Foreign house hunters looking at real estate options in Costa Rica often inquire about local schools that offer international and bilingual curricula. According to the real estate professionals of RE/MAX Ocean Surf and Sun in Guanacaste, the Tamarindo Beach housing market is ideal for families looking to enroll their school-age children in programs that focus on bilingual education and the acclaimed International Baccalaureate program.

The following private schools serve the Tamarindo Beach housing market:

La Paz Community School

This bilingual school, which offers the International Baccalaureate program, serves students from preschool to high school. According to the staff of La Paz, its South Campus was designed as a living learning laboratory for the entire student population and surrounding community. Located about 1km from the Pacific Ocean on 2.8 hectares of previously cleared pasture land generously donated by the Mar Vista Project, the facilities are constructed to LEED Silver Standards and designed to respect the rich Guanacaste culture and landscape, while embracing LEED principals in both passive and active energy conservation systems.

La Paz Community School was founded in 2007 in order to address fundamental socioeconomic and cultural gaps prevalent in a region struggling to cope with the balance of an agriculture and tourist economy. As an authorized IB World School, La Paz exposes students to a rigorous and meaningful academic program that is fundamentally rooted in the La Paz Peace Practices and the IB community profile. Through paradigm challenging intercultural discourse, La Paz Community School students are equipped to fundamentally transform their lives, communities, nations, and eventually the world, into a better place.

Costa Rica International Academy

The tenets of Costa Rica International Academy (CRIA) are: Think – Aspire – Achieve. This school is located in the community of Brasilito, specifically half kilometer south from the Melia Conchal Hotel. CRIA was was founded as a private, English-language, co-educational, non-sectarian school. The purposes and standards of the school are comparable to selective U.S. independent and college-preparatory schools.

The Guanacaste campus was founded in 2000 in facilities owned by the Flamingo Beach Resort. In 2002, the school acquired a property with a near-finished building on the road between Huacas and Brasilito, near Reserva Conchal. CRIA is recognized throughout Costa Rica for the academic excellence demanded of its students, its college preparatory program, the depth and range of its academic and co-curricular programs, and the quality and dedication of its faculty. Classes from Early Years through High School are small, averaging from 10 to 20 students. An experienced faculty drawn from the United States, Costa Rica and other countries is guided by a teaching philosophy that challenges and supports students to be independent learners and thoughtful citizens.

Educarte

The Centro de Aprendizaje Educarte by St. Joseph was started on February 1, 2008. The dream of its founders, Letizia Guglielmino and María Fernanda Jiménez, the school provides a comprehensive education curriculum that is high quality and affordable for the community. Thanks to the trust of friends, parents, and the perseverance and dedication of these two entrepreneurs, the institution has embarked on a path to achieve its goals for students from different countries of the world as well as those from Costa Rica.

In 2012, Educarte formed an alliance with Saint Joseph School, a well-established institution with a reputation for educational excellence in the San Jose area, in order to continue growing and benefit from their more than 40 years of experience. Educarte is located about 3 kilometers down the road from the Huacas crossroads going towards Villa Real. Preschool and primary students are served by a philosophy that promotes the essential development of well-versed individuals by providing an education where the arts and care for the environment are integrated with other disciplines and academic areas, thus forming critical and sensitive students who want to improve their environment and adapt to changes within the philosophy of creativity.

TIDE Academy

Located in Tamarindo Beach, the Total Immersion through a Dynamic Education (TIDE) Academy is an alternative school for families with non-traditional lives. This school provides a one-on-one personalized education to each student. Having students with different needs and schedules prompts TIDE Academy to create a learning atmosphere that is individualized, meaning that some students take their work on the road, some via Skype, and or some choose additional class hours, thus customizing the academic experience. Students intern at several local businesses for academic credit, the academy also works with several organizations creating community projects such as: community murals, surf clinics, and local fundraisers.

The TIDE Academy provides a one-on-one personalized education. This means challenging students but keeping them academically engaged as well. Having students with different needs and schedules requires a learning atmosphere that is individualized, which means that some students take their work on the road, some via Skype, and or some choose additional class hours.

For more information about schools or about the Tamarindo Beach housing market, contact RE/MAX Ocean Surf and Sun:

• #1 Sunrise Center
  Beach Road, Tamarindo
• Toll Free: 1-866-976-8898
• Local: 2653-0073 / 2653-0733
• [email protected]