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Reflection on the Oliveira do Hospital Visit

Our two-day visit to Oliveira do Hospital in May was a really valuable experience. The shorter visit actually worked out well, 2 days in schools instead of 2,5 felt just right and gave us enough time to dive into the program without feeling overloaded.

One of the most interesting parts was seeing how the challenges around immigration in Oliveira differ from what we’re used to in Austria. It was especially insightful to hear directly from a small group of students with different backgrounds about their experiences and also to have the opportunity to ask them questions ourselves. Those conversations really stuck with me as they gave a personal and honest insight into what inclusion can look and feel like from the students’ perspective.

The workshop on language diversity was great, it was very hands-on and practical. It got me thinking about small, low-threshold activities I could bring into my own classroom to help create a stronger sense of belonging among students.

We also had a short visit to a primary school, which showed some nice examples of how inclusion can work in practice. Even though the time there was limited, it was good to see real-life approaches being put to practice.

One thing that could have been improved is that I would have liked to observe more actual classroom teaching. Watching lessons in action gives valuable insights and it would have added even more depth to the visit.

All in all, the trip was inspiring and gave me lots of new ideas to think about and bring into my own teaching and will certainly add ideas to our Community of Belonging team at our school, as well.

To follow...

Reflection on Our Trip to Oliveira do Hospital

On the 11^th May we travelled to Oliveira do Hospital south east of Porto. Our visit began with a wonderful and enjoyable meal at Isabelle’s house. There we got to visit her picturesque gardens that were beautiful and tranquil. We felt we were going on retreat. It was great to see all our Creating European School of Belonging colleagues again and we really are becoming like old friends meeting up every so often, sharing stories and enjoying each other’s company.

On Monday 12^th we visited AEOH, our partner school, which has a very different set up and contrast to our own school’s organisation. After meeting with the Principal we got to tour the main post primary section of the school and see what practices they had put in place. We also had the opportunity to meet with five pupils who had moved to Portugal and were learning the language. They all had positive things to say about their new life in Portugal.

We visited a primary school next door which was less than a year old. The children were very welcoming and performed songs and poems for us in different languages. It was lovely to see what wonderful facilities could be provided for children.

In the afternoon we attended a workshop facilitated by Dr Fausto Caels on Language Diversity. I found this especially interesting as lot of the key messages were very much in line with our own Schools of Belonging Project. We had the opportunity to work collaboratively to create teaching resources to support Language Diversity in the Classroom.

That evening we were hosted by Pedro at his beautiful home. We were treated to home-cooked traditional Portuguese dishes. It was a wonderful evening where everyone reflected on the day and shared their visions for the future of the project.

On Tuesday we got to a visit a small two teacher rural school near Oliveria. The teachers in this school had previously worked with Dr Fausto Caels and had a keen interest in promoting Linguistic Diversity in the classroom. There was evidence of the different languages in the classrooms with posters of language used on the walls. They had a map highlighting the countries where the children come from. It was especially nice to visit a small school as it was a close reflection of what small schools are like in Ireland.

We then got to visit Roman ruins at Bobadela near Oliveria and then we travelled to a local cheese making business Serra da Estrela. It was interesting to see how this cheese was made by hand and the time and effort it took to produce. The thistle plant was the important ingredient.

We returned to the school then to be served a fabulous six course lunch by the students in the school. This superb meal was prepared, cooked and served by the students. The meal was amazing and service was fantastic.

In the afternoon we had our planning meeting to discuss our Final Meeting in Ireland in October. We are gathering evidence for our Toolkit and Website. We are also hoping to create a video to capture the work we have done in our schools.

It was a very busy trip to Portugal but I enjoyed it enormously and found I learnt so much more about the Portuguese culture. It is hard to believe that we are already eighteen months into our project. Time flies when you are having fun!!!!

Minutes of   European Schools of Belonging

13/05/25

Oliveira do Hospital

Present: Helena, Alena, Tamara, Ruth, Mark, Tijana, Renate Liam, Catherine, Isabel, Cristina and Niamh.

The Draft Toolkit was discussed by the group. The toolkit must align itself with the original application.

The toolkit will be launched in Ireland on the 17^th October in Laois Education Support Centre.

Examples of good practice in photos or words need to be uploaded to the Toolkit. A google doc will be created and each school will upload  examples of best practice including photos. This must be completed by individual schools by July 4^th.

Catherine will edit the document …she will amend the current format and label each of the objectives eg 1 point 3.

Provisional Dates for the Conference October 17^th and 18^th (will be finalised by May 23^rd).

Cultural Activities during the day on Friday. Niamh will organise this

Launch of the Conference in the evening

Conference Saturday facilitated by Dr Deirdre Kirwan and David Little.

European Schools of Belonging will have to time to present at this conference and it was agreed that this would be done in a short video.

Each school will submit a maximum of 3 minutes.

Ideally the footage will include an Interview with the Principal and or Lead Teacher of the Project. Important to include the child voice and show examples of best practice in your school.

This is to be emailed to Catherine by the 26^th September at the very latest.

Questionnaires to be reopened but must be completed by Friday 30^th May.

Catherine will share the results with each individual school.

After the Conference the group will meet via Zoom to reflect on the project and to prepare the Final Draft.

Reflections for this visit must be sent to Catherine by Friday 30^th May.

The meeting then concluded.