Harry62

Hi all,

I got a reminder of Thaivisa for my inactivity on the forum and I suddenly remembered that I once was interested in info on St Andrews in Sathorn (an earlier thread in 2012, now archived) and that I promised at the time to submit "real life" experience later to help others.

So, here I go, my experiences with St Andrews Sathorn (as well as a little bit on NIST):

Moving from Europe to Asia with our two kids now almost three years ago, we were a bit anxious to see how the kids were going to take it, especially school wise. It turned out that our worries were nothing good for, it was incredible to see how smooth this transition was. First day in school and the kids were happy. And I do believe that this is due to the St Andrews Sathorn school itself. The relatively small scale, the family feel, the very friendly and professional teachers, it all contributes to how the kids experience school. I also believe that there is a good mix of nationalities and a stable situation in terms of teachers and children turn over. I've always had the feeling that the education level is good (my kids are pretty clever but never felt bored) and my kids always liked the projects that they were doing every trimester. All this time, I really have been very happy with our choice for St Andrews Sathorn. Perhaps the only negative is that St Andrews Sathorn only has primary education, and their secundary branch is far away in Sukhumvit 107. For that reason, we moved our eldest last year to NIST which is closer.

I can therefore also make a preliminary comparison between St Andrews Sathorn and NIST. OMG, what a transition this was. As I said, transition from Europe to St Andrews Sathorn was nothing but transition from St Andrews Sathorn to NIST took my kid at least half a year. Perhaps this was also due to transition from primary to secundary but I think it was also because NIST was less welcoming as compared to St Andrews Sathorn at the time. One of the flaws I found at NIST is that it is advertising to have great sport facilities but when you're in you'll find out that this is only the case if you're selected for the school's sports teams. In terms of regular after school activities, it turns out that there's hardly any recreational sports available. I was quite shocked to find out since my kid is crazy about sports and this was one of the reasons to choose for NIST. I also have the feeling that the mix of nationalities in NIST is not as good as in St Andrews Sathorn, although I'm not sure about primary in NIST and I sometimes wonder if people take their kids back home once they reach secundary age. I don't know yet how to assess education level in NIST because it will probably take me a few years to understand their very particular grading system. I do see good things in NIST, e.g. in the education system they emphasize on understanding what you're doing, not just reproducing facts. There's also a good emphasis on presentation and communication skills and on making the kids think further about things and formulate their opinion.

Of course, these are just my personal experiences, I hope this may help some of you...

That's interesting: I'm new here, living close to Lumpini station and had exactly the same problem! I was so desperate that I just thought to give it a try and ended up in the Q-house Lumpini building (next to Lumpini station) in the Akru salon (1st floor). I was scared to death but I actually think the hairdresser did quite a good job! I also asked for her name (she spoke good enough english for me) for a next time: it's Ly. Good luck!

Perhaps I can add that in the meantime we decided to choose for St Andrews Sathorn (after the period of "thinking to choose for" as in the earlier post). We actually were in doubt between two schools and amongst these two we were quite impressed by the communication with St Andrews Sathorn. They seem to be very flexible and open to any suggestions and always responded very promptly to our queries.

We actually also found a family friendly and "low-rise buildings" compound in the neighbourhood (one of my other posts) so we're quite happy with these choices. But still no real life experience, I will have to post some additional info once we're a few months further.

I think our housing budget is good (employer sponsored) so should not be an issue for a 4 bedroom appartment. We did see one nice smaller scale compound with two blocks of max 6 floors but we also found out that its inhabitants are 90% of one (EU) nationality (not being ours). Could still be an option, but I was wondering whether there might be more.

Thanks!

Hello,

We're moving this summer to Bangkok with a 7 and 9 year old. We probably choose for St Andrews Sathorn international school and would like to live close by (meaning close to BNH hospital, if that helps).

I was wondering whether anybody might have ideas for family friendly compounds in this neighbourhood and more specifically compounds of a relatively small size and a bit of a cosy atmosphere (we think we don't really like these high-rise buildings with a "hotel-feel" kind of compound). Would be great if there's kids of the same age as ours.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks

Hi,

I'm in a similar situation, moving to Bangkok this summer with a 7 and 9-year old, and we think we will choose for St Andrews Sathorn. We visited this school, as well as Shrewsbury, ISB and NIST. School fees are not a criterium for us (paid by empoyer), but we think we prefer a bit smaller school, with the option to live close by (in a neighbourhood where it is possible to find quiet places) and walk to school. When choosing a school like NIST it means that the children will have to sit in the bus long hours every day and that just doesn't seem appealing to me.

When we visited St Andrews Sathorn we really liked the relaxed atmosphere, while we also saw quite some parents walking around and having a chat after bringing their children to school. I don't know exactly about the nationality mix but we saw quite some non-Asian parents at the time.

I don't know if this helps but I thought perhaps it could be of interest to hear other people's considerations for choosing one school or the other.