Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro
Encyclopedia
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
, Brazil
. 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.
visited the school in 1886. In 1913, the school moved to its own building at the Olinda Street, now Roosevelt Square. As the deman for school enrollment grew, two new units were built, one in Consolação, and the other in Barra Funda. In 1943, due to the Second World War, 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
.
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
, president of West Germany
, became another notable visitor.
In 1982, the Valinhos
unit was founded. Valinhos was, at the time, a major conglomerate of German immigrants, who come to the companies of the region. In 1997, the Panamby unity was founded in order to answer to the high demand for room at the Morumbi unity. The inauguration of the unity had the Vice Chancellor of Germany Joschka Fischer
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
, located near the school. During the celebration, Brazilian singer Fafá de Belém
sang the School's anthem.
In 2002, the first "Portinho" was founded, in front of the Panamby unity. In 2007, the second "Portinho", built inside Morumbi unity, 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.
, mathematics
, sciences (mostly basic notions of biology
and anatomy
), history
/geography
, German
(up to 2006, German was taught only from 3rd grade on), music
, visual arts
and physical education
classes. On the 5th grade, history and geography are taught separately, music is no longer taught, English
classes are introduced and plastic arts now teaches basic notions of geometry
. On the 8th grade, Spanish
classes are introduced. At high school, all subjects determined by the Brazilian Ministry of Education
are taught: Portuguese, English, history, geography, mathematics, physics
, chemistry
and biology
. 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
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.
. 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, Physic, Chemie, Biologie, Kunst, Musik, Englisch, Spanisch, Fräzosisch, 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
exams in the school.
, 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.
There are also the "Portinhos" (literally Little Portos), which work much like a day care
.
All unities together have about 10.500 students and 550 teachers.
Morumbi
Morumbi is a district of the city of São Paulo belonging to the subprefecture of Butantã, in the southwestern part of the city. A common folk etymology attributes its name to the mixed Portuguese and Tupi phrase morro obi, which would mean "green hill", but this is disputed.Morumbi is between 9...
, in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. 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
Veja (magazine)
Veja is a Brazilian weekly newsmagazine published in São Paulo and distributed throughout the country by the media conglomerate Grupo Abril. It is the leading weekly publication in the country, and one of the most influential outlets of the Brazilian press...
as the best school of São Paulo. Nowadays, the school has several other related units.
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 IIPedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
visited the school in 1886. In 1913, the school moved to its own building at the Olinda Street, now Roosevelt Square. As the deman for school enrollment grew, two new units were built, one in Consolação, and the other in Barra Funda. In 1943, due to the Second World War, 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
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 race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
.
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
Karl Carstens was a German politician. He served as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1979 to 1984.-Biography:...
, president of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, became another notable visitor.
In 1982, the Valinhos
Valinhos
Valinhos is a city and municipality 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 geographically close to Campinas. The city's estimated population in 2009 was107,481. Its area is...
unit was founded. Valinhos was, at the time, a major conglomerate of German immigrants, who come to the companies of the region. In 1997, the Panamby unity was founded in order to answer to the high demand for room at the Morumbi unity. The inauguration of the unity had the Vice Chancellor of Germany Joschka Fischer
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005...
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
Estádio do Morumbi
Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo is a stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, home of São Paulo Futebol Clube and its formal name honors Cícero Pompeu de Toledo, who was São Paulo FC's chairman during most of the stadium construction, and died before its inauguration....
, located near the school. During the celebration, Brazilian singer Fafá de Belém
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...
sang the School's anthem.
In 2002, the first "Portinho" was founded, in front of the Panamby unity. In 2007, the second "Portinho", built inside Morumbi unity, 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.
Subjects
From 1st to 4th grade, students have PortuguesePortuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, sciences (mostly basic notions of biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
), history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
/geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(up to 2006, German was taught only from 3rd grade on), music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
and physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
classes. On the 5th grade, history and geography are taught separately, music is no longer taught, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
classes are introduced and plastic arts now teaches basic notions of geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
. On the 8th grade, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
classes are introduced. At high school, all subjects determined by the Brazilian Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education (Brazil)
The Ministry of Education , MEC, is a Brazilian government ministry.Functions of this ministry: national education policy, early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, higher education, youth and adult education, among other teachings Taking their proper decisions so that...
are taught: Portuguese, English, history, geography, mathematics, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. 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
Vestibular
The Vestibular is a competitive examination and is the primary and widespread system used by Brazilian universities to select their students. The Vestibular usually takes place from November to January, right before the start of school year in February or March, although certain universities hold...
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 BrazilianGerman Brazilian
A German Brazilian is a Brazilian person of ethnic German ancestry or origin...
. 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, Physic, Chemie, Biologie, Kunst, Musik, Englisch, Spanisch, Fräzosisch, 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
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
exams in the school.
C curriculum (currículo C; C-Zug)
The C curriculum offers free classes for students from the Paraisópolis favelaFavela
A favela is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil. In the late 18th century, the first settlements were called bairros africanos . This was the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Over the years, many freed black slaves moved in...
, 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 unities
Apart from the Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade I, which is the first and main unity, there are also other unities, such as:- Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade II, in ValinhosValinhosValinhos is a city and municipality 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 geographically close to Campinas. The city's estimated population in 2009 was107,481. Its area is...
- Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro Unidade III, at Panamby, a borough of São Paulo (this unity doesn't have the B curriculum).
There are also the "Portinhos" (literally Little Portos), which work much like a day care
Day care
Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
.
- 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 unities together have about 10.500 students and 550 teachers.
Notable alumni
- Robert ScheidtRobert ScheidtRobert Scheidt is a renowned Brazilian sailor, having won two gold medals and two silver medals from four Olympic Games...
– Sailor - Queen Silvia of SwedenQueen Silvia of Sweden|align=right|Queen Silvia of Sweden is the Queen consort of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Styled Her Majesty The Queen, Silvia is the mother of the heir apparent to the throne, Crown Princess Victoria.-Childhood:Queen Silvia was born in Heidelberg, Germany, on 23 December 1943...
- Thaissa PrestiThaissa PrestiThaissa Barbosa Presti is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Brazil.Presti represented Brazil at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with Lucimar de Moura, Rosemar Coelho Neto and Rosangela Santos...
- Track and field sprint athlete - Rodrigo Hübner Mendes - Young Global Leader