Chile Forum

Hi there, I'm a newbie to the forum (1st post) so bear with me....

We're a family of 6 (4 young kids) looking to move to Santiago / Valparaiso in September this year. We're keen to get the eldest two (6 year old twins) into school. I've a bunch of questions that I'd really appreciate some help with, for starters:

* Our finances won't cover fee-paying schools. Is it possible to get kids into public schools - and if so, how?
* Does anyone have experience of putting their non-Spanish speaking children into Spanish-speakign schools? they're bright kids and pretty robust but dumping them in so deep worries me a little.

Any guidance or experiences very gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

At 6 years old, they should have no problem in picking up the language very quickly. We stuck our son into school here at 8 years not speaking any Spanish and although initially it was tough, he found that the other kids helped him a lot and within 6 months he was doing fine.
As far as govt schools go, I don´t have any experiecne but from what you read, it´s not something that you would choose if any other alternative exists. If cost is of importance, why not try the " subvencionadas". I have relatives who send their kids to one in Vitacura and they pay next to nothing and the tuition is not bad . It´s obviously not as good as private but it´s a start and maybe later you could move them into a fee paying school

RichardB wrote:Hi there, I'm a newbie to the forum (1st post) so bear with me....

We're a family of 6 (4 young kids) looking to move to Santiago / Valparaiso in September this year. We're keen to get the eldest two (6 year old twins) into school. I've a bunch of questions that I'd really appreciate some help with, for starters:

* Our finances won't cover fee-paying schools. Is it possible to get kids into public schools - and if so, how?
* Does anyone have experience of putting their non-Spanish speaking children into Spanish-speakign schools? they're bright kids and pretty robust but dumping them in so deep worries me a little.

Any guidance or experiences very gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

I know nothing about the school system here, but i remember reading this:

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/news/educat ... f-students

there have been many nasty statistics on the public school system in chile, low quality, many strikes, i remember when i first moved to chile students had to go to school after xmas to complete the school year because of the amount of strikes!

when reading that article, it is implied that chile has a "subsidised" school system, im presuming this means the government pays a bit, you pay abit!!!!,You are going to have to look into eligibility..... and do some more research, i think you will also find that outside of the exclusive schools you will find they are probably reasonably priced!

escuelas subvencionadas is what you need to google,

and my girl friend just recommended http://www.amandalabarca.cl/ some places have the price on there websites, i couldnt find this ones price!

You will be asking for pure trouble.

Every client that we have ever had try it, have had very bad experience. Keep your kids away from the public schools, especially in central region urban centers.

One client put it as, "all our kids learned was how swear in spanish, and there were no teachers in the classrooms most days". That was a small small rural public school.

Most even relative poor people scrape together the money for some sort of private school.

A couple of years ago we got a phone call from the local school. My 8-year-old nephew had been involved in a playground accident and was concussed.
We got a taxi to the school and found the kid had been abandoned outside, just left lying unattended on a bench. The teacher was not around, there was no-one to explain what had happened. There was no school nurse, or even anyone trained in First Aid in the school
After checking there was no serious damage, I had to put him in back of the taxi and take to the local hospital where the ER staff were surprisingly quick in admitting him. Luckily he was OK.
Public schools are crap in every respect.

You would be opening a social class can of worms neither you or your kids would be able to handle.

Perhaps if you had lived in chile for years, and your kids were completely fluent in spanish and how chile works (I.e. Able to take care of themselves completly).

When we were in Vina for a few months, we put our three in a school in Recreo - Compania Maria, if I remember rightly. The staff were great, our 3 stinkers fit right in and made themselves (and us) lots of friends. I cannot speak highly enough of this school and how we were welcomed. Clientele was middle to upper-middle class. They have had a pretty good number of other foreign kids and seem used to it. I thought it was cheap for what we got, though it still may be impossible if you are on a tight budget. We paid $500/month for 3 kids from 8am to 1pm (school goes until about 6, we only wanted part-time). Talk to them, they might negotiate. I can find their info if you are interested.

John Hyre

PS: Everything I have heard about public schools mirrors what you are being told here, with precious few exceptions.

In case anyone was wondering about the public schools in Chilean patagonia.... no, no better. In Natales, anyone who can afford it, and many who cannot, find a way to send their kidlets to private schools. The public school system here is not unlike a school of last resort, an obligation of the state to provide something charitably called a school but more closely resembling a training ground for admission to the penal system.

Hi, I grow up in Chile. Always went to private school except my last year. My sister and I went to a public school. My sister was in 4th grade and I in 12th. I had lost of "fun" but did not learn anything... hardly remember a lesson or a teacher actually teaching anything... My little sister got beat up by a group of kids (really beat up) for coming from a private school.
I would never put my children in a public school, except the best Public High Schools in Santiago (it is almost impossible to get accepted and in your case ....) If you can't afford a private school (there are from any price, but some are really, really bad too) go to a "subvencionado" I think that is your best option. If I was in Chile with my children I would choose that last option.
Good Luck!

patagoniax wrote:In case anyone was wondering about the public schools in Chilean patagonia.... no, no better. In Natales, anyone who can afford it, and many who cannot, find a way to send their kidlets to private schools. The public school system here is not unlike a school of last resort, an obligation of the state to provide something charitably called a school but more closely resembling a training ground for admission to the penal system.

Yea, I was hesitant to describe them as similar to some sort of reform school in the States, but that is essentially what they are (minus the reform) in most cases. There are some rare public schools that standout, but they are almost a freak of nature.

You can find a list of the best subvencionado schools if you look online, they post the ones that did their best during the year in the news paper every year. By the way... it does take about 6 months for kids to learn a language, I had a friend from England that learn very fast and I learn English (went to a German school growing up) when I came to the US in about that time too but my sister learned faster in 5th grade.