← Back to homeVale Verde International School
Luz, Portugal · Private
Illustration · Luz
This school in Alagoas near Luz takes children from 5 to 18 and leads them along the Cambridge International pathway: primary Grades 1 to 6, lower secondary Grades 7 to 9, IGCSE in Grades 10 and 11 and A Level in Grades 12 and 13. The school speaks of 20 years of work without naming its opening year. Lessons are in English, and English is taught both as a first and as a second language; Portuguese stands as a separate subject, and the Portuguese national curriculum is woven into the school's own. Children of 27 nationalities attend, 24 teachers work there, and all teachers and staff hold at least a bachelor's degree; there are 7.5 pupils per teacher. Physical education is compulsory, and after lessons there are sports clubs, theatre, art and music. 98 percent of leavers go on to university. The school keeps no boarding.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · Pearson Edexcel
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Portuguese
Admissions The school admits children from abroad: children of 27 nationalities attend, and a child whose first language is not English is given an English placement test and, where needed, separate language lessons at the family's expense. Admission runs in 4 steps: an application with a 50 euro fee, entrance testing (Cambridge Insight, English for non-native speakers and subject tests in mathematics, languages and science), then documents - records from the previous school, a vaccination certificate, a language background form, a passport copy, a photograph, a parent's tax card and signed financial regulations - with a non-refundable 500 euro registration fee, after which the divisional heads decide. Before studies begin the school always holds a personal interview.
Stages and year groups Grades Primary 1-6, Lower Secondary 7-9, IGCSE 10-11, A Level 12-13. Primary Grades 1 to 6, lower secondary Grades 7 to 9, IGCSE in Grades 10 and 11, A Level in Grades 12 and 13; entry is from 5, and the school has no preschool stage.
Address Alagoas, Estrada do Burgau, 8600-120 Luz-Lagos
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmePearson · authorised programmeThe school names Pearson alongside Cambridge among its examination boards. The school is not in the official Pearson registry: the Portuguese list was swept in full on 27.09.2026 and agreed with the registry's own counter. The record therefore stands on the school's own word and does not count towards the score.
school 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: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
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 this status would mean. 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 school is not in the organisation's register: the status comes from the school's own words. 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 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
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The school stands in Alagoas near Luz on its own site of several buildings with annexes and playgrounds; it keeps no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Theatre · Art · Music · Sports clubs
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 sizein the key facts above
What the listings show:
24 teachers work at the school, and all its teachers and staff hold at least a bachelor's degree; there are 7.5 pupils per teacher.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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%)85 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%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data70 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