Our school offers a variety of activities throughout the year to encourage student participation and development of skills. Activities include academic competitions, sporting events, celebrations of holidays, and clubs focused on health, community support, and environmental sustainability. The school aims to promote healthy lifestyles, help those in need, and cultivate environmental stewardship among students. It has been recognized for its green practices with consecutive Eco-School Green Flags.

1. All year long our school offers a variety of activities, in
which students are encouraged to participate.
These activities range from sporting events to
contests and competitions. They are related to the different
subjects students take at school, so all of them, according to
their preferences, can have fun. Moreover these activities
help them grow, listen and develop different skills and
competences such as tolerance and team spirit, and, above
all, make new friends.
In December, for example, students from
the 5th
and 6th
grades had the opportunity to take
part in a Spelling Bee, which is a competition
where contestants are asked to spell words.
Also all students grades 5th through 9th could
participate in our annual school cross country race. Luckily
this year it wasn’t raining!
Two 9th
graders from each class were selected to
represent their classes in the Who wants to be a Millionaire
contest English teachers hold every year. In this contest all
the questions are about American and English culture.
This year on 14th
February we celebrated both St
Valentine’s Day and International Book Giving Day. 5th
and
6th
graders were asked to make St Valentine’s bookmarks
whereas 7th
graders had to make Valentine’s cards. How did
we celebrate International Book Giving Day? By giving a new
or used book! Then on the 18th
March we officially donated 136
books to a local shelter for
children ,“ A Causa da
Criança”, which is an
institution which provides
recreational and social
activities in addition to food,
clothing and shelter.
Maia Junior High School
OUR SCHOOL IN ACTION!

2. On March 14th students celebrated Pi Day - a
tribute to the mathematical constant - with a math
trivia quiz and doing pi-related activities.
Before Easter holidays, our physical education teachers
always organise football, basketball and volleyball
tournaments aimed to 6th
, 7th
and 9th
graders respectively.
At the end of the school year we always commemorate
a day called “Grouping Day”. On this day there are a lot of
activities going on at school in
different rooms and in the
playground. There are also
exhibitions of the work
done by students during
the school year. On this
special day our school is
opened to anyone who
wants to visit us. The day
usually ends with a small
Achievement Award Ceremony, in which our school
distinguishes students with the best academic results.
As our school is concerned about
students’ eating habits, we also hold activities
for promoting healthy eating at school.
In October there is a special day called
Soup Day, in which different types of soups are
served. It is always a smashing success!
From 25th February to 1st March our school held a
“Healthy Snack Week”. In exchange of thirty cents, students
were served a healthy and delicious snack consisting of three
essential foods: fruit, cereals and dairy products: fruit kebabs,
walnut, soya or raisin bread rolls, yoghurt and milkshakes.

3. Of course these are only two examples of the many projects
our school runs to develop a healthy lifestyle among teenagers
and prevent obesity, poor diet or smoking.
Our school is also committed to providing support to
needy students and their families, which explains
the existence of The Solidarity Basket.
Each month, and not only at
Christmas - hunger knows no season - baskets
full of food donated by students and teachers
are distributed to needy families in the area.
Green is everywhere these days
and our school is no exception, that is
why our school has an Environmental
Club where both students and
teachers work together to make
our school more eco-friendly:
spread green ideals, raise
environmental awareness and promote
environmental sustainability.
Having this in mind, the Environmental Club runs a
number of activities such as games, research work and
exhibitions, organises workshops and lectures, sets
competitions school wide with prizes and develops a series
of programs, including a food waste prevention program to
reduce food waste in our canteen, a composting program
as well as a biological vegetable garden program to
encourage both teachers and students to grow their own
vegetables organically.
We also collect recyclable materials, so around the
school you can see a number of recycling bins to put paper,
plactic, glass, oil, batteries and small electrical appliances.
Besides, our Art and Craft teachers are also
committed to this cause and teach their students to use
recyclable materials to make sculptures, Christmas trees,
decorations, masks…

4. Our school is an Eco-School, too, which means it
has enrolled in the Eco-School Programme, an international
initiative promoted by the Foundation for Environmental
Education.
Last year for the sixteenth consecutive year our
school was awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag! The Green
Flag is the award that distinguishes good environmental
practices of schools.
And last but not least, we are proud of,
once again, being involved in the Comenius
Project, a Project financed by the European Union.
This time our partners are Estonia,
Hungary, Poland, Italy and Spain. And the project we have been
carrying out together since last year is about breaking
stereotypes and getting to know each other.
So far the experience has been enriching and worthwhile.
To know more about this project, visit our blog:
http://comeniusmaia.blogspot.pt/. We will be pleased to hear
your opinion about all the work completed so far. You are also
invited to visit the webpage created by Estonia:
http://comenius-bs.slipknotee.com/ and the one created by
Spain: http://www.comeniusmercerodoreda.eu/home/our-high-
school.
Regards, Marli Antunes