COMMUNITY PRESCHOOL
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT IN QUINTO CONGRESSO NEIGHBORHOOD
ParCo, together with Bahia Mar hotel and its guests, support over 40 children a year with preschool lessons. This is life-changing for those who would otherwise stay home until reaching 6 years old (primary school age) without a foundation in Portuguese language (most children speak the local language at home), socialization, logic and pre-literacy and pre-maths skills.
“The preschool difference lasts well into adulthood with better health, income and further education according to longitudinal studies.”
The Bonguile project supports the community preschool in Quinto Congresso neighborhood with subsidies for local teachers, professional development, porridge and supplies. The project will also provide access to a local international primary school (Southern Cross Academy) for one exceptional child per year.
The school was closed in April of 2020 due to a state of emergency imposed by the President related to the Covid-19 pandemic. We took the opportunity to add more learn-through-play visual aids on the walls, increase gate security around the playground. We look forward to reopening sometime in 2021.
We thank Bahia Mar guests for making the Bonguile project possible over the last several years, especially Debbie Osborne and her friends from the UK, mother and daughter guests Bernadette and Gina from Austria, Bob and Niamh Leeney from Ireland, and Lisa Keskinen from UCC church in Cornwall CT.
