The International School

Avenida Cuatro Esquinas Parcela 342-B Sector Cerro Grande / Fono: (56-51) 293199 - 290311 - 297537 / La Serena
http://www.tisls.cl/index.asp?action=bienvenida&lang=en

Brief History

The International School La Serena is a private , nonprofit school, recognized by the Ministry of Education, Chile. It was founded in 1976 when two foreign families  that at that time were working in the Cerro Tololo Observatory, belonging to "AURA Inc., Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Incorporated", invited three Chilean friends families to create a school  to educate their children.

The five founding fathers of the School, Ms. Alejandrina Cortès, Ms.Patricia Pizarro, Ms. Sheila Poyner, Mr. Alejandro Daud and Dr. Barry Lasker proposed to offer their children an excellent education, bilingual English-Spanish, a  co-educational system with small grades, that would develop the educational process in an international environment, pluralistic in religious matters, without racial, political, economic, social or any other discrimination.

Initially the school operated in a rented house in Romeral, la Serena. Classes began in 1976 with 2 Chilean students and 16 of other nationalities, attended by 4 teachers.  They were divided into 4 multigrade classes between 1st and 8 th grade.

In 1977 AURA made available to the school their guest house located in Cisternas Avenue  1500. For  10 years we use that house, and we  rent others  to absorb the growing needs. During its early years the school was supervised be  The International School Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, obtaining recognition  of the Ministry of Education, Chile  by Decree No. 000148 in March 3, 1978.

The school is formally independent of the Nido de Aguilas in 1982 .  In  June 14, 1982  was created  “Fundaciòn Educacional The International School La Serena”, a non-profit organization that is responsible for the administration and operation of the school, through a Governing Board with the participation of representatives of the founders and parents and guardians elected every two years at a general meeting of parents.

In 1985, the Parent`s Union  obtained its legal personality. Earlier that year, thanks to the significant contribution of  AURA and ESO observatories and the El Indio mining company, we acquired a  land in Avenida 4 Esquinas  to build the first own location for the school.

In 1989 the first class of 7 graduated students finished their high school studies with very good results in P.A.A. Test.
The increasing demand for enrollment associated with the excellent results leads to the Board in 1997 to buy a land of 5 hectares in the Cerro Grande, La Serena, where our school is located from March 2002 to nowadays. The building includes 35 classrooms, 2 science laboratories, 1 art room, 1 technology room, 1 music room, 1 library, 2 computer labs, 2 audiovisual rooms and playgrounds.

With regard to educational results, we can note that 22 classes of graduating students have obtained excellent results in SIMCE and PSU, for this reason most of them have studied in public and private universities of Santiago. Several of them have returned to settle in La Serena as professionals and some of them have returned our school as parents and guardians.

One of the institutional strength that has allowed to increase the achievements   through the years, is the high level of their professionals and the profound commitment of all staff with the school project.

In summary, the 35 years of the school history reflect that the school has achieved to increase two goals: the academic and formative results maintaining the spirit of its founders and the growth and modernization of its facilities.