# Westhill Institute



## kabb

Does anyone have experience with the Westhill Institute? We are considering a move to Mexico City and are looking for a school for our children (4th and 7th grade). Unfortunately many of the private schools are full for the 2014-2015 school year or require students to speak Spanish, which mine do not as of yet. Westhill is one of the only schools that I have contacted that has space and does not require students to speak Spanish at time of enrollment. 

If anyone has other recommendations for schools, that would be much appreciated as well. Thank you.


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## Longford

I have no first-hand knowledge of Westhill. On the Daves ESL Mexico Job Forum I have read, however, negative comments about the school and the quality/lack of quality of the programs there. There seems to be a consensus, on the Dave's site as well as in other online comments/reviews posted, that the school may be a depository for children removed from other bilingual schools who've had behavioral problems. Westhill may be the type of school which accepts anyone, as long as they pay a high fee. Again, I have no personal knowledge of the school. I'm not certain I can post a link to the Dave's ESL Mexico Job forum here (because of linking rules) so just enter the name of website in your internet browser's search box and it'll show-up. You can search the school there and possibly join (free) that website to ask questions. I think school goes back into session about Augusts 25th this year and, yes, the better programs are probably full by now. However, there seem to be last minute drops in enrollment and you may want to check with several schools to see if there's a wait list. Best of luck.


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## kabb

Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated.


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## graylined

Hi,

We visited Westhill this past winter with our 6 year old daughter. We had a mixed view on the school. The school is brand new and has very nice facilities (including a large swimming pool). Half of the school day is in Spanish and the other half is in English which we thought was great, most of the students seemed to be Mexican. The administrators were very salesy about the benefits of a bilingual education, and the school in general. They hardly asked us any questions about us or our daughter, but they were very eager to have our daughter take the entrance examination and pay the requisite fee. It felt more like they were trying to sell us a product. They also sell candy to the kids in the cafeteria which we thought was strange. The school wasn't for us, but I am sure that there are lots of families that are happy there (the teachers looked nice). We were taken to the school with a relocation advisor, and she said that she took another family from Connecticut to the same school the week before and they liked it enough to enroll their child there.


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## kabb

Thank you for your reply. May I ask where you ended up with your daughter? Are you happy where you are and was it difficult to get in?


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## graylined

Hi, 

My daughter is going to start 2nd grade at the Liceo Franco Mexicano in Polanco. It is the French Lycée. She has been going to a French speaking school in NYC so she is already fairly fluent. We also looked at Greengates, which I had mixed feelings about as well. I wanted to see the American School but it was already full for 2014-15 as of February. My biggest hesitation with a lot of the schools that we looked into was that they are spread out all over the city, and in most scenarios the kids who go to these schools have long commutes on a school bus everyday. This was something I didn't think about as an issue until I got there but considering Mexico City's poor air quality, I think it should be a factor when making a decision.

I just posted an update on a thread I started months ago. If you go back and check it out you will see how conflicted I was. I am still nervous, but if it turns out to be a mistake I plan on returning to the States with my daughter.


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## Isla Verde

graylined said:


> Hi,
> 
> My daughter is going to start 2nd grade at the Liceo Franco Mexicano in Polanco. It is the French Lycée. She has been going to a French speaking school in NYC so she is already fairly fluent. We also looked at Greengates, which I had mixed feelings about as well. I wanted to see the American School but it was already full for 2014-15 as of February. My biggest hesitation with a lot of the schools that we looked into was that they are spread out all over the city, and in most scenarios the kids who go to these schools have long commutes on a school bus everyday. This was something I didn't think about as an issue until I got there but considering Mexico City's poor air quality, I think it should be a factor when making a decision.
> 
> I just posted an update on a thread I started months ago. If you go back and check it out you will see how conflicted I was. I am still nervous, but if it turns out to be a mistake I plan on returning to the States with my daughter.


Your profile says that you are now in New York. If that is New York City, I don't think you'll find the transition from one huge city to one even bigger that difficult, especially since you'll be living in one of the nicest areas in Mexico City. I don't live that far from you, in the neighborhood behind the US Embassy, so once you and your family have arrived, feel free to send me a PM, so we can get together. I know the city well, having lived here full-time since 2007, and having spent longer and shorter periods of time here and in other parts of Mexico for many years.


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## kabb

Thank you again. I did read your earlier thread and understand your concerns. Our 4th grader has a life-threatening peanut allergy and carries an epipen. In addition, she was recently diagnosed with mild asthma. I hope you are happy at the French School and that your experience there turns out to be a positive one. I would love to hear more from you down the road about your experience with the school, your daughter's allergies/asthma, and your general feelings about safety. If you have time and feel inclined, perhaps you could contact me after school starts and give me an update. Perhaps then we will have a better idea of where we might land. Thanks again.


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## mmager

*Westhill institute of Mexico y dangerous*

Advice to all: 

Be very carefull if you wish to approach Westhill Institute, it shows signs of the corruption affecting part of mexican society. In some instances even with very dangerous consecuences for entire families.

Recently the owners of Westhill used their family in judicial system to throw in jail father an mother (of several children) who denounced corruption in Colegio Westhill.

Search in Google for 
'Liberen a Coral y Antonio, ilegalmente privados de su libertad'
or
'Matrimonio venezolano enviado a la cárcel por denunciar irregularidades en el Colegio Westhill en México'


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