Pre-school For Thai Children

[nam-thip]

I would like to send my wife’s daughter who is three years old to some sort of pre-school nursery for maybe two days a week more so to give her the opportunity to meet and play with other children.

I live in the Pattaya area and haven’t got a clue where to start, and the misses is no help as she only knows about nurseries set up in someone’s home which raises a big question mark with me as to what level of care is provided.

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

[scorecard]

I would like to send my wife’s daughter who is three years old to some sort of pre-school nursery for maybe two days a week more so to give her the opportunity to meet and play with other children.

I live in the Pattaya area and haven’t got a clue where to start, and the misses is no help as she only knows about nurseries set up in someone’s home which raises a big question mark with me as to what level of care is provided.

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

And level of SAFETY. Several years back we were searching for a kindergarten for my Thai granddaughter here in Bkk.

One 'school' we inspected had lots of beautiful brochues, but we discovered on visiting that the photos of school rooms, equipment etc., were stolen from another school.

We walked into one room where they was maybe 30 toddlers under almost zero supervision, Sitting out into the room was a tall narrow stool with a hot water pot on top and with several extenson cords across the room. Children running and playing near the stool, tripping over the electric cords. etc.

Granddaughters father / my son mentioned this to the 'teacher' reply was 'That's for the coffee' with a big beaming smile, teacher obviously thought that providing coffee for the parents would sound impressive.

When my son continued to mention the danger hazards, boiling water, electricity, the answer was just continuously 'mai phen rai'.

We left.

[Flatouthruthefog]

I would like to send my wife's daughter who is three years old to some sort of pre-school nursery for maybe two days a week more so to give her the opportunity to meet and play with other children.

I live in the Pattaya area and haven't got a clue where to start, and the misses is no help as she only knows about nurseries set up in someone's home which raises a big question mark with me as to what level of care is provided.

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

I could not agree more re SAFETY! This is NOT one of this nation's strong topics.

At kindergatens, pay particular attention to the ratio of teachers (inc assistants) to children.

Our 4 year old, who is neither aggressive nor clumsy, was bitten twice by other children at his previous school, and once fell against the edge of a table, cutting his face quite badly. After gentle questioning of him and staff, my wife put it down to inadequate supervision.

Now he is at a cleaner, better run place with many more staff, a good first aid kit - and he gets a little English practice too. There is a minibus service. Before we made a decision, and before they saw my car, I followed a couple of times to check the driving standards. Good, but I'd seen other school buses going like hel_l (when empty of kids - thank God).

All this is in Chiang Mai, so, sorry, no specific recommendations for you. Good luck.