Admissions frequently asked questions

The British School’s academic calendar follows the calendar year. We start classes in late January and finish the year in late November

• Classes for all students begin at 8.00am. Early Years and Year 4 students finish at 2.00pm, while Year 5 and Secondary students finish at 3.00pm.
• Students from the different sections have breaks at different times.

• We contract a company to provide bus services before and after school. It is a door-to-door service. Prices vary depending on distance from the school. The company has an office within the School’s administration building.
• Contact +506-2220-2049, or +506-2220-0626, or info@tranosys.com

• Early Years 1 consists of one integrated group split into 3 classes
• Early Years 2 and 3 have 4 classes per level
• Year 1 to Year 12 have 3 classes per level

• Early Years 1 consists of 3 teachers and 3 teaching assistants.
• Early Years 2 to Year 1 classes have a maximum of 20 students per class. They work with a teacher and a teaching assistant in each class.
• Year 2 – Year 5 have a maximum of 22 students per class.
• Lower secondary classes have a maximum of 22 students per class.
• Upper secondary classes vary depending on the options chosen by students.

• We recruit qualified, talented staff from around the world. We have many bilingual, local staff from here in Costa Rica as well as staff from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, the UK, and the US to name but a few.

• Most programmes are delivered in English so it is a key component of the evaluation process. The only levels where we can accept students with no English are in Early Years 1 and Early Years 2.

• Most programmes and classes are delivered in English, but some are delivered in Spanish. For international students, we can, under certain circumstances, apply an exemption to Spanish-speaking programmes. We also offer additional support to students who don’t speak Spanish.

• Yes. However, they will only be offered an evaluation if there is space available in the intended year group.

• Unfortunately not. Our key admissions are for Early Years 1 and Early Years 2. There are usually few spaces available in other year levels, but things always change. Contact our admissions team for more information.

• The School coordinates a range of activities after school. A variety of clubs are scheduled each semester that include games and sports, as well as cooking, reading, chess, yoga, robotics, computing, jewelry-making, Tae-Kwon-Do and more. These clubs have an additional fee.
• There are also a number of competitive, representative teams that train after school and compete either during school time or after school. These teams include football (boys and girls, at different levels), volleyball, basketball, badminton, athletics and maths. Our students also participate in the Model United Nations (MUN) events in San Jose.
• We also offer after school care until 3:00 p.m. where the students are involved in different games and activities supervised by teachers. Attendance is flexible and is charged on a pay-as-you-go basis.

• Yes! In Primary, students usually go on at least one educational excursion each quarter. This is related to the topic that they are investigating. It is usually held at the beginning of the topic to help inspire, engage and excite the students about the upcoming learning. These excursions are included in the tuition.
• In Secondary, there are a range of excursions that are used to complement learning at school. These range from one to multi-day trips. Students are also offered the opportunity to be involved in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme.