Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro (often referred to as "Porto Seguro" or "CVPS", formerly named "Deutsche Schule" (''German School'')) is a private bilingual school located in the neighborhood of Morumbi, in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The school was founded in 1878 by German immigrants, who wished a school in which their children could learn about German culture, without losing the connection with Brazil. It was elected by ''Veja'' magazine as the best school of São Paulo. Nowadays, the school has several other related units. Its main unit had the 149th best national performance at the 2014 ENEM in a ranking of 15640; the Panamby unit was ranked at 236 and the Valinhos unit had the 67th best performance.

History

The school was founded on September 22, 1878, as "Deutsche Schule", located in a rented building at Florêncio de Abreu Street, in downtown São Paulo. D. Pedro II visited the school in 1886. In 1913, the school moved to its own building at the Olinda Street, present day

Praça Roosevelt Praça Roosevelt is a public square in São Paulo, Brazil. Construction of the square began in 1968 and was completed in 1970. After decades of decline, the square was renovated in 2011–12. A second renovation to expand the skate park ...

. As the demand for school enrollment grew, two new units were built, one in

Consolação Consolação may refer to: * Consolação (district of São Paulo) * Consolação (São Paulo Metro) * Consolação, Minas Gerais Consolação is a municipality in Minas Gerais, Brazil. See also * List of municipalities in Minas Gerais This is ...

, and the other in Barra Funda. In 1943, due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it changed its name to "Ginásio Brasileiro Alemão" (''German-Brazilian Elementary School''), and later to Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro, after Francisco de Vahrnhagen, German-Brazilian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. In 1974, the school moved to its current location, in Morumbi, with its main entrance in Clementinne Brenne Street. Famous German musician Karl Richter was hired to direct the Colégio Porto Seguro Choir (''Coral do Colégio Porto Seguro''). Later on, in 1982,

Karl Carstens Karl Carstens (; 14 December 1914 – 30 May 1992) was a German politician. He served as the president of West Germany from 1979 to 1984. Early life and education Carstens was born in the City of Bremen, the son of a commercial school teacher, ...

, president of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, became another notable visitor. In 1982, the

Valinhos Valinhos () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality (''município'') in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is the birthplace of Adoniran Barbosa. Valinhos is famous for its purple fig, the theme of its annual Fig Fest. It is part of the Met ...

branch was founded. Valinhos was, at the time, a major residence for German immigrants, who had come to work for companies located in the region. In 1997, the Panamby unit was founded in order to answer to the high demand for room at the original Morumbi branch. The inauguration of the new branch had the

Vice Chancellor of Germany The vice-chancellor of Germany, officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of government and, according to the constitution, gives this title of deputy to o ...

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German former politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 200 ...

as a guest. In 2003, when the institution celebrated its 125th anniversary, more than 46,000 people attended the celebration event that took place at the

Estádio do Morumbi The Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, popularly known as Estádio do Morumbi (Morumbi Stadium), and currently known as MorumBIS for sponsorship reasons, is a multipurpose 72,039-seater football stadium located in the eponymous district in São ...

, located near the school. During the celebration, Brazilian singer

Fafá de Belém Fafá de Belém, born Maria de Fátima Palha de Figueiredo in Belém do Pará on August 9, 1956, is a Brazilian singer considered one of the great female singers of MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira). She took her stage name from the city of her ...

sang the School's anthem. In 2002, the first "Portinho" was founded, in front of the Panamby unit. In 2007, the second "Portinho", built inside Morumbi unit, was founded. This portinho was built where once has been one of the parking lots of the school. Nowadays, there's only one underground parking lot, with two floors.

Academics

Subjects

From 1st to 4th grade, students have Portuguese,

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

sciences Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

(mostly basic notions of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(up to 2006, German was taught only from 3rd grade on),

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

and

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

classes. On the 5th grade, history and geography are taught separately, music is no longer taught,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

classes are introduced and plastic arts now teaches basic notions of

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

. On the 8th grade,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

classes are introduced. At high school, all subjects determined by the

Brazilian Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education ( Portuguese: ''Ministério da Educação''), commonly known as MEC, originates from its previous name, the Ministry of Education and Culture (Portuguese: ''Ministério da Educação e Cultura''), is a cabinet-level fed ...

are taught: Portuguese, English, history, geography, mathematics,

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

. German and Spanish are kept until 2nd grade, and plastic arts/geometry is taught up to 1st grade. Also, at 3rd grade, Portuguese is divided into Portuguese (grammar and literature) and Composition (because many universities require a composition for admission at their

vestibular The Vestibular (from , "entrance hall") is a competitive examination and is the primary and widespread entrance system used by Brazilian universities to select the students admitted. The Vestibular usually takes place from November to January, ...

es), and the "Atualidades", a subject in which main events taking place during the time the class is given are discussed, was introduced in 2008.

Curricula

There are two curricula (or ''Zugs'', in German): A (Brazilian curriculum) and B (German curriculum). Sometimes the C curriculum (see below) is also considered.

A curriculum (currículo A; A-Zug)

The Brazilian curriculum follows the same system explained above.

B curriculum (currículo B; B-Zug)

B curriculum has a more German-oriented system. Therefore, most of its students are

German Brazilian German Brazilians (German language, German: ''Deutschbrasilianer'', Hunsrik: ''Deitschbrasiliooner'', ) refers to Brazilians of full or partial Germans, German ancestry. German Brazilians live mostly in the country's South Region, Brazil, South ...

. Apart from the normal classes the A curriculum have, they have also study History, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Arts, Music, English, Spanish (facultative), French (facultative and paid), PE (for the 1st to 4th grade plus abitur) and German classes taught in German (''Geschichte'', ''Mathematik'', ''Physik'', ''Chemie'', ''Biologie'', ''Kunst'', ''Musik'', ''Englisch'', ''Spanisch'', ''Fanzösisch'', ''Sport'' and ''Deutsch'' respectively). Classes are often smaller (containing around 20 students, in opposition to the normal 35 students of A curriculum classes), and students take the classes in the morning, along with the remaining morning students. B alumni also have the opportunity for taking the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

exams in the school.

C curriculum (currículo C; C-Zug)

The C curriculum offers free classes for students from the Paraisópolis

favela Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was b ...

, located near the school. Those classes are taken in the afternoon, together with the afternoon students. All books, notebooks, clothes and food are provided free.

Other units

Apart from the Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade I, which is the first and main unit, there are also other units, such as: * Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade II, in

* Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade III, at Panamby, a borough of São Paulo (this unit does not have the B curriculum). There are also the "Portinhos" (literally ''Little Portos''), which work much like a

day care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

. * Portinho Panamby * Portinho Morumbi, located inside the Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade I * Portinho Valinhos, located inside the Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade II All units together have about 10,500 students and 550 teachers.

Notable alumni

Robert Scheidt Robert Scheidt (born 15 April 1973) is a Brazilian sailor who has won two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze from five Olympic Games and a Star Sailors League Final. He is one of the most successful sailors at Olympic Games and one of t ...

– Sailor *

Queen Silvia of Sweden Silvia (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath; 23 December 1943) is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Vict ...

Queen Silvia visits the school
*

Thaissa Presti Thaissa Barbosa Presti (born November 7, 1985) is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Brazil., beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 30, 2008 Presti represented Brazil at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She competed at th ...

- Track and field sprint athlete *

Rodrigo Hübner Mendes Rodrigo () is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name ''Roderick'' ( Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last ...

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), is a non-profit organization. The organization was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and is managed from Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of the Sw ...

References

B curriculum at the official site

History of the school at Projeto 125 Anos

External links

Official website

Site for ex-students

Projeto 125 Anos - Website dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colegio Visconde De Porto Seguro Educational institutions established in 1878 International schools in São Paulo Private schools in Brazil 1878 establishments in Brazil German international schools in Brazil European-Brazilian culture in São Paulo