← Back to the rankingEscuela Italiana XXI de Abril
Guaymallén, Argentina · est. 1932 · Private
Illustration · Guaymallén
The Escuela Italiana XXI de Abril (Scuola Italiana XXI Aprile) is the oldest secular private school in the province of Mendoza, founded in 1932 by Italian immigrants from the Dante Alighieri society so that their children and grandchildren could learn the language and culture of Italy. The school takes children from the nursery to the end of secondary school and calls its programme bicultural and trilingual: Spanish, Italian and English. All subjects of the Argentine curriculum are taught in Spanish, and the Italian curriculum complements them in the afternoon; according to the PTOF primary pupils have 6 hours of Italian and 5 hours of English a week. In 2005 the Italian Foreign Ministry recognised the school as paritaria from the last kindergarten year to the third year of lower secondary school; according to the PTOF it is the only paritaria school in the Cuyo region. The Italian track ends with the lower secondary exam, and there is no Italian liceo: the Argentine secondary school offers natural sciences and economics and management of organisations orientations. The school also runs a teacher training college.
Key facts
Programmes
Italian programme · National programme
Admits from
1 year · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Spanish, Italian
Admissions Knowledge of Italian and English is not required for admission: the school provides individual language tutoring for new students so that they catch up with their class in Italian and English. The school does not publish other admission requirements or procedures on its website.
Stages and year groups Argentine stages: nursery (groups for ages 1 and 2), kindergarten (groups for ages 3, 4 and 5; full day for age 5), primary school and secondary school with natural sciences and economics and management of organisations orientations, plus a college (Nivel Terciario). Italian track: paritaria status covers the scuola dell'infanzia (age 5 group), the scuola primaria (years 1-5) and the scuola secondaria di primo grado (years 1-3 media); after the third year of lower secondary students sit the esame di Stato before an examiner sent by the Italian Foreign Ministry and receive the Italian certificate. The PTOF class table shows three groups for age 5, two or three parallel classes in years 1-5 and two in years 1-3 media. There is no Italian upper secondary stage and no Italian secondary school 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. Parity covers the stages from kindergarten (age 5) to the scuola media; the school has no Italian liceo, and the upper years follow the Argentine curriculum.
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
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
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Playground
Campus: Two neighbouring buildings on Alberdi street in San José, Guaymallén. The main building (Alberdi 801) houses the kindergarten in a purpose-designed wing with small groups, bright rooms and a playground, the primary school and the college; it has a central hall, a large dining room with its own kitchen, a science laboratory, a computer room, an art and music room, the psycho-pedagogical and psychological service office, a reading corner and Wi-Fi throughout the school. The secondary school is in the neighbouring building at Alberdi 849. Lunch is cooked at school to a menu designed for children's needs, with special meals on medical grounds; it is included in the monthly fee. The school has security, maintenance, cleaning and kitchen staff. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Football · Dance · Yoga · Guitar · Theatre Workshop · Model United Nations · Mathematics Olympiads · Science Fair
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
✓Security staff
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a guidance and tutoring service: a psycho-pedagogue, a psychologist and tutors; career guidance is given in the upper years. Besides its code of conduct, the school has developed a teacher response protocol for conflicts and behaviour incidents and a cross-curricular programme on values and social skills. There is a person in charge of security; according to the PTOF evacuation drills for natural disasters are held.
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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 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.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country