International School /Garden Kids neighbourhoods
I live close to the International School in La Mulata I, near to Las Canas apartments. I feel very safe in the area and I walk everywhere or get motoconchos when my partner's away as I'm a rubbish driver and have already had one small accident here. It's quite unusual to be `seen' walking any kind of distance here unless you're Dominican or Haitian, so I'm always being stopped by people who tell me it's `dangerous' but I really don't see what the problem is during daylight hours.
I takes me approx half an hour to walk right into the centre of town, but I'm always passed by numerous motorconchos offering lifts, or bumping into people going into town, so transport is not a problem. Some of the teachers at the school drive and some get motorconchos. I know some teachers lived at Caribe Campo, near to Garden Kids which is a couple of mins drive away and one who lives in Charamicos which is a predominantely Dominican area. I think it's very much up to your personal taste where you choose to live. With regard to safety etc. lots of people here own laptops. Just don't make it common knowledge that you have one, or flash it about in front of people. I think you're as safe as you make yourself, wherever you live.... common sense goes a long way here...
I can't really comment on previous problems at International School mentioned by Lambada. All I can say is that my girls attend Pre-K 2 and Kindergarten, so it's those teachers I have most contact with and they all seem very happy and content. The school seems very well organised and I'm kept very much up to date with the the girls' learning progress and future learning schedules. There's a very nice `community' feel about the place and a lot of after school activities such as Karate which children from other schools attend. Also, one of the selling points for me, was the large, well stocked library.
As Lambada rightly pointed out, Garden Kids also has a great reputation, and is more affordable. My daughter plays with children who attend the school and there's no doubt that they're getting a very good education. I opted for the International School because I thought the facilities were better, and there were some teachers from UK there. Also, they have a completely separate, gated off area with classrooms and playground for the under 5's. I wasn't even going to put my 2 year old into school until she kept wanting to stay when I dropped my 5yr old off .....then when I met the pre-kindergarten teachers, they were so wonderful I felt completely confident leaving her there...
Hope that somewhere in all the above blurb, you can find something that may help you..... I do have a tendency to waffle.....