Sarasas Witaed School

[whitfield]

For what it is worth I am fighting in court to prevent my son going to a Sarasas School near the Airport.

I do not consider a Thai school will give my son any chance of making it up to IB later.

International school curriculum only for me.

[iainiain101]

For what it is worth I am fighting in court to prevent my son going to a Sarasas School near the Airport.

I do not consider a Thai school will give my son any chance of making it up to IB later.

International school curriculum only for me.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is IB?

Iain

[Thaihog]

For what it is worth I am fighting in court to prevent my son going to a Sarasas School near the Airport.

I do not consider a Thai school will give my son any chance of making it up to IB later.

International school curriculum only for me.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is IB?

Iain

International Baccalaureate

[mcgriffith]

I thought it stood for Indefatigably British.

Thank you, I'll be getting my coat now....

[Xangsamhua]

There are 24 Sarasas schools, all different - they're not Macdonald's. I've worked in two over a 12-year period and have some familiarity with one or two others, again all different - at different stages of development or just different. The affiliation is loosely overseen by a Board of Directors, which looks closely at things like budget, but otherwise allows a fair amount of independence (as I see it). The Sarasas school in Chiangmai is quite new, so it has to prove itself. However, it has 44 years of Sarasas experience behind it, so that must count for something.

To get to the point, I think you need to check out the schools that suit your budget, priorities and location, and make a decision on that basis. Although the testimony of those who have worked in or sent kids to schools in Bangkok in the past may be quite valid as far as it goes, and well-intended, it doesn't really address the circumstances of schools in Chiangmai in the present.

Re the concern about schools not being able to get kids ready for IB (presumably IB Diploma, Years 11-12), I'd say if you want your kids to do IB, you're probably better advised to send them to international schools, at least for secondary, as IB is a very challenging programme and IB World Schools must be very well resourced (which means high fees). There are only 16 schools in Thailand offering IB and only one in Chiangmai - Prem Inter.

[scorecard]

If you are interested in bilingual Thai schools, I seriously believe you will not do much better than Wichai Wittaya at the bottom of Chiang Maiu Land. It is attracting more and more pupils from international schools and other bilingual schools.

p1p's point may be well-taken: "If you are interested in bilingual Thai schools." I believe p1p knows a lot about the school. Varee, of which I am wary (sorry!) might also be worth a long look.

Misread your post. I thought you were implying I knew a lot about Waree, of which I am also somewhat wary. My children are studying at Wichai Wittaya after we did a lot of research into Bilingual Thai schools and I can honestly say we are extremely happy, much more so than we expected. (They previously attended an international school and had a host of problems.)

Witchai Wittaya is owned and run by people from Turkey. They are extremely concerned to make constant improvements and are investing large amounts in all aspects of the school.

It has frequently been misrepresented as being a Muslim school. About 10% of the pupils are from Islamic backgrounds, a similar amount, slightly more, are Christian. The rest are Buddhist with some Sikhs, Hindu's and others too. The teaching staff are about 50% foreign with most coming from England.

The school sets a very high regard on academic excellence, so if your child is lazy or not academically inclined, you may want to look elsewhere. (Although, having written that; One of my children was written off as having learning difficulties at his international school. After a year at Witchai, through careful nurturing by his teachers, he has risen to just over the average in all subjects except for Thai language. Yes, we are very happy there.)

Dear p1p,

You mentioned above 'Wichai Wittaya' school. Can you please share a few details:

- Do they have a full english program?

- In their bi-lingual program, how much is taught in full English?

Appreciate your comments.

[scorecard]

Send your kids to study in Singapore. Just 2 hours away and a government school system that's the envy of most of the world. The Times Educational supplement regularly ranks Singapore in the top 5 in the world for its standards and results in Math and Science. It's a bilingual environment: English and Chinese. Also, many reputable foreign universities have campuses in Singapore. Singapore's government universities offer large (up tp 80%) discount on study fees and Permanent Resident status (PR) on condition that after graduation the person works for a couple of years for a Singaporean company-sounds more like a benefit actually

The poor education system here means kids who graduate from a Thai school are going nowhere internationally. Thai degrees aren't recognised outside of SE Asia.

I totally concur on your positive comments about education in Singapore, at all levels.

I lecture (long-term) in one of the top universities in Thailand (International program). I regularly have Thai students in my classes who have completed high school in Singapore. They shine in every way.

I should add that students who have come from typical Thai government schools (certainly not my idea of good teaching and learning practice) normally get themselves together, some with some pain, but eventually they pretty much all pass. And we don't give automatic pass to everyone, they must do the work.

Your comment "Thai degrees aren't recognised outside of SE Asia" is a little over the top.

My uni. has long standing exchange programs with numerous prestigious universities from every continent. All universities involved in exchange programs check carefully before they agree to exchange. They all have no hesitation to send their students to Thailand and no hesitation to accept Thai students from our university, and at all of the four years.

I have four ex students working in Singapore companies, including Singtel and others.

[chiangmaibruce]

Thai degrees aren't recognised outside of SE Asia.

Your comment "Thai degrees aren't recognised outside of SE Asia" is a little over the top.

My uni. has long standing exchange programs with numerous prestigious universities from every continent. All universities involved in exchange programs check carefully before they agree to exchange. They all have no hesitation to send their students to Thailand and no hesitation to accept Thai students from our university, and at all of the four years.

I have previously posted on this issue. I can only comment from an Australian perspective, but the degrees are "recognised". Australia has a system whereby people moving to the country can have their overseas qualifications assessed. My wife (Thai) has been through this process. In this system the relevant government department has a database listing most courses at most unis, they also look at the graduate's transcript and so on. At the end of the process the applicant gets a certificate stating that "their qualification has been assessed as the Australian equivalent of xyz".

Thus a thai degree resulting from a particular course at a particular uni will be recognised ... but not necessarily as a degree, if you get what I mean.

[ThePyawkt]

I've heard mixed reviews about the campus near the train station, but have noticed that they are about to open a "Lanna" campus, south of the city, just north of Hangdong. Does anyone have contact information for that campus? I tried the numbers on the brochure attached to an earlier post, but only get routed through digital switchboards constantly, and never can talk to a human....

[Throatwobbler]

Sarasas is a franchise school so anyone with enough money can buy the name and open a school. Because of this you can't rely on the name and have to check out the school itself. from what i know about the Sarasas schools in Bangkok they vary between very good and very bad.

As a teacher here I have had to use some of their own brand textbooks and found them to be very poor. lots of spelling mistakes, badly structured etc.

As for teaching qualifications. Don't believe any of the hype that the schools tell you. Sarasas has mainly Tefl qualified teachers. A school not to believe is Wichai Wittaya. They claim all their teachers are fully qualified, yet most of the falang are only Tefl qualified, and some working on a fake degree. Not that qualifications are all that you need to be a good teacher. Some of the best teachers I know don't have the correct qualifications. However qualifications are all that matters to some people.

The most important thing is to check out the school and the environment. Will your child be happy. If they will be then that makes learning so much easier.