Where we are...

Portuguese School Environment Characterization

1. Location
 
Location: Tires
Area: S. Domingos de Rana
District: Cascais
Town - Lisbon  
 
2. Geographical Coordinates
 
Latitude: 38º 43’ North
Longitude: 9º 20’ West
Altitude : 100 m
 
3. Geology
Soil Sediments: A mixture of calcium carbonated and marl of the Cretacic period which belongs to the Albanian-Middle Cenoma isotopic dating back 100 Million Years.
 
4. Climate
 
Climatic Subtype: Maritime mixed with Mediterranean
Average Temperature of the Hottest Month (July): 20º a 25ºC
Average Temperature of the coolest month(January): 5º a 9ºC
Thermal Amplitude: Under or Equal to 12ºC
Average Annual Rain Precipitation: between 600 and 1200 mm  
Total of sunny hours per year: from 2800 to 3100 hours
Air Humidity(9 hours): 70 –75 %
Most frequent wind direction: North and Northwest quadrant
 
 
5. Context
 
Located on the Eastern part of a municipality with about 200 000 inhabitants (Cascais) our School is composed by a population of nearly 41 000 inhabitants   (S. Domingos de Rana) which has been built by a mixed population with origin from other regions, mainly from Alentejo.
In recent times an increasing number of immigrants coming from African countries (former Portuguese colonies) has had as consequence that students from different cultural backgrounds are attending our school. The behaviour or attitudes and values are varied, which produce, sometimes social and family conflicts.
The major part of the population has a low educational level, which can be seen by the low percentage of people with a university degree (5%) and a high illiteracy rate in the district (6.7%) in 1991. The population of this region is characterized by a great number of people more than 40 years old, an aged population which is 9% in the region.
The school is built in an area which dates back to the XVI century, and it stands in an area where most of the houses have been illegally built. Faceiras and Massapés quarters, that, meanwhile have been legalized by Cascais Municipality, that has provided better housing conditions like sanitary system and water supply.
          Therefore it isn't surprising that the surrounding area doesn't look pleasant and it is even somehow irregular.
           As the area is far away from Cascais district centre, its main influence is upon Oeiras, Sintra areas where industrial activity and new residential quarters of the Lisbon peripheral area, are set up.
           Mostly students who attend the school, came from areas with chemical, food, graphic and ready-made shoes industries, car- parks, services and technology units, just to give some examples.
In this context, family life reflects the number of people living in this area. Labour demands, the increasing number of monoparental families, all these factors have great influence upon the youngsters' guidance by their families.