Parent's Review of International School Of San Salvador in San Salvador , El Salvador

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

International School Of San Salvador

In what town or city is this school located?

San Salvador

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

International

What grade levels are represented at this school?

K-12

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

The school has no buses, it instead has a list of transportations providers who they deem as reliable and they cost about 60 dollars to take your child to and back from school. Most kids are taken and picked up by parents, and no one walks to school due to the severe crime and violence problems in El Salvador.

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The facilities of the schools poor, it includes a small eating area, compiled with minute classes and 1 basketball court for 400 students. You can walk around the whole school in less than thirty minutes and the school only has 2 boys and girls washrooms, not enough for the student size. My boy has to crouch to use the down stairs restroom because it was made for little kids. The AP classes are not widely available, my child can't take app class's until he was in tenth grade, and it was forced AP psychology and in 12th with forced AP Spanish. AP calculus is available, but the teacher only orates from 6:30 am to 7:30, so one has to get up early. Technology is poor, 4 projectors, and only 20 computers for a class size of 23 students isn't favourable. The Internet connection for students is not available, so my child has to take his own 3G connection to do research papers in class when the computer lab isn't available.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

In my personal case I had my child go through three different math teachers in three years, this inconsistency has now affected us, so much so that in AP Calculus students have to learn subjects that were supposed to be seen in algebra 1 and 2. Also the teachers they hire are sometimes not well screened, My son had a chemistry teacher that didn't have a teaching degree, therefore the main problem was that he couldn't handle students and taught with downloaded PowerPoint presentations, despite this they still hired him for two years. In addition since the school is more affordable, compared to other top tier bilingual schools, it doesn't garner enough revenue to have Each teacher Only specialize in one area, therefore the Spanish teacher has to teach grades 10-12, a load of 60 students in two subjects. Moreover the books that are used are severely outdated, in sociology the book dates back to 2008 and has facts from 2004, this causes problems in teaching because students have take time in class to find the updated facts.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

It is a school in which a child will have no problem adjusting because the students are relatively down to earth compared to other top tier bilingual schools and the environment is friendly because they are used to seeing kids come and go from one country to the next. In this school their cliche of being a second family is not to be squandered because the fact is that the forced mix of grades 1-12 and minute size of the school allows you to meet almost everybody, as well as, the staff around the school. For a parent it isn't difficult to meet the teachers, and have discussions with them, they are readily available.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

Overall the school is not a bad bet if you are in El Salvador for the short term, maybe a year or two, or in primary, but if you are here longer look somewhere else where your child won't obtain a mediocre education. I can personally say that what My child has achieved as an athlete and student is more because of his personal drive, than what the school has offered him. I haven't moved him fro the school because the environment, his friends and longetivity at the school have been key factors, but education wise primary is alright, high school needs improvement.

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