Lincoln School Or Belgrano Day Or Arco Iris?

[arielm]

hi friends,
i am so hoping by a miracle that some of you can give me your thoughts! We are still in the US and will be moving to BA in late June. My 6 year old son just got his 'acceptance' to Lincoln school, and they want a $1000 deposit. It's a lot, but if it's the best place for him, we'll do it.

We hear he will be able to get into Belgrano Day, Lincoln, Washington and Arco Iris...

My questions:
- any experiences w/Lincoln?
- do you need to live near it for it not to be too hard on a 6 year old commuting?
- anyone live near there? and, if so, is it really far from Belgrano (where my husbands friends and family live?)
- our son speaks pretty good Spanish and is 1/2 Argentine, so would it be a better experience to be thrown into a first grade half way through in July in a school like Belgrano Day school? He is definitely American though - and very sensitive, social, sweet, and I'm a bit afraid of him feeling excluded by entering 1/2 through a school year and being very foreign and not fluent.

My husband is a porteno, and seems to think that Lincoln maybe great for our son so that his transition back to the US is easy in 18 months. I really hate the thought of him sitting on a school bus for hours, or me driving there with my 2 year old. La Lucille?

MUCHAS GRACIAS!

 

[sergio]

Lincoln has a curriculum based on the US public school model. American and other foreign students. Expensive. BDS is Argentine, probably few or no Americans. I should think much cheaper. Lincoln has better facilities and i think smaller classes

 

[Matiasba]

If you want your son to interact with argentine people, make locals friends and learn some spanish you should not go to Lincoln.

 

[Iznogud]

Lincoln will be fine for 18 months.

 

[cbonanni]

Lincoln is the best school. period. Expensive. Commute from Belgrano , at rush hour , allow an hour. Otherwise 1/2 hour.

 

[syngirl]

Just recently one of the other parents on the board (Parvati) summed up Lincoln to me (note: she does not send her child there) as feeling like you're paying a lot of money to send your child to a school that is equivalent to a good public school in the USA. So you know, it's hard to say. It's one of the only schools that hires native english speakers, so the quality of teaching in respect to that will be good. I can't say if it is really worth the money or not, especially when you are only talking for a short term and for primary school -- if you don't feel it's breaking your budget then for the convenience of being on the American school year, maybe it would be a good decision, but your child won't really get as much of an introduction to Argentine culture. But really, 18 mos in a school at this age is not going to make or break his chances of getting into a university! All of the schools on your list are very good quality.

From Belgrano it is awhile on the bus. Driving not so bad, in a car you would be doing reverse commute so probably about 25 mins or so in the morning and a bit more in the afternoon. However the school day is very long here, around about 8am-5pm, perhaps Lincoln has slightly different hours. But most schools stop for 1.5hrs for lunch, making the afternoon very long. For a 6 year old it makes for a long day. Adding another hour or so a day in the car might be hard (and the bus will make multiple stops, so it is longer).

The upside of sending him somewhere closer to where you live is that he may have the option to come home for lunch (as I say, 1.5 hrs lunch, so if you're relatively near that would be an option).

As far as adjusting mid-year at any school, yes it may be a bit difficult, but soon enough you'll be on that crazy birthday-go-round -- policy here is that you have to invite everyone in the class, they are held mid-week in the afternoons, ridiculous, but it means that your son will be caught up in it.

If you have budgetary concerns about the tuition fees you may actually also want consider that -- sending to Lincoln means you are also becoming part of that society -- all sorts of events, outings, birthdays. People spend ridiculous amounts on a single afternoon birthday party, they send out the bus to pick up all the kids and take them to the country club.

I do not agree that Lincoln is the best y punto -- it is certainly among the best, but Northlands, San Andres, and Saint Georges are all up there if not better -- especially Northlands and St Georges, I think they outpace Lincoln. Belgrano Day School is certainly within the top 10-15 so it's not at all as if your child would suffer going there.

You may want to join the Buenos Aires Mummy Group on Facebook and post your questions about the schools -- some of the parents may be sending their children or may have seen all the schools themselves and could help out. I would also say to PM Parvati, one of the users of this forum -- she has a 6 year old and had the same decisions to make as they were only here a short time --she told me the other day that she knows parents from various schools so can probably give you a really good rundown before you make your choice! Good luck!

 

[syngirl]

Hmm just posted and it said it had to be approved... usually that means the post never appears so I'll repost, sorry if it doubles.

Lincoln is a very good school -- but it is not the best y punto. Northlands, San Andres, and St Georges are all as good if not better. Belgrano Day School is amongst top 10, so your child would not suffer to go there.

If money is not a concern, then perhaps for the convenience of being on the American calendar, and as it is such a short time, maybe it is worth it. But your child will not really learn much Argentine culture as he would in another school. Does this matter so much? Not really sure -- at this age 18 mos in a school is not going to be life changing.

However, if the tuition fees are causing some budgetary concern, do also consider that when you send to a school you are really entering into that level of society, which comes with lots of events, outings, birthdays etc. People spend ridiculous amounts on birthday parties here -- the bus picks everyone in the class up from school (yes, because they are held midweek in the evening, and policy is whole class is invited...) and you take them out to the country club or what have you -- when sending to Lincoln they will almost certainly be at a club. You'll be on that ridiculous Tren de la Porqueria (sorry, Alegria) bus way more times than you would ever want to be....People spend thousands of pesos on these events, so you may also want to consider these extras that are beyond the tuition costs.

I would contact Parvati, another one of the parents on this board. She has a son about the same age and also needed to find a school for the short term. She knows parents from a variety of schools so can probably give you a good summary. She also summed up Lincoln to me the other day as feeling like you are paying an awful lot of money to send your child to the equivalent of a good public school in the USA. That to me says, if we were talking about longterm education in Argentina (ie living here permanently with eyes to sending abroad for university), maybe it would be worth it, but for short term... at this young age... I don't know that it is worth the investment. The better investment may be to send to somewhere like Belgrano Day where the education level is stiull very good but there's more of an Argentine feel, he's close to home so may even be able to come home for lunch.

Lincoln on the school bus will be a long day -- school day is about 8am or so to about 5pm. Lunch is 1.5 hrs (that's why I say if he were in Belgrano he could come home for lunch) -- by car not so bad, about 25 mins in the morning once you're on the hwy (one hour if you go via Libertador, otherwise get on the Panamericana/Colectora and much quicker than waiting at lights the whole way) and 35 in the afternoon doing reverse commute. The other is if you send to Belgrano Day you could probably also put your 2 year old in the jardin class there for the morning or afternoon session, they usually give you a price break when sending siblings, and the 2 year old could get some friends and spanish out of it too.

 

[sergio]

If your employer is paying i guess Lincoln is Ok if you are looking for a US public school environment otherwise there are any number of satisfactory bilingual schools that wont charge a fortune.

 

[syngirl]

We interviewed at Islands International school the other day, it is in Belgrano, we really liked the programme, it is bilingual, IB, half day in Spanish, other half English. The IB programme is standard across the world so transferring a child to another school after (in theory) means that they will not have to repeat anything. They have mostly Argentines but do have some experience with expats and have also had experience with students moving back to USA etc. some of their graduates also are lucky enough to attend university abroad (since most are argentines, obviously for financial reasons most stay at home). We will be visiting the junior school facilities next week to see the classrooms etc. I don't know the exact tuition for the year that you would be looking for, but you could contact them to see if you were interested. (ours in only 2, and of course prices tend to be different for each age group)

 

[mmoon]

We sent our son to Belgrano Day School and were extremely happy with it (we've since moved back to the US). Both his English and Spanish teachers were excellent, as was all of the support to bring his Spanish up to speed. Everyone there more or less speaks English, so your child will not be floundering. (The neighborhood is awesome, although we literally had to go door to door to apartment buildings to finally find a place to rent.) He was speaking more or less fluently in two months. He transitioned well and made a lot of friends, although I will say that I felt that the boys in Argentina are quite a bit rougher on each other than they were in California. Still, we all worked together to deal with it and he learned a few skills he didn't have previously. We met some very nice families and felt welcomed into the school. There were three other foreign students in his class, which I understand is pretty typical for them. His class had 22 students. The school has a bit of a snobby rep, but I felt like the staff were all around excellent and most of the families very down to earth (although those moms generally really dress up for drop off and pick up!) Coming back to the US was a little awkward because of the different school calendar, but he was actually ahead of his classmates in the same grade. If you really want to be part of Argentine culture, give your child a great education and not spend all of your time on that horrible, long drive to Lincoln, I would highly recommend BDS.

Good luck!