Admission

Admission Policy

• Santiago College is a varied and multicultural school that admits students regardless of their creed, nationality or religion.
• Application to Santiago College is open to all interested parties.
• The application process ensures that the admitted student can benefit from the existing plans and programs and can use the school facilities adequately and without difficulties.
• Santiago College has always kept close ties with its community; consequently, priority is given to families that already have children in the school and also children of former students and school employees. Applicants are evaluated according to defined criteria for the different levels. Fathers, mothers and/or guardians are interviewed during the admission process in order to deliver as much information as possible about the school main characteristics and educational project. This interview is not excluding.

  RIE
  Institutional Educational Project

Pre-kindergarten Admission Criteria and Process

Vacancies

Santiago College offers a total of 162 vacancies for Pre-Kindergarten, to be distributed during the admission process amongst applicants who belong to school families or new families.

Pre-Kindergarten Admission Process Dates

Period of Application

• The period of application for families with children enrolled in Santiago College will be in December of the year before the start of the regular admission process.
• New families will deliver their applications in March during a period of two to three weeks.
• The convocation notice will be published by the school in its website, in posters and signs by December of the year before the start of the corresponding admission process.

Applicants’ visit to the school: Will be scheduled during March.
Evaluations: Will be scheduled during March-April.
Parents’ Interview: will be scheduled during April.
Results: The date for the delivery of results will be published together with the convocation notice. Generally it will fall during the first weeks of May.

Application Requirements

1. Age requirement for Pre-Kindergarten: The applicant must be 4 years old by March 31 of the corresponding school year (when starting). The required age will be detailed in the notice of convocation to each admission process.
2. The parent/guardian must fill in the data that appear in the request for admission. This will be available on line (www.scollege.cl) and also at school at the Department of Admission, only during the period of application for each process.
3. The parent/guardian must deliver or attach, as the case may be, an original Birth Certificate of their child (this is provided by the Office of Civil Registration electronically or in a printed copy).

Admission Process

1. Prior to the evaluation of the applicant’s maturity, a date will be set for a visit to the pre-kindergarten facilities by the student and his parents and/or guardians. The visit is in groups. It is recommended that the applicant makes this visit in order to become familiar with the place and environment where he/she will later be evaluated. The attendance is the exclusive responsibility of the parents. Failing to take part in the visit is not a reason to request reconsideration of the case if the child does not reach the required score during its revision. Applicants who attend Santiago College Playgroup are not called to a visit. The visit is not excluding.
2. Applicants will be convened to a group evaluation of maturity. Prior to this evaluation, the father, mother and/or guardian must deliver a duly signed “Statement” acknowledging to have been informed by the school about the different stages and characteristics of this process. This document must be delivered when the child comes to his/her evaluation.
3. Each group will be formed by 8 children between boys and girls of similar age. The duration will be approximately 50 minutes, time in which the child´s maturity and development (reached by then) will be observed through an observation guide. It is important to note that this is not a diagnostic evaluation. No knowledge or abilities are measured.
4. The different areas observed will result in a score. The evaluation intends to determine if the applicant has sufficient the necessary maturity at this stage to enter pre-kindergarten. No special preparation is required.

Review of Scores

Once the results of these evaluations are available, the scores obtained by the applicants are reviewed. The criteria for the review are based on compliance with the evaluation scores established by the school for this process.

Usually, the number of applicants complying with the requirements is greater than the number of existing vacancies.

The parents of applicants who after the review have not reached the minimum score established by the school to continue in the process will be notified by e-mail or certified letter sent to their private address. This notice will be given before the end of the admission process. At the latest on April 30th.

Interview of parents and/or guardians

Those parents of applicants who remain in the admission process after the first review and are new to the school will be called to a personal interview in the school intended to provide them with information about the school characteristics and its educational project. This interview is not excluding.

The date and time will be coordinated by telephone.

Final application phase

Once the parents’ interviews have ended and based on the results of this process, the school will determine the applicants who will fill the vacancies available for pre-kindergarten.

The applicants with brothers or sisters at school will have priority to occupy these vacancies. Amongst new families, priority will be given, under similar results, to children of former SC students or children of school employees. The balance in gender will be considered when assigning the spaces, approximately a 12% margin of difference will be admissible.

Delivery of Results

The date for delivery of results will be informed to parents in the notice of convocation to the admission process in the website, posters, signs, and during the information meeting held during this process.

Results will be given in a sealed enveloped at the school reception at the end of the application process on a date set for this purpose. The list of admitted applicants will be published according to current regulations.

The date to confirm enrollment will be informed together with the application result to those applicants to whom admission is offered.

Kindergarten – 9th Grade Admission Criteria

Application requirements

1. Parents and guardians must fully complete the application form, which can be found in the Admission section of our website scollege.cl during the application period. It will also be available at the Admission Office of the School.
2. Additionally, parents must submit the applicants’ documents listed below to the Admission Office, whether by mail or in original printed document. The parent will pay the application fee only if the applicant is called to continue with the admission process.
   • Birth certificate.
   • Transcripts of the last three years, if applicable.
   • Applicant’s personality and behavior report issued by the school the applicant is currently attending.
   • School report card for the first term of the current year in case the applicant comes from schools operating with the same school calendar.

Academic and language requirements for applicants

The minimum presentation average required is 5.8 (average of Language, English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science) or their equivalent in cases of international applications.

Knowledge of English language at bilingual school level for the grade level of application.

Knowledge of Spanish from 7th grade on and command of this language at bilingual school level from 8th grade on for all those applicants whose academic tongue is not Spanish.

General Admission Criteria

Santiago College is an open school that admits students from different creeds and nationalities. It is a bilingual English-Spanish school that offers most courses in English up to 8th grade and in Spanish from 9th grade on (except for the English course). It is also a member of the International Baccalaureate Organization, as it teaches its three academic programs: The Primary Years Program (PYP), the Middle Years Program (MYP) and the Diploma Program (DP).

Applicants must be knowledgeable in English at bilingual school level according to the grade level to which they are applying and must have knowledge of Spanish from 7th grade on.

It will only be possible to have access to the admission process if there are vacancies available. No incomplete or delayed application for admission will be taken into consideration.

Any student who wishes to reenter Santiago College after a period of absence and has approved the corresponding admission exams will have priority over other applicants.

Evaluations to which applicants will be submitted

Applicants will be evaluated in the courses of Language, English and Mathematics. The minimum performance expected to continue with the admission process is 80% of achievement in each area. If due to a difference in the curriculum with the school of origin, the applicant does not reach the average(s) established in the admission criteria, the school will review its particular situation and according to this analysis, will determine to continue with the corresponding admission process if it deems so.

Those students applying to 7th grade and whose academic language is not Spanish, will have to obtain a minimum percentage of 60% in their Spanish language examination in order to continue with the admission process.

Applicants in process

After having approved the admission examinations according to the above-mentioned requirements of the school, applicants will be called by our Counseling Department to evaluations measuring general cognitive aspects and personal interviews to inquire about the applicant’s social and emotional areas.

Parents Interview

Parents and guardians of applicants complying with the admission criteria will be interviewed by the principal of the corresponding school cycle. The purpose of this meeting is to deliver to the applicant’s parents the necessary information on the school, such as the most relevant points within the educational project. Parents’ interviews will be valid for all applicants from the same family.

Applicants who become part of the Santiago College Community

To assign the vacancies amongst applicants who comply with the criteria for admission to Santiago College, the school will give priority to those applicants with brothers or sisters enrolled in Santiago College. Amongst new families, the children of former students of the school and the children of school employees will have priority – under similar conditions; for this purpose the information corresponding to all applicants participating in the admission process will also be considered. The balance in gender will be considered when assigning the spaces, approximately a 12% margin of difference will be admissible.

Results

Parents and guardians of applicants who do not reach the required percentage to pass to the next evaluation phase will be notified by e-mail or by phone.

The final results of the admission process will be informed according to the current regulations on the date established in the convocation notice.

Applicants from abroad

As stated in our mission and reflected in our institutional values, our school is nurtured from cultural diversity. We receive applications from abroad, regardless of the applicant’s nationality and creed.

Applications from Chilean or foreign students who live abroad are received throughout the year.

When the admission form is not available in our website, the family must get in touch with the Admission Office at admiss@scollege.cl - telephone 56-2-27338911.

It should be noted that a student’s admission will depend on the existence of a vacancy at the time of his/her arrival in Chile and the results the applicant obtains in his/her admission exams. The school cannot guarantee vacancies for applicants who arrive from abroad once the regular admission processes have ended.

The school does not take admission exams to applicants during the summer holidays (January and February).

Steps to follow: 

• All application requirements described must be fulfilled according to the level the student is applying to.
• The school documents required may be copies of originals (without authentication) for the purposes of the application.
• The Admission Office must be contacted some weeks before arriving in Chile in order to inquire about the situation of vacancies.

Note: For applicants to First Grade up, it is recommendable that Chilean children or children of Chilean father or mother bring their child’s last school year report legalized by the Chilean Consulate of the country where the child studied before returning to Chile. Likewise, foreign applicants coming from countries with treaties or conventions with Chile (Andrés Bello Convention or bilateral conventions) must present school documents that have been duly legalized by the Chilean Consulate. These documents must be presented at the Ministry of Education of Chile.

Costs

Application Fee

Applicants must pay an application fee of CLP$ 70.000 (Seventy Thousand Pesos)

Entrance Fee

Parents or guardians of a student who is entering Santiago College are required to pay an entrance fee. This fee will be valid throughout the student’s academic life. Former students who are reentering the school will not be asked to pay again. The entrance fee is non-refundable.

The Entrance Fee Schedule is as Follows:

For the first child : UF 160
For the second child : UF 130
For the third child or more: UF 120

Tuition Fee

All students are required to pay a tuition fee of UF 12 each year.

School Fee

The annual school fee for 2020 is UF 244,30 payable in 10 equal installments of UF 24,43 (March to December) it covers textbooks and stationery from PK up to 8th Grade and textbooks from 9th Grade on.

Additional costs

Accident Insurance:

CLP$ 35.000 (Thirty Five Thousand Pesos).- per student per year

School Insurance:

Amount of the Fee

One sustainer at 100% UF 3,4740 per student
Two sustainers at 100% UF 6,9480 per student
Two sustainers at 50% UF 3,4740 per student

Parents Association Fee:

UF 1,8 per family per year divided in two equal installments of UF 0,9. (payable in May and October)

Lunch Service:

Lunch is optional and is offered from grades 1 through 12. The daily cost for the school year 2020 is $3.600 (Three thousand eight hundred pesos).

Transportation:

Requests for this service are handled by the Parents Transportation Office. Telephone: +562 2733 8919

Observations

*Comma indicates the decimal place and period is used to separate groups of thousands.
*The UF (Unidad de Fomento) is a monetary figure that varies according to the PCI index. Its daily value can be found online at www.sii.cl