ArranP

i think the number of students is about equal for the 2 schools. the only difference is BIS has 3 classes of 15 children per year and HeadStart 2 classes of 23 children per year.

I taught for 38 years in UK schools. They had tiered schools in the 60s: Grammar schools; Technical Schools; Secondary Modern. Eventually they were merged into Comprehensive Schools.

As Head of English in a Sec Mod I kept complete dossiers of results achieved in English & English Literature. I continued to do this when we merged with the local Grammar school. At Sec Mod schools 'good' students felt valued and achieved more - big fish in little pool. In Comprehensive schools they merged in and became ordinary/less valued. My records over the 1st 5 years after Comprehensivisation showed that results were DOWN in comparison to sum total of Grammar school results and Sec Mod results when viewed separately over the previous 5 years.

so does this show that it was not due the the school being a Grammer school or a Sec Mod that affected the results, but due to the school enlarging ?

Hello,

Currently 2 of my children goto BIS, I also have a 3rd child just turning 1 year old.

I can afford to send all 3 to BIS but due to the 3rd child I have had concern to evaluate the cost vs benefit to the children.

A point I have contemplated through discussion with family, is a child can goto to a top tier school and perform average, also, a child can goto to a mid tier school but perform very well. i.e. it is in the child whether to perform well or not.

Given the above fact, the child can do just as well when sending them to a mid tier school like HeadStart instead of a top tier school like BIS.

Would most welcome feedback thank you.

Regards

Arran.

Hello,

I've done some calculating and it appears I can afford to put all 3 of my children through British International School in Phuket. However I still find myself contemplating whether to go back to the UK or stay in Thailand.

I spoke with one of the students at BIS, who is in his last year at BIS, and asked him what his plans were, he replied he would go to University in the UK and then after that find a job and work in the UK.

So I assume, it seems that most farang / luk krueng children studying at international schools in Thailand intend to return to the West/Europe to finish their education at University and start work.

But what about the parents ? what do us parents intend to do ? do we follow our children back to the UK or do we stay here ? if we stay here how do we feel about our children moving so far away from us, if we go back with them how do we feel about leaving Thailand to return to Europe ?

Regards

Arran

"And why did you decide to father this child?"

stupid question and a bit too late.

Ultimately there are 4 reasonable options for you.

1. Find an English program at a good private school that would be a lot less than International school

2. Get a job teaching at an International school and get free tuition or reduced for all 3.

3. Go back to your home country and get as good of an education for free.

4. Home school for the first 5-6 years of school and then send them to International school. The tuition money, you save and then pay for their middle and high school in the International school

Really depends on how you want your kids to live. If you want your kids still to remain in Thailand after school and have their life here, then a good Thai school might be best.

If you really want them to have more options for life in the UK, then head back home.

We have 1 kid just to keep things simple for us. My wife just laughs when people ask us why we don't have more.

I don't envy your situation.

good luck

What you say here is good. However, it was the first question that popped into my mind too. . .and the second one.

Our children went to private schools. Though I see now as they are all adults, it didn't matter where they went to school. They are multi lingual and all doing well for themselves. One is doing extraordinary. Though we all measure that in different ways.

Thank you for the reply, may I ask you why it did not matter where your children went went to school ?

"And why did you decide to father this child?"

stupid question and a bit too late.

Ultimately there are 4 reasonable options for you.

1. Find an English program at a good private school that would be a lot less than International school

2. Get a job teaching at an International school and get free tuition or reduced for all 3.

3. Go back to your home country and get as good of an education for free.

4. Home school for the first 5-6 years of school and then send them to International school. The tuition money, you save and then pay for their middle and high school in the International school

Really depends on how you want your kids to live. If you want your kids still to remain in Thailand after school and have their life here, then a good Thai school might be best.

If you really want them to have more options for life in the UK, then head back home.

We have 1 kid just to keep things simple for us. My wife just laughs when people ask us why we don't have more.

I don't envy your situation.

good luck

At the moment they are to young to choose where they want to live when they are older, and I do not want to choose for them ?

Hello,

Currently 2 of my children goto BIS in Phuket,

I have a third child who is 10 months but cannot afford the BIS fees for a third child.

kids are 6 years 7 months, 4 years 9 months, and 10 months.

What to do? go back to UK or find cheaper education, ie headstart or kajonkiet international ?

I have no job here, only reason I stay is so my first 2 kids are near their Thai mother (who lives nakhon sawan).

Thai mother of my third child will follow me.

Regards

Arran

a man has died, another beaten, our only weapon is forgiveness, the alternative is violence.

i will look into that, in some places windows with a good solar reflectance will be needed or shade from balcony trelace / pergola

We considered the solar chimney concept when we were building a house, but mold mitigation in the earth tubes would be a tough obstacle in humid Thailand. Successful implementations have only occurred in hot and dry countries from what I could determine.

A user on one of these forums had succeeded, they used high / low ridged plastic tubing, cut saw lines through the high ridges on the underside of the tubes to let the condensation moisture escape to the earth, and wrapped the tube in some sort of membrane.

however the difficulty here in thailand is getting a sufficient delta in temperature, the ground is usuall only 2*C below the ambient. hence why I looked at the an underground water tank, but how do you get the condensation/moisture to escape from these, cannot use the same method as the earth pipe above as the pipes are emersed in water.

I like "green" for just about everything that makes sense. But passive cooling/heating takes ideal circumstances to be anywhere near effective and almost always ends up with fans and other add-ins that try to make it better but just don't. In a humid/tropical climate there comes the time when you really need the A/C and nothing else will help.

yep, I think I'm reclined to accept

i) roof with good solar reflectance and foam insulation

ii) double walls with cavity

iii) open doors and windows in the day for cross ventilation

iv) a few fans

The house I'm renting has single course on the west wall which is my bedroom, its too hot in their when I go to bed, I have to use the air con to cool it down.

I don't mind 30*C or 31*C in the the house, so long as the walls are not holding the heat and there is a breeze.

The house I am building has sea view, facing south, full height window openings on both north and south sides, winds comes from the east to south-west depending on the season.

The only time I use air-con is in my bedroom in the rented house is in the evening, So in my new house I think I may not need to use air-con as the walls will be double course with cavity and roof will have a solar reflectance of 92% (white colorbond metal klip-lok ) with foam insulation.

The only other passive solar option that would work here in the tropics, is the solar chimney on windless days.

wind towers are used in hot, dry arid climates (hence the qanat reference in the dwg) and are not suited for humid climates.

one interesting thing I have found since I bought my thermometer that gives humdity.

During the day when it is hot 33*C humidity is 59%, in the mornings when it is cooler 25*C humidity is 84%

Got some temperature readings taken today at 3pm.

31.0*C / 87.8*F ambient air temp (taken from thermometer fixed on shaded balcony)
29.5*C / 85.1*F water temperature from pool exposed to direct sunlight
26.5*C / 79.7*F water temperature from concrete water tank under house ( few thousand litres )

any suggestions ?

My thoughts : run x number of metres of air pipe coiled around the base of the concrete tank under the house. The pipe inlet to take in ambient air, the pipe outlet to be several vents several at the floor of the house.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher


Upward aIr suction to be supplied via solar chimney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_chimney

Consat, i live quite close and would appreciate very much to visit your site and perhaps meet you. would that be possible?

Hi Brufi,

"Passive energy house", way to go. I am building my house right now as we speak. At the moment we are working on the second storey roof beam framing, and rain gutters.

I am building my house by myself and a couple of masons. Workers are hard to come by in this area. I am situated just outside Pattaya in "Banglamung".

The material that I am using is 3D EPS panel. There is a factory about 3 km away from my location, so its very convenient.

These panels are technically referred to SCIP (structural concrete insulated panels). I am using the 2 inch EPS foam sandwiched between welded mesh panels both sides, with a space of about 20 mm either sides, and linked with welded truss wires. Cost ex works is about 500 Baht / sq meter. If you ever visit Pattaya, u can visit my build.

As for the Induced air, I have buried an 8" corrugated PE flexible pipe around the perimeter of the house. It slopes down from the intake , an up to the outflow, and is about 3 meters deep at the deepest part. My design is based on the "EARTH AIR TUBE" research, you can find them on the internet. The pipe has a saw cut through the high ridges on the bottom side, to allow for moisture to dissipate. The pipe was wrapped with one way GEOTEX membrane, to prevent any ingress of soil etc. The Geotex membrane was bought in Bangkok.

It took me several months to locate most supplies, but now that I have all the info, you can feel free to contact me on any issues. I wish you were closer to my location, then I could have offered to build the house for you. I am an engineer, and a licenced Thai contractor, and so have done all designs and systems by myself. I do not want to elaborate on windows and airconditioning, as it will be too long a post, but in passive design we rarely design for airconditioning. I basically intend to attack the Humidity head on, as thats the biggest problem in creating a comfort zone. I am looking at installing a backup "Dehumidifier" if the earth air system cannot get rid of most of the humidity. Other options are installing an ERV (energy recovery ventillator).

In the meantime, all the best with your plans.

Attached are pics of the Earth air tube before, and after wrapped, and laying in the trench. Others are of the house, and the panel walls.

I can be contacted by email at :

email removed per forum rules, please PM

im looking at using an earth air tube as an inlet for air into the house, and combining this with a solar chimney to suck the air out.

how is your earth air tube, does it make a difference ? cooler air ?

thalang

I called that mobile pro-steam place, but the said they cannot get the stains and marks out.

thalang

Hi,

Kids got slurpy and all sorts sweets, drink, and food on the seats upholstery ( toyota vigo ).

Any one got experience with getting marks like these marks out ?

Regards

Arran.

You can get a 60 day extension based on your childen. Did you ask immirgaiton if they will give this extension (if you didn't get one already).

Looks you have divorced but didn't register the divorce yet at the amphur.

Thank you, can you point me to the document to apply for this 60 day extension

Document is here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=280314

Under 2.24.

Thank you, no need to fly to KL :-)

You can get a 60 day extension based on your childen. Did you ask immirgaiton if they will give this extension (if you didn't get one already).

Looks you have divorced but didn't register the divorce yet at the amphur.

Thank you, can you point me to the document to apply for this 60 day extension

For a one year extension of stay at immigration your marriage will have to be registered here at an Amphoe to get a Kor Ror 22 marriage registry.

You will need to do a self certification of your marriage certificate by way of a statement at UK embassy. Then have the certification and marriage certificate translated to Thai. Then have both certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The translation can get the MFA certification done for you.

Then go to an Amphoe to register your marriage. They will update your wife's house book and give her the choice of changing her name to yours on her ID card.

When you apply for the extension you need your marriage certificate and the Kor Ror 22.

Thank you.

My Thai wife and I have made agreement in October 2013 by way of Nakhon Sawan court to divorce, distribute the marital assets, and I take custody of our 2 children. This is an official document and was accepted by the immigration at Phuket for my extension of stay application made december 2013.

This year however, when I made my extension of stay application again, the immigration did not accept the court agreement. This is because there has been time sufficient time to get the divorce certificate from the amphur.

The immigration want to see the divorce certificate which I do not have, my wife (ex-wife) have made enquiries, to get this certificate we need to goto Laksi court in Bangkok and have them issue a document ( which takes 45 days ) and give this to the amphur, who will then issue the divorce certificate.

Problem for me is my visa expires Dec 30.

I've been thinking the easiest way forward for me, I've considered the following:

i) leave Thailand and get non imm o visa from Malaysia KL

ii) stay in Thailand and get extension of stay based on marriage certificate.

looking for easiest way forward, advices much appreciated.

Thank you.

Applying for an extension of stay in Thailand, was married in the UK to a Thai national.

Is the English marriage certificate accepted by the immigration ?

Does the marriage need to be registered in Thailand ?

Regards

Arran.

Researching the use of an earth loop system because I understand it will reduce cost/energy kWh to cool the home compared with conventional air con units ( air condensors ) .

However, not yet sure the best way to integrate this into the home.

i) duct work in each room fed from a central evaporator and compressor

ii) evaporator units in each room connected to a central compressor

Regards

Arran

You would have to do the declaration at the embassy in Bangkok. But you should check with them as to what they require and to confirm they will not do the letter for you. You can do the letter by mail.

Info about getting the letter here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-obtain-a-pensionincome-letter-for-thai-immigration

thank you.

You will not need do the extension of stay based upon being the parent of a Thai until January. You will need the financial proof when you apply.

You will be able do your 90 day report in December without a problem.

Financial proof, I had this problem last year, I'm British and the British Consulate in Phuket does not endorse income, but got around it by taking my bank statements in to the German Consulate, he endorsed them for me. However the German Consulate no longer does this.

I'm still UK tax resident and my UK tax returns (SA302) show a loss at the moment because I'm currently growing the UK Property business ( more spend than revenue ). However I transfer 400,000 baht per month into my Bangkok Bank Account, sometimes more.

Last year they would not accept my bank statements as proof of income, they needed me to have them endorsed by a consulate. Thats why I went to get them endorsed by the German consulate.

Not sure what my options are this year ?

You apparently have the ability to put 400k baht in the bank and use that option. The immigration order for extensions does not mention the money needing to be in the bank for any amount of time. But I am certain Phuket immigration may want it to be in the bank for at least 60 days. They ask for 90 days instead of 60 days that is required for a marriage extension.

You might want to contact the UK embassy about getting a income letter. I have been informed that they now only do letters for those on retirement. For marriage and others they have you do a statutory declaration.

Unless you have gotten one already you could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your children to give you more time to meet Phuket's requirements for the money to be in the bank.

no I don't have that option, 200k is living expenses, 200k is instalment towards land purchase.

where do I go for a statutory declaration ?

At home there is only me and my 2 children.