Best location in Thailand to raise a child

[spencerh1982]

Can anyone give any advice as to the best beach location to raise a child? I've previously lived in Chumphon, but now working remotely and have a baby on the way with my Thai partner. I have considered Hua Hin and Phuket, Krabi, Samui, Trang, Rayong and even Chanthaburi. Any suggestions?

[bojo]

Fairly good choice of international schools on Samui (No sixth form to speak of though) and even more in Phuket of course. However we often holidayed at Birds and Bees resort (unreal place for kids) in Pattaya in half terms as there was so much to do and many attractions for young kids in and around Patts........Samui had a real nice friendly vibe at the schools IMO, even had inter school swimming galas.This was in the noughties BTW.................However if you ever want to consider a non beach city for a really great all round education experience and lifestyle, you can't beat Chiang Mai IMO. A fantastic choice of decent international schools there. Either way, you'll have great fun bringing up a young child in their early years in Thailand................................

[CharlieH]

Moved to family forum

[motdaeng]

8 hours ago, bojo said:

.................However if you ever want to consider a non beach city for a really great all round education experience and lifestyle, you can't beat Chiang Mai IMO. A fantastic choice of decent international schools there. ................................

the north is a bad place to raise a child, many months very dangerous air pollution ...!!!

[ronster]

Samui has a few good schools from what I see and it has good mix of different nationalities. Haven’t really seen too many complaints about the schools and all the kids seem to enjoy it and lifestyle here .

[Bukowski]

We're relocating to Phuket with 2 young kids. Good choice of international schools, both primary and secondary. Also considered Krabi but decided on Phuket due to beaches, entertainment & activities available. 

[itsallmine68]

9 hours ago, bojo said:

Fairly good choice of international schools on Samui (No sixth form to speak of though) and even more in Phuket of course. However we often holidayed at Birds and Bees resort (unreal place for kids) in Pattaya in half terms as there was so much to do and many attractions for young kids in and around Patts........Samui had a real nice friendly vibe at the schools IMO, even had inter school swimming galas.This was in the noughties BTW.................However if you ever want to consider a non beach city for a really great all round education experience and lifestyle, you can't beat Chiang Mai IMO. A fantastic choice of decent international schools there. Either way, you'll have great fun bringing up a young child in their early years in Thailand................................

Think if you were asking this same question in your home country. What an irresponsible question

[arick]

The Cobras are very bad in the North East. Beach locations you could have nightmares of your child becoming a pole dancer 

[khunPer]

12 hours ago, spencerh1982 said:

Any suggestions?

Destination might be depending of numerous individual expectations, but I can talk about Samui where I live.

 

The island has 4 international schools to choose from, three of them around same price level, i.e. in the area of 250,000 baht per year - and one more up priced in the area of 450,000 baht per year. Some extra expenses come on top for uniforms, books, eventual commuting by school bus, and excursions.

 

The island's international schools are placed in Bo Phut (near so-called Chaweng), Chaweng Noi and two in Lamai. There is bi-lingual primary school using Cambridge tuition in Maenam, and a large Thai private school in Nathon with some level of English Program. Whilst some Thai parents use international schools, the two private schools are preferred by the island's leading Thais, as they often send their children to bording selected schools in Bangkok from M1. The bi-lugual school in Maenam has about 50 percent foreign students and use native English-speaking teachers for the Cambridge lessons.

 

I chose to use the private EP (English Program) school, also called bi-lingual school, for my daughter in kindergarten, K1 to K3, and primary school P1 to P6. The school I chose uses the Cambridge curriculum, so same as international schools, but without the Cambridge certificate. Using an EP school also includes all the Thai tuition, which is good when living in Thailand. The costs is about half of international school fees, which looked over nine year, i.e. 3 kindergarten years and 6 primary years, either mean some saving in expenses in the range of around 1 million baht, or more, or eventual money set aside for later education.

 

After P6 my daughter continued in international Y8 (year 8), which in age equals Thai M1, as Y1 is same as K3, Y2 as P1, and Y7 as P6. The thai school-year is different from international, so there will be a long sommer holiday break between P6 and Y8, if you use EP program for primary. International up to Y11 will complete a Cambridge IGCSE-certificate, which eligible the student to continue for Cambridge A-level or International Baccalaureate (a Swiss certificate).

 

Before K1 school age I used a nursery that taught both Thai numbers and English numbers, and both Thai characters and Latin letters (English). Apart from being a great place for play and joy, it was also a good preparation for kindergarten. We paid about 3,500 baht a month, but it's a number of years ago, so probably little more expensive now.

 

Samui is a fairly small community - 60,000 registered residents, about 120,000 people in total including migrant workers and non registered foreigners - compared to the major tourists destinations, and in my view also safe - I've never been afraid of letting my child get around - apart from you need be on watch with road traffic.

 

Apart from I found the island great when raising a child, it's in my opinion also a superb place to live; however, a few things are little higher priced due to living on an island and transportation by ferry. It's mainly fuel that costs a few baht more per liter, and building materials, whilst chain stores and competition have made all other products similar priced as on the mainland.

 

The best thing to do, is to "test live" places on major interest for a period, which can be just a few weeks, or just a week, to experience if a place is like expected - photos and descriptions can be colorful - we are all different, so you might not prefer the same beach as I...????

 

 

Edit/PS: My choice of EP-school was also based on their swimming lessons, which is important when living by beaches...

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by khunPer

[patman30]

Krabi or Rayong, all depends how close to the beach you want to be, and how big a plot you want and budget etc.

[spencerh1982]

On 8/24/2021 at 8:30 AM, itsallmine68 said:

Think if you were asking this same question in your home country. What an irresponsible question

All the more reason to ask seeing as I won't be living in my country. Very responsible of me ????

[spencerh1982]

On 8/24/2021 at 11:43 AM, khunPer said:

Destination might be depending of numerous individual expectations, but I can talk about Samui where I live.

 

The island has 4 international schools to choose from, three of them around same price level, i.e. in the area of 250,000 baht per year - and one more up priced in the area of 450,000 baht per year. Some extra expenses come on top for uniforms, books, eventual commuting by school bus, and excursions.

 

The island's international schools are placed in Bo Phut (near so-called Chaweng), Chaweng Noi and two in Lamai. There is bi-lingual primary school using Cambridge tuition in Maenam, and a large Thai private school in Nathon with some level of English Program. Whilst some Thai parents use international schools, the two private schools are preferred by the island's leading Thais, as they often send their children to bording selected schools in Bangkok from M1. The bi-lugual school in Maenam has about 50 percent foreign students and use native English-speaking teachers for the Cambridge lessons.

 

I chose to use the private EP (English Program) school, also called bi-lingual school, for my daughter in kindergarten, K1 to K3, and primary school P1 to P6. The school I chose uses the Cambridge curriculum, so same as international schools, but without the Cambridge certificate. Using an EP school also includes all the Thai tuition, which is good when living in Thailand. The costs is about half of international school fees, which looked over nine year, i.e. 3 kindergarten years and 6 primary years, either mean some saving in expenses in the range of around 1 million baht, or more, or eventual money set aside for later education.

 

After P6 my daughter continued in international Y8 (year 8), which in age equals Thai M1, as Y1 is same as K3, Y2 as P1, and Y7 as P6. The thai school-year is different from international, so there will be a long sommer holiday break between P6 and Y8, if you use EP program for primary. International up to Y11 will complete a Cambridge IGCSE-certificate, which eligible the student to continue for Cambridge A-level or International Baccalaureate (a Swiss certificate).

 

Before K1 school age I used a nursery that taught both Thai numbers and English numbers, and both Thai characters and Latin letters (English). Apart from being a great place for play and joy, it was also a good preparation for kindergarten. We paid about 3,500 baht a month, but it's a number of years ago, so probably little more expensive now.

 

Samui is a fairly small community - 60,000 registered residents, about 120,000 people in total including migrant workers and non registered foreigners - compared to the major tourists destinations, and in my view also safe - I've never been afraid of letting my child get around - apart from you need be on watch with road traffic.

 

Apart from I found the island great when raising a child, it's in my opinion also a superb place to live; however, a few things are little higher priced due to living on an island and transportation by ferry. It's mainly fuel that costs a few baht more per liter, and building materials, whilst chain stores and competition have made all other products similar priced as on the mainland.

 

The best thing to do, is to "test live" places on major interest for a period, which can be just a few weeks, or just a week, to experience if a place is like expected - photos and descriptions can be colorful - we are all different, so you might not prefer the same beach as I...????

 

 

Edit/PS: My choice of EP-school was also based on their swimming lessons, which is important when living by beaches...

 

Beautiful schools but unaffordable. My child will go to a government school. 

[chrisandsu]

Depends on a number of things to be fair . Does your wife work ? does she come from a normal family ? Where does she come from ? For example if she was a former entertainment girl  she might be more suited to living around other similar couples in a place like Pattaya or Phuket . If she’s from a normal middle class family then rayong or Hua Hin might be more suitable . You might think she’s just Thai but Thais can be judge-mental and know exactly where in life she’s come from . If she’s not happy you won’t be happy 

[sanuk711]

You also have to be happy about living there yourself--- so what are your requirements.  Would you move away from the Tourist type areas.? or do you need that sort of entertainment. A balance life style IMO is parts of Issan. Khon K. has some of the best Hospitals/Universities private schools. Udon Thani is a nice place for a child to grow up in.--a nice size city. Low crime rate --still a lot of the old Thai ways, along with a modern outlook. Plenty Of private schools (7 I think) and there be more by the time your child is old enough. We had a child of 11 here-- put her into a public school that is rated on of the best in Issan. Had an English part to the school where everything Maths/History etc was just taught in English, went onto University from there.

 

Easy connections, 8 flights a day (pre covid) to BKK, 2 Pattaya---Phuket Chaing mai etc.

 

You have a lot to chose from in Thailand

[LosLobo]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:20 AM, spencerh1982 said:

Beautiful schools but unaffordable. My child will go to a government school. 

Previously lived in Rawai Phuket and attended an interview with my step daughter at Dowroong Wittaya School near Phuket Town . Although it's a catholic school it is open to all.

They have classes for international students from pre-kindergarten and I was impressed. Fees were very reasonable circa B20k/Semester. Although it was a 30 min drive to Rawai, shared transport was available.

We subsequently moved to live near Chumphon for family reasons so step daughter never attended.

 

http://www.dr.ac.th/
 

Edited September 21, 2021 by LosLobo