XGM

47 minutes ago, BigStar said:

So I’d say if you’ve got the dosh, as you do, and you've made up your mind, as you have, that your kid would take to take advantage of the education at one of the recommended international schools, then it’s certainly a good option. In this thread, Tara is looking pretty good for a more centrally-located Pattaya resident. I wouldn’t want my kid commuting very far.  

Our kids attend International Schools here for over 5 years, so yes, we've made up our minds long time ago.

I also think long commuting is a negative. The school's location is a big factor in choosing where we stay. Sure, all things being equal we'd prefer being closer to Pattaya than to Rayong.

1 hour ago, Xaos said:

As well there is : 

 

https://www.rugbyschool.ac.th/

This one seems to try breaking a record in terms of high pricing. Even more expensive than St. Andrews and Regents. Not for us.

2 hours ago, SidJames said:

The international schools seem to pay lip service to teaching Thai so I have extra lessons for mine at the weekends.

It's very important to be able to read Thai correctly & also speak correctly as it will open doors for them later on if they rise high enough.

They would look ridiculous being Thai & not being able to read their own language.

Some good points here. We started in the same way for a while (private lessons) but with occasional catching up in other subjects, clubs and more it was hard to persist. The schools want to show students reach a high level - this could mean pushing them in a way that makes a lot of work at home necessary. So many kids, and I'm talking brilliant and intelligent kids, take private lessons these days, it seems some schools rely to some extent on either the parents or private tutors to do part of their job. I've noticed this is the case with many types of schools.

2 hours ago, SidJames said:

I was talking to Thai parents who send their child to Tara & they said that they are not worried about his Thai as he's clever, that he can speak Thai & English, will be rich & won't need to read Thai.

???? This is a good one.

Here's my perspective though: if there's a high likelihood the child will continue to higher education in Thai university and to a career here, then yes, you can't compromise on a high level of Thai. If fact you might be better off with a good bilingual school because learning the subjects in Thai will give the necessary depth. On the other hand, if going to a good university abroad and then working and living there are a more likely path, then it's less important. And finally, if you assume the local path will be less likely and proven wrong - how hard will it be for a person who has good learning skills and at least a reasonable basis, to improve that aspect?

We just booked Centra by Centara Maris Resort.

Yours truly,

Two-weeks-per-year-millionaire

46 minutes ago, BigStar said:

I'd say it's not so simple. When you look at average out-of-control Western kids or teens, admiring their tattoos and piercings, do you ever wonder about the greatness of their the learning and thinking habits? 

 

These days your kids have the vast resources of the internet and they also have you to work with them.

 

Friend of mine adopted his poor Thai nephew, sent him to a good Thai school w/ an English program, and worked with him after school, only spoke English with him. Then he sent him to ABAC (Assumption U--all classes in English) in Bangna where he majored in Business. Very mature, straight up, never in trouble, good communication skills. Graduated with a high GPA and married a beautiful Thai stewardness he'd met in high school years before.

 

Afterwards he went to the USA, where his degree was recognized and he found good jobs w/ career paths. Now, following in his stepdad's footsteps, he just got accepted into pilot training w/ the US Army. It was not easy.

 

Yep, did everything many a big spending snooty TVF Poster would absolutely not recommend. So a kid who probably would have become a village lout like his real dad was reborn into an admirable defender of freedom, justice, and the American way. ????

Any school could not possibly fully compensate for bad environment or lack of active support and guidance from parents. That's a critical foundation.

Beyond that, their 7-8 hrs a day at school, in my perspective, should be used constructively, less memorization and more creative thinking, dare to experiment, encouraged to ask and discover. Don't care much 'bout the American way ????

I do accept the better Thai schools can do a good job too. Let's make fair comparisons though. An out-of-control tattooed western kid, to a Thai kid who attends a school probably rated at the highest percentile in the country, with a step father with knowledge and means who is evidently very much dedicated to assisting him in his path? Come on. To compare education systems, compare average public school here to average public school there or top private schools in both countries.

Not that I am just full of praises to International Schools here, far from it. Don't even get me started on that  ????

Less than 1,000 baht by bus.

Less than 3,000 baht by plane.

Probably around 10,000 baht by taxi.

9 hours ago, guzzi850m2 said:

My son goes at Phoenix (international program) and he loves it, will start in 5th grade here in July.

Head teacher in the class is always a native English speaker. I have very good impressions about the school and he still learns a lot of Thai which many "real" international schools don't do.

My son started at Maryvitt and he hated it, they hit him sometimes, he was crying every morning before school, he was not happy there. They don't learn independent thinking in that place in my opinion and it's mostly a Thai based school.

 

Thinking about where to put him when he is finished with 6th grade?

I agree with both your points - first about Thai language being at the very bottom of priorities for International schools, often completely overlooked by management, second about the lack of independent thinking in Thai system schools. For us the second is more critical - one could improve Thai language skills in the future if needed (who knows if they will work and live in Thailand at all?). Changing learning and thinking habits is more difficult.

33 minutes ago, BigStar said:

Some sectors, no doubt, but you're also helping refute the nonsense Pattaya is "loosing" out to HH.

Yeah. It's more like a "loose-loose" situation  :)

On 6/20/2020 at 12:33 AM, BigStar said:

If you really know the Pattaya area you know there's an astonishing amount of money concentrated here, penthouses to mansions to malls.

That's right. But I believe the amount (and proportion) of businesses heavily dependent on inbound tourism is significantly larger in Pattaya than in Hua Hin. Sure Pattaya will still be way busier than HH but in comparison to the past it will suffer more as well.

6 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

Because I'm antisocial.....  ????

I'm antisocial too but I trust machines even less than humans ????

6 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

BTW, I pay everything using cash so the need for depositing the entire amount wasn't all necessary.

????

I see that Tara Pattana state they are more selective, while Garden accept anyone with "a chance to succeed" (subject to space). This perhaps implies a higher level of students at Tara Pattana, however my initial impression is it's the other way around. Anyone has kids learning at either of those schools and can comment?

3 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

They are all Thai schools (Thai curriculum) unless they are International schools such as Regents/St Anrews/Tara Pattana (I think)

Yes, we are only looking at International Schools. I've made the decision to stick to those early on when we moved here (5 years ago) and I'm happy with it.

Mooltripakdee is also an International School but as far as I've seen they aren't accredited by any organization out of Thailand. An accreditation isn't a guarantee for quality but it does gives some extra incentive to keep certain standards.

GIS = Garden International School (in Ban Chang). It looks good. Get mostly favorable reviews in this forum too.

20 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

The English one ,mind you his English is perfect as he went to school in the UK for about7 years when we were back there . they have a mini bus that picks kids up and delivers them back to Pattaya.

About 40min from the Pattaya I see.

25 minutes ago, bolt said:

you should look at Maryvit Pattaya

http://pattaya.maryvit.ac.th/

lots on expats send the kids there its north end of the city.

Thank you for the reply. My understanding is that Maryvit is essentially a Thai school, possibly with an English / Bilingual Program. That's not what we're after.

2 hours ago, SidJames said:

James Swan is the headmaster at Tara & is a decent man who really seems to care about his school & the pupils.

He's young & ambitious (my children don't go there as we live a fair bit out.)

Further south I would choose St Andrew's with a good young team of teachers & strong leadership.

Phoenix is basically a decent kindergarden & I would not recommend any child over 6 to go there, it's a Thai school with some foreign teachers imo.

Thank you. St. Andrews would be my first choice too but their rates are too high. I guess I'm mostly interested in "Tara vs. GIS" comparison.

13 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

we sent our boy to Assumption in Sri Racha.really good school he did well ,nowhere as expensive as Regents ,we had a friends boy go there ,he did not rate it highly .

Anyway our son did well ,went on to University and is now in a great job earning very high money for a Thai .

Thanks. Which program did he go to?

Fed up with the air pollution in CM, we are planning to move at Jan 2021. Will try to schedule visits during July.

Crossed off the list:

Regents / St. Andrews / ISE - a bit too expensive for my budget.
Phoenix / ISC - caters to the younger ages. Kids will be 8 and 11 on enrollment.

Mainly looking into the following three:

GIS - I read good reviews here and fees seem reasonable enough. Will definitely check them out. Any recent opinions?
Tara Pattana - a newer school I understand, the location is easier with accommodation but how do they compare with the other schools?
Mooltripakdee - a different (Montessori) approach, significantly lower priced than the others. Are they accredited at all? I see they recruit NES homeroom teachers for 50,000 baht. That isn't much.

Some important qualities for me in a school: Effort made by school to hire and retain good teachers in order to minimize turnover. Teachers should be well compensated. A culture of proactive communication with parents. Openness from management and staff to hear feedback when necessary. Sufficient enrichment / extracurricular activities to make things more lively for the kids. Rich content in classes and homework rather than busywork.

I will appreciate any replies. Obviously the current covid-19 period brings a lot of uncertainty to schools and it's difficult to know how they will cope, my assumption is that organizations with solid managements, good track record and sufficient budget will handle this time better than others.

A bit off topic - The Education Ministry recently published directives stating schools with over 20-25 students in a class may learn in alternating days, do a combination of classroom / online learning, or some version of a similarly impractical system. I don't know if those rules will actually be applied but I think that in general, at this period of covid-19 related restrictions, schools that already maintain small class sizes as their normal practice are better placed to handle the "new normal" routines.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1928892/schools-gear-up-to-reopen-nationally

Nice work. I don't know much about this school but can certainly identify with the way you do the research and get into the details. In my experience, it is really hard for parents who meticulously scrutinize a school to be really satisfied (myself included). Sometimes I think, the more I know the worse it seems. Let's face it, both the bilinguals and the lower tier Internationals here are not exactly world class education. Hiring and retaining good foreign personnel is always a challenge. Even management is sometimes here only for a few years.

My point here is: do all the research you want, but remember to manage your expectations.

3 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

By simply substituting the word 'Bitcoin' by 'stocks' in my earlier post, you seem to imply that there is no difference between the two.

Bying stocks allows companies that need money to make their product or service happen, to do so.  The demand for those products or services (i.e. the value created) is a win-win.  The company gets the money it needs to continue providing its products or services, and the share-holder is rewarded for investing his money. 

I don't see the win-win in the Bitcoin scheme where profits are not related to any real-world demand for products or services.

That's in IPO or further offerings.

The company does not benefit (not directly at least) from investors / traders buying and selling the shares to each other over weeks, months and years at increasing prices. Then, if the company pays no dividends, does no repurchase of shares, and has no plans to do any of those in the foreseeable future, this kind of trading and price movement is exactly built on the Greater Fool Theory.

You are right however regarding no value being generated in Bitcoin - just like any other commodity, such as gold. It is important to remember though price bubbles can form, and explode in a very painful way, in either of those types of assets.

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

Conversation in UK.

Paid £150,000 for the house, now the markets down and I had to sell quick I got £130,000

Conversation Thailand.

Paid 2,000,000 for the house, now the market is down and I need to sell it has been for sale at 2,500,000 for over 3 years and I haven't had one offer.

If you always sell at a higher price than you bought, you never lose ????

1 hour ago, GregTN said:

Did you pre sign all your documents before you arrived there?  I have tried that in the past to keep from sitting there an extra 30 minutes doing so but was made to re sign most of them again because they didn’t like the location or size of my signature.  Maybe this year is different?

I didn't sign them in advance - I signed them after they were initially checked (out of the building). Yes that was one of the reasons it took us a lot of time just to get in. But evidently those signatures weren't good enough anyway and I had to sign some of the documents again, when they were submitted to the immigration officer who actually handles the application. The reason, as I learned, is she uses a big rectangular stamp on each document, and you have to sign in the middle of that stamp. If you sign at the edge of the page she can't fit the stamp around it. In addition, some documents only needed to be signed by me, others both by me and my wife - IIRC, the Marriage Certificate copies and the Kor ror 2 and some others. Another reason is that with the family photos you have to sign on the photo itself. If for example the photo occupies only a part of the page and you sign on the margins it isn't good.