OUR SCHOOL’S WHY
At Altamira, we believe in providing more than just an education… We offer an experience that fosters growth, exploration, and success. Here’s why Altamira stands out as a premier educational institution:
EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION
Altamira is committed to academic excellence. Our dedicated faculty members are passionate about teaching and nurturing students’ intellectual curiosity.
HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT
At Altamira, we recognize the importance of nurturing the whole child. Beyond academics, we prioritize the development of character, leadership skills, and a sense of social responsibility. Through extracurricular activities, community service initiatives, and leadership opportunities, students learn valuable life skills that prepare them for success in college and beyond.
BICULTURAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Altamira offers a unique bicultural learning environment that celebrates diversity and promotes cultural understanding. With a curriculum that integrates both Colombian and American educational standards, students gain a global perspective and develop language proficiency in both English and Spanish. Our commitment to biculturalism prepares students to thrive in an interconnected world.
SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
Our caring faculty and staff create a nurturing environment where students feel safe, respected, and empowered to take risks and pursue their passions.
INNOVATIVE FACILITIES AND RESOURCES
Altamira is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and resources designed to enhance the learning experience. We provide students with the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century.
AIS PURPOSE WHEEL
OUR ACCREDITATION
Altamira is proud to be certified by Cognia, a globally recognized accreditation agency that ensures our commitment to continuous improvement and high standards of education. Additionally, we are members of the Colombian Association of Bilingual Schools (ACCAS), further demonstrating our dedication to quality bilingual education.
The most important benefit for students is that the School is committed to increasing student achievement and is responsible for improving learning in a continuous process based on global standards. In Colombia very few institutions have this distinction. The other schools with this accreditation in Colombia are: Karl C. Parrish School in Barranquilla, Albania School The Mine in Cerrejón, Bolívar School in Cali, Granadino School in Manizales, Jorge Washington School in Cartagena, New Granada School in Bogotá, Pan-American College in Bucaramanga, English Gym in Armenia, Liceo Inglés Foundation in Pereira and The Columbus School in Medellín.
STATE EXAMS
As a school we aim to provide a rigorous training program for our students, by offering differentiated tools and techniques that guarantee cognitive acquisition of concepts and mastery of skills, ensuring the best results in national standardized evaluations.
his approach is supported on qualified team of passionate educators, with ample experience in developing student competencies in different subject areas, who act as guides or “sherpas” in their learning journey.
BLENDED LEARNING
21ST CENTURY LEARNING
The twenty-first century demands a high degree of ownership and commitment to technology in the classroom, levels of the institution to transform traditional teaching-learning methodologies.
The responsibility and evolution of education transcend the traditional ideology that points and places the teacher as the holder of knowledge and “absolute truth”; thus giving way to the student to become a self-regulated and strategic learner.
The impact of technology on educational practice has led institutions to elaborate didactic activities aimed at the construction of knowledge that lead to meaningful learning. These provide new tools that strengthen pedagogical models and solve many of today’s learning problems since they transform the traditional school of four walls in a place open to playful and autonomous instruction. Learning is active, the student becomes the protagonist and main agent of their own learning.
The way in which education is imparted in the classroom is transformed, shifting the role of the teacher from being the unique source of knowledge to a facilitator of student learning and creators of proactive classroom environment. This active methodology aims to transform education in the student’s way of learning, and has the aim in mind of increasing reflection and retention on what has been learned. The true purpose is to give students the ability to implement this appropriation of knowledge and technological tools in their daily lives.
THE REGGIO EMILIA EXPERIENCE
Our educational approach is centered on the Reggio Emilia philosophy, which inspires us to give major importance to early childhood as a determinant stage of development in which children define themselves as individuals.
The principles of respect, responsibility and community are practiced in a well thought and enriched environment where kids interests are the priority, in a environment in which curiosity, the opportunity of exploring, experimentation, discovery are encouraged. Reggio inspired schools are based on some important principles which enhance the way in which children, parents and community integrate.
The image of the child as unique in their thinking and features, with rights, potential, curiosity, desire for growth and to interact and communicate with others.
The environment as a third teacher, whose physical organization is crucial in building a relational concept in which the master designs and features spaces taking into account the interests and learning needs of children, inviting them to explore and develop meaningful experiences from the use of materials and everything else offered by the environment.
The teacher as a partner and researcher who proposes possibilities for the environment and the interests of children, asking questions and generating for children opportunities to develop exploration and research processes which allow the valuation of their interests and develop their processes learning, rather than sit and evaluate products and results. As a partner, the teacher lives in the company of boy and girl learning experiences.
The role of atelierista, who by his knowledge of potential and management of media and alternative materials for visual expression and communication, offers children the opportunity to make visible in various ways their thoughts and ideas on topics of interest, giving them the opportunity to use additional languages to verbal and written. In the studio, an art studio and lab, children explore di erent ways to communicate their ideas through art techniques and languages.
The documentation as a communication tool, in which the observation of moments and experiences of exploration is crucial to making clear how learning of children and teachers develops through experiences. The documentation also allows the community, from his knowledge of these processes take part in understanding the world of children, their needs and their views on reality.
Through these principles , we value the expression, speech and thought of the boy and girl , with the primary intention to show them the way of curiosity and investigative spirit to the construction of knowledge.
THE REGGIO EMILIA EXPERIENCE
At AIS all classrooms have audio and video resources, all staff members are given personal computers (laptops) to support their teaching practice. We have BYOD Policy, which allows students to bring their own devices, in order to support our blended learning curriculum.
LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
At Altamira International School we have constructed a program called “We Are Leaders” where students develop the skills and attitudes they need to be productive. This program is integrated with our Values, our General Learner Outcomes, our MegaSkills and finally the Seven Habits of Happy Kids. We believe that through this program, our students develop the core competencies needed to be effective in the XXI Century.