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Safe Towns in Panama with Inexpensive Private Schools

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expatDad
  6/24/2020 14:57 EST

Greetings. We would like to move to Latin America, possibly Panama, so our children can learn Spanish. We have six children that range in age from 12 to 2. Our main criteria are:
1. Very safe
2. Inexpensive private schools (less than $400 per month per child)

We will also take other things into account, such as the climate, but that is secondary.
3. Climate

My wife and I speak Spanish and we are not concerned about touristy things or night life or having access to an English-speaking community. Nor are we concerned with living in a large city (though internet access will be important since I work remotely). When I have searched online for safe places to live in Latin America, it seems like the bloggers are focused on a lot of those things mentioned above that we do not care about.

I would love to hear your recommendations for cities or towns that meet our criteria.

Thank you!

llseldon
  6/24/2020 16:06 EST

Here's my old schools info to needs updating so If you find any bad info please advise:
Schools in Panama

Balboa Academy: Cuidad del Saber(Clayton), Website: http://www.balboaacademy.org/
Boston School (site of the Balboa Club House)Website: http://www.bostonschool.edu.pa/en/
Crossroads Christian Academy in Cardenas See:
www.ccapanama.com
The Episcopal School in El Carmen Website:
www.cep.edu.pa St Mary’s School in Albrook Website:
www.stmarypa.com
Florida State University– Panama See: http://panama.fsu.edu/
The International School of Panama(ISP) Website: http://www.isp.edu.pa/
King’s College (School), Cuidad del Saber (Clayton), Age 3 – 9 (each year higher grades will be added), British system with UK qualified teachers. see: www.kingscollege.com.pa or contact:
Lindsay Carmody
Head of Admissions
King’s College Panama
The British School of Panama
Tel: (001 507) 6378 4265
Email: [email protected]
Metropolitan School, Cuidad del Saber (Clayton), See:
http://www.themetropolitanschool.com/
Oxford International School, (OIS) Via España
See: http://www.ois.edu.pa/ois/

Coronado& Beaches schools:

Pacific Coast International School located in Gorgona - http://www.panamacoastinternationalschool.com/

5 Stars Academy in Santa Clara - http://www.fivestarsacademy.com/

Coronado International school in Coronado. - http://www.corointschool.com/

There are also several public schools in the area.

Below are some articles that might help give an idea as to what is available in the area concerning childhood education.

http://playacommunity.com/en/panama-articles/coronado-community/5596-expats-kids-in-panama.html

http://playacommunity.com/en/panama-articles/coronado-community/5046-growing-up-in-the-pacific-beach-area-of-panama.html

http://playacommunity.com/en/panama-articles/coronado-community/5041-dennis-ferry.html

http://playacommunity.com/en/panama-articles/coronado-community/5030-the-coronado-international-school.html

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Christian86
  6/24/2020 16:39 EST

I have put two children through school in Panama City. They are mostly safe, at least I have not heard of the contrary.

If your limit is $400 monthly per kid, you may have to look outside of Panama City.

You can go through the list of schools provided or send me a private message for further information.

FredfromArkansas
  6/24/2020 16:52 EST

A few things to consider. If you will be working remotely, you are going to have some investment money up front for the Friendly Nation's visa, unless your spouse has social security or disability income.

Also, do you really want the younger children growing up speaking spanish as thier main language? That will hinder them when they return to the US, unless it is only going to be a year or two.

VickiCollado
  6/24/2020 17:47 EST

Hi: My nephew is nine years old, and he is attending Oxford International School. He has a mix of Spanish and English classes. The monthly fee is approximately USD 461.44. He has classmates from different parts of the world, but they all speak Spanish and are learning English as a second language. The school is in Panama City. He has extracurricular activities like soccer, and so far, he has been safe. To recommend a neighborhood, perhaps we will need to know your budget. However, I recommend living close to the school because traffic in Panama City can be awful, and you may want to avoid commuting. The school website is https://ois.edu.pa

ROKSlide
  6/24/2020 18:26 EST

I agree with Vicki and there are both very expensive elegant homes nearby as well as an abundance of high rise apartments at all price ranges for rent and purchase. Another really good school is the Acadamia Interamericana de Panama in Costa del Este. We have good friends that are sending their 3 sons there, although one is graduating now, who is likely to go to the Univ. of Pennsylvania next. Traffic in Costa del Este is only bad at the exits to the Corredor Sur at rush hour. Within Costa del Este, it's never bad and there are abundant apartment for rent or sale at all price ranges as well as some houses.

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ranadelnorte
  6/24/2020 18:58 EST

FYI private schools in Panama charge a one-time registration fee which can go as high as $10,000/child, although there are discounts for multiple children from the same family.
Good luck!

PedasiPundit
  6/24/2020 23:21 EST

One of the safest areas is "The Azuero."
It has had the lowest incidence of COVID in all of Panama, in fact, the Pedasi District was the ONLT District with ZERO COVID cases. "The Azuero" also has the lowest crime rate in all of Panama. The main towns are Chitre. Las Tablas & Pedasi. All have reasonable Internet and there are private schools in Las Tablas & Chitre. We do not have school-age children, but for what we have experienced you might want to check out my wife's blog that she began before we moved to Pedasi 7 years ago. www.ourthirdlifepedasi.com The main reason we picked Pedasi was the people, however, what we have found after living here is that it is also the most cohesive community in Panama.

volcan357
  6/24/2020 23:32 EST

We used to send our kids to the 7th day Adventist school in Volcan. It is not expensive. You don't have to be 7th day Adventist to send your kids there. All the teachers seemed very nice. The kids can't use vulgar language. Seemed like a good environment for children.

volcan357
  6/24/2020 23:35 EST

The tuition you guys are mentioning seems crazy. We paid something like 50 dollars a month. That was several years ago.

dumluk
  6/25/2020 01:06 EST

The Adventist schools here are the best bet altho I hear that the Catholic school in David is very good too.....I have a lady friend who was a teacher for years in varios of the Adventist colegios........and principal in a primary school in David......The Adventist are the cream of the crop around here........A cut above.........And Ive never heard a number more than $200 a month...........I believe less, but I am not gifted in numbers..........only Covid numbers.........and it turns out that there were 4x times the deaths from that weird A1Hn flu in 2009 than this voodoo Covid pandemia in C.R.......4x the deaths and no lockdown.....No economic crunch......Think about it..........Panabud gets it...........

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llseldon
  6/27/2020 13:01 EST

St. Mary's which is in Cuidad del Saber & use to be in Balboa was always very popular, anybody have any feed back now?

Christian86
  6/27/2020 14:08 EST

St Mary‘s is located in Albrook next to the new Russian embassy.

It is English speaking and not as costly as some of the other ones. Panamanian parents gave good reviews.

Twice I was refused entrance for wearing Bermuda shorts. The admissions lady, very Panamanian, made us wait several weeks for an appointment with her. Then, the day and hour of the appointment, she made us wait and when it was finally our turn, she took another unrelated call while we were sitting with her.

She was quite surprised, when we confronted her with the situation and walked out telling her that we would not be considering her school because of her personal misbehavior.

llseldon
  6/27/2020 19:25 EST

Thank you Christian86, I forgot that St. Mary's had moved to Albrook, was it because the RabiBlancos wanted the building in Clayton like they took away FSU building in La Boca in the old CZ JC/ later college for their Marine Academy or like the RobiBlancos took away the land at the Diablo Point Spinning Club?

llseldon
  6/28/2020 15:31 EST

FYI, here's a photo of the Union Church with St. Mary's behind it on the hill, the school use to be on Balboa road just past the YMCA.
Saludos amigos of the Chagres

llseldon
  6/28/2020 16:08 EST

"St. Mary's which is in Cuidad del Saber ---" mi culpi, in Albrook now.

llseldon
  6/28/2020 16:14 EST

Christian86 sorry to hear that, there are some really good admin people in the school, these two friends, Isa & Fanny were at FSU, photo at FSU's ole location in La Boca before the RabiBlanco made the school move to Clayton aka Cuidad del Saber.

Christian86
  6/28/2020 21:50 EST

Llseldon, no worries. This happened over 14 years ago when my family was fresh in the country and we were living in the San Francisco area at the time.

The school has a good reputation. My wife and I just didn’t have such a good experience compared to some of the other ones.

I would not have said anything if you had not brought it up.

donprestige
  7/7/2020 19:44 EST

Not sure if the same admissions lady as before but recently had a similar bad experience and sounds like her. So at least in admissions doesn't appear to have gotten any better. Appear to be very disinterested in entertaining new students.

Tried St Mary's 2 years ago as fees are very reasonable compared to other international schools which really gauge you in my opinion with these upfront "building" donations. But was told over the phone no spaces.
Thought I'd try again this year and no replies to emails I sent and took many phonecalls to get someone on the phone to discuss. Also for the life of me don't understand why in a school where the main language is English the admissions person claims to speak no English. Anyway after 6 weeks was told again no spaces for the coming year! Maybe that was the answer to me or genuinely no spaces. Either way told my wife the experience put me off anyway.

Christian86
  7/8/2020 00:06 EST

Donprestige,

Thank you for reporting your experience. I do not know if it is the same admissions lady as I had 14 years ago with my wife, but our experience was enough of a red flag back then.

We were also put on a waiting list on several schools, but never contacted.

Some schools appear to have weird admission policies. They are usually not the best ones because the best schools recruit based on merit and nothing else.

If I had to do it over again today, I would also consider private Spanish speaking schools as they seem to offer better value for your money in many cases.

I have heard excellent reviews about Javier, for example. Cost was not as much of an issue when my family moved, but it certainly is now.

Of course, this makes sense only if you stay here longer term.

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