A village for families to thrive
We're designing neos·village around a simple belief: it takes a village to raise a child. Children thrive when they're held by more than just their own household, and families deserve community where that kind of support is real.
A place where children belong to everyone
Ask us what we most want families to feel here, and it's this: that a child can walk to any house in the village and be welcomed, fed, and looked after. This is the culture we're building toward, and we're designing the village to support it in real, practical ways.
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Growing up fully empowered
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We want school here to grow the whole person, not just fill a child's head with facts.
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Our aim is to draw out each child's own blueprint — their development, confidence and connection with the world.
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Real, practical skills for a changing world, so children step into adulthood genuinely empowered.
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A way of learning that keeps going for life, across three dimensions: self, relational and environmental.
How the village cares for children & families
Play spaces drawn from the land:
Forest-school-style play areas built from what's already there — natural courses among real trees for climbing, building and exploring.
A childcare circle:
Childcare as one of the village's working sociocratic circles — a rota of people, so wherever children gather, someone is watching over them.
A shared sense of responsibility:
A village-wide understanding that everyone here carries some responsibility for the children among us.
A village built to bring people together:
Clusters of homes close together, with every path and road drawn to lead somewhere people gather — a fire circle, or a shared dining space.
A holistic 'education'
An education built around the whole child.
We want school here to grow the whole person, not just fill a child's head with facts. Our education is built around three dimensions, carried through from the very beginning: self, relational, and environmental.
The three dimensions
Self — physical and emotional wellbeing, self-awareness, confidence, and connection with nature. Relational — emotional intelligence, sharing and fairness, teamwork, and community life. Environmental — growing and cooking food, hands-on care for plants and animals, understanding how the village is designed, and simple, low-impact daily habits.
Learning by doing
Forest School is our likely starting point, with nature itself as the classroom. Drawing inspiration from Montessori and Steiner — plus key parts of a conventional education that are genuinely practical. As children grow, creative studios open up too — art, pottery, music production, film. (Because neos·village is legally a touristic development, we won't call this a "school" in the formal sense — but the substance will speak for itself.)
Ready for the world ahead
For teenagers, part of our vision is to bring back real rites of passage — guided experiences that mark and honour the transition into adulthood. The same three dimensions content evolves into deeper programs and courses: such as permaculture and regenerative agriculture, ecovillage design, leadership and self-mastery — real skills for a world being reshaped by AI and a changing climate, with teenagers training alongside adults and interning into the life of the village. This is what we hope growing up at Neos will look like: rooted, capable, and ready for a world nobody else is quite preparing them for.
Designed for future generations
Thriving in the whole village
Children thrive when a whole village helps hold them, not just their own family — welcomed and looked after wherever they go, in community and nature.
Learning by doing
Hands-on, sensory learning inspired by Forest School, Montessori and Steiner, with nature itself as the first classroom, and studios for creative exploration.
The pathway into the world
As kids grow into young adults, the Neos Center offers a path from learning to doing to contributing — rooted, capable, and ready for a changing world.
How will education work legally?
Education will be available within Portugal's established legal framework.
Education at Neos will operate within Portugal's established legal framework for home education.
How does this work? Every child gets formally registered with a host school (from anywhere in the country - we will find the most aligned school to work with), supported by a designated tutor, and assessed through national examinations at the end of each educational cycle. What children learn in the village is mapped to Portugal's essential learning goals, with structured preparation for each assessment organised at community level.
Children at Neos will grow up genuinely bilingual — at home in English and in Portuguese, rooted in the Alentejo rather than living beside it. We see that as part of the gift. The result is an education that is fully recognised within the Portuguese system — and lived, daily, in the village.
Visit Us / Join a Call
We are currently getting to know possible future residents through the Neos Experience lite retreats - OR - you can book an afternoon visit.
Please see join.neos.life for full information on the village process. Prefer to sense the cultural ethos and spirit of the village first? Fill out the Attunement form:
