Centro Escolar El Roble, Zona 11: IB Diploma Boys' School (2026)

**Centro Escolar ‘El Roble’ is a Catholic-identity boys’ school in Zona 11 of Guatemala City, run by the APDE group, and the school with the earliest authorisation date on the International Baccalaureate’s Guatemala register: the IB Diploma Programme since 5 December 1997. The school does not publish tuition. Everything below was read on 2 October 2026 at the IB’s register, MINEDUC’s registry of authorised schools and the school’s own pages.

Quick facts: boys only · IB Diploma Programme since 1997 · English and Spanish · November IB exam session · classes 7:00 a.m.–1:15 p.m. · new students accepted up to tercero básico · tuition not published · MINEDUC codes open for primaria, básico and diversificado.

The facts, with where each one comes from

There is no párvulos code under El Roble’s own name. MINEDUC registers a separate pre-school, Centro Escolar Las Charcas (párvulos, code 00-11-0791-42, open), on the same 11 Avenida Sur Final, and El Roble’s transport page names APDE Las Charcas and APDE La Villa as APDE’s pre-primary schools. Ask which pre-school feeds into El Roble if your child is under primaria age.

The IB Diploma at El Roble

El Roble’s IB page describes a double qualification: the Guatemalan Bachillerato en Ciencias y Letras and the IB Diploma. The IB record lists the subjects El Roble students are currently registered for. In the IB’s own abbreviations, with the standard subject name alongside:

Two things on that list are El Roble’s alone among the four APDE schools on the register: Computer Science and German ab initio. Physics also appears at Solalto, the group’s other boys’ school. Campoalegre and Entrevalles list Visual Arts and History instead.

What the school publishes, and what it does not

Tuition. The FAQ answers the price question with a non-answer: the colegiatura “puede variar según el grado académico”, and for amounts and payment options “te invitamos a contactarnos directamente”. What the colegiatura includes, per the same answer: family advisory sessions, parent and grandparent formation courses, excursions and special celebrations.

Admissions. Four published steps: book a visit, a diagnostic test from Kinder upward, hand in the paperwork, enrol. The school publishes no document list for a child arriving from abroad; for that, MINEDUC’s rules apply — see enrolling a foreign child in a Guatemalan school.

The entry ceiling. El Roble’s FAQ gives tercero básico as the last grade at which a new student can join, and names no exception for the two bachillerato years.

Transport. Free morning drop-off “hubs” at Iglesia Espíritu Santo and Pacific Center, where APDE buses collect children for El Roble, Campoalegre and the APDE pre-schools. A full morning-and-afternoon route through APDE La Villa costs Q400.00 extra; door-to-door buses exist at a cost the page does not state.

Religion and admissions. APDE’s FAQ says every family, whatever its situation or religion, is invited to apply. It also says the APDE schools are not part of Opus Dei, while the spiritual care of the community is entrusted to Opus Dei priests and the schools contract chaplaincy for primary and secondary.

Two claims to read carefully

• The claim that only APDE schools offer the IB. APDE’s pages say the APDE schools are “los únicos colegios en Guatemala que ofrecen el programa del Bachillerato Internacional (IB)”. The IB’s own register, read the same day, lists six Guatemalan IB World Schools. Two of them are not APDE: Antigua Montessori School, authorised for the Diploma Programme on 20 December 2024, and Colegio Internacional SEK Guatemala, authorised for the Primary Years Programme on 5 March 2026.
• The claim of a top-5 MINEDUC ranking. The school’s FAQ says the four APDE primary-and-secondary schools sit in the top 5 of “el ranking del Mineduc”. MINEDUC states in writing that it “no elabora rankings ni listados de ordenamiento sobre mejores establecimientos”. What it does publish is the percentage of each school’s students who reached the Logro level, one school at a time — our guide to Guatemala’s school rankings (in Spanish) explains how to look a school up yourself.

Not the “El Roble” in Antigua. The only “El Roble” registered in Sacatepéquez is Colegio Privado El Roble in Sumpango, and all three of its codes are CERRADA DEFINITIVAMENTE. An older version of our Antigua guide confused the two; this one is in Zona 11 of the capital.

The school year

El Roble does not publish its calendar on the pages we read. Its students sit the IB’s November exam session, which is the session that fits the Guatemalan January-to-October year, but that is an inference from the exam month, not a published calendar. MINEDUC’s 2026 calendar for private schools (Acuerdo Ministerial 4818-2025) started classes on 12 January and sets 15 October as the last day of classes; for every date and the August-to-June schools, see the MINEDUC school calendar.

Compare with the other IB schools

All six IB World Schools, with the two non-APDE ones, are in the table on international schools in Guatemala City.

Related guides

• International schools in Guatemala City — every IB World School, plus the US-accredited schools that publish tuition
• Enrolling a foreign child in a Guatemalan school — what MINEDUC requires
• MINEDUC school calendar — official 2026 dates
• Zona 11 property listings — homes near the school
• Education hub — the full school directory

Read 2 October 2026: the IB register and IB school page 001009, MINEDUC’s establishment search, and El Roble’s own FAQ, admissions, IB and transport pages. Schools change fees, hours and policies without notice — confirm with the school before you decide.