ABOUT
Pan American - the International School of Porto Alegre is an American-International school serving students from Preschool age 3 through Grade 12. Multicultural in nature, we are the only school in Porto Alegre offering international diplomas in addition to the Brazilian diploma. With a focus on academic excellence and teaching quality, we are Porto Alegre's leading education provider. Our smaller size allows us to offer personalized yet challenging educational experiences for all of our students.
We believe that an excellent educational environment can cultivate in students a passion for life-long learning. Pan American students are encouraged to go further, extending themselves not just intellectually, but socially and emotionally as well. At our school, we focus on educating the whole child, offering high-quality learning experiences both in and outside of the classroom. We recognize the student as the center of everything we do, and this core belief guides our priorities. Our data-based learning program focuses on the child’s individual growth, guiding students towards a successful future.
Not only do students receive an international, American style education that is taught in English, resulting in a US High School diploma, most students also graduate with a Brazilian certificate. PAS utilizes the IB Learner Profile to help build essential skills in its students from P3-G12, while students in the High School appreciate the rigor of the Advanced Placement program and specifically the AP Capstone Diploma program. Our academic programs are challenging, and 100% of our graduates continue their studies in colleges and universities in Brazil and worldwide.
The only international school in Rio Grande do Sul, Pan American School strives to bring an international educational experience to all its students. All our students receive an international, American style education that is taught in English which results in a US High School diploma. As well, most students also graduate with a Brazilian diploma. Offering the Primary Years Programme (PYP) from P3-G5 and the Middle Years Programme (MYP) from G6-G10 we provide our students the ability to become citizens of the world.
Our students come from 15 different nationalities. Approximately seven percent of our student body holds a passport from the USA, while another 11% hold passports from nations other than Brazil or the US. The remaining 82% of students at Pan American School hold a Brazilian passport. Thirty-two percent of our teaching faculty are from outside Brazil, representing the following countries:
Pan American has students and faculty from all over the world. Check out their nationalities on the map below.
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We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.
Pan American is a private, not-for-profit, coeducational, secular school of approximately 450 students which was officially founded in the school year 1966 - 1967. The school is fully accredited by NEASC in the United States along with the MEC (Ministry of Education) in Brazil. PAS is an authorized International Baccalaureate (IBO) World School delivering the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP) curriculum frameworks through grade 10.
The High School students take the College Board™ Advanced Placement (AP) coursework as well as the AP Capstone Diploma™. PAS had 92% of the students who took an AP exam in 2023, passing at least one exam, while the world average for the same period is 64%. Approximately seventy percent of the seniors attend university out of Brazil, typically in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
Pan American School holds membership in several educational groups such as the Association of American Schools in the Americas (AMISA), the Tri Association (Tri), Association of American Schools in Brazil (AASB), and the Principals' Training Center (PTC). These organizations provide the school with a network of like-minded international schools looking to provide students with a unique and meaningful international experience.
As well, we look to build the ten skills of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Learner Profile - balanced, caring, communicators, inquirers, knowledgeable, open-minded, principled, reflective, risk-takers, thinkers.
These skills help our students to have success in school as well as beyond the school walls. The international experience is a key part of the Pan American experience; however, not all our students leave Brazil for university. Our work focuses on ensuring students develop and refine skills so they are successful in communicating, collaborating, and working with anyone from any culture, language, religion, or other aspect of their identity.
Our end goal is for our Huskies to have success wherever they end up around the world!