I have a possible move coming up to Rayong this summer, I was wondering if any parents on this forum could recommend a good secondary school for my son, he will be entering year 10? I really appreciate your help.

I have a possible move coming up to Rayong this summer, I was wondering if any parents on this forum could recommend a good secondary school for my son, he will be entering year 10? I really appreciate your help.

The top school in the Rayong province is Rayongwittakom located in Rayong City. Actually, I believe it was rated as the top secondary school in Thailand by the government this year, and has usually been rated amoung the best in previous years. But of course the admins could be BSing us (I work here, but leaving this year to return to Canada). But it really is a top notch school. About 4000 students in our school, great English program, great facilities, etc. Sorry, I don't have the number or address but if you come to Rayong city, anybody here could tell you where it is. It's on Taskin Road, across from AUA and near the police station.

We've got an appointment tomorrow morning at St.Andrews International in Rayong for our 3 year old daughter, so I can let you know after our visit on what our first impression is.

I know of a couple of people with their children in there already, and a very good friend of ours is sending his daughter after she finishes at the Montessori there too - And all I've heard is very good things about the school.

Di

We visited St Andrews and also Garden International School (GIS) last November. Our first impressions were that we liked St Andrews more. However I feel that this was probably based on the fact that St Andrews has a newer and more impressive campus, which obviously does not necessarily translate into a better school.

I've searched on this and other forums, St Andrews has a few favourable comments, but I cannot find any first hand comments about GIS, either good or bad. A couple of "I've heard its ok" type comments but nothing really helpful. I'd like to find out more because GIS also offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. GIS website recently changed and can now be found here:- www.gardenrayong.com.

We also visted BEST Bi-lingual school and were not really impressed. According to recent posts on here it has gone downhill lately.

Would be great to hear from someone with experience of either school or at the very least knows someone with experiences.

We also researched GIS (checked out the new website on the weekend), but the fact that isn't the Brit system is the only reason we are not pursuing that option. Maybe if it doesn't work out with St.Andrews we will look further into GIS and the IB programme.

A guy we know who has his son at St.Andrews (came to thailand a few years back with his family) swears it is the best thing they've done having him in the school. Apparantly the son wasn't doing exceptionally well during his schooling in England, but they definitely noticed a huge overall improvement in his learning, attitude to school and life in general, etc - not to mention that the son absolutely loves going to school too. He also said that the positive influences and lack of (negative) peer group pressure from other students was one of the major contributing factor to the changes in the his son.

Di

We also researched GIS (checked out the new website on the weekend), but the fact that isn't the Brit system is the only reason we are not pursuing that option. Maybe if it doesn't work out with St.Andrews we will look further into GIS and the IB programme.

A guy we know who has his son at St.Andrews (came to thailand a few years back with his family) swears it is the best thing they've done having him in the school. Apparantly the son wasn't doing exceptionally well during his schooling in England, but they definitely noticed a huge overall improvement in his learning, attitude to school and life in general, etc - not to mention that the son absolutely loves going to school too. He also said that the positive influences and lack of (negative) peer group pressure from other students was one of the major contributing factor to the changes in the his son.

Di

But GIS does follow the British System and is registered and affiliated with the British Ministry for Education .

We also researched GIS (checked out the new website on the weekend), but the fact that isn't the Brit system is the only reason we are not pursuing that option. Maybe if it doesn't work out with St.Andrews we will look further into GIS and the IB programme.

A guy we know who has his son at St.Andrews (came to thailand a few years back with his family) swears it is the best thing they've done having him in the school. Apparantly the son wasn't doing exceptionally well during his schooling in England, but they definitely noticed a huge overall improvement in his learning, attitude to school and life in general, etc - not to mention that the son absolutely loves going to school too. He also said that the positive influences and lack of (negative) peer group pressure from other students was one of the major contributing factor to the changes in the his son.

Di

But GIS does follow the British System and is registered and affiliated with the British Ministry for Education .

Well then I'd better look into GIS again ( a bit more thoroughly this time ).

Thanks for that.

Di

Thank you all SO much! I am not in a position yet to visit the schools, so your input in very much appreciated.

I do want him to continue the British curriculum until IGCSE, but universities that I have looked into all seem to prefer/give more points to IB students these days, therefore I think it is the better option.

Those of you who have looked around the schools, what did you think about the facilities and general wellbeing of students in the upper school?

Well we went to our meeting at St. Andrews this morning and we were very happy with the facilities, the staff we met very nice and polite and overall we were impressed with the whole setup.

Angel was even invited to play with the Nursery group while we were there and she had an absolute ball. We ended staying there for 2 hours (after our meeting finished) and she was not impressed to leave.

Angel starts there at the start of next term in Nursery, even though we originally planned on starting her at the beginning of the new school year in August, where she will go into kindergarten. A friend of ours has his 5 year old daughter also starting term 3 as well.

Di