Primary school in Portugal: timetable, after-school care and meals
A guide for parents of a child in 1.º ciclo do ensino básico (years 1–4 of primary school). It will help you work out when compulsory lessons end, how AEC differs from after-school care and how to order school lunches.
Ask for your own school's timetable
At a state primary school the compulsory curriculum usually takes up 25 hours a week, but there is no single national timetable. Lessons may start at around 9:00, with a lunch break between the morning and afternoon blocks. The exact start time, lunchtime and end of the day are set by the school.
Check three times straight away: when compulsory lessons end, when the Atividades de Enriquecimento Curricular (free extracurricular activities) end, and until what time your child can stay at the Componente de Apoio à Família (after-school care). In one case described by a parent, the school day ran until 17:00, but without AEC the child could be collected at around 16:00.
“I don't think you can get out of doing homework if the whole class gets it. We're at a state school, year one, homework three days, 2 days none (just when there's training), school till 17, but you can make it till 16 if you drop the AEC.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal19.12.2025
Tell compulsory lessons, AEC and after-school care apart
Atividades de Enriquecimento Curricular, or AEC (extracurricular activities), are optional activities after the main curriculum: sport, music, arts and crafts, English or other subjects. At state schools they are usually free, but what is on offer depends on the municipality and the Agrupamento de Escolas (school cluster).
Componente de Apoio à Família, or CAF (care before and after school), and Atividades de Tempos Livres, or ATL (after-school club and leisure centre), are childcare outside lessons. They may be run by the municipality, the Associação de Pais (parents' association) or an outside organisation. They are often paid for, and the terms and opening hours vary even between neighbouring schools.
Sign up for after-school care as early as possible
Once your child is enrolled, don't wait until September: go to the school and ask for the contact details of the organisation that runs CAF or ATL. Registration may be on a separate website, through the municipal platform or directly with the parents' association. Sometimes there is an annual registration fee.
Ask whether the service includes early-morning drop-off, time after AEC, an afternoon snack, homework help and supervision during the school holidays. Places are limited: parents said they signed up in advance precisely because after-school care could be full by September.
“we went to the school straight after enrolling in year 1, asked about after-school care (my husband and I both work and keeping the child at home for half of September isn't an option) and how their meals system works, whether we need to register anywhere, asked about any certificates they might need from us they gave us links to their after-school care organisations, where you have to register in advance, pay an annual fee, because the number of after-school places in September is limited so I'd go, if you need to find all this out +on the spot we filled in various forms: with the parents' names, phone numbers, emails, home addre”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal18.07.2025
Set the rules for who collects your child
The school and the ATL usually ask you to name the Encarregado de Educação (the person responsible for the child's education), give the parents' phone numbers and list the adults allowed to collect the child. Check whether they need to show ID and how to let the school know if someone else will be collecting your child.
If your child leaves before AEC or after-school care ends, find out what leaving times are allowed: you may not be allowed to walk in and collect them in the middle of an activity. A state school in town may not have a regular school bus; some outside ATLs offer their own transport.
Set up school meals
Lunch is served in the Refeitório Escolar (school canteen). Meals for primary pupils are often the municipality's responsibility, so you may order them not through the school itself but through SIGA (the municipal school services platform) or another local service. The school or the Câmara Municipal (town council) will give you the platform's name, a login and instructions.
Check whether you need to create a Cartão Municipal Virtual (virtual municipal card), top up the balance and book each lunch in advance. The booking deadline is set by the municipality: for example, one notice sent through SIGA allowed a lunch to be booked or cancelled until 9:45 on the same day. This is a local rule, not a single deadline for the whole of Portugal.
“Dear Parent/Guardian, we would remind you that for the 2023/2024 school year now beginning, it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to book/cancel their pupil's meals via the SIGA platform by 9:45 on the day itself. We would also stress the need to activate/create the virtual municipal card. We remain at your disposal for any further clarification. Kind regards.”
Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal30.08.2023
Report allergies and check the menu
The menu is usually published on the municipality's or the school's website, or in the meals system. As a rule, lunch is soup, a main course and fruit or a dessert, but quality and portion sizes vary.
If your child has an allergy, an intolerance or a medical diet, give the school medical confirmation in advance and fill in its form. Don't assume that telling the teacher is enough. Whether there is a vegetarian menu and what the rules are on food brought from home must be checked separately.
“My son refused to eat in the school canteen (state school) as soon as he moved to year 5 (from 1 ciclo to 2 ciclo) The reason is simple - it doesn't taste good. Honestly, you can't look at school food without crying - the soup is watery, the pasta with meat has 3 bits of meat in it, hardly any greens or vegetables. For fruit - always either an apple or a banana. Well, what do we expect for €1.46?! Other gems from the canteen: • no washing hands because if everyone goes to wash there'll be loads of water on the floor and someone will have to mop it up. • they often made them finish their food and wouldn't let them out to break until they did. • poor hygiene and cleanliness in the canteen itself, in t”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkfoodmarketpt18.03.2026
Sort out snacks and a plan for the holidays
Besides lunch, your child will usually need a lanche (snack) for the morning or the afternoon. Ask whether the ATL provides it or whether you need to pack food and a bottle of water every day.
Don't assume that an ordinary after-school care place automatically covers July, Christmas and Easter. For the interrupções letivas (school holidays) there is often separate registration, a different price, and places are subject to availability.
Homework also depends on the teacher. In one year-one class it was set three days a week, while in another parents got around 20 pages in several subjects at once. In the first few weeks it is worth checking whether homework is done at the ATL or will have to be finished at home.
“Today they brought homework, year 1, in every subject. About 20 pages I reckon, my daughter decided to do it all today. We sat for 4 hours and didn't finish, I'm crying and worn out, the child is happy, tomorrow there'll be more, 6 pages of maths still left.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal19.12.2025
What it costs, according to community conversations
| lunch at a state school, 2.º ciclo | €1.46 per lunch in March 2026; this is the experience of a family with a child in year 5, and the current rate for 1.º ciclo and ASE support should be checked with your municipality | source |
What to bring
- the school timetable and the coordinator's contact details
- the child's NIF and Encarregado de Educação
- the parents' ID documents
- contact details of the adults allowed to collect the child
- details for registering with SIGA or another municipal system
- a medical certificate for an allergy or special diet
- CAF or ATL forms and proof of payment
- information on the outside ATL's insurance
Where people most often trip up
- AEC and ATL are not the same thing: AEC is an extracurricular programme, ATL provides childcare
- a place at the school does not automatically mean a place in after-school care
- ATL registration may be with a separate organisation, not at the school office
- the hours of the main curriculum, AEC and CAF need to be checked separately
- lunch sometimes has to be booked for each day, even if your child eats there every day
- if you cancel late, the booked lunch may be charged to your balance
- ordinary after-school care may not run during the school holidays
- allergies and medical diets need to be documented
- homework help at the ATL is not guaranteed
- an outside ATL should be checked for insurance and its rules on transporting children
How it went for people
The cost of after-school care and school meals
In the Lisbon suburbs, a child in year 1 stays at school free of charge from 9:00 to 17:00, while the ATL lets them arrive from 7:30 and stay until 19:00 for €90 a month. Breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack cost €2.50 a day in total, or about €52.50 for 21 school days; you can opt out of school meals and send food from home. The older child has all three meals and is also given milk, 1–2 pieces of fruit and rice cakes, because he eats almost everything. Together with the younger child's nursery, meals and after-school care for the two come to €233 a month.
The ATL helped keep three children on one schedule
A family with children aged 5, 6 and 9 applied to schools in Braga in mid-August 2022. In the chosen agrupamento places could only be found outside the city: the two school-age children got a school place, and the youngest a nursery place about 10 minutes' walk away. For a year the children were taken by taxi, and the family paid for ATL at the nursery so that all of them could be collected at the same time.
Starting primary school without English
In November, a six-year-old moved from year 1 at a Russian school to P2 on a British curriculum with almost no English. For the first 2 months homework took 3 hours a day: the family translated words, made vocabulary lists, read picture books every day and also worked on maths vocabulary. After 3–4 months the child was speaking fluently, and after the second term moved up to P3. Now homework usually takes less than an hour, plus another 30 minutes before bed reading with a word-for-word translation.
Workload and pace at a state primary school
The family's three children went to Portuguese state schools: the eldest joined year 3, the middle one year 1, and the youngest pré-escolar. The girls' classes had 14–15 pupils each, the youngest's had 20; little homework was set, and the children mostly managed it on their own. Teachers split the curriculum into two blocks of 2 years and adjusted the pace to the child, giving those who finished quickly extra tasks or letting them draw. For a long time the family didn't add outside clubs, because the school activities, including sport and arts and crafts, were enough for the children.
Language, teachers and school food
The child started year 1 with no Portuguese at all and was speaking fluently by year 2. In 2 years only one teacher changed, who went on maternity leave. Other parents complained about the school food, but the family was happy with the curriculum and the teachers.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.