ABOUT US
Who are we?
We are an informal community school that guides its pupils and students in developing the Czech language and also in learning about Czech history and cultural heritage.
Who are our students?
The school is open to children from the age of two to sixteen. We welcome children from Czech or mixed families living in Portugal.
What are the school's goals?
The school builds and strengthens children's practical knowledge of the Czech language, helps create a Czech community, connects Czech and mixed families living in Portugal, and supports families in further Czech-language education for both children and adults.
How does the school operate?
Students meet their teachers every Saturday morning in Lisbon-Arroios (Sala de Leitura Clodomiro Alvarenga). The school also offers the opportunity for individual home-based lessons.
Who runs the school and who teaches there?
The school is led by qualified Czech educators. Teaching is provided by permanent teachers, who are regularly joined by trainee teachers from Czech universities.
The School Charter
The Czech School in Lisbon has been dedicated to the education of Czech children living in Portugal, as well as children from mixed families, since 2012. These are children whose mother tongue (or first language) is not Czech, but who understand Czech and use it in their lives (for example when speaking with family members living in Czech Republic).
The aim of the school's education is to strengthen and develop the natural use of the Czech language in everyday situations, expand students' active and passive vocabulary, help them with their expressive skills, foster reading competence, and introduce them to Czech literature, history, and culture. At the same time, the school gently guides children towards a sense of belonging to the Czech culture and environment.
Teachers at the Czech School believe in a welcoming, empathetic, and respectful approach to children. They value the fact that students - and their families - devote part of their free time to voluntary education. For this reason, the school wants to create a stimulating, diverse, and enjoyable programme that balances playfulness and creativity with appropriate challenge. The purpose of the Czech School is to encourage children to use the Czech language on their own, not only at school once a week: learning should be a benefit and a joy for them, not a burden or a source of stress.
The goal of education at the Czech School is not to provide students with perfect academic Czech. The school does not follow official curricula set by the Czech Ministry of Education for Czech language teaching in standard primary schools in the Czech Republic. Instead, teaching is based on the school's own long-term plans, which reflect the individual needs of all students. Given the diversity of learners, the school's activities are shaped and adapted all the time so that each student leaves enriched to the greatest extent possible, and in the way that suits them best.The Czech School in Lisbon is a small, informal community that takes pride in its friendly, almost family-like atmosphere, built through shared effort. In the spirit of mutual support and belonging, the school helps to establish, maintain, and nurture a small but vibrant Czech community in Portugal. It maintains close ties with other Czech community schools in Porto and Faro and actively participates in the activities of the Czech and Slovak Club in Portugal, with whose help and cooperation the school has operated since its founding.
The Czech School in Lisbon is not formally linked to the Czech educational system. Attendance at the school does not fulfil compulsory schooling requirements, nor does it provide full, certified preparation for so-called equivalency examinations given by - §38 (compulsory schooling abroad). Nevertheless, the school's teachers are able and willing to support families in addressing these matters. To ensure better coordination with other educational platforms worldwide, the Czech School in Lisbon cooperates with the Czech Schools Without Borders Institute (Česká škola bez hranic(www.csbh.cz)).
To ensure the highest possible quality of teaching, the Czech School in Lisbon welcomes students and graduates of teacher-training programmes from Czech universities, who work at the school as interns within the Erasmus+ programme.
The school's activities and operation are financially supported by the Czech and Slovak Club in Portugal, a non-profit non-governmental organisation registered in Portugal, by a symbolic parental contribution, and by funding provided to the Club and the school by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the Programme for the Support of Czech Cultural Heritage. A vital role in the school's operation, as well as in its material and staffing needs, is also played by generous donations from sponsors in the Czech Republic.
Thank you to everyone who supports us!
When do classes take place?
The Czech School operates every Saturday morning from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The school year begins at the same time as the Portuguese public school year (usually between 10th and 15th September), follows the Christmas, Carnival, and Easter school holidays, and ends in the second half of June.
How is teaching organised?
Students are grouped for activities according to their age and level of Czech.
Preschool children (ages 2-4) work in a separate group, while older children are divided into groups based on the specific programme.
The Saturday programme usually consists of three teaching blocks, separated by a short snack break.
Teaching materials, books, and worksheets are provided by the school. Children bring their own notebooks, scissors, glue, writing utensils, and coloured pencils.
Children are insured for the duration of Saturday classes.
How to become a student?
The Czech School in Lisbon welcomes children from the age of two. Language level is not a deciding factor-the school accepts native speakers, functionally bilingual students, and multilingual children with only minimal experience of Czech.
A condition for enrolment is membership of at least one parent in the Czech and Slovak Club in Portugal.
You can apply for membership on the Club's website (www.kcsp.pt), where you can also find detailed information about the Club's activities.