Welcome to the 2023-2024 academic year
Dear members of the Pan-American School community,
It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the start of the 2023-2024 academic year at Pan-American School. Whether you are a student returning after the summer break, joining us from another Costa Rican school, or moving to Costa Rica from afar, we look forward to welcoming you over the coming days and doing all that we can to ensure that you feel a sense of belonging and connection in our shared community.
On July 17 we welcomed our new faculty members, with returning faculty joining us on July 20, and since then our educational teams have been preparing with great enthusiasm for Thursday.
Start of School
- Our classes will begin at 07:15 am Thursday, and our campus will open at 07:00 am.
- Our uniform supplier is experiencing supply chain issues and so for students who do not have a uniform:
- Students can wear any PAS shirt that has a logo.
- If a student does not have a shirt with the PAS logo, they can wear regular clothes aligned with the Dress Code. These clothes:
- Should not contain slogans, or other messages.
- Should be in a good state of repair, and not ripped or torn.
- Should be tidy and appropriate for a learning environment within the institution.
Sports & Fitness
- Please note that there will not be any sports or fitness program Thursday.
- Starting next week our Sports & Fitness programs will start:
- Secondary Sports will run from 06:00 - 07:00 am Monday- Thursday for those training in Football, Basketball, or Volleyball
- Secondary Fitness will run for all students from 07:15-08:00 am during the regular schedule.
- Primary Sports will run from 2:30-3:30 pm Monday - Thursday.
Please make sure you have communicated your child’s sports choices to the Sports Coordinator (Jessica Palavicini, available at sports@panam.ed.cr)
Whole-school Welcome Assembly
On Thursday we will hold a short whole-school assembly for students in the gymnasium; our Learning Support teams will coordinate with students with sensory challenges and bring them to an alternate space where they can view the assembly away from the main floor.
If you are new to the school and would like our team to invite your child to this alternate space, please contact the Primary (direccionprimaria@panam.ed.cr
Student & Parent Handbook
Please find a copy of the 2023-2024 Student & Parent Handbook here; it will shortly be available in SIPAS as well.
Rotation Schedule
Please remember that this year the school will run an A-G rotational schedule. You can see the letter of each day in the SIPAS Calendar. For the first days:
- Thursday, 3 August will be an A day
- Friday, 4 August will be a B day
- Monday, 7 August will be a C day
- etc.
Campus Updates
Over the break, our teams have been busy with campus upgrades, and we will continue to reflect on how we can enhance our campus to improve our community experience. Regarding some of the important upgrades:
- Yellow Building & Elevators: The new stairwell has been completed, and the additional bathrooms have been installed. We are in the final stages of installing the elevator and expect this to be completed by the end of next week. All major construction work has been completed.
- Cafeteria: The cafetería has been updated and refreshed, and much of the new furniture has been installed. We are waiting for additional furniture to be completed and will be continuing to reflect on how we can expand the current space to create additional flexible and attractive seating options.
- Music Rooms: Our Music Rooms have been installed in the Orange Building, and equipped by our music team. If there is interest in our student body, our next stage will be to install individual practice rooms to facilitate individualized practice during the day, to support students preparing for music examinations, etc. outside of school. We will be sending a survey to see if there is interest in this over the coming weeks.
- ECE Playground: We have placed the order for the new ECE playground and it is currently being constructed overseas. The provider indicates that it will be in the country in early December, so we anticipate having it ready for semester 2. You can see the structures we have ordered here.
- PYP and MYP Classroom Furniture: This has been ordered and is currently being manufactured overseas. We expect to have it in place for Semester 2.
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We will continue to share updates with you over the coming weeks; for now, we look forward to welcoming you all back to our community as we get ready for another year of learning at Pan-American School.
Kind regards,
Alan Wrafter
General Director
