Colegio Santa Francisca Romana (Redcol)
- Ages
- 3-17 yrs
- Curricula
- Colombian Curriculum, Highscope Curriculum (Preschool), International Baccalaureate, U.S. Currículum (Cognia accredited)
- Main Language
- Bilingual (English/Spanish)
About
The girls’ education begins in preschool with the Highscope curriculum, a play-based, child-centred approach with active learning at its core. Students continue their schooling with a bespoke curriculum based on the Colombian national curriculum. In the last two years of high school, the students participate in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. The school is also accredited by Cognia and, thus, the students graduate with the Colombian diploma, U.S. diploma, and the IB diploma.
Colegio Santa Francisca Romana cares about the whole child, so in addition to strong academics, the school seeks to create opportunities for students to develop their talents, give back to their community, and lead in the areas that most matter to them. The school also uses RULER, an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning (SEL) developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
Students at Colegio Santa Francisca Romana are referred to as “Pachas” and the girls accept this term with pride. Pachas are women who impact the future and the 21st-century challenges through creativity and innovation; are committed to the care of the environment; hold strong values; excel in their chosen academic fields, and are socially responsible leaders through service.
Gabriela Casanova
School Director
Gabriela Casanova Rangel is an education leader with over 20 years of experience across school and higher education, both in Colombia and internationally. She has a B.A. in Modern Languages at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and a M.A. in International Relations at Katholische Universität Eichstätt Ingolstadt in Germany. She specialized in Philosophy of Science, and she earned a certificate in the Executive Development Program at INALDE Business School. She speaks Spanish, English, German, and intermediate French. Her journey began in the classroom—as a school teacher and later as a university lecturer in an education faculty, teaching pedagogy, research methods, and supervising student teaching.
I then expanded into international education—first in Germany, where she taught Spanish and intercultural communication, and later at Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, where she led institutional internationalization, strategic positioning, and regional engagement. These roles strengthened her expertise in strategic planning, curriculum innovation, and cross-cultural education.
Recently she served as Head of Primary and Special Projects at CSFR in Bogotá, driving educational transformation through student-centered approaches, curricular flexibility, and global competencies.
She's passionate about building purpose-driven schools that empower young women to thrive, lead, and shape the future.
