Punta Banco School
Learn About Pavones Area Schools
The Punta Banco school is located directly south of the soccer field in Punta Banco and was created in 1976.The school consists of one primary classroom, one preschool classroom, a set of boy’s and girl’s bathrooms, a cafeteria, and a house for the teacher(s).
The staff consists of three people; the Principal, who also serves as the teacher for grades 1-6, a preschool teacher, and a special education teacher. In 2015, the student enrollment consisted of nine children in primary and seven children in preschool.
The subjects studied in the Punta Banco school include Spanish, Math, Social Studies, Science, and English. Additional services include special attention to those with learning disabilities.
The school has organized bodies that support it: the Board of Education, the Special Support Committee, the Board of Parents, and the FONABE Scholarship Committee.
The Punta Banco School has just received funding to build a new school further away from the high tide mark. The funding has come from a Dutch organization.
History:
According to Mr. Cirilo Cortés, a 90 year old community member, as soon as the immigrants came from Guanacaste to homestead in Punta Banco and the surrounding area, they organized to open a school, since the pioneers’ children needed a formal education.
They carried out the necessary regional paperwork and also solicited the Ministry of Public Education in San Jose. In 1977, they acquired a school teacher named Gabriel Villachica, who began the work of the Punta Banco school. The school opened in 1976 and the first enrollment consisted of 25 students in a thatch-roofed hut with very rustic wooden benches.
