APIA, a home for kids and adults

“Quatro paredes caiadas,
Um cheirinho a alecrim,
Um cacho de uvas doiradas,
Duas rosas num jardim,
Um São José de Azulejo
Mais o sol da Primavera,
Uma promessa de beijos
Dois braços à minha espera
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
É com certeza, uma casa portuguesa!”

(Uma casa Portuguesa written by Reinaldo Ferreira,
voice Amália Rodrigues)

Throughout its four decades, APIA celebrates the coming year 42 years of welcoming children, families and members of an active and committed educational community. We are committed to educating in two different but complementary versions: educating the child as a full being, as an active citizen of a constantly evolving global community, and training professionals of merit so that they can contribute to the quality of Education in Portugal and abroad.

In this school where one learns to grow, kids and adults are challenged to go further, consolidating paths, knowledge and beliefs. All are welcomed by this house made up of professionals dedicated to education. Whether forming future educators and auxiliaries or raising children, our goal is excellence in the service of education.

We believe that this task requires a whole synergy of people and ideas. Pedagogy can not be seen as an individual art of the one who teaches, but as a professional group science that dominates a specific knowledge, know-how and knowledge. (Mesquita-Pires, 2007).

The daily life of APIA reinforces our conviction that pedagogy is a science that requires some art. A scientific domain is required to systematize the paths and the achievement of the objectives. It is also necessary sensitivity to perceive the looks, silences and voice of each child and the art to give the best possible answer. In order to welcome children and seniors, the school must have an identity permanently embodied in a "deliberate practice" and a curriculum model that, for our institution, is fully operationalized by the Modern School Movement.

This identity requires a continuous reflection, an unconditional surrender, humility to this task of giants and generosity to give everything we have and everything we are. In APIA we do this exercise daily whenever we open the door to our 130 children, their families and the trainees of the main national higher education schools. In an intercultural perspective, which we value very much, we receive children and families from other cultures and interns from other countries such as Norway, Sweden and Italy, under the Erasmus program. In a constantly changing global society, it is imperative that borders be diluted and that we reflect on what separates us by recovering what comes close to us as members of a pedagogical community and, above all, as citizens of the world.

We support the vision of home as a repository of our emotional and intellectual experiences. The house reflects this identity, also assuming the role of refuge for physical, psychological and social well-being. APIA is a house with soul, with a memory and a history of life. It is because we know who we are that we are open to others. We welcome everyone with the Portuguese soul. We have an inheritance of centuries and centuries of hospitality, a heritage of discovery and sharing of knowledges and traditions across borders. We are a Portuguese house and we welcome you with open arms.
Apia is a Portuguese school for sure!
It is certainly a Portuguese school!

Anabela Valente
Pedagogical Director of APIA

Bibliographic references:
Mesquita-Pires, C. (2007). Educador de Infância: Teorias e Práticas. Lisboa: Profedições.