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Our school is situated in Rio Maior, a small city, 80 km north of Lisbon, the capital. We have pupils, both from Rio Maior and the villages nearby. There are about 1100 students, aged from 6 to 16 years old. We have 110 qualified teachers. Many of these students live in rural areas and are socially and culturally poor. Many have low motivation for studying, show difficulties in learning the English language and lack the knowledge about foreign cultures, namely European countries. Our previous experience in running Comenius and Erasmus+ projects has shown us that students involved in an enterprise like this project have developed their abilities of using foreign languages, ICT skills, their motivation for learning, their self-esteem, and also their interest in understanding the social and cultural aspects of European countries. All the staff members and school partners (parents, local firms, associations) of our school declare a great interest in working on this project as they have a great desire to work, once again, on a European project.  In order to solve the above problems diagnosed, we have developed a school philosophy based Inclusion through extra-curricular activities.Our school is working towards being a front-runner in Future Classroom Lab type teaching/learning methodology which we have been developing over the years, in order to deal with problematic situations such as students who have many cognitive difficulties, physical disabilities and a history of school failures but also to allow students with superior cognitive abilities to shine a explore their abilities and capacities. Some families are unable to change their limited situations because their lives were also marked by the same difficulties and exclusion has marked their lives. To overcome this situation school must provide the tools and means to make them feel and be effectively integrated in an Inclusive School and these extra-curricular activities is one of the best ways to achieve this, while promoting future social inclusion in life after school.

Techniques and methodologies used in our school to promote learning through extra-curricular activities include Project-based Learning in which projects are more than linguistic or mathematical/analytical but also based on Art, Dance, Music, Theatre, Outdoor activities, ICT, knowledge of Nature (our school is an Eco-School) and, of course, social awareness and well-being. The school motto is ‘Let's make our students happy’.

Besides project-work our school has numerous clubs to promote the acquisition of competences in diverse areas according to students’ personal tastes and capabilities: Debate and Argumentation Club, European Club, Sea and Army Cadets Club, Eco-arts and Decorative arts Clubs, various Sports Clubs (Basketball, Futsal, Swimming, Table Tennis and Boccia an Inclusive sport). To make these clubs a reality we have a group of teachers (one or two per club) who specialize in each of these areas and can share their knowledge with other teachers and students throughout the project.