Today, Gimnasio La Colina has its origins in the pre-school institution “Las Casitas”, founded by Rosario Casas in 1975. At that time, the future school had 12 children and was located in the western part of our city. By request of the parents who had their children in this pre-school, Rosarito (as she was affectionately called by people who knew her) decided to continue her educational project and started an elementary school with the intention of offering our city another educational alternative. In 1981, the founder’s husband bought a piece of land in the Menga neighborhood which already had a house built on it which is where the Gimnasio’s pre-school area is today.

That same year, through Rosario’s initiative, the Las Casitas Cultural Foundation was created. This is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to obtain parents’ support, not to have education as business. The land, the house and its utensils were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Iragorri to the Foundation.

Since then, thanks to the continued support of many families and to the Iragorri Casas Family's wish to continue the endeavor initiated by Rosario, Gimnasio la Colina has been able to continue its growth and today has an enrolment of 500 students, distributed between Kindergarten, Pre-School, Elementary and Secondary School. Class groups have an average of 18 students. Seventeen classes have already graduated from High School.

Today, Gimnasio La Colina School is a private, co-educational, bilingual (Spanish – English) institution, and a non-profit organization with direct parent participation. Gimnasio La Colina offers children and youngsters in Cali the possibility of harmonious development of cognitive, emotional, physical and spiritual potential. Our objective is to shape successful citizens with the necessary knowledge, sensitivity, commitment, and respect towards difference, creativity and leadership in order to generate and promote deep improvements in personal life and social environment. Our guiding principle is “Clear conscience, Strength in Thought, Will to Act”. Each student is considered as a “unique and unrepeatable being”, who learns the importance of collective life as the result of respect for individuality and value of democracy.

The Institutional Pedagogical Approach is Teaching for Understanding (TfU), a pedagogical orientation that resulted from thorough research carried out by Project Zero of the School of Graduate Studies in Education at Harvard University. This approach demands from students analytical thinking skills, to be able to solve problems and give meaning to what they learn. It also requires that teachers have a conceptual framework of TfU.

Bilingual and intercultural education are developed at La Colina; customs, traditions, literature and other essential aspects of English speaking cultures are studied in order to enrich the student’s international vision and to contribute to the enhancement of respect, tolerance, and appreciation of the elements of their own culture and other cultural expressions. The educational emphasis of the Bilingual Program at La Colina focuses on the development of necessary skills (grammar, textual, semantic, and literary), to become an efficient reader and text maker both orally as well as in writing.

On the other hand, the PREVIEW-REVIEW methodology for kindergarten to second grade, and the TEAM-TEACHING methodology for third grade to the last grade of high school, provide appropriate support for the Social Studies and Science areas. These methods, as well as all other policies and strategies, which result from an arduous and professional research under the guidance of the Bilingualism Specialization Program at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, allow students, starting in pre school, to become bilingual and to develop optimal communicative skills in English and in Spanish.

Physical Education, sports, ecology, art, dance, music, drama, plastic and visual arts, and computer systems are very important at La Colina. Rotation through the various disciplines in the first years allows students to know and identify their aptitudes and talents, which they develop afterwards with a more intensive participation during subsequent phases, in the various disciplines (dance, music, plastic arts, visual arts, drama). Work through projects in pre-school and in the first elementary grades fosters cross experiences among the various areas and an integration of knowledge.

All subjects are thought through and reviewed so that students may obtain a comprehensive education. All approaches are consistent with the concept of Human Being searched for at La Colina, and sorely needed by Colombian society, and with the proposals which underlie the Colombian Education Act, the ICFES state exam (Colombian Institute for the Development of Higher Education), and important international contributions. It is expected that students develop skills instead of isolated knowledge.

Language, Literature and Research teaching focuses on the analysis and production of various text genres and on the assimilation of necessary foundations for research. In Natural Science, the fundamental purpose is the construction of scientific thought through the appropriation of scientific methodology. Mathematics teaching has experienced significant reforms, seeking to open the subject to all students and stressing on problem solving and reasoning. The general objective of Humanities teaching is “the appropriation and legitimization of our culture and of universal values”. We expect students to be able to place events in space and time, to establish relationships among events, and, primarily, to develop analytical thinking.

Values education takes place in everyday life: through the teacher-student relationship, in the homeroom, in school elections, in Human Education classes, in bi-monthly Life Management Education Workshops, and in Coexistence Field Trips for students which emphasize human guidance. Therefore, proposed goals can become concrete actions; teacher training and updating is a permanent reality, both in formal environments during school hours organized by the Institution, as well as in courses and specializations in the best local and international universities.

Gimnasio La Colina graduates distinguish themselves through leadership geared towards important actions to transform their environment. They have been accepted by the best Colombian universities to develop the talents which they identified during their school life. All of them have chosen professional careers in various fields of knowledge such as medicine, business administration, economics, graphic design, law, psychology, engineering, international relations, and communications; they pursue a broad array of choices.