← Back to homeSt. Patrick's School
Buenos Aires, Argentina · est. 1960 · Private
Illustration · Buenos Aires
St. Patrick's School stands in Coghlan in Buenos Aires and began in 1960 as a kindergarten opened by Elena Llaneras de Holman and her husband Guillermo Holman; the first primary class was taken in 1962, six pupils in all. The school now has almost a thousand children across three stages, and each stage lives in its own house: the kindergarten in a restored hundred-year-old villa on Donado, the secondary school in a building of 1973 on Nahuel Huapi, extended in 1986, and for the primary school the first phase of a new block was opened in 2010, for the school's fiftieth anniversary. Teaching is bilingual: from the fifth kindergarten group English runs the full day, leavers receive the Bachiller Bilingüe diploma with a bias towards management and economics or towards the social sciences, and French is confirmed by a separate certificate. Beyond lessons the tradition has held since the eighties: the Junior Concert, the St. Patrick's Drama Club, the primary and secondary choirs, hikes, swimming and a whole-school Sports Day. For senior pupils the school runs a careers guidance office and brings university admissions officers into the school, from universities it has cooperation agreements with. The school does not name its fees on the site: the figures are given at the first meeting with the admissions office.
Key facts
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
About the fees The school does not publish its fees on the site: by its own account, the fees are named at the first meeting, where the family is told the school's history, its aims, how it is run and its curriculum, the level of the fees and the procedure for reserving a place, and is also shown the premises.
Admissions Admission goes through the admissions office, and the school sets it out step by step. Until 31 March each year siblings of pupils and children of former pupils have priority: "Hasta el 31 de marzo de cada año tendrán prioridad de ingreso los hermanos de alumnos e hijos de exalumnos al ciclo lectivo siguiente". Then comes a first conversation with the family, at which it is handed the institutional folder, then the application for a place, then a meeting of the stage heads and the educational psychologist with the family and the child themselves, with a required set of documents. At the primary stage there is a check of the level in Spanish and English, at the secondary stage in English. The outcome is given by telephone, and the place is secured by payment of the enrolment fees. The youngest group takes children from the age of two: "Los ingresantes a sala de 2 deberán tener dos años cumplidos antes del 30 de junio de ese mismo ano". Group sizes are capped by a decision of the council, and suitable children are put on a waiting list when there are no places.
Stages and year groups Grades Sala de 2 - Nivel Secundario (Bachiller en Administración y Economía or Bachiller en Ciencias Sociales). Three stages: Nivel Inicial with the youngest group sala de 2 and the bilingual full-day sala de 5, Nivel Primario and Nivel Secundario. The orientation at the secondary stage is chosen in the third year: "los títulos de Bachiller en Administración y Economía o Bachiller en Ciencias Sociales, según la orientación elegida en 3º año". The school gives no number for the final year.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · authorised programmeCambridge lists this school as one of its own centres, while the school's site names neither Cambridge examinations nor Cambridge stages on any page: the leaving qualification is described only as "Bachiller en Administración y Economía o Bachiller en Ciencias Sociales, según la orientación elegida en 3º año, con acreditación en Educación Bilingüe y certificación de Competencia en Lengua Francesa".
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. Which stages - from the early years programme for three-year-olds up to A-Level - this school is approved for is not stated here.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The address on record,, answers with code 200 but serves a page made of the single text "NS27", with no title, menu or content; the school's live site stands at sanpatricio.edu.ar. We have asked the school for the data directly.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: Three buildings in Coghlan. The kindergarten in a hundred-year-old villa at Donado 2764: it was opened in 1980, converted specially for the pre-school stage. The secondary school at Nahuel Huapi 4140 and 4134: this block was built in 1973 and extended in 1986. The primary school in a new block, on which building started in 2008: in 2010, for the school's fiftieth anniversary, the first phase was finished and opened. The school gives no list of facilities; a tour of the premises is promised at the meeting with the admissions office.
Clubs and activities: Junior Concert · St. Patrick's Drama Club · Primary school choir · Middle school choir · Musical instrument groups · Swimming · Camp trips · Sports Day · International mock trial · Solidarity projects · Library club in the nursery · Inter-school bilingual meetings · Music, art and advertising exhibitions
Teaching staff
The address on record,, answers with code 200 but serves a page made of the single text "NS27", with no title, menu or content; the school's live site stands at sanpatricio.edu.ar. We have asked the school for the data directly.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Every stage has an educational psychologist, and the school names them as a participant in admissi: "el Colegio se pondrá en contacto con la familia para coordinar una nueva reunión con los Directores y la Psicopedagoga del Nivel correspondiente".
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)60 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median75 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country