Our major mission while visiting Merida was to find a school for our boys to attend in the fall. We choose from a list of schools that we found on Yucatan Living and these schools included:
- Alianz,
- The Workshop,
- IMA,
- St. Patricks,
- American school,
- Montessori Lancaster, and
- Cumbres.
Click on link to discover what we have found about international schools in Merida. Just keep on clicking if you want to open the spreadsheet. On every page that opens.click again! I will try to fix this but it is not opening as I would like on the first click.
Hey Kurt none of the schools are opening up for us. Could you send us information on the school that you chose?
Thanks mom
I just posted some pictures of the Montessori school in Progreso. As we were unable to take photos while students were in any of the schools I used these pictures.
I have a question when you all went to some of the schools…we talked to Workshop and IMA but they said there is no availability right now so we have to put our kids on a wait list. We also liked Alianz but they don’t have kindergarten there and we want both of our sons at the same school (our oldest will start 4th grade next yr). Did these schools mention the same thing to you all? Hopefully when we go in April, there will have been some openings.
The Workshop had a waiting list for Grade One, but had space at the time for our oldest son in Grade Two. This was a concern for us as we did not want our children in different schools either. IMA was further down our list so we did not ask about availability for our children. Alianz was perfect for us because our boys were going into Grade 1 and 2. We do know of another family who put one child in Alianz and the younger one in KinderKids at another location, which was not ideal for them as there was a lot of driving involved with picking up and dropping off. We decided on a Montessori school, as there was room for both children and it is smaller than Alianz. Our problem with our youngest is his birthday is Jan 3, and he just turned 5. In Mexico you need to be older to start Grade one, so we were scared that he would be in K3. Montessori program allows him to start Grade 1 as he has already had 3 years of Montessori.
I know that February was their registration month for the upcoming school year for most schools.
I have a 6 yr old autistic child. His condition is mild and he is able to attend a regular school here in the US with regular kids. But he is a little slower in development. Are you aware of any schools that accept such kids in Merida?
Hi there, I am not sure what school policies are regarding this. I would think if he is attending school in the US and you have all the paperwork necessary showing he was/is in school they will accept those and admit him. I have heard that schools here do not have funding for extra support people in classrooms if that is required and that some of the more exclusive private schools do ‘psych’ tests on the children before admitting them.
Many of the schools have smaller class room sizes which always helps all children. You would have to research all the schools and find one which is the best fit for you. We have heard from other parents with children in other schools that communication is very difficult with the school if you do not speak Spanish. You would definitely want to find a school where you could communicate openly on a daily basis with the teacher and this is not available at some of the ‘bilingual’ schools where you wait in a line with your car to pick-up and drop-off your children and never leave your vehicle.
I would recommend the school our boys are in here in Progreso, Deborah is fantastic and it has small class sizes, and it is Montessori based which allows children to learn somewhat at their own pace. This may be a good fit for you. I know our boys, who came here without knowing Spanish, are learning quickly and are enjoying this school. When our oldest son’s grade two class is being taught English, he and some other English speaking children at the school, leave their classes and go to the kindergarten class to learn Spanish basics to help give them more Spanish learning opportunities. This is something which is definitely a plus at being registered at a smaller school in a smaller city.
Good luck with your search. Hopefully these answers help you a little bit
Hi, I wanted to know if you found a school that fit the needs of your son with autism? I noticed the post was old but I was hoping by now you have found autism resources that you could share. Our family has 2 kids with autism and need input.
Thanks,
Donna