I would like to greet the parents of the children that are going to attend the Anglo Portuguese School of London, next academic year – this September actually.
This project was born, cherished by the Portuguese Government and British Government, but naturally, this project’s soul, is this country’s Portuguese Language Co-ordinator for London, Dr Regina Duarte, who, together with her team, managed to build and carry out this very interesting and very important project for Portugal.
I am naturally very pleased, as you can imagine, that it was possible to achieve this project whilst ambassador in London, during my tenure.
The Bilingual School, in my opinion, is essential or very important for all the children and families, who wish to have an education in Portuguese and English. The contact with two or more languages, the study and learning in Portuguese and English in this case, will only add value to the children and benefit them in the sense that it provides them with instruments of knowledge which are indispensable for their futures. This is what the school will offer – the children will become culturally wealthier, this is, they will get to know different realities better. They will get to know better the societies where they live, their cultures, how they are structured and organised – this is extremely important.
Beyond this wealth of education, which in this case the Anglo-Portuguese School will attract many teachers of high quality and significant subject knowledge in the areas they are going to teach.
Moreover, we are going to provide children who will attend the school with high quality logistical conditions.
I had the opportunity to visit the building before the adaptation works, and I was thoroughly impressed by what I saw: large classrooms, natural lighting, recreational spaces, sports halls including a gymnasium for physical activity, therefore it’s a building that offers children all the conditions for a very broad education.
I hope, therefore, to see them in September which will be a time of celebration and richness for all, and as I’ve said before, the achievement, for many of us, of an old dream.
Many thanks