by Lural Ramirez | Aug 31, 2018
All year long we have been celebrating our 10th anniversary as a school, years that have brought impressive changes and accomplishments. 2019 is right around the corner and we are thrilled to soon be adding in the 12th grade year to our currently pre-school through 11th grade school!
In 2019 Futuro Verde will boast the following levels:
- Preschool Department: two classrooms and two teachers, one native-English speaker and one native-Spanish speaker
- Preeschool:
- prekinder, 3 years old by Feb. 15
- kinder, 4 years old by Feb. 15
- Prepa
- prepa, 5 years old by Feb. 15
- Primary School: six grades, 1st through 6th grade. Students have two teachers, one native-English speaker and one native-Spanish speaker. Teachers are paired together at two grade levels (1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and 5th and 6th), so your child could have the same set of teachers for two years in a row.
- Middle School: 7th and 8th grades in 2019 will have a slightly gentler introduction into our secondary program. Middle schoolers work with slightly fewer teachers than their high school counterparts, but still move into a secondary model by travelling from class to class and beginning to have electives to choose from.
- High School: 9th through 12th graders make up our high school program.
- 9th and 10th grades are the introduction to high school and a time when students transition into a more rigorous curriculum. 10th graders start a service class, called pre-CAS that prepares them well for the IB program to come and begin to worry about their GPAs and start to make post-secondary plans.
- 11th and 12th grades make up our International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (DP). A two-year program, students take social studies and civics MEP exams in 11th grade and IB exams over the course of the two years, with final IB exams toward the end of year two of the program. Successful 11th and 12th graders have the opportunity to earn both the MEP diploma AND the IB diploma! Emphasis is placed in the IB DP on confirming post-secondary plans and preparing for life as young, independent citizens of the world.
As you can see, 12th grade completes the Futuro Verde continuum education! As an IB World School we take the concurrency of learning across grade levels seriously and we are proud to make 2019 the year our school is finally complete!
by Lural Ramirez | Aug 28, 2018
For over a year now Futuro Verde students, staff, parents and our greater school community have worked together to raise the funds needed for a multi-use sports court for the school. With our efforts thus far we have raised over $5,000. The total cost of the court is estimated at $40,000, which would include the court base and roof. Our board president, Rico Reolon, has been working hard to secure an external donor willing to support the funding needed for our court and just this last month the good news came in- a Swiss donor has committed to $20,000 toward our sports facilities!
We held a surprise announcement with our staff and students and filmed the moment to share with our social media community and as a thank you to our donor. Students and staff celebrated in full- overjoyed to have achieved such impressive progress on this important goal for our school community! It is never lost on our school community that we have and continue to thrive thanks to the support of generous donations just like our current Swiss donors and we are tremendously grateful for this ongoing support.
Phase one of construction for the sports court will begin as soon as possible. This phase will complete the court base and will boast a purpose-built facility designed for:
School Enrichment
- Basketball
- Indoor football (soccer)
- American 5-man football
- Handball
- Goalball
- Acrobatic gymnastics
- Artistic gymnastics
- Volleyball
- Tennis
- Hockey (roller skate and tennis shoe)
- Badminton
Community Enrichment
- Pilates classes
- Yoga classes
- Zumba
- Dance classes
- Crossfit
- Group recreation activities
Multipurpose Uses
Community and school events
- Assemblies
- Guest speakers
- Civic events
- Band practices
- Graduation
We would love to achieve Phase 2 of the sport court construction, primarily the construction of a roof over the facility and bathrooms, showers and lockers, and encourage donors interested in supporting this to contribute to our current online campaign. Thank you!
Donate here
by Lural Ramirez | Jun 21, 2018
In 2018, Futuro Verde began requiring our IB diploma students to have a personal laptop for use in classes daily. The implementation of the laptop requirement has been a success and our first generation of IB students now research regularly using their personal laptop and the school subscription to EBSCO research databases. Students also use their laptops to access the applications available to us as a Google For Education school, like Classroom, among others. In Classroom, students have a digital connection to all of their in person subject matter and teachers regularly use Classroom for projects, announcements, homework assignments and as a communication tool. Finally, the need to have a laptop for word processing projects throughout the school day, and from any location, across our school campus make having a personal laptop a huge convenience for our students.
Starting in 2019, Futuro Verde will require that all 9th through 12th grade students have a personal laptop, extending our current requirement down from only the 11th and 12th grade diploma program grades and into our full High School. Students in 7th and 8th grade are encouraged to own a laptop, but not yet required to do so.
For parents with students going into 9th through 11th grade in 2019 and for any new families into 12th grade, we remind you of the suggested laptop specifications already shared with our current 11th grade families when they purchased their child’s laptop. As you make this investment for your child, please follow the below recommendations. Thank you for assuring your child has the tools necessary to be a successful High School student at Futuro Verde!
Laptop minimum requirements:
- i3 processor
- 4GB RAM
- Mac or PC, 2013 or newer
- Windows 7, 8 or 10 or Ubuntu o MacOSX 10 or higher
- WIFI capabilities
- A Chromebook, though acceptable, is not recommended due to its software limitations
- A tablet with an external keyboard, though acceptable, is not recommended
- A smart phone is NOT an acceptable substitution for the laptop requirement
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the student laptop requirement, please don’t hesitate to contact me for an individual appointment time to discuss your concerns. Thank you, again, for your support and commitment to your child’s learning!
by Lural Ramirez | May 24, 2018
Futuro Verde’s annual education conference, focused on Bilingual, Holistic and Sustainable education. is designed to attract educators from around the country and the globe. But, did you know that most BHS sessions are targeted for parents as well? Parents who have attended BHS in years past have raved about the learning they’ve experienced and have appreciated the perspective it gives them on their child’s educational journey.
What can parents learn from BHS this year? Conference sessions are divided into three strands: Bilingual education, Holistic education and Sustainable education. Below is a highlighted list of some sessions coming to this year’s conference:
- Global Mindsets for a Sustainable World
- Community Blue Flag Green Certification: A Case Study
- Connecting Music with Poetry
- Childhood Nutrition
- The Perfect Balance between Work and Play
- Bilingual Reading Ability from a Young Age: Benefits and Advantages
- Experiential Education- Solving Real World Problems in the Classroom
- Permaculture
- Play and Inquiry Based Learning / Reggio Emilia Approach
- Comparative Language Study: a universal tool for interculturality and multilingualism
- Assessment Through Interaction and Games
- Mindfulness as a Tool for Emotional Resiliency
As you can see, BHS offers topics for every area of interest and expertise! We encourage you to register today to attend this life-changing educational conference in our own backyard. For registration details, click on the link: https://www.futuro-verde.org/professional-development/
See you at BHS 2018!
by Lural Ramirez | May 2, 2018
This May 17th there is an extraordinary meeting of the FV General Assembly. Our annual meeting is held every October and is set up as a time to review the school’s finances and to report yearly achievements. Each year, we hold an extraordinary assembly in order to make big financial decisions for the coming school year. This meeting specifically focuses on any decision related to tuition increases for the coming school year. All parents are invited and expected to attend this important meeting.
This year, we are modifying the dates and procedures related to the registration process for the coming year and the following school years. This is a big change for families who have been with us for many years and I want to take the time to explain the reasons behind this big change.
For years, Futuro Verde has given priority for registration to recurring families up until the month of December of the current school year. The new process does not give such a long priority period for registration of returning students. The reason we have made this change is simple and is two-fold.
- Futuro Verde operates financially based almost exclusively on tuition payments. All of us have big expenses in the month of December and leaving the window for registration for recurring families open until December means that Futuro Verde confronts a yearly struggle to meet our financial needs during the closing month of the school year. Confirming registration for the coming school year half way through the current school year allows us to meet our December financial obligations with less stress.
- Futuro Verde is growing every year and multiple grade levels are wait-listed for the 2019 school year already. Making accurate projections for staffing and building needs has to happen for Futuro Verde much earlier than December and families who are wait-listed also need confirmation far earlier in the year than December.
Below, I will detail for you once again (this was sent already in an email) the different processes and dates associated with this change. I remind you that tuition price proposals for next year will be shared, discussed and voted upon during our meeting on May 17th.
- Priority, reduced-rate pre-registration window for the 2019 school year: June 1st-July 31st.
- Scholarship applications are received: June 1st-15th
- Scholarship applications will be reviewed: June 16th- July 13th
- Scholarships will be announced: the week of July 17th.
- August 1st: Pre-registration period, with discount in registration price, ends. Wait-listed students can register for the new school year. (current students lose priority for their spot unless they have paid their 2019 registration).
- August 1st on: Registration price discount ends.
If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the administrative team and we are happy to meet with you to discuss your concerns directly.
Thank you for your understanding and support of this important change in support of the proper functioning of our school!
by Lural Ramirez | Mar 21, 2018
Did you know that Futuro Verde teachers actively collaborate with other educators across the country and the world? Futuro Verde prides itself on the understanding that we are not engaging in teaching and learning in a silo here in our corner of the peninsula. Our students this year come from 32 different countries or origin, our staff hail from 11 different countries and we are keenly aware that philosophies on education and theories on the very best way for students to learn varies drastically depending on the context in which you live and the educational training you have received. We open our minds and our school doors to input from other educators and educational contexts each and every day!
How does that happen, you might ask? Well, in so many different ways! For example:
- Our CAS teacher, Karol Madrigal, collaborates with the CAS teacher in Jersey, the Channel Islands, in order to unite our students with theirs in their Creativity, Activity and Service initiatives! She also guides students in service projects that directly impact both our local and global community.
- Our IB coordinator, Stuart Millar, maintains regular communication with other coordinators and IB educators across Costa Rica and the world as he strives to clarify policy, coordinate programming and seek out meaningful connections with other IB World Schools across the globe.
- Futuro Verde hosts an international education conference each year in June. BHS welcomes guest contributors to this conference from around Costa Rica and the world who come and share their expertise and knowledge related to Bilingual, Holistic and Sustainable education!
- When we have teacher changes at a given grade level or subject, we pride ourselves on our effective transitions- teachers collaborate before their departure, during the change over and after the new teacher has taken over the class. Curricular continuity is a priority at Futuro Verde!
- Do you remember former FV primary English teachers Eileen Waldschmidt and Shahnaz Sahnow, both of whom worked at Futuro Verde while on sabbatical from their teaching positions in the United States? They are no longer on site but both master teachers continue to stay meaningfully connected to the school through their support of current FV teachers, curriculum development and systems organization. Eileen, a co-founder of BHS, also continues to actively plan each year’s conference as a member of our conference leadership team.
- Lastly, several Futuro Verde teachers and administrators have established formal sharing agreements with schools, teachers and students at different schools and grade levels around the globe with pen pal programs, Skype calls and even student exchanges!
Part of the benefit of an international school is the opportunity to easily connect with other students, educators and schools around the world via our shared values and goals. We value the benefits these relationships bring and we encourage our families to support these important efforts by our students and staff!
