Marymount International School Barranquilla - History and Overview

History and Overview

Founded in 1953 by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount is a private Catholic school and is located in a beautiful residential section of the city of Barranquilla. Originally a school for girls, Marymount, opened a section for boys in 1981. Boys now form approximately one third to one half of each academic group throughout the school.

Marymount has an average enrollment of 1300 students served by a faculty and staff numbering over 180. The main campus houses the administration and library building, the primary school, the elementary school, junior and senior high school, limited sports facilities, and a modern chapel and auditorium building. The Preschool facilities (Nursery, Pre-Kinder, Kinder and Transition), and a free tuition school ("Escuelita/Little School") are located across the street. Marymount has extended sports facilities on a 44-hectare piece of land approximately 20 minutes from the main campus, called the "Promised Land"; this is where the whole school will move at a future date.

Colegio Marymount is a Colombian school, subject to the directives and frequent supervision of the Colombian Ministry of Education at each level. Since 99% of our students speak Spanish at home, the preschool has adopted a total English immersion program for the first years of school. Approximately 99% of the primary and elementary school curriculum is taught in English using textbooks printed in the States. Each grade level has three to four class divisions with 19 to 27 students per group.

Through extra class hours and intensified college preparation programs, completely bilingual graduates receive the Colombian Bachillerato Diploma, the Marymount High School diploma, the Marymount Principles of Office Management Diploma, the University of Michigan English Proficiency Certificate, and the French Alliance Certificate. Students in the upper grades take standardized tests including the PSAT, SAT, TOEFL, ELPT, and ICFES (Colombia's version of the SAT). 100% Marymount's graduates enter colleges and universities in Colombia, USA, and Europe.

It has been ranked for many years as Barranquilla's top private school. It has for many consecutive years gained the highest results in SAT, TOEFL, and ICFES exams in the City of Barranquilla and the Caribbean Region of Colombia