P. 14 - LA PLAYA
WWW.PLAYACOMMUNITY.COM
A LOOK AT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
AT THE BEACHES
With an influx of education options
along the Pacific coast of Panama,
more young families, local &
expat, are making the move to the
beach. In the past five years three
International
Schools
have
opened their doors to almost 200
families.
Five Stars requires that all
students grade 2 and above
have a solid understanding of
English in order to keep up
with a U.S. based curriculum.
Students are offered the
opportunity to engage in
extra
curricular
activities such as
soccer,
tennis,
dance,
singing,
horseback riding,
golf and surfing.
Many
of
the
students at 5
Stars are surfers
who
regularly
compete in local
and
international
competitions.
The first school to arrive in 2008
was the Panama Coast International School (PCIS), located in
Gorgona. Two years later, in 2010,
Five Stars Academy opened their
doors in the quiet beach town of
Santa Clara. The most recent
school to come to the beach area,
is the Coronado International
School, which was built in 2011.
While all three schools began with
only a handful of students, today
each school has approximately 60
students enrolled from all over the
world.
Before international schools at the
beach, many families looked to the
city for better education options.
Today, with choices for schools
and easier resident visa status, the
beach area is attracting younger
expats, who are making the move
to Panama, and families from the
city who are now able to become
full time residents of the Playa
Communities,
earlier
than
planned.
While each of the international
schools boasts a unique curriculum, the three schools have a few
things in common. All three offer a
hands-on approach to education,
smaller classes, and the opportunity to engage in interest-focused
activities.
All three international schools run
on a North American schedule.
Panama Coast International
School (PCIS) – Gorgona
PCIS offers a full-English education to students from Kindergarten
to High School. Teachers are
native English speakers with
North-American teaching degrees
and the curriculum is based on US
standards.
Aside from core subjects like
Math, Science, English and Social
Studies, students are also offered
Spanish classes, art, music and
physical education.
Last month students engaged in a
weekly Yoga class as part of their
PE program. This month the
middle school students are
working on publishing their own
newspaper!
High-school students at PCIS
receive a North-American diploma
upon graduation. Three students
have graduated from PCIS. One
went on to the University of Beijing
and is now at the University of
Oregon. One is currently studying
in Taipei and the third is completing a University degree online
while assisting teaching at PCIS.
Five Stars Academy – Santa
Clara
Five Stars is a full English school
located approximately 20 minutes
from Coronado. The school offers
Pre-K to Grade 12 American-style
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