could you share it with us. i have'nt been able to find it in two weeks. lol
Sure thing
I'm at work right now, soon as I get home I'll be able to get it from my PC and post it.
Having said that, believe it or not, after finally getting the URL the website threw up a 'server error' whenever I chose either the english or spanish language options.
It may be fixed by now though. We rang the school and they were un-willing to give any info at all over the phone. They agreed to send an info package via email. Haven't got it yet, but the week-end has partly intervened.
What happened to the link you found for this school??
Here is the link to: .: St. Patrick School :. in DR.
Here is a Link to The International Schools Association you might find useful. The contact info (including website if available) of some DR schools can be found in there.
NotLurking
Do you live in the Dom Rep? Why that school? There are way much better shcools. What are you looking for? My daughter is in an all american type school and speaks english at the age of 5 of course with my help and i travel to the states twice a year so that helps. But if you are lookin for an american type school with good values i got a few good ones.
What happened to the link you found for this school??
Unless location is a major consideration, there are other schools in the same price bracket that might be a better option. Our experience as parents of a fully bilingual child in first grade at St Patrick's was that he was not challenged because all the other children were still learning English from scratch.
We decided to move him to a non-bilingual school instead, and it has proved to have been the right decision because he is learning more there, as opposed to just going through the motions. I am making sure that his English continues to develop by providing input at home.
The other option would have been to put him in a bilingual school where there are more native English speakers, both teachers and students, but the ones near us are, as you say, too expensive, and the one bilingual school I would put him in like a shot is too far away.
There were other issues with St P's, such as blatant grade inflation, and there have been certain changes since we took our child out that make us think it was just as well. Having said that, our son had a wonderful, caring and approachable teacher and there were no complaints on that front. So much so that she still calls us to ask how he is getting on.
Their Spanish will probably not benefit from this setting. I suggest you visit the school and watch a lesson in action - all talking is done in 'English' apart from in the Spanish, Civics and Sociales classes. On the plus side, by the ages of 9 and 11 the children will be more advanced in English compared to my son's first grade classmates, but still not on a level any way near fluent English speakers especially few if any of the teachers are native English speakers. If you want to bring their Spanish up to the standard of their English you would be better advised to put them in a non-bilingual school.
The decision is yours, of course. Our experience was that at this level of bi-lingual schooling the kids were getting taught in substandard English while Spanish was given a back seat.
I wish you luck with the move and don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like them to meet other British-Dominican kids. From my experience as a child whose parents moved round a lot, changing countries is an exciting adventure at that age.
We're English, this school seems to have a good rep from posters here on Dr1.
I'm sure St Georges is better for example and possibly Carol Morgan but we don't have limitless funds. My children while maybe not fluent in spanish, will be after 6 months or so. St Patricks seems to be an affordable option.
We are hoping that the transition from UK school to DR schools will be a fairly comfortable one. The dual language system at St Patricks should help towards their integration.