When students reach the culmination of their studies here at Escola Internacional de Alphaville, they are ready to face whatever challenge they may encounter in life and make conscious choices to ensure a prosperous future. In high school, students are at the height of our unique socio-constructivist pedagogical proposal. This combines the academic rigour of bilingual education with a series of experiences that lead students to better understand who they are and what values underpin them and, by the time they leave school, they are replete with invaluable social-moral and emotional repertoire.
We are serious about preparing our students for entry to the best public and/or private Brazilian universities, or any university around the world for that matter. Moreover, students appreciate the intellectual capacity to have a pragmatic and realistic approach to problem solving when new challenges present themselves.
Escola Internacional de Alphaville is proud to be international, proud to be Brazilian, and proud to send into the world global citizens who are open-minded and equipped with the competencies to shape a better world for all of us!
In their final year of high school, students can select a variety of pathways: if they intend to sit for a Brazilian university entrance exam, they may choose to participate in an intensive preparation course called Vestibular Poliedro. If a student wishes to study in a university abroad, we offer SAT and TOEFL preparation courses. We also offer the University of Cambridge English examinations and the Instituto de Cervantes DELE Spanish as a foreign language preparatory courses. NB: All preparation courses are held here at the school and incur no additional fees to students.
The entrepreneurship subject begins in Teens 9 with the development of a ‘Life Project’, and comes to an end in High School 2 with a presentation of a project aimed at benefiting the society in some way. More than just stimulate an entrepreneurial spirit, the aim is to promote the development of young leaders who have the capacity to self-reflect, think critically and have the confidence to actively participate in group debates.
In 2004, a small group of Escola Internacional de Alphaville students created the project ´Windows to the Future´(Janelas para o Futuro).
Every Friday afternoon, public school children from low-income families come to Escola Internacional de Alphaville for educational experiences. Such experiences are, by a small part, held by our teachers, who talk about issues such as ethics and moral, citizenship or even self-esteem. However, for the most part, it is our very own students who plan and administer classes to the visiting children. Student-teachers from T9 to H3 who are interested in volunteering in the project do so with great enthusiasm. They offer our visitors an array of classes such as, English, Spanish, Current Affairs, Theatre, Dance and Music.
Our student-teachers benefit from a deep sense of learning and self-worth by volunteering their time and energy to meet the objectives of the project, and the whole experience is very rewarding, to say the least. This sentiment is shared by all who engage in the project and it oftens results in student-led action beyond the school and into the community.
Today, ‘Windows to the Future’ is changing the lives of about 170 children from neighbouring regions such as Barueri, Osasco, Jandira, Itapevi, Santana do Parnaíba.
Along their academic journey here at Escola Internacional de Alphaville, students are challenged to think, to provoke their emotions about a variety of issues. Sharing these thoughts and opinions with others in debate-like situations is an important communication skill that’s worth developing. When students reach high school, there are national and regional events outside the school in which our students participate to put their thinking and communication skills into action. For example, the Harvard Model Congress Latin America , a UN type simulation held in English.
High school features a robust programme in regards to field trips and excursions, just like in middle school. All these trips are purposefully and carefully planned to heighten the learning experience for our students, reaching into a wide range of knowledge and skills. The high school programme includes destinations such as Bonito, historical towns in Minas Gerais, Inhotim, Brasília, Chapada dos Veadeiros, amongst other historical sites and towns.
These field trips are always central to curricular interdisciplinary projects, and are accompanied by teachers to ensure student learning is rich with significance and that conceptual connections are made, and data is collected to be later sorted out in the classroom for further analysis. The affective learning domain is also in development while out on field trips. Social skills and interpersonal skills are refined, students learn to collaborate as team, all skill sets essential in the 21st century.
Since 2010, Escola Internacional de Alphaville has been organising annual study abroad trips to broaden the scope for international experiences. For example, through our partnership with Leysin American School, in Switzerland, our students have the opportunity to participate in a very rewarding summer camp. Participating students get to select from a wide range of academic,sporting, leisure and cultural activities.
In addition to the summer camp in Switzerland, we offer students a study abroad programme at Oxford University, in England. Here, students engage in a study experience aimed to give them an insight to their selected profession of interest, such as Medicine, Engineering and Architecture, just to name a few of options available. Escola Internacional de Alphaville also offers the University Tour, essentially a programme that consists of visiting some of the major universities in the USA.