ESPloring - Exploring our school

 At our school, students are invited to take part in various competitions to develop their knowledge and creativity. One of the competitions our class took part in was "What's your scene?". Our task was to make a 1-3 minute video warning about the dangers of social media. Our group decided to represent the fact that we don't know who is on the other side of the screen, the dangers of virtual bullying and the comparison that young people make with bodies on the internet.  Here’s our video, we hope you enjoy it!

 For those of you who don't know, our school has a student's association. If you're interested, you can form a list and try to be the winner. Mind you, it's not an easy task: you have to propose measures that make the whole school community happy, organise a campaign week where you bring in DJs and singers to liven up the students' breaks and manage the money on the list well.  This year at list week, the fight for the winning list was very close. The students were full of vigour defending their list and everyone wanted to know the final verdict. The winner this year was the EXE list, but everyone agreed that the work of the other lists was incredible.

From the morning until the afternoon, we don't get hungry or thirsty at our school. The bar is always selling bread, croissants, biscuits, cakes, fruit, water, juices... For lunch you can go to the canteen, where you get water, soup, bread, a main course and dessert. The cooks are always very attentive and friendly and the food is delicious. If you don't want to go to the canteen, you can go to the bar and buy a salad or a baguette that can be filled with chicken, pork loin, tuna or seafood. We hope we've convinced you to eat at school!

Our school has a lot to offer its students. As far as sport is concerned, students are invited to sign up for school sports in volleyball, tennis, swimming, athletics and chess. Since sport is so important in our lives, both physically and psychologically, and students have the opportunity to practise it for free at school, I think everyone should take part in it. In addition, the school has excellent sports facilities, a pavilion with a gym, an outdoor pitch, tennis courts, an athletics track and a sandpit. For chess lovers, in the library, a quiet place where you can concentrate, there is an area with several chessboards where you can find an opponent to match you.

  "The labels we carry" At first sight, everything around us is an unknown world. We, human beings, have the habit of labelling others based only on the way they dress, the way they talk and the way they look. That's a very sad thing, because we have preconceived ideas about others and we don't even give them a chance to really show themselves.   We all have a story, feelings and emotions, we all have a life! Even at school, we judge others by their appearance and we realise that we are also judged, that we carry labels (this is why we worry so much about what others think of us). The cure for this is love , being loved. We have to love each other and allow ourselves to get to know one another.

  Hello everyone! We are Afonso and Eva, we live in Penafiel (a city in Porto), in Portugal and we are both 16 years old. Actually, our birthday is on the same day. We first met when we were at swimming training together. Then in seventh grade we went to the same class and now we’re best friends. In this blog, we will talk about our amazing school “Escola Secundária de Penafiel (ESP)” and our school life. We hope you enjoy it!