International Schools in and around Pattaya

[XGM]

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.

[bert bloggs]

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 .

Edited June 15, 2020 by bert bloggs

[XGM]

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?

[SidJames]

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.

[XGM]

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.

[bolt]

you should look at Maryvit Pattaya

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

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

[XGM]

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.

Edited June 15, 2020 by XGM

[bert bloggs]

7 hours ago, XGM said:

Thanks. Which program did he go to?

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.

Edited June 15, 2020 by bert bloggs

[XGM]

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.

[bert bloggs]

3 hours ago, XGM said:

About 40min from the Pattaya I see.

Actually we live in Banglamung ,so about 20 mins , on wednesday we used to pick him up late as he was an army cadet ,which meant when he got older ,he did not have to join the army .

it was a good school ,also made some very good friends ,which you need here in Thailand in business????

[Keyser Soze666]

I'm doing a similar thing with kids the same age, moving from Bangkok..After a little research and some knowledge of the schools in the area, the no 1 choice at the moment is Satit School..seems to tick most boxes and has a huge campus for the kids to enjoy and it's both for primary and secondary students..prices are not cheap (for English program) but not expensive either.

 

Any thought on SATIT?

 

My opinions on others with limited knowledge...

 

St Andrews/Tara Pattana/Regents - Way too expensive, plus ST Andrews is too far out.

 

Mooltripakdee - Don't like the look of it. Seems a little backward.

 

GIS - First I've heard of it.

 

Marywit - Hear it is very strict and give students a ridiculous amount of homework.

 

Assumption in Siricha - Heard good things, but sorry in this country I don't want my kids in a minibus for 1.5 hours every day (if you live in central area)

 

Have a look at BEST SCHOOL, meant to be good, but fairly expensive by memory.

[Keyser Soze666]

On 6/15/2020 at 1:17 PM, XGM said:

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.

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

[XGM]

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.

[Keyser Soze666]

Fair enough. Just really based on a gut feeling, as I'm certainly no expert, but I would lean towards Tara Pattana, based on good reviews and location.

[XGM]

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?

[guzzi850m2]

On 6/15/2020 at 3:27 AM, 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.

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?

[guzzi850m2]

Forgot to add, during the covid-19 school closure my son had/has on-line teaching via PC from the school, 2 Thai teachers came by the house and helped my wife setting it up (I am stranded in UAE) free of charge.

My buddy that have a daughter in Mayvitt didn't have any teaching during that period. 

[BigStar]

7 hours ago, guzzi850m2 said:

My buddy that have a daughter in Mayvitt didn't have any teaching during that period.

Mine has 2 daughters in Maryvit and they had online teaching during that period. Maybe your buddy is behind on his payments. They also like Maryvit and have turned out well.

[XGM]

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.

[BigStar]

2 hours ago, XGM said:

I agree with both your points . . . second about the lack of independent thinking in Thai system schools. For us the second is more critical . . . Changing learning and thinking habits is more difficult.

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. ????

Edited June 23, 2020 by BigStar

[XGM]

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  ????

Edited June 23, 2020 by XGM

[SidJames]

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.

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.

I did not offer a reply as I assumed that offense would be taken.

[XGM]

 

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?

Edited June 23, 2020 by XGM

[guzzi850m2]

On 6/23/2020 at 2:11 AM, BigStar said:

Mine has 2 daughters in Maryvit and they had online teaching during that period. Maybe your buddy is behind on his payments. They also like Maryvit and have turned out well.

Good to hear, well that was my buddy told me, no don't think he is behind with the payment, 555.

 

His daughter is also very happy at Maryvit.

 

Anybody that can recommend a fairly priced school after 6th grade? All those international schools are crazy expensive!

 

Just for general info: I have a daughter that now attends a IB international boarding school in Denmark, she was on a bi-language school on Phuket before that and she is doing fine up there.

Funny enough: It's much cheaper for me having her up there than on a similar school in Thailand because she as Danish passport holder (Dual citizen) are entitled to government support at about 800$ a month.

[LennyW]

GIS is well worth a look, consistently turns out top tier students, many from there start their careers in the Oil & Gas industry just along the road at Mapthaput. Less expansive than some of the bigger less performing schools.

[Xaos]

Phoenix and Tara Pattana is same owners.

 

My kid go to Phoenix and its good for what it is, still expensive.

 

I would check Tara Pattana.

 

As well there is : 

 

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

 

 

ps.

 

hows the fees looks like

 

Phoenix vs GIS ?

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Xaos

[BigStar]

On 6/23/2020 at 12:59 PM, XGM said:

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.

Yah, we’ve seen how so many turn out in the West via all that creative thinking, experimentation, and encouragement to tell and disorder.

 

I wonder how many classes at the best Thai schools, including the private schools, you’ve observed personally? Or does all that “no creative thinking, all memorization, no asking, no discovering” merely derive from listening to ignorant TVF bigots who really want a kid to turn into (cough) another Brit? ????

 

I haven’t either, but observing how well some Thais and *look keung have turned out from the best Thai schools, I don’t think they’ve been terribly hurt there and I don’t think they’re being denied sufficient opportunity to . . . oh, that. (My friend’s Thai wife denies them such, though, comes after 'em with a coat hanger if they get outta line.) @bert bloggs' kid did well outta Assumption in Siricha. Another friend mine’s mixed daughter is at Satit and learning all kinds of creative stuff and loves it there.

 

On 6/23/2020 at 12:59 PM, XGM said:

Don't care much 'bout the American way ????

Well, now, you are making a good case against provincial education outside of the USA. ????

 

On 6/23/2020 at 12:59 PM, XGM said:

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.

Obviously we can’t do that. But the comparison I implied isn’t as inapt as it may seem.

 

When in all reluctance Pattaya expats must sniff! leave our paradise, the reason often cited is to take advantage of free education for their kids back in their miserable home countries. And that will be at some average state (comprehensive) school. The cost of moving back there combined with all the expenses of living there would doubtless pay the fees at one of the better Thai schools. And like my friend’s son or numerous others, their kids could still go to uni back home or even enroll a dual program that many of the Thai unis have with Western unis. Seen the latter and that turned out great, too.

 

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 be able 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.  

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by BigStar

[XGM]

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.

[BigStar]

8 minutes ago, XGM said:

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

Isn't Thomas Arnold headmaster there, though?

[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.