Public Primary School in BA?

[yvonnerose1107]

Hola, qué onda!

I will be studying abroad in BA for the upcoming spring semester (2020) with my 10 year old son who will be in 5th grade. I've been researching schools in the area and although I would love to send him to a fancy bilingual private school, son demasiado caros. Entonces, I was wondering if anyone has experience with BA public schools and can offer me some advice and guidance as to how to go about the registration process. Or perhaps there is a private school that is a bit more affordable which I haven't found yet? Either way, I definitely want my son to be taking classes in Spanish and expect him to be fluent by the end of the semester. He is a beginner at the moment and we speak Spanglish in the house a veces but nowhere near the fluency I would like for him. Basically any advice on how to register my son for an affordable school is welcome. I am also open to alternative methods such as tutors, etc.

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help and look forward to the responses,
-Yvonne

 

[Daniel82]

What would you consider affordable? Most of the more “normalito” private schools are what many people would consider affordable, especially comparing the cost to schools abroad, whereas it’s a few very select top schools which are prohibitively expensive.... That being said, these very elite schools are mostly attended by foreigners, embassy kids, and a few very select rich kids, so I don’t know that even if had the money, I would send kids there as they are basically a very sheltered bubble for a select few and the kids wouldn’t get an accurate portrayal of the real world.

 

[yvonnerose1107]

***I will be enrolled in the Foreign Language Program at the Eastern BA Universidad Austral Campus (Avenido 9 de Julio). Therefore I am looking for a place in the Recoleta, Retiro, or Monserrat area. However, I am open to traveling for a better educational experience if necessary.

 

[yvonnerose1107]

What would you consider affordable? Most of the more “normalito” private schools are what many people would consider affordable, especially comparing the cost to schools abroad, whereas it’s a few very select top schools which are prohibitively expensive.... That being said, these very elite schools are mostly attended by foreigners, embassy kids, and a few very select rich kids, so I don’t know that even if had the money, I would send kids there as they are basically a very sheltered bubble for a select few and the kids wouldn’t get an accurate portrayal of the real world.

Some of these schools are more expensive than my yearly college tuition! Being that I'm a single mom and full-time college student, I don't really consider any private schools affordable. I have yet to see a tuition for under 10k per year. We will be staying a minimum of 4 months so in the case we choose a private school I'm not sure if we would have monthly tuition opposed to annual but if so, I'd say nothing more than 500/month (or 6,000/yr). I am basically living off scholarships and grants which may be able to offset some of the costs but it really comes down to the quality and experience of the education. In my hometown my son is able to get a decent education at the local public school for free. In BA I am looking for an educational experience that will allow him to be immersed into the language, culture, and arts of the country (not necessarily a sheltered bubble, lol.)

 

[Daniel82]

I don’t have kids first off, however I do have lots of Argentinean friends who make decent (but not exhorbitant) salaries who all have their kids in private schools— the more “normalito” ones NOT the 10k sheltered bubble ones. I assume these aren’t as well known as they probably don’t do the type of flashy advertising geared to ex pats as the upper echelon does but rest assured they are out there and there are more of those than the poshy ones.
Unfortunately, Buenos Aires doesn’t seem to be like other places where if you live in the nicer parts, it’s ok and even better to send your kids to the public schools than the private.

 

[yvonnerose1107]

I don’t have kids first off, however I do have lots of Argentinean friends who make decent (but not exhorbitant) salaries who all have their kids in private schools— the more “normalito” ones NOT the 10k sheltered bubble ones. I assume these aren’t as well known as they probably don’t do the type of flashy advertising geared to ex pats as the upper echelon does but rest assured they are out there and there are more of those than the poshy ones.
Unfortunately, Buenos Aires doesn’t seem to be like other places where if you live in the nicer parts, it’s ok and even better to send your kids to the public schools than the private.

Interesting to hear that a lot of Argentinians are sending their children to private schools..and nice to hear of the potential there are more affordable ones available. Thanks for your input! If you happen to speak with any of those friends within the next few weeks would you mind finding the name of the school so I can do some research? The schools I have been finding are high up in the google search and have fancy websites so I'm sure they're paying a decent amount of money for the advertising.
Thanks again!

 

[Kula]

I'd say nothing more than 500/month

I know there are schools who ask only few thousands pesos, for the record, my friend pays as cheap as 2500 PESOS per month, but her kid is younger. Such schools are private, but not INTERNATIONAL fancy type, those are for the locals and not for expats, actually there is no foreigners at all in such schools.

Also public schools are free, and it is super easy to get in there, because education is the right, you need only passport and you are in. Maybe you do not even need passport, not sure about that.

 

[yvonnerose1107]

I know there are schools who ask only few thousands pesos, for the record, my friend pays as cheap as 2500 PESOS per month, but her kid is younger. Such schools are private, but not INTERNATIONAL fancy type, those are for the locals and not for expats, actually there is no foreigners at all in such schools.

Also public schools are free, and it is super easy to get in there, because education is the right, you need only passport and you are in. Maybe you do not even need passport, not sure about that.

Thank you for your response, Kula! Are you speaking from a personal experience or do you know a friend that is in a situation similar to me ?

Wow! 2500 pesos, thats amazing. Too bad I'm not a local
Are International students not in these schools because they are not permitted, or because they choose to send their children elsewhere?

So public schools are free and easy to get in with just a passport? I'm guessing I will need some type of documentation like a birth certificate or something? Or like some sort of records? If not, that makes things easy on me haha, I just want to make sure I am not missing anything when I show up in February and am not able to get the required documentations from back home.

 

[Kula]

Too bad I'm not a local
Are International students not in these schools because they are not permitted, or because they choose to send their children elsewhere?

They are permitted, why not, but they do not know such schools and do not look for those schools initially.

to get in with just a passport?

a birth certificate, passport/ DNI, vaccinations certificate, any paper from previous schoo. certificado de domicilio etc, this what I got when made a call.
But on practice nobody ever looked at anything and I filled a form with a passport number that I know by mind, I don`t even remeber was I taking it out from a pocket or not. But this was not in BsAs.

 

[yvonnerose1107]

They are permitted, why not, but they do not know such schools and do not look for those schools initially.

Interesting...if you know of any in the BA area, please let me know !


a birth certificate, passport/ DNI, vaccinations certificate, any paper from previous schoo. certificado de domicilio etc, this what I got when made a call.
But on practice nobody ever looked at anything and I filled a form with a passport number that I know by mind, I don`t even remeber was I taking it out from a pocket or not. But this was not in BsAs.

Thats awesome, where in Argentina was this ?