Hello,

Myself, my Thai wife and our new born are relocating from UK to Phuket May 2009, at which time my wife's 100% Thai 6 year old daughter will be joining us from Nakhon Sawan where she currenty attends a Thai School.

In Phuket, there is the "British International School", which I am assuming is the best in education available on the island ?

There are also other international schools, "Rawaii Progressive International School", but here they do not teach secondary level.

Also, there are the Thai government schools with English Programs.

I would like to give both children equal opporutunity, I hadn't anticipated the fees of the British International School.

I would like a few pionters if I may, I do not know the difference in the level in education received from these different schools, all I see so far is a great difference in school fees. Is the level of education receieved also so different ?

As every parent, I would like both girls to go onto University and provide them a good footing ready for the their own lives. It would be selfish of me If I were to deprive them of a good education by trying to save a few baht. There again, I do not want to throw money away needlessly, putting them in the most expensive school for fear they would not receive a good education elsewhere.

Thank you for your advice.

Regards

Arran and Joy.

yeah BCIS is the best school on the island , there is a school called satit phuket school which is a good school I have a farung friend that is there and he does the EP. It looks better on a record to be going to the best school on the island and that for universities. But thats my opinion. I wouldnt bnother with RPIS then if it has no secondary school you'd have to look for another school and move about again... which is a chore haha

You mentioned Thai government schools with EPs. Have you checked out Darasamut, a non-government (Catholic) school with an EP? You can google their contact details and website (didn't open up easily when I tried it). I don't know about the quality of the education. Have met their people a couple of times and was impressed with their dedication and sincerity. I'd say it's not easy to maintain a high standard of bilingual education in Phuket, but they seem to be trying hard. The environment at Darasamut might be a nice one for a young girl from Nakhorn Sawan.

Just as a suggestion, before you throw your 100% Thai children into the deep end of English language education, you may wish to evaluate their ability in English to survive the relevant programs. One of the sadder things I've seen is children thrown into EP programs at the beginning of high school with no English ability- they don't just 'pick it up,' usually, they become frustrated and isolated and don't learn anything in either language.

"S"