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Palmela, Portugal · Private
Illustration · Palmela
The International School of Palmela is the school of the Fundação Islâmica de Palmela, a private non-profit institution of social solidarity recognised as being of public utility; the foundation works in education, culture, social support and legacy and has been active in Portugal since 1995. The school stands in Quinta do Anjo near Palmela, on Estrada Vila Amélia. Its stages form a complete range, and this is visible in its own enrolment system: a preschool stage with levels from one year old to five, Cambridge Primary from Year 1 to Year 6, Cambridge Secondary 1 from Year 7 to Year 9, Cambridge IGCSE in Year 10 and Year 11 and Cambridge A/AS Level in Year 12 and Year 13. Alongside the Cambridge curriculum the school runs a religious one: at enrolment one of three levels is chosen - MakTab Primary, Isslamyat or Hifz Class - and a pupil of the school describes her studies as the Cambridge international curriculum together with activities carrying a religious and spiritual part. There is evening teaching too: it stands as a separate option at enrolment. School and foundation are headed by the same person, Rachid Ismael. The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, visited the school: he attended a ceremony honouring the school's staff, signed its book of honour and planted an olive tree in the garden. The school buses its pupils on three routes - Odivelas, Lisbon and Laranjeiro - with named stops, and keeps an online portal for parents with the timetable, assessments, messages, teaching materials and homework. The school has reduced its own website to a single pre-enrolment page: it carries no description of stages, curriculum or fees, and says only that pre-enrolment is mandatory, does not guarantee a place, that interviews with pre-enrolled candidates are scheduled later and that admission is confirmed only by the school through its own official channels. Besides the school, the founder runs an adult training centre certified by DGERT, with strands in religion and theology, foreign languages and literatures, management and administration, computer science and halal food production, and among its courses Portuguese language together with financial management.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE · Pearson Edexcel
Admits from
1 year · Pre-School
Admissions Admission begins with pre-enrolment, and the school states it plainly: pre-enrolment is mandatory but guarantees no admission; interviews with those who have pre-enrolled are scheduled later, and admission is confirmed only by the school through its own official channels. Pre-enrolment goes through the school's online system: there one gives details of the pupil, the father, the mother, the guardian and the person paying, the previous school and previous attainment, chooses a first, second and third preferred stage and year of study, the level of the religious curriculum, whether evening teaching is needed and the school bus route with its stop, and at the last step confirms having read the school's internal regulations and undertaking to follow them.
Stages and year groups Grades Pré Escolar (1 Ano - 5 Anos), Cambridge Primary Year 1 - Year 6, Cambridge Secondary 1 Year 7 - Year 9, Cambridge IGCSE Year 10 - Year 11, Cambridge A/AS Level Year 12 - Year 13. The list of stages is held in the school's enrolment system. The preschool stage runs in levels the school names 1 Ano, 2 Anos, 3 Anos, 4 Anos and 5 Anos, that is by the child's age from one year to five. Then Cambridge Primary from Year 1 to Year 6, Cambridge Secondary 1 from Year 7 to Year 9, Cambridge IGCSE in Year 10 and Year 11, Cambridge A/AS Level in Year 12 and Year 13. Alongside this runs a religious curriculum in three levels: MakTab Primary, Isslamyat and Hifz Class. Evening teaching stands as a separate option at enrolment.
Address Estrada Vila Amélia 172, 2950-805 Quinta do Anjo
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE · authorised programmePearson · 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: Primary (ages 5-11), Lower Secondary (ages 11-14), IGCSE (ages 14-16). 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. Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end. IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →PearsonPearson Edexcel, a British exam board
It gives a school approved centre status: that means Pearson exams can be sat in the school itself. What is checked is the premises, the equipment, the secure storage of papers and the presence of trained invigilators.
What the badge means for this school. The school can run Pearson exams on its own premises. The status says nothing about teaching, about results or about the school itself: any school able to run an exam securely holds it. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which Pearson qualifications this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school has reduced its own website to a single pre-enrolment page: the sitemap shows just two pages, Portuguese and English, and both say only that pre-enrolment is mandatory and guarantees no place. The stages and years of study are held in its enrolment system, while descriptions of the curriculum, the fees and the language of lessons are published nowhere.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
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
·Cateringnot stated on the website
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school buses its pupils on three routes: Odivelas with a stop at the Pavilhão Multiusos Colinas, Lisbon with stops at Martim Moniz, Arroios, Arreiro, Anjos and Praça de Espanha, and Laranjeiro with stops at Mesquita, Miratejo, Corroios and Fogueteiro; at enrolment one may also state private transport. The school has a garden, where the President of Portugal planted an olive tree and where the school set a commemorative plaque. It keeps its own online portal for parents and pupils with the timetable, assessments, messages, teaching materials and homework.
Teaching staff
The school has reduced its own website to a single pre-enrolment page: the sitemap shows just two pages, Portuguese and English, and both say only that pre-enrolment is mandatory and guarantees no place. The stages and years of study are held in its enrolment system, while descriptions of the curriculum, the fees and the language of lessons are published nowhere.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school has reduced its own website to a single pre-enrolment page: the sitemap shows just two pages, Portuguese and English, and both say only that pre-enrolment is mandatory and guarantees no place. The stages and years of study are held in its enrolment system, while descriptions of the curriculum, the fees and the language of lessons are published nowhere.. We have asked the school for the data directly.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 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