Escola Básica e Secundária Tomás de Borba

Escola Básica e Secundária Tomás de Borba (EBSTB) is a public educational institution with its own administrative and managing board. It is formed by 9 preschool, elementary schools and a middle and high school which is the main building of the school’s organic structure and a regional music conservatory.

It is situated in Angra do Heroísmo, the main city of Terceira island, which is a UNESCO classified World Heritage site.

It has 99 school staff members, 249 teachers and 2000 pupils.

The school serves 8 communities on the western side of the island and bears a diverse social and economic structure. It presents a unique architectural and physical dimension standing out for its artistic, sportive and technological features.

Its aim is to continuously improve teaching skills in the most innovative and effective way possible.

Teachers develop collaborative working strategies daily, establishing a strong link within the staff and a true connection with their students. School activities are intended to provide meaningful learning experiences directing students awareness from their own identity to their inclusion in a wider European spirit.

All projects which have been developed have helped enhance communicative, cultural and management skills. As an arts and science focused establishment, we do a special effort to bring to our students the opportunity to interact with several aspects and initiatives to broaden their view.

Our school is a hub for local cultural events, either by our facilities or by our artistically oriented curriculum in several areas, but mostly musical. Our teachers have been collaborating in several cultural initiatives from our community and in some cases serving as initiators or catalysts for those initiatives.

We’ve been implementing sustainable practices in agriculture on our three experimental greenhouses that are now producing vegetables to be used in our cafeteria. We implemented a robotics club. The science department carries a science quiz event that brings together different classes of the same year to compete. Our classrooms are equipped with smartboards (ICT), we can also attend classes laboratories and develop skills in Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

We have school facilities equipped with some sports facilities of great quality: a soccer field with synthetic turf, a gymnastic pavilion and an indoor swimming pool.

There are also students with special needs included in regular classes which are helped by a special needs teacher and they also attend individual tutoring classes.

More than 100 experienced teachers with education degrees, mainly in permanent positions, have contributed to the participation in eTwinning projects, ERASMUS+ KA1  and KA2 partnerships, and extracurricular activities that encourages students to become environmentally responsible, promoting active citizenship and gender equality, preventing discrimination amongst teenagers and bullying, raising interest for science, cinema, sports and nature, such as Eco-Schools Program (International Program that aims to encourage actions and recognize the quality work developed by the school in the ambit of Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development) and Youth Parliament.