In 1926, a powerful hurricane ravished Miami and virtually ended the land boom ushering in the Great Depression long before the actual stock market crash of 1929. Yet our community did not give up after this devastation, instead they picked up the pieces of their beloved city and began rebuilding. Optimism filled the air as construction and repair began to forge the way, and Miami grew to become the international metropolis we know today. It was in the midst of this economic boom that Mrs. Louise Shaffer, originally from Norway and resident of New York made her way South to establish our school in 1926 in the newly born city of Coral Gables; on the corner of Almeria and Ponce De Leon Boulevard.
We are one of the elite schools that offer the International Baccalaureate® (IB) programme. The program offers high quality international education to a worldwide community. The programs are designed to help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. There are currently more than 745,000 IB students at 2,714 schools in 138 countries. The Biltmore School found it important to be one of them and we are working towards becoming a fully authorized IBO school during this school year.
Each program includes a curriculum and pedagogical learning, student assessments appropriate to the age range, professional development for teachers and a process of school authorization and evaluation.
Authorization to become an IB World School is an intensive process that typically takes two or more years and includes site visits by an IB team. A regular process of evaluation is undertaken by The Biltmore School that keeps its programs at their optimum levels.
