International School Community Blog

International schools that were founded in 1947 (New York, Cali, Medellin, Rome, and Sao Paolo)

Random year for international schools around the world: 1947

There is much history in the international teaching community.  We have international schools with founding dates of 1838 and 1854 and we also have many, many international schools with founding dates in the 21st century.  The numbers are increasing for sure.

Utilizing the database of the 1111 (25 February, 2012) international schools currently listed on International School Community, we found 5 international schools that were founded in 1947 (excepts about their founding are taken from the schools’ websites):

United Nations International School (New York City, USA)

“The United Nations International School (UNIS) was established in 1947 by a group of United Nations Parents to provide an international education for their children, while preserving their diverse cultural heritages. What began as a nursery school for 20 children quickly grew, adding grades, students and faculty.  The rapid growth of the School demanded new and larger facilities.  By the late 1950’s, the School had campuses in Queens and in Manhattan, and broadened it student base to include the UN community, the Diplomatic Corps, the non-governmental international sector, and local New York Families.”

St. Francis College  (Sao Paolo, Brazil)

Colegio Bolivar  (Cali,Colombia)

“In 1944, Mrs. Gladys Bryson, foreigners residing in Cali and educator by profession, became a room of his home in San Fernando, in a classroom, the College was born Anglo – American Cali.  In 1947 the school already had up to 8 th grade students and tuition had cost $ 20 pesos from first to eighth grade and $ 15 pesos for kindergarten.  As the name of Colegio Anglo Americano in Cali was very similar to the American College, was officially changed to Colegio Bolivar in 1950.  In 1955, each student had his own desk. Also built a kiosk for the students to use during the lunch break and, years later, he built a larger one, and as the school grew to nearly 300 students, the kiosks were first used as classrooms.”

The Colombus School  (Medellin, Colombia)

“In 1947 a small group of American and Colombian businessmen founded The Columbus School in order to provide a U.S. style education for expatriate children and Colombian children who sought an alternative to the predominantly parochial education that was prevalent in the mid 20th century. Our founding fathers envisioned the need to prepare their children for a world that would be increasingly “internationalizing” and pledged to prepare students to achieve academic excellence through critical and creative thinking, global mindedness and bilingualism.”

American Overseas School of Rome  (Rome, Italy)

“For the first half of its existence the school was called the Overseas School of Rome. There actually was an OSR before 1947, but not the same school that was incorporated in that year. It was a little US Army school bearing the same title, located near Ponte Milvio started in September, 1946. We are greatly indebted to them for both starting the idea of our school and for their help when the school had to move at the end of its first year.

When news came that the allied troops were being moved to Trieste, five American and five British mothers (some from the original Ponte Milvio school) got together and decided to form a school which should be nondenominational and international, combining the best of the British and American systems. This group is responsible for the organization of the official corporation that became our school.

Next they had to find a place for the school. They managed to get the British and American Ambassadors, as patrons of the school, to put pressure on the Torlonia family to rent the palazzetto of Villa Torlonia on Via Nomentana as our first home. The school opened its doors to the public on October 16, 1947, with a grand total of 60 students.”

Check out the rest of the international schools listed on International School Community and check out their histories as well!  We have over 1110 international schools that have profile pages on our website.