Tijuana - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability of international schools? What has been your general experience with them, if any?
People with kids like it here because their kids can go to US schools on a school bus that takes them across the border each day. There are good Mexican Montessori preschools on this side as well. Your kids can get the American High School experience if desired, sports and all. And special needs school services. If you have a student who wants to attend Community college or San Diego State Univ, or UCSD and live at home, it is possible. In fact, most of the people who bid TJ do it because the schooling is so great for their kids and spouses. - Oct 2024
This is one of the highlights of this post. I do not have kids, but people choose this post so that their kids can go to public school in the US. The consulate has an agreement to send kids to a very exclusive, but public school in the US. In addition, it is a great post for kids who have developmental and special learning needs. Kids can also do all the normal extracurricular activities in the US, so families really seem to love this post for those reasons. - Apr 2023
Schools in Tijuana are good for preschoolers and kids up to about third grade. After that the education officers recommends schools in the U.S. Consulate kids attend Coronado Public schools and a few private schools in San Diego. - Nov 2017
Most kids who are older than 2-3 grade go to school in San Diego. But there is a great little bilingual school that our child really liked. I think it goes through 8th grade. The teachers were wonderful and she was totally bilingual by the time we left. Some people left their kids there into grade school and it worked out, but others mentioned that in later posts their kids were behind in English reading, writing and math. Our daughter was only there for pre-K. - May 2015
Consulate staff tend to send older school age children to school in the U.S. - Mar 2015
Parents seem happy with the private preschools and kindergarten. Most parents I know send their elementary school-age kids and older to schools across the border because of bullying or other difficult social situations and because the schools here do not seem to be amendable to working with expat parents. - Apr 2014
They are okay. I won't name any here, but if your kids have English as a native language, find a school whose purpose is NOT to teach solely English. - Feb 2014
Most children go to school in San Diego, CA. Some of the families with kids who attend school in Tijuana are fairly pleased with the education given at the international school. - Dec 2010
Most families send their kids to school in San Diego, with the consulate providing a shuttle to select public schools. Expect at least an hour commute each way (with SENTRI passes) with the ever present chance of cars being held up in secondary. In Tijuana, Reina Isabel and British American provide classes in Spanish with up to half of the day in English. Neither one is equipped to teach Spanish as a second language or communicate with parents in anything but Spanish. That said they both offer relatively good pre-K programs and acceptable lower elementary programs. Having experienced schools on both sides I found the public schools in Chula Vista to be excellent and the schools in Tijuana to be vastly different in standards and culture. - Aug 2010
Most families with school-age children (elementary and up) send their kids to schools in San Diego. The Consulate provides shuttle service and it seems that school choice is fairly flexible; it just needs to be within a certain distance of the border. There are some English/Spanish schools such as the British-American School (which seems to be mainly preschool and elementary) and Reina Isabel (which includes daycare through high school). People seem pretty satisfied with these schools, although I have no direct experience. - Mar 2008
