Admission

Vacancies

Santiago College offers a total of 158 vacancies for Pre-Kindergarten, to be distributed among applicants participating in the regular admission process, belonging to both school families and new families.

Pre-Kindergarten Admission Process Dates

Application Schedule

• The application process for families with children enrolled in Santiago College will be held in December of the year prior to the start of the regular admission process.
• Applications from new families will be received in March (2-3 weeks).
• The call will be published at the school’s website and in posters no later than January of the year in which the admission process is carried on.

Visit of the applicant and guardians: March

The visit of the applicant and his/her guardians to the school premises will be carried out only if the sanitary conditions allow it.   This possibility is offered to new families.

Evaluations: March-April

Parental Interviews: March- April

Delivery of results:  The date in which the Results will be delivered, will be published in the call published for the particular process.  It is usually set for early May.

Application Requirements

Age required to enter Pre-Kindergarten: 4 years old on March 31 of the corresponding school year (of entry). The required age will be detailed at the time of the call for each admission process.

Procedure

– Parents/Guardians must complete the online application for admission form, which will be available at the school’s website www.scollege.cl during the application dates scheduled  for this process.

– Parents/Guardians must attach the child’s  Birth Certificate electronically to the form, if the child is Chilean (delivered by the  “Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación” online).  If the child has a foreign nationality, parents/guardians must present a digital copy of the  “Cédula de Identidad Extranjero” (if this document is not available a copy of the child’s Passport or Birth Certificate).

– The guardian will be requested to pay an application fee, which will be informed in the call.

–  Both Parents/Guardians (if applicable) must sign the document “Declaración” in which they acknowledge having been informed, by the School, about the different stages and characteristics of the process. This document will be sent through the  Docusign platform after the application process is over. It is important to note that signing this document is a requirement to go ahead with the corresponding admission process.

Delivery of Information to New Families

Prior to or during the evaluation period of the applicants, information on this process will be delivered in an informative meeting (if the sanitary conditions permits it) or through technological means.  In case technology is used to deliver this information, the Headmistress will send  parents/guardians an email that includes a welcome video along with a presentation in which information will be provided regarding the admission process and also about the characteristics of the school.  The procedure to deliver the information will be determined according to the restrictions in effect during the process.

Admission Process

The admission process will be face-to-face (as long as the sanitary condition allows it) if not possible, they will be carried out online, according to the Covid Protocol.  Both ways will be valid.

Face to Face Admission Process (Applicant)

• Parents/Guardians who have completed the online application process and have sent the document “Declaración” duly signed, will be contacted by the Admissions Office by email to the email addresses registered on the child’s application form.
• New family applicants and parents or guardians will be invited to join a group visit to the school. Although the attendance is free, parents will receive an electronic form attached to the email to confirm their attendance, for the date and time allotted for their visit.
• Applicants will be called for a maturity group evaluation that will be carried face-to-face. At first, each group will be formed by 16 children, for a social emotional observation while in a game instance.  Afterwards, groups will be formed by 8 children, to observe them through an observation guide the achievement and maturity reached by each child in the different areas to be observed, which will include language, logical and verbal reasoning, and aspects of development.
• The estimated time for the face-to-face observation is approximately 50 minutes
• The evaluation is not a diagnostic or knowledge assessment of the applicant.
• The different areas will be observed through a guideline that will deliver a score. The evaluation aims to determine if the child is mature enough to enter Pre-Kindergarten.  No special preparation is needed.
• The applicant´s evaluation will correspond to the 60% of the admission process for applicants that will continue until the end of the process

Online Process (Applicant)

• Parents/Guardians who have completed the online application process and have sent the document “Declaration” duly signed, will be contacted by the Admissions Office by email to the emails registered in the application form. The email will include the day and time of the online evaluation session and the link for the parents/guardians to connect to the online session with the applicant and the evaluation team.
• Along with this information we will send a Protocol that includes the material the child will need for his/her online evaluation  and other specifications in relation to the necessary preparation.
• The estimated time for the online evaluation is approximately 30 minutes.
• Through the evaluation we will observe the maturity and development achieved in the different areas, reached by each child at this point. The areas to be observed are;  language, logical and verbal reasoning, and general  aspects of development.
• This is not a diagnostic assessment and does not measure knowledge.
• The different areas will be observed through a guideline that will deliver a score. The evaluation aims to determine whether the child is mature enough to enter Pre-Kinder. The child does not need to have special
• The applicant´s evaluation will correspond to the 60% of the admission process for applicants who continue until the end of the process.

 Score Review

Once the results of these evaluations have been attained, the scores obtained by the applicants will be revised. The review criteria is based on the scores established by the school to carry out this process.

Usually the number of eligible applicants is larger than the number of existing vacancies.

Parents/Guardians of the applicants who, after the review have not reached the necessary score to continue in the process, will be notified by email before the end of the admission process.

Parents of applicants that belong to new families, who after the review of scores continue in the process, will be summoned to an online parent interview,  which can be held  in person  or on an  online modality, instinctively.

Parent Interviews

The purpose of the interview is to know the applicants’ families and, at the same time, that they get to know better our educational program, beyond the material already offered through the informative meeting, if applicable, through email or published in our website, if it is not possible to offer a face-to-face meeting.

The school establishes principles aiming at promoting an integral development and for that purpose, it needs the commitment from all the members of the community, specially mothers/fathers and/or guardians. Therefore, during the interview that is meant for new families, it will be analyzed the consistency between the family’s expectations and the school’s mission, the educational program and the understanding and support for its principles.

The interview is scheduled  by phone or email with the adults responsible for accompanying the child through his school life.

Parents’ interview and participation of the new families in the admission process, will be considered when assigning vacancies and it will correspond to the 40% of the result. The score obtained in the interview will be linked to a concept (grade) for the vacancies assignment.  It can be held in person or in a remote mode, both options are valid.

Grades
Outstanding: 6,0 a 7,0
Good: 5,0 a 5,8
Satisfactory: 4,0 a 4,8
Unsatisfactory: 3,9 or less

Those families having children enrolled in the School won’t be interviewed, unless one of the parents is a parent/guardian of this new family. In this case, we will set a date for an interview with both parents (the new and old parent/guardian).

Parents of new families, whose children do not comply with the minimum educational achievement needed during the maturity assessment, would not be interviewed.  Parents will be informed by email of the admission process result, the email will be sent prior to  the date established to deliver the results.

Final Stage of the Process and Assignment of Vacancies

According to our admission policy, priority will be given to siblings of Santiago College students (PK-12th Grade). They will not be compared with the rest of the applicants. Priority does not imply the admittance of the applicant, it must comply with the minimum entrance score established.

Once the parental interviews have been completed, the Admission Commission meets and reviews the information regarding the scores obtained by the applicants. The  evaluation of the  applicant corresponds to the 60% of the final score. The gross score obtained by the child is transformed by applying a mathematical formula that will result in a standard score that will allow to sort and compare the scores within the applicants, regardless of their age. The Commission will review, as well, the parent interview which equates the remaining 40%. The scores of new family applicants that complete the admission process will be sorted from high to low scores.

Within new families with similar results, priority will be given to alumni and staff children.

The balance in gender will be considered when assigning the spaces, an approximately 12% margin of difference will be admissible

Delivery of the Results

The date for delivery of the results will be informed to parents/guardians  in the call to the admission process, through the school’s website, posters and in the informative meeting for parents that will be held face-to-face if it is possible or through the information that will be sent to parents through email instead.

The results will be delivered by email at the end of the admission process, on the established date. In the event that the admission process ends before the established delivery date, the results may be sent prior to the date. Once the results are communicated to parents, the list of applicants who are admitted, on the waiting list or not admitted will be published in accordance with current regulations.

The school will deliver a report of the children who are not admitted when Parents or Guardians request it in writing, this request must be submitted no later than the Friday after the established date for the delivery of results was set and will be delivered to parents.  The school has set a maximum of 15 working days to deliver such a report.

The date and information regarding the registration procedure will be informed to the parents of children who are offered admission, either in the acceptance letter or separately in a financial letter that will be sent by email.

Vacancies

The number of vacancies from Kindergarten on, will be published together with the call for the application process in August.

It is important to point out that the number of vacancies may vary during the regular admission process, which will depend on the withdrawals after the date of publication and the special processes for the admission to the second semester of foreign families or students applying to re-enter Santiago College after a period of absence.

Dates
Application Call and information on vacancies: August
Reception of applications for admission: first fortnight of August
Review of applications for admission: August-September
Tests and interviews: October
Results: November

Application requirements

• 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.
• 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.
• Due to our curricular programs, applicants from 10th grade on are requested to come from an IB World school.

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.

Amount and payment conditions for participating in the process:

The amount and payment conditions for participating in the process will be informed at the time of the call.

Evaluations to which applicants will be submitted

Applicants will be evaluated in the courses of Language, English and Mathematics. From 10° grade on, the student will be required to submit to a test of one of the three Sciences (Biology, Physics or Chemistry).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 tjat belong to new families 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. Families with children enrolled in the School will not be interviewed unless one of the parents is a parent/guardian of this new family. In that case, we will set a date for an interview with both parents (the new and old parent/guardian).

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 by email and the list of accepted applicants will be published on the Admission board at the entrance of the Administrative Building and on the Admissions Office panel, in accordance with the current regulations on the date established in the convocation notice.

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.

Community Handbook  (see document)

Institutional Educational Project (see document)

Document – Institutional Educational Project

Document – Community Handbook (RIE) 2022