Cape Verde International Link

Partnership School

As a Rights Respecting school and with the increasing importance of global learning, it is vital that our children are provided with opportunities to learn about life in a different culture. One way to ensure this happens is through creating a link with a place of education in a foreign country.

As a result, Bunbury has worked to establish an exciting link with a partner school in Cape Verde (located off the west coast of Africa). We will be working in partnership with the school head teacher, Elias Cabral, to strengthen the link between the two schools so that the children from both countries benefit mutually from the relationship.

Castelao Primary School, in Cape Verde, was founded in 1990. It is a small school of a maximum of 280 pupils aged between 6 and 11 years old. The School comprises of years 1 up to year 4 and has 8 teachers including a School Manager. After completing year 4, pupils are distributed across schools in other areas. This can often be problematic and not all pupils progress any further. The school is named after the local area of Castelao, which is one of the poorest and deprived suburbs around the Capital City of Cape Verde, Praia. Despite high levels of poverty and deprivation, Castelao is a vibrant and colourful community, home to talented musicians and dancers. The official language spoken is Portuguese however the majority of the population also speak Creole.

So far, we have received a video of Castelao Primary School and have also sent a video tour of Bunbury School to them to get an insight into the similarities and differences between our two schools. Year 6 have also posted their work to them, on a ‘day in the life’, to enable the children at Castelao to see our daily routines.

Cape Verde Day

In February, we also organised a ‘Cape Verde Day’ where the children learnt about the culture through traditional dance and music from Emilio. There was also art, Geography and language activities.

We believe that this link will help to provide our children with invaluable experiences and lessons, which teach them about life in a different country. We are also excited to share our culture and traditions and welcome Castelao Primary as an extension of our Bunbury family.

England Day

In May, Castelao Primary School held an England Day where the children learnt about English culture. They sent us some photos of their learning.