!
Congratulations to you all, without exception!
Best regards from this mother who is very proud for having her children in this top school!
Keep on with your good work!! 👏👏👏Tatiana Lopes Monteiro
Ever since the first day my family joined this project I feel that our paths have been walked through together.
I’ve always wanted to fly; my children want to fly! But we were lacking wings! When our paths crossed with CSJ I understood that to have wings I had to accept their growing pains.
The need to knock down worthless beliefs and values. Finish with excuses and moaning. Plan a route, sow it, caring for it with love, every day, and most of all to have faith.
What I see in CSJ is a great love for what you do and a deep belief that you are doing the best you know for tomorrow’s adults. I’m completely sure that with CSJ the world will be a better place and my children will be (they already are!) better people.
Armando Prata
CSJ’s values were deeply experienced and lived by my children at school. They were treated with respect for their individualities and personal characteristics, having access to formal quality teaching through diverse methodologies that were able to maximize, in a dynamic way, their interest for studying.
Andreza Smith
STUDENTS
I was only three years old when, following my brother’s steps, my parents decided to trust my education and childhood to Colégio de S. José. Ever since that time, I was hosted by this small but caring “family” which has raised me and made me a better human being.
The years I’ve spent as student of this school were special, because CSJ was interested not only in my education but also in my well-being and happiness. Being a student at CSJ is like being “a bird in an infinite sky”, in which the bird, representing the student, has the freedom to fly and grow as much as he wants. The infinite sky represents the impossibility of perfection, but the possibility of evolving all the time. I also want to stress out how easy and efficient it is for CSJ to make the students autonomous, to work in groups, developing fantastic projects.
Diogo Furtado, 9.th year
Colégio de S. José is not a simple school, it is a place we can call home which hosts us in the best possible way and teaches us to grow both as people and as students who have to study the official compulsory school contents.
We mainly work through projects, developing other skills, such as autonomy, responsibility and even knowing how to work and deal with others. With these projects we learn the school subjects and are evaluated the same way. However, we have the privilege of working in a funnier/different way. We don’t always have to sit at our desks, listen to the teachers and copy what they say.
There are also other bigger projects like Erasmus+ which takes CSJ’s students to other countries, such as Poland, England, … getting to know other places from different nationalities, facing new challenges and developing the English language.
Carolina, 8.th year
I love attending the 5th year at CSJ. CSJ is a school you never forget because it is fantastic. Here everything is fantastic, the students, the teachers, the premises. I have a fantastic experience. Whenever people ask me the name of my school, I am very proud to say, Colégio de S. José!
I’m so lucky to go to school there!
Maria do Carmo, 5.th year
In Colégio de S. José, apart from preparing us for the future, teaching us all the school subjects, they teach us to be good people, with opinions and decided to make the world a better place!!!
Francisca César, 8.th year
Three years ago I had decided to change my life. In a school with a good teaching system, good friends and a good atmosphere I was missing a very important thing, motivation. Following a piece of advice from a friend, who is a doctor, I arrived at CSJ.
In September I arrived, feeling frightened, I didn’t know anybody. I felt lost. The school’s structure looked like Harry Potter’s castle, and my classmates, even though without the magic, were trying to make me feel integrated.
Step by step I found my course, my destiny and friends. I let myself be guided by the new school’s methodology and by all the people who commit themselves to CSJ’s students. Motivation came along…
I’ve learnt how to study alone, to meet deadlines, to design tasks, to develop projects, and built a close relationship with “my” computer. I’ve learnt to make plans, to find my way and to want to get further.
Today I smile, when I look back. I believe that this three-year project has made me a better friend, a better student. I take with me, even with doubts, the certainty that I will achieve my dreams.
Afonso, 9.th year
Studying at CSJ is incredible because the teachers have a method that makes us want to study and learn, in my opinion. There are several projects which are another different and enjoyable way of learning. Being an International School English is all around and present in CSJ’s daily life. There are many demanding projects in English.
Living at CSJ is incredible because people make us feel it is our second home, our second family.
Miguel, 8.th year
I love going to CSJ and wanted to stay there until entering University.
I love the psychologists (tutors), because they are, together with the teachers, the nicest people I know. CSJ has a very welcoming atmosphere and their students know a lot more than in public schools. We have a lot of English classes, which is very good, because this way we can travel around the world and we can speak the language that many people can talk.
This is what I have to say about the best school in the whole wide world, Colégio de S. José in Coimbra.
Teresa Afonso, 5.th year