← Back to the rankingEscuela Paritaria Bilingüe y Bicultural Dante Alighieri
Córdoba, Argentina · est. 1961 · Private
Illustration · Córdoba
The Escuela Paritaria Bilingüe y Bicultural Dante Alighieri is a private bilingual Italian-Argentine school in Córdoba, founded in 1961 by the families of Italian engineers who came to open a FIAT branch. It was first called Leonardo Da Vinci and ran only as a primary school; the kindergarten and secondary school opened in 1983, and in 2001 the school moved into its own building in barrio Iponá. The school follows the curriculum of the Province of Córdoba together with the Italian one: the Italian Foreign Ministry recognised it as a paritaria school - lower secondary in 2010 and upper secondary in 2013. The Italian track runs from grade 1 of primary school to graduation: primary pupils have 6 hours of Italian a week, the secondary school runs a liceo linguistico, and graduates sit the Italian esame di Stato at the school and receive the Diploma di Maturità together with the Argentine bachiller certificate. The school day is long, about 8 hours, with lunch at school. English is taught from kindergarten with preparation for Cambridge English exams, and the liceo adds Portuguese and Latin. According to the school, about 70% of students are of Italian descent, usually third generation, and almost all speak Spanish as their first language.
Key facts
Programmes
Italian programme · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Italian, Spanish
Languages taught
English, Portuguese, Latin
Admissions For kindergarten (groups for ages 3, 4 and 5) age is counted on 30 June of the year of entry. Places are first offered to siblings of current students from families with no fee arrears; new families must attend the single information meeting, where the selection criteria and costs are explained, and only then take part in the selection. Knowledge of Italian is not required for kindergarten. New pupils are admitted to primary school when places are available, and there is currently a waiting list: after the form and documents there is an interview with the head about the bilingual programme and a diagnostic test in Italian and Spanish that is not a ground for rejection. For secondary school: an information meeting, a form with an access code, the decision of the head and payment of the matrícula. Families sign an educational services contract and accept the school's code of conduct. The PTOF states directly that Italian families moving to Córdoba enrol their children at this school.
Stages and year groups Argentine stages: kindergarten (groups for ages 3, 4 and 5), primary school grades 1-6, secondary school years 1-6. The secondary school awards the Argentine bachiller certificate with one of three orientations - economics and administration, natural sciences or languages, all three marked as a bilingual and bicultural programme in Italian. Italian track: scuola primaria (paritaria according to the PTOF, Italian curriculum from grade 1), scuola secondaria di primo grado with the esame di Stato and the Diploma di Licenza Media in year 2, then a four-year liceo linguistico (years 3-6, following the Italian rules for licei abroad) with the esame di Stato and the Diploma di Maturità in year 6. According to the PTOF, the Italian kindergarten is not paritaria: groups for age 3 have 5 hours of Italian a week, age 4 - 10, age 5 - 20. Graduates receive two documents: the certificate of the Ministry of Education of the Province of Córdoba and the Italian diploma.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MAECIItaly's foreign ministry names the school on its list of paritarie Italian schools abroad: it teaches the Italian curriculum, and Italy recognises its exams and diploma on a par with state schools.
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
MAECIItaly's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI)
An Italian school abroad: a state or paritaria school, the Italian curriculum, the esame di Stato exam and a diploma with the same legal value as in Italy.
What the badge means for this school. This is an Italian school abroad: it teaches the Italian curriculum, and Italy's foreign ministry names it on its list of state or paritarie schools - so Italy recognises its exams and diploma. The entry is not a quality inspection. Which stages are recognised and what the school charges are on this page and on the school's own website. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Italian programme
The Italian school curriculum taught in Italian: scuola dell'infanzia, primaria, secondaria di primo grado (scuola media) and the liceo, ending with the state exam, the esame di Stato, and the Italian diploma.
What this means for this school. The curriculum is set by the Italian state: the school is an Italian state school abroad or a paritaria school, recognised by Italy. Exams follow Italian rules and the diploma has the same legal value as in Italy, giving access to Italian universities. The host country's curriculum usually runs alongside, and students receive two certificates.
National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school does not publish exam figures. The PTOF states that in the national Aprender assessment and the mathematics olympiads of the Argentine Ministry of Education the school ranked first among secondary schools in southern Córdoba and among the top nationally. Students sit the Italian esame di Stato at the school after lower secondary school and after the liceo; in 2023 the school received recognition from Cambridge for the Cambridge English exam results of the previous year.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Campus: Its own three-storey building in barrio Iponá, built in 2001: more than 7000 square metres under roof on a 10000 square metre site. The kindergarten occupies a whole wing with its own playground, the primary school the first floor and the secondary school the second. There is the Alberto Maiztegui natural science laboratory, the Leonardo da Vinci library (more than 11000 print books and 5000 digital), an art room, three mobile computer labs, 30 interactive whiteboards, an indoor gym with parquet floor and changing rooms, an outdoor sports court, three multipurpose halls, an infirmary and a psycho-pedagogical office. Lunch is cooked in the school's own kitchen to a dietitians' plan and the kitchen is audited by CEPROCOR; the school snack bar is certified as a healthy canteen. 200 metres away is the school's own sports ground of more than 7000 square metres: a heated pool, five-a-side pitches with artificial turf, a volleyball court, a hall, changing rooms and 24-hour security. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Atletismo (athletics) · Basketball · Fútbol (football) · Handball · Natación (swimming) · Volleyball · Tenis de mesa (table tennis) · Robótica (robotics) · Artistic Gymnastics · Artistic Roller Skating · Aerial Silks · English Language Center
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: Italian is taught by native Italian speakers and the other subjects by Argentine teachers, including graduates of the Faculty of Languages of the National University of Córdoba. Each kindergarten group has a qualified early-years teacher, and the age 3 group also has an assistant; Italian, physical education, music, art, computing and movement are taught by specialist teachers.
Italian teachers are appointed separately and are responsible for the Italian curriculum; Spanish and Italian teachers are trained together, and according to the PTOF teachers take professional development courses from Italian publishers and universities. The school does not publish teacher numbers or class sizes.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
✓Security staff
✓Access control
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has an infirmary and a school guidance service of psycho-pedagogues and psychologists, and the kindergarten has a psycho-pedagogical office. Entry of parents and visitors is restricted, and nobody may enter classrooms or corridors during lessons without an appointment; children may only be collected by people on a written list with their ID numbers. Each level has approved codes of conduct. The sports ground has 24-hour security.
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 data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data85 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median73 "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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