The History of CIV

The Vilamoura International School - CIV - was founded in 1984 as an international school for students in the Vilamoura area (one of the major tourist centres in Europe, located in the Algarve, in southern Portugal).

To date, the development of teaching has been a clear concern to the overall development of children, whilst the physical structure has been adapting and growing around ground-breaking teaching concepts.

CIV has an educational community of about forty nationalities and has become a benchmark school at a national and international level. 

The educational courses and the quality of education provided by CIV, permits national and foreign families to settle in the Algarve and in particular, the Loulé, Albufeira and Faro municipal areas.

Brief chronology 

1984 | Founding of the Vilamoura International School

1986 | Creation of the CIV Logo and introduction of the uniform

1988 | Beginning of the 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico 

1989 | First time CIV participated in the Sports Festival

1991 | Construction of the building designated as Block 1 

1995 | Opening of the Portuguese Secondary School (Ensino Secundário) and attainment of parallel teaching

1997 | Organisation of the 1^st meeting of cultures and launch of the Philosophy course for Children and Youngsters

1998 | First international internship

1999 | 1^st Gala dinner to award diplomas of excellence and graduation certificates

2000 | Start of the Mini Olympic Games and work experience programme

2001 | Construction of the building designated as Block 2 and developments of the sports fields

2001 | Introduction of the Annual Project

2002 | Introduction of the Reading Project

2005 | Additional subjects added to the Cambridge International Curriculum

2007 | Improvements to Block 1 and Dining Hall and introduction to Academic Week activities

2008 | Flexible technology project and introduction of laptops in the classrooms

2009 | CIV amongst the 10 best schools internationally with regards to its involvement in research projects (The world’s largest climate forecasting experiment for the 21^st century), introduction of the Cambridge Secondary 1 Checkpoint Programme.

2011 | 1^st place in the National Secondary School examination rankings

2012 | Summer School and Afterschool activities are initiated

2013 | Opening of the Cambridge English Assessment Examination Centre

2014 | Celebrations of CIV’s 30^th anniversary, tribute to the founders

2014 | Introduction of the Cambridge Primary Curriculum programme and the teaching of Mandarin in the Primary School.