← Back to homeColegio J. M. Estrada
Don Torcuato, Argentina · est. 1961 · Private
Illustration · Don Torcuato
Colegio Estrada in Don Torcuato, north of Buenos Aires, is a secular bilingual school covering the whole cycle: from the nursery group from age 2 through kindergarten and primary school to secondary. Legally it is run by the civil association Asociación Civil Instituto José Manuel Estrada. The founding act was signed on 21 April 1961 by 153 benefactors gathered by the notary Juan Roberto Borzone, and the first school year took place in 1962: the school opened as a commercial and bachelor secondary school and, in its own words, remained the only secondary school in the area for two decades. In 1984 teacher training courses and the first computer room opened, in 1995 the primary school from grade 1 to grade 6, with two classes per grade, in 2000 the kindergarten, and in 2005 the nursery group from age 2. The day runs in two languages: lessons are in Spanish in the morning and in English in the afternoon, and in kindergarten English likewise takes the second half of the day; hence Spanish and English as languages of instruction. The school has run international examinations since 1980, and IGCSE since 2005; today it names preparation for Trinity College London and Cambridge English examinations, from Movers and Flyers in primary school to PET, FCE, CAE and IGCSE in secondary. The secondary school teaches subjects in Spanish and English, and its track is economics and management; it has Model United Nations, a STEAM fair, a Spelling Bee, olympiads in mathematics, accounting, environment, history and chemistry, the Mercosur Youth Parliament, internships, research papers and a micro-entrepreneurship programme. The methods the school calls its own: teaching for understanding projects, social and emotional learning, mindfulness, cooperative learning and heterogeneous classrooms; in kindergarten, the Reggio Emilia approach, chess, programming and robotics. In sport it names football, athletics, hockey, volleyball, rugby and softball. Among its alliances and agreements the school lists ESSARP, Cambridge English and the universities Austral, UADE, UCES and UTN; the Excel certification in secondary school is linked to UTN.
Key facts
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish, English
Admissions Admission the school sets out in four steps: an information meeting, for which the family signs up through a form; an application for admission on the admissions office form; an interview with the child, at which the guidance team decides whether the conditions for successful study are in place; and formalisation: documents, signing of the education contract and payment of the enrolment fee (matrícula). The school names no deadlines, no free places by grade and no list of documents on its admissions page.
Stages and year groups Grades Pre-Kinder (from 2 years) - Secondary. Kindergarten: Pre-Kinder (K2) - morning shift, afternoon shift or full day; K3 - full day optional; K4 and K5 - full day compulsory. Primary school from grade 1 to grade 6, with two classes per grade since its opening; lessons in Spanish in the morning and in English in the afternoon: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays English subject lessons (language, literature, natural science, social studies), on Tuesdays and Thursdays intensive English with rotating workshops in art, drama, technology and chess. The secondary school is bilingual, with the economics and management track; how many years it has and what the leaving title is called, the school does not say on the secondary page. The school names no class sizes.
Address Gral. Alvear 976, Don Torcuato, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · authorised programmeschool 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 school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
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
Also on site: Art studio
Campus: The school stands on General Alvear street in Don Torcuato. In 1984 its first computer room opened; later came a vegetable garden, a music room and an art room, and the classrooms became digital, with projectors, speakers, sound and a digital platform. Laptops, Chromebooks and tablets are available from kindergarten on, work runs in Google Workspace and Google Classroom; for programming it names LEGO WeDo, Code & Go, Arduino, Makey Makey, the Airblock drone and Scratch. The kindergarten has various play spaces for exploration and creativity. The school does not describe a gym, a sports field or a pool.
Clubs and activities: Trinity Exam Training · Cambridge Exam Training · Drama · New Technologies · Chess · Art
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
The school does not publish the number of teachers or their qualifications. The staff page names the general director, the directors of the kindergarten, the primary and the secondary school, the director of English for primary and secondary, the deputy director of primary school, two pedagogical advisers (one of them handles admissions), the sports coordinator and the coordinator of digital spaces, and also the guidance team: three graduates in psychology and a graduate in psychopedagogy. From 1984 the school ran teacher training courses (profesorados) in law and accounting, in programming and in primary and pre-school education. The school names no class sizes and no pupil to teacher ratio.
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
The school has a guidance team: three psychologists and a psychopedagogue; the same team interviews every applicant. The school publishes an institutional agreement on school coexistence (Acuerdo institucional de convivencia) for the school year and runs social and emotional learning and mindfulness programmes and a classroom diversity project. The school names no video surveillance, no security guards, no access control, no medical worker, no written child protection policy and no checks on hiring.
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%)72 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 data76 Value for money (6%) scored at the median72 "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.
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