Everything starts with our purposeThe Escola Internacional de Alphaville purpose is Love to transform lives. This has been our main guiding factor since the school opened its doors in the year 2000.
Learning with significance is what we firmly believe in, and this type of learning thrives in a safe and welcoming environment where experiences become fond, lifelong memories. A caring and compassionate education, in contrary to content-driven, is laden with enriching, valuable experiences that transfer to any place and time.
Our school infrastructure and our team are totally aligned with our educational mission, philosophy and beliefs.
Pinnacle to our mission is our constant pursuit of the most effective ways to articulate it to our whole school community. Since 2006, Escola Internacional de Alphaville has been engaged with Metanóia, an organisation that unites leaders of Brazilian firms who share a common belief: it’s possible to cultivate a culture to turn our society into something more ethical, humane and prosperous.
Escola Internacional de Alphaville is characterised by a number of differentials:
Sociomoral and Socioemotional SkillsEscola Internacional de Alphaville developed an institutional Social Ethics Education Programme (Convivência Ética) , that further articulates our mission and represents our culture in action. This programme ensures that our educational beliefs, values and principles are prominent and permeate through the school, and it reaches out to all our staff, teachers, students, parents and the wider school community, as the aim of the programme is equally valuable to all. These beliefs exemplify morality in action and are an explicit feature of the school curriculum.
To focus on ethical character development is a choice, and our choice is to contribute to the development of sociomoral and socioemotional skills and competencies. We transit between boundaries of the moral and ethical domains, an exercise much needed, but seemingly forgotten in our modern way of life. We consider this exercise to be as fundamental to the wellbeing of 21st century children and young adults as is development of the cognitive domain.
Through the Convivência Ética programme, we provide on-going, in-house training and development to all our teachers and staff. We use a number of strategies and activities in the prevention and resolution of bullying and daily conflicts, through mediation and other means, for example.
It is our firm belief that the development of a variety of ‘languages’ is possible. This is why we offer our students a toolbox of strategies to become not only linguistically fluent, but morally and emotionally fluent as well. With these initiatives, students establish skills that facilitate introspection and outrospection, non-violent communication, the capacity to express feelings and comprehend ideas different from their own. They become more tolerant, resilient and understanding, and respect the natural diversity of people and cultures.
True autonomy is achieved when an individual not only understands his or her ethical and moral responsibility, but demonstrates this with positive action.
There exists a number of multinational firms today, such as Microsoft, that expect their staff members to be prepared to overcome socioemotional and sociomoral barriers with flourishing interpersonal relationship skills.
Bilingualism and Biliteracy a World of OpportunitiesEscola Internacional de Alphaville’s language programme can be described as an additive bilingual, dual language education programme. In other words, students maintain their mother tongue and learn a second language, making the acquisition of both languages a natural process for children.
In the early childhood learning segment, Kids 1 - Kids 4, our students are immersed in a world of English language, contextualised by ludic activities, storytelling and first contact with the alphabet.
In Kids 5, students are encouraged to make connections between the sounds of both languages of instruction in order to understand the peculiarities of each phonetic system.
Students in Juniors 1 begin to gain reading and writing independence in both languages, and are in the process of further understanding the features and characteristics of each.
Juniors 2 to Juniors 5, is a phase marked by the systematic teaching of orthographic conventions. Students progressively grow in not only skills development, but in their appreciation of Portuguese and English language norms, as their use of each language for a variety of purposes increases significantly.
We take added care in creating the ideal literacy environment where children have ample opportunity to construct meaning from their own texts and the texts of others. Above all, we want to create a safe environment that inspires students and unlocks their creativity so that they become fully engaged in whatever activity they undertake. In this sense, reading and writing become vehicles for learning about the world which breeds thoughts, ideas and feelings on how to transform it to a better place.
We encourage collaborative learning! Through the configuration of the Writing and Reading Workshops, students are encouraged to work more independently and with their peers. This is an advantage for our learners as some really benefit from scaffolding strategies and individualised instruction.
As an official Cambridge English Exam Preparation Centre, Escola Internacional de Alphaville prepares students for the whole suite of Cambridge English certificates, from the YLE Starters to the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE). Students can also opt for further preparation for foreign university entrance exams such as the SAT, and TOEFL, if required.
A high proficiency of English is not simply desired, but a requisite in today’s labour market. According to research conducted by Catho, a professional with fluency in English and another language can earn up to 52% more than monolinguals. Extensive academic research on bilingualism also shows that students who study in two languages generally outperform their monolingual peers.
Awesome Readers and WritersSince 2010, Escola Internacional de Alphaville has been working with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) from Columbia University, New York. The key objective of this project is to help children become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers. The choice of reading material is strategically made, and the individual and collaborative construction of narratives in the classroom is carefully planned. The reading project begins in early childhood learning and, from Kindergarten (Kids 5) onwards, the writing project is inserted. Our students, who experience an array of titles in both English and Portuguese, and demonstrate phenomenal progression in their reading and writing abilities.
When contemplating what the characteristics of a global citizen might be, we found what we were looking for in the IB learner profile. Through the IB programs, our students are encouraged to develop key attributes essential for International - mindedness and a successful future. Students strive to be: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective.
Citizens of the WorldEscola Internacional de Alphaville’s mission is to nurture citizens of the world and, in this sense, our Teens and High School students are intrigued by the Global Studies subject area. Taught in English, it refines and challenges students’ perspectives of the world they live in, generating knowledge, critical thinking and reflection of current affairs of great importance worldwide.
Students learn how to understand, compare and contrast characteristics of different cultures. They hold debates that work to refine language and communication skills while exercising diplomacy and respecting divergent ideas. Global Studies classes in Teens significantly prepare students for the national UN model simulations and Debate Forums that they will have the opportunity to participate in when they reach High School.
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.
Physical EducationAll students from Kids to High School prosper from curricular Physical Education classes. The greatest objective is to have students understand the importance of a healthy balanced lifestyle with plenty of exercise. There is no shortage of studies that show active people have a healthier and happier lifestyle.
Students of Kids 3 to Juniors 3 have curricular aquatic activities in our indoor, heated, salt-treated pool. Students are always accompanied by teachers, swimming professionals and a lifeguard who ensure a safe and pleasant aquatic experience for all.
For those students interested in sports, Escola Internacional de Alphaville offers select training of the following: Futsal, Basketball, Volleyball and handball. Students of Teens and High School also participate in championships held internally, and in championships between other schools.
Curricular Music ClassesThe new music curriculum at Escola Internacional de Alphaville was meticulously elaborated in 2018. Applicable to all children in Kids and Juniors, the music programme is committed to developing valuable skills, not only musically, but also linguistically, socially, culturally and interpersonally. Moreover, research shows that development in the cognitive and affective learning domains is more refined in children exposed to music than in children who are not.
From Kids 1 to Kids 4, musicalisation classes are carefully and affectionately planned to capture the interest and curiosity of our younger students. From Kids 5, music classes occur on two, yet complimentary fronts. Students begin learning about and practicing the flute and violin, and also have vocal expression classes. Both music teachers are highly experienced and recognised either nationally and/or internationally.
It has been some time now since we began the musicalisation programme for our younger students, a specialized programme that stimulates areas of the brain not yet developed by other languages. We believe this type of learning is powerful, and we are proud of our investment in enhancing the musical, artistic and creative skills of our students so that they can enchant the world with the wealth that this initiative promotes to the life of each and every one of them.
It is in this sense that we offer our students another language: the language of empathy, attentive listening, respect for others, team spirit, collaboration and cooperation, creativity, tolerance, joy and many memorable musical moments.
After School: After regular class hours, we offer a variety of extracurricular activities.
To foster the development of principled, autonomous and knowledgeable citizens who acknowledge their role in society, we give students incentive to volunteer in our social project ‘Windows to the Future’ (Janelas para o Futuro). This is a way in which a student can demonstrate responsibility through action, and contribute to a better world.
It is with great pride that Escola Internacional de Alphaville established this powerful, innovative project in 2004. Windows to the Future, which owes its inception to a group of High School 2 students at the time, began with the idea of offering English language learning opportunities to economically challenged children from local public schools and NGOs.
Our students volunteer to take up the role of teacher, and they plan and administer classes to the visiting children who visit our school once per week for classes. Nowadays, the number and variety of classes have grown. The project now offers Spanish, French, Dance, Music, and Computer Science classes, amongst others, in addition to promoting healthy integration between young people from different socioeconomic and cultural realities.
This initiative, widely supported by Escola Internacional de Alphaville, also offers our visiting students lunch on the days classes are held. In 2008, the Windows to the Future program received an honourable mention at the 8th national Volunteer School Awards ceremony.
At the time of writing, we have approximately 170 children visiting our school to participate in the highly anticipated classes Windows to the Future has to offer. These children come from neighbouring cities such as, Barueri, Jandira, Santana de Parnaíba, Carapicuíba.
Being part of the project is always a very rewarding experience for our students. They find themselves becoming more welcoming individuals who are concerned with doing the best they can for others, in addition to boosting their own self-worth and sense of contribution.
Moreover, time spent in voluntary service is widely validated and valued by international universities, and may be a determining criterion in a students' admission process.
Parents are also invited to participate in social responsibility activities via the project 'Parents in Action'.
