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Sapienti International School

Cascais, Portugal · Private

Illustration · Cascais

Sapienti works in Cascais, on Rua de Birre, and calls itself a family-founded international school and examination centre grown out of a project which, in its own words, began more than 31 years ago. It has no stage below Year 9 at all: the school teaches Cambridge Upper Secondary in Year 9 and Year 10 and Cambridge Advanced in Year 11 and Year 12, which it also calls Form 11 and Form 12. Year 9 and Year 10 run online only, Year 11 and Year 12 both online and on the Cascais site; the school states that it is the only school in Portugal authorised to deliver Cambridge online programmes while also keeping its own physical campus for face-to-face classes and for examinations. It offers 5 to 7 subjects per two-year cycle, chosen from the Cambridge list; the AICE diploma is assembled from subject groups - mathematics and sciences, languages, arts and humanities - with the compulsory core of Global Perspectives and Research. Lessons are in English: every page for pupils and parents, the names of the stages, the descriptions of subjects and of requirements are written in English, and among the skills the school promises to develop, effective communication in English stands out separately. The other half of the school's work is an examination centre: it takes external private candidates, including home-schooled learners, self-taught learners and those retaking exams, helps them register and prepares them with one-to-one and group sessions. The school conducts over 300 exams a year, in the January, May/June and October/November series, and in January, June and November it also offers invigilation only, for those who need to reschedule within the same academic year. Separately the school runs university guidance: it is a registered UCAS centre, handles applications to UK universities, supports applications to the United States including for student-athletes, and to Switzerland, naming Glion Institute of Higher Education and Les Roches Global Hospitality Education. The school says it adapts timetables for pupils with major commitments outside school: one of its leavers combined study with playing football for Benfica, another with football and moves between countries. The school calls its own pupils school candidates and distinguishes them from private candidates. On its about page it displays counters - 112 instructors, 785 academic courses and 11292 students worldwide - but does not explain what these numbers refer to. The school describes its learning cycle thus: a lesson leads to an assignment, the assignment gives evidence of strengths and gaps, guided lessons follow, then a formal test, and the cycle begins again; artificial intelligence helps with this, but the decisions stay with the teachers.