← Back to homeOceanus International School
Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal · Private
Illustration · Vila Nova de Gaia
The school works in Valadares near Vila Nova de Gaia and keeps three stages - nursery, pre-school and the first cycle of primary school; it used to be called Colégio Oceanus and now calls itself Oceanus International School. Bilingualism is stated plainly among its values - linguistic diversity and bilingual education of excellence - and English is introduced gradually and through play: songs, stories, theatre and games, which is why this card carries two languages of instruction. The programmes are Cambridge ones and technology is built into lessons: the school has been recognised by Apple as a Distinguished School since 2022, works with iPads and Apple TV, and two of its teachers hold the Apple Distinguished Educator title. Separate projects run as ABC Das Emoções, where the school psychologist works with the whole class for 45 minutes, Trilhos with trips into the adjacent forest, the Kindness Project, Yscience and Eco-Escola. There is school transport and a school kitchen with a nutritionist watching over the meals, there is a therapeutic support service, and uniform is required. Extracurricular activities run from October to June, with timetable and enrolment settled in September.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · Early Years, Primary · National programme
Languages of instruction
English, Portuguese
Stages and year groups Grades nursery, pre-school education, first cycle of primary school. The school does not go beyond the first cycle.
Address Rua da Aldeia 238, 4405-540 Valadares, Vila Nova de Gaia
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Early Years, Primary · authorised programmeschool is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: Early Years (ages 3-6), Primary (ages 5-11). Early Years is the nursery stage, ages 3 to 6. There are no exams at the end: the stage describes what the youngest children are taught and how, and it follows the Cambridge frame rather than a national nursery programme. Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: A campus in Valadares with an adjoining stretch of forest, where the school takes children for its Trilhos project. There is school transport and a school kitchen with a nutritionist watching over the meals. Lessons use iPads and Apple TV, and uniform is required.
Clubs and activities: Chess · The Inventors · Individual instrument lessons · Acrobatic gymnastics · Dance · Capoeira · Robothink · Super Hero by Next Level
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: Two teachers with the Apple Distinguished Educator title.
Two of the school's teachers hold the Apple Distinguished Educator title, given for pedagogical leadership and for building technology into lessons. The school names neither the total number of teachers nor its class sizes.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school psychologist runs the ABC Das Emoções sessions with the whole class for 45 minutes, working on emotions and how to handle them. A therapeutic support service works separately.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median70 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country