Licensed schools & accredited networks in Portugal

Multiple locations

The Associação Portuguesa de Escolas com Pedagogia Waldorf is the network for Waldorf pedagogy in Portugal (present since 1984). It lists the Ministry-accredited Waldorf schools and kindergartens: Escola Waldorf a Oliveira (Vila do Bispo), Escola Casa da Floresta (Lisbon), Apis (Sesimbra), Escola da Terra (Sintra), Escola Jardim do Monte / HARPA (Alhandra), Jardim de Infância São Jorge (Amadora) and Waldorf Infância Viva (Lagos). It also lists emerging initiatives.

Sesimbra (Setúbal peninsula)

Waldorf school opened in 2020 at Quinta do Semanito, Sesimbra, started by families from Lisbon’s Escola Casa da Floresta. Kindergarten and primary classes in a rural setting south of the Tejo.

Coimbra

Established Coimbra school operating a Clonlara-affiliated international section, offering an alternative international programme inside a more formal school structure.

Ferreiras, Albufeira

International Montessori school in Ferreiras, Albufeira, founded in 2018 by a group of families who spent three years building it. It teaches in English and Portuguese from Children’s House (3–6) through Elementary (6–12). The school combines Montessori with the International Baccalaureate: it is a candidate school for the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP).

São Tomé de Negrelos, Santo Tirso

One of Portugal’s most famous alternative public schools. Organised by project/team logic with no traditional classrooms, emphasising participation, autonomy, solidarity and democratic values.

Lisboa (Monsanto / São Domingos de Benfica)

Lisbon’s Waldorf school, founded in 2004 on the edge of Monsanto forest park. Follows the Steiner/Waldorf curriculum from kindergarten through the 2.º ciclo. In 2020 families from the school founded a sister school, Apis, in Sesimbra.

Azóia, Sintra

Waldorf kindergarten and primary school founded in 2008 in Azóia, near Cabo da Roca. Integrates artistic activities and movement arts across the curriculum, aiming at the physical, emotional and intellectual development of the child.

São João dos Montes, Alhandra (Vila Franca de Xira)

Waldorf school run by HARPA (Associação Recriar para Aprender) at Quinta de S. João dos Montes north of Lisbon. Describes itself as based on an integrative view of the child’s physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual development.

Bonfim, Porto

Porto’s AMI Montessori school, founded in 2018 and now based in Bonfim. It runs mixed-age groups from a toddler community (18 months–3) through Casa das Crianças (3–6) and into the 1.º and 2.º ciclo, making it the only RAMP school in the North with Montessori primary. Children choose their own work with self-correcting materials while AMI-trained guides observe and follow their interests.

Figueira, Vila do Bispo

Waldorf basic-education school founded in 2008 in the former primary-school building of Figueira, in the western Algarve. Run by E.L.A., Associação Pedagógica de Estudos Waldorf. It is the only APEPW-listed Waldorf school that runs all the way through the 3.º ciclo (9th grade).

Bordinheira, Torres Vedras

Bilingual English–Portuguese Montessori Children’s House for ages 3–6, which opened in September 2022 in a restored village school in Bordinheira. That puts it about 10 minutes from Torres Vedras and 10 minutes from the Silver Coast at Santa Cruz. It also runs 0–3 playgroups and a second campus in Amoreira, Óbidos. The team follows AMI principles and works closely with Portugal’s AMI training centre, and families come from more than 14 nationalities.

Alfragide, Amadora

The first Waldorf initiative in Portugal. Waldorf creche and kindergarten in Alfragide, on the western edge of Lisbon.

Quinta da Marinha, Cascais

Catholic Montessori school founded in 2017 at Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, between the beaches and the Sintra hills. It runs from age 3 to 18, combining the Montessori method with Cambridge International assessments for older students. School life includes a farm programme, art and music, religious formation through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and a deliberately low-tech (“technological minimalism”) approach.

Cascais

Not-for-profit, co-educational Montessori school in the Cascais area, founded by Ivona Rozanovska (who also founded Vilnius Montessori School). English is the main language of instruction, with Portuguese taught by classroom assistants and specialist teachers at native or non-native level. Classrooms are mixed-age from Casa (3–6) through Elementary (6–12), and every lead teacher holds an AMI diploma. Not to be confused with Montessori Bright Academy in Lisbon, whose website is lisbonmontessorischool.com.

Alvalade, Lisboa

Small international Montessori school on Av. Almirante Gago Coutinho in Alvalade, Lisbon: about 70 children from 37 nationalities in five classes. Every guide is AMI-certified, and the school reports a 1:4 guide-to-child ratio. Children have 20 hectares of surrounding green space for outdoor play. Programmes run from Toddler (1–3) through Primary (3–6) to Elementary (6–12). Its website is lisbonmontessorischool.com, but it is a different school from Lisbon Montessori School in Cascais.

Estrela, Lisboa (next to Tapada das Necessidades)

Licensed bilingual (English–Portuguese) Montessori preschool for children from babies to age 6, next to the Tapada das Necessidades park in Estrela, Lisbon. It focuses on the first plane of development (0–6) and on supporting families, with outdoor learning spaces and an international parent community.

Multiple locations

The Montessori Portugal directory of environments with AMI-trained guides. Listed environments include Escola Montessori do Porto, Humans Montessori Education (Torres Vedras), Lisbon Montessori School (Cascais), Kairos Montessori (Cascais), Montessori Bright Academy (Lisboa), OmOntessOri (Lisboa), Eden Montessori International School (Albufeira), and the (inactive) Atelier da Associação Montessori de Setúbal.

Barão de São João, Lagos

Waldorf creche and kindergarten founded in 1992 in Barão de São João, inland from Lagos. Run by the Associação Jardim de Infância Internacional, it grounds its early-years work in Steiner’s anthroposophy.