British school to open in Bangkok

[rooster59]

British school to open in Bangkok

By KWANCHAI RUNGFAPAISARN 
THE NATION

 

An image of Wellington College on Krungthep Kreetha Road in Bangkok. Construction is under way and the school will open next year.

 

WELLINGTON College, a long-established British school, will open in Bangkok next year, marking its entry into the Asean region.

 

With what it calls a focus on child-centred teaching amid an open learning environment, the co-educational school aims to encourage students, through a variety of activities, to discover what piques their interest and passion — preparing them for the 21st century.

 

 The first phase is scheduled to be ready in August 2018 to serve local families, as well as in the region and across Asia. Construction of the school is 40 per cent complete, and is proceeding on schedule, in time for operations by August next year.

 

Located on Krungthep Kreetha Road, the Bt2.5 billion project spans 50 rai with plenty of green space, and is half way between the city centre and the airport.

 

In the first phase, the school will provide a curriculum for pre-nursery through to Year 6. When the school opens to include Years 7 to 12 for full operation by 2020, the school capacity will be 1,500 students. 

 

Darika Lathapipat, chairman of the board of governors of Wellington College International School Bangkok and president of Dhurakij Pundit University, said the move to open the school in Bangkok was supported by a rising trend of foreign direct investment in Thailand and the technology-driven Eastern Economic Corridor, covering the nearby provinces of Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao.

 

Darika also cited the exponential growth of international schools in Thailand over the past 20 years, reflecting the demands of a high-income market.

 

The Wellington College International School Bangkok will follow the standards set by the Wellington College in Berkshire, England, offering a British curriculum that integrates child-centred teaching methods in a positive learning environment. In addition, leadership, discipline and responsibility—as well as necessary skills to live and work in the 21st century—will be cultivated and fostered in children.

 

 “We consider Thailand is still open with a number of attractive opportunities in relation to the current competition in the industry,” Darika said.

 

“Supported by a limited number of premium international schools accounting for only the renowned five, and a thorough market survey revealing a high demand for valuable education can be expected, we are in no in hesitation about setting up a Wellington College in Bangkok.

 

Darika said the international college is aimed at families whose neighbourhoods are in Bangkok and its vicinity. Annual tuition fees of around Bt475,000 to Bt750,000 a year are affordable when comparing to the cost of studying overseas in the UK or the US, Darika said, with the added advantage of students being able enjoy being with family and travelling to school conveniently.

 

Focus on standards

 

“We are committed to making sure Wellington College International School Bangkok is up and running and meeting the standards and expectations of Wellington College before considering expansion to other areas or markets. We have the licence right to the Indochina region (including Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia), so when the time is right, we will start looking at other markets,” she said.

 

Helen Kavanagh, international business director at Wellington College, said the school is one of the world's top co-educational independent day and boarding schools in Britain.

 

Its importance to the country’s educational portfolio is characterised by excellent curriculum and highly recognised professionals, she said. This helps to form a strong base for self-learning educational environment where children can develop their proficiency, learn new skills and explore interesting challenges.

 

 In 2015, the school was featured in The Week and named as the most forward-thinking schools in the UK, while The Tatler magazine awarded Wellington College with the Good Schools Award for the best senior school in the country, she said.

 

“Following business negotiations in Thailand, we undertook a thorough examination and review on the management team, location, surroundings and potential market, and came to the conclusion that Bangkok has the potential and readiness to become a stronghold of Wellington College in Asean,” Kavanagh said.

 

“Supported by the government’s economic and social development, we have great trust in our local partners to make the right investments and planning, and we expect a successful expansion in Thailand.”

 

 Christopher Nicholls, founding master, Wellington College International School Bangkok, said that the school will deliver the British curriculum using the best of British methodology. 

 

“We hope that children who graduate from Wellington College International School Bangkok will serve as true inspirations to others; to ensure this, we prioritise and develop their individual talents and interests to the greatest extent possible,” he said. “Alongside academic excellence, the school will cultivate deep intellectual thinking, reflective development of self and inclusive social engagement to enable students to live, work and flourish independently beyond school. This is the great achievement to which we aspire at Wellington College International School Bangkok.”

 

Darika said: “For our first year, we expect around 200 students enrolled across pre-nursery to Year 6. We are not limiting our market to any nationality, so our key target students are from families in the vicinity with an interest in sending their children to international schools, and especially families that understand and appreciate the Wellington College ethos as expressed in our identity and values.

 

“We will have up to four classes per year group, limited to 15 pupils per class for the early years and a limit of 20 pupils per class at the higher levels. Total capacity of the school is 1,500 pupils.

 

“Through my years of experience, I believe the very first step of making the right decision of choosing a suitable place for a child’s education is probably the most critical one. During this time, social and other skills can be taught and developed. In early childhood development from birth to age five, parents should expose their children to a suitable educational environment, i.e. schools where they can learn how to develop physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually throughout their lives.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Corporate/30328062

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-09-30

[thequietman]

All show and no substance as per the norm here or a real institute of learning??  ie: does everyone pass?

[anon789561]

another one! just had rugby school open this year. how many of these types of schools does Thailand really need. I believe there are actual connections from the rugby school in the uk to the one here, will this be the same with wellington or just a licence for the school in the UK to cash in on?

[Jeremy50]

Whatever. Pump out some sprogs, and almost immediately boot them off to the most expensive 'pre-nursery' in the land, leaving mummy time to go back to her vacuous life of shopping and frappe latte's. 

[TEFLKrabi]

Alternatively, you could view this as an opportunity to educate more people (ok, the wealthy ones) and have well educated people with a more worldly view of things running the country in the future and dragging into the 21st Century. 

[Get Real]

This is what a school with a good reputation does, when they want to ruin that. 

Good teachers can be found in UK, but that will not be the same here. They just forgot the most important thing. Quality acessment!

[jayboy]

5 hours ago, Happy enough said:

another one! just had rugby school open this year. how many of these types of schools does Thailand really need. I believe there are actual connections from the rugby school in the uk to the one here, will this be the same with wellington or just a licence for the school in the UK to cash in on?

For those who can afford the fees or have the fees paid for them, these options are mostly good.It's really important however to understand what's the motivation of these famous British schools and what's the motivation of the Thai partners.The PR I have seen from these schools is mostly unadulterated bullshit.If it's a Thai big business family involved there's need for special scrutiny because let's face it, integrity is not a quality usually associated with these people.You are certainly right that in some cases the British partner school is "cashing in", not for ignoble motives but to increase their endowment to support deserving children whose parents couldn't otherwise afford the fees back in the UK.Unfortunately this sometimes puts foreign parents in Thailand who send their children to these schools in the position of subsidising that endowment effort.I speculate that the market is indeed becoming too crowded and there is huge investment being made in facilities which seems to me as much for show as anything else.Having said that there's a great demand for a top class English independent sector education in Thailand.A clever entrepreneur could do very well by hiring first rate teachers from the UK independent sector (and paying them top range salaries), establish a adequate school infrastructure - forgetting about much of the fancy and wallet draining co-curricular expensive parts and charge fees 30% lower than Harrow,Rugby, Brighton etc.I think they would do well.

[wakeupplease]

Utter waste of money and only for the Hiso as expensive

 

This is the UK Costs for 2017-2018 and that is per term, can't see many real thia kids going can you? and the UK of course have real professional teachers who by law have been certified as teachers not perverts on the run doing an impression.

 

2017/18 Fees

The Governors of Wellington College have set the current fees as follows:

Type	Current fee per term
Boarding pupil	£12,740
Day pupil in boarding House	£10,695
Day	£9,310
Overnight charge for day pupils	£48 per night

[bontang]

Like the Regents just another Place for the Ladies to show off their Benz, BMW, Ferrari, 

Their Education system is demanding &  tend to hand ball all the home work to the Parents,

Those Hi So Schools have a big impact on the Students as they try to keep up with Ms Joe Blow showing off their New Latest & greatest Beemer  to the World,

[Jane Dough]

Most of the comments here are uninformed nonsense.

 

A big player like Wellington College will, in time, bring an excellent school to Bangkok like others in similar vein - Harrow, Shrewsbury to name two.

 

Yes, fees will be big, but standards will be high and as the saying goes...you get what you pay for.

 

 

 

 

[MrJohnson]

On 10/5/2017 at 11:58 AM, Jane Dough said:

Most of the comments here are uninformed nonsense.

 

A big player like Wellington College will, in time, bring an excellent school to Bangkok like others in similar vein - Harrow, Shrewsbury to name two.

 

Yes, fees will be big, but standards will be high and as the saying goes...you get what you pay for.

 

 

 

 

Yes, completely agree. Whilst there are quite a number of international schools in Thailand, there is quite a range in quality. There are a cluster of very high quality schools, including the two you mention, and also NIST, Bangkok Pattana, ISB, St. Andrews, Bangkok Prep. etc. These are certainly the 'A' teams and have school fees that reflect that. The students tend to be a mix of expat kids and local Thais from wealthy families. If you look at where many of these kids go when they graduate you see that  many are going to very good universities in the U.K., USA, Canada and Australia. I'm sure that  Wellington College  will maintain their high standards and be a good addition to the schools here already.

[jayboy]

Yes, completely agree. Whilst there are quite a number of international schools in Thailand, there is quite a range in quality. There are a cluster of very high quality schools, including the two you mention, and also NIST, Bangkok Pattana, ISB, St. Andrews, Bangkok Prep. etc. These are certainly the 'A' teams and have school fees that reflect that. The students tend to be a mix of expat kids and local Thais from wealthy families. If you look at where many of these kids go when they graduate you see that  many are going to very good universities in the U.K., USA, Canada and Australia. I'm sure that  Wellington College  will maintain their high standards and be a good addition to the schools here already.

Neither St Andrews nor Bangkok Prep are in the first division.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[anon789561]

On 9/30/2017 at 1:19 PM, jayboy said:

For those who can afford the fees or have the fees paid for them, these options are mostly good.It's really important however to understand what's the motivation of these famous British schools and what's the motivation of the Thai partners.The PR I have seen from these schools is mostly unadulterated bullshit.If it's a Thai big business family involved there's need for special scrutiny because let's face it, integrity is not a quality usually associated with these people.You are certainly right that in some cases the British partner school is "cashing in", not for ignoble motives but to increase their endowment to support deserving children whose parents couldn't otherwise afford the fees back in the UK.Unfortunately this sometimes puts foreign parents in Thailand who send their children to these schools in the position of subsidising that endowment effort.I speculate that the market is indeed becoming too crowded and there is huge investment being made in facilities which seems to me as much for show as anything else.Having said that there's a great demand for a top class English independent sector education in Thailand.A clever entrepreneur could do very well by hiring first rate teachers from the UK independent sector (and paying them top range salaries), establish a adequate school infrastructure - forgetting about much of the fancy and wallet draining co-curricular expensive parts and charge fees 30% lower than Harrow,Rugby, Brighton etc.I think they would do well.

don't speculate too much. the jesuits are on their way. watch and learn ; )

[mike324]

a lot of negative remark over opening of a school eh? its not like the school is a brothel or anything, calm the f down

[Orton Rd]

Pattana Suk 105 is a marvelous School that is over 60 years old, so if it's anything like as good it's a welcome development

[richard_smith237]

On 9/30/2017 at 2:35 PM, Jeremy50 said:

Whatever. Pump out some sprogs, and almost immediately boot them off to the most expensive 'pre-nursery' in the land, leaving mummy time to go back to her vacuous life of shopping and frappe latte's. 

A well balanced approach with a  Chip on both shoulders !!!!... 

 

..... Jealous much ?

Edited October 10, 2017 by richard_smith237

[MrJohnson]

19 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

Neither St Andrews nor Bangkok Prep are in the first division.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

Yes, I think you are probably right there.