Preschool And Elementary Schools Is Phuket

[JDuarte]

Hi all.

My wife and I are moving to Phuket Jan 2010, for 6 months.

We have a 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter.

We haven't decided where to live yet.

One of the biggest choices is schooling.

We are Americans, from Southern California, and would like our daughter to continue with Kindergarten... we intend to continue traveling the world for the next 2 years.

For our son, we would like to have a part-time nanny, and put him in some sort of organized pre-school.

Can anyone recommend a list of english language schools and pre-schools on Phuket?

(I have lots of questions and just started searching through the forum, so as time goes by, I hope to meet many of you. Thank you in advance for your help. We are trying to plan as much in advance as possible).

[fiddlehead]

There are a few choices.

I think some part of this decision depends on your location (traffic can be tough in the morning and afternoon and driving too far to school could be a big problem)

So, where are you going to live?

My son is 3 1/2 and goes to the Montessori school in Rawai (south part of the island)

There is a new school video just released about this school

We are very happy with their program.

Then there is Kajonkietsuksa on Choafa west road between Wat Chalong and Central which is a bit cheaper.

Also, you have BIS (most expensive school on the island and British curriculum in the middle of the island)

There is Dowroongwittaya School in Phuket town (I don't know much about this one)

QSI (American curriculum) and a good school but I am not sure if they have a preschool or kindergarden.

There are many pre-schools around the island including a brand new one near Chalong but i don't know much about them.

I probably missed a few. I'm sure others will help you out.

[Colonel_Mustard]

There's also the Phuket International Academy in the north of the island. Prices and curriculum similar to the British school. I like their educational philosophy and I believe it will go on to be the best school in Phuket but still a lot of building work going on and not all facilities in place yet.

[steelepulse]

I also saw an ad in the gazette and an article about a school in Kathu that just finished all of their building and were open. Prices ranged in between the top schools and Kajonkiet.  Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the school  .

[easy_jim]

I also saw an ad in the gazette and an article about a school in Kathu that just finished all of their building and were open. Prices ranged in between the top schools and Kajonkiet.  Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the school  .

It is Headstart, opposite Makro. I don't think they are open yet. They still have a bit of building to do but looks like they are getting close.

[Wellington]

Our granddaughter seems to be doing well at Kajonkietsuksa on Choafa west

She speaks Thai well and English 85% ;

[madmitch]

It is Headstart, opposite Makro. I don't think they are open yet. They still have a bit of building to do but looks like they are getting close.

I was intending to post about Headstart as I am interested in it. It's been open for some time as a pre-school and primary school (UK primary curriculum) but is now changing to accept older kids and is calling itself an international school. It's the pre-school and primary side I am interested in and would like to know if anyone has any experience. Their website is currently written in gobbledigook which is not a good sign!

For younger kids there are also English speaking nurseries and pre-schools such as Bud's Kindergarten, Smiley Kidz and a new one called Cravens. They are small.

My daughter is currently at a Thai pre-school in Phuket Town. I am quite happy with the school but I want her to improve her English language skills and don't want the full indoctrination into Thai society and culture which is more important than education at the Thai curriculum schools. At he same time, however, I want her to read and write Thai.

Kajonkietsuska and Darasamut are the two main Thai schools on Phuket which run English programmes.

[rockchick]

the best nursery in the rawai/nai harn area in the south of the island is ABC. they are an international nurser open for the last year and a half and the kids there are aged from 1year 15 months up to 6. they have 2 qualified english teachers and their kids come from all countries, languages are english and thai with thai teachers too. Their website is www.abcnurseryphuket.com

[seaeagle]

Hi all.

My wife and I are moving to Phuket Jan 2010, for 6 months.

We have a 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter.

We haven't decided where to live yet.

One of the biggest choices is schooling.

We are Americans, from Southern California, and would like our daughter to continue with Kindergarten... we intend to continue traveling the world for the next 2 years.

For our son, we would like to have a part-time nanny, and put him in some sort of organized pre-school.

Can anyone recommend a list of english language schools and pre-schools on Phuket?

(I have lots of questions and just started searching through the forum, so as time goes by, I hope to meet many of you. Thank you in advance for your help. We are trying to plan as much in advance as possible).

I've a 4 yr old, so think I;m in a good position to reply.

However, things here a largely dependant upon two things : location (as someone's already pointed out) and the price you can pay.

Give some idea of both, and you'll get reasonably saisfactory information, rather than just shotgun blast answers giving every option under the Phuket sun.

Hear from you....................

[Lotusbluete]

Hallo Mad Mitch,

as far as I know, you are a bit ahead of time regarding the HeadStart School. According to my information it opened only on September 14 this year. Therefore, there hardly can be any experience yet.

As far I as I enquired their fee is THB 49200 (++) per term (3 terms a year) for pre-school. It is quite comparable to the fees of Kajonkietsuksa School who charge THB 4000 per term (2 terms a year).

I think the Darasamut School there at the corner of Phuket town does not offer any English course for pre-school students. At least that is what I was told (albeit by a secretary only).

Can you tell me the location of “Bud’s Kindergarten”, “Smiley Kidz” and “Cravens”? Thank you

[stevenl]

As far I as I enquired their fee is THB 49200 (++) per term (3 terms a year) for pre-school. It is quite comparable to the fees of Kajonkietsuksa School who charge THB 4000 per term (2 terms a year).

I presume 1 zero missing for Kajonkietsuksa?

[Lotusbluete]

Yes, you are right Steven. It should read THB 40000. Sorry for mistake.

[steelepulse]

>>As far I as I enquired their fee is THB 49200 (++) per term (3 terms a year) for pre-school. It is quite comparable to the fees of Kajonkietsuksa School who charge THB 4000 per term (2 terms a year).

147,600/year vs 80,000/year seems quite a bit of difference.  Also keep in mind that schools such as the British school, Headstart, the new Int'l school in Thalang don't have as much emphasis on Thai, so that should also be a factor besides cost depending on whether you do or don't want the child educated in Thai also.

[taxin]

All the pre-school and nurserys in Phuket seem to be in either Phuket Town, or in the the south of Phuket such as Rawai and Chalong.

Are there any bi-lingual schools further north of the island, Kamala, Surin, Cherng Talay ?

[Benjie]

Very Happy with Kajonkiat English Language Program for my (now) 4 year old, she has been there since 2 1/2 yrs old. Spoke hardly any English going in and is fluent now, They teach in English with a Native Speaker, a Philipino and a Thai Teacher for around 25 kids. They also teach some Thai which I think is important (reading/writing).

[madmitch]

Hallo Mad Mitch,

as far as I know, you are a bit ahead of time regarding the HeadStart School. According to my information it opened only on September 14 this year. Therefore, there hardly can be any experience yet.

As far I as I enquired their fee is THB 49200 (++) per term (3 terms a year) for pre-school. It is quite comparable to the fees of Kajonkietsuksa School who charge THB 4000 per term (2 terms a year).

I think the Darasamut School there at the corner of Phuket town does not offer any English course for pre-school students. At least that is what I was told (albeit by a secretary only).

Can you tell me the location of “Bud’s Kindergarten”, “Smiley Kidz” and “Cravens”? Thank you

I had read that the Head Start primary school had been in existence for some time and it's only the over-eleven curriculum that was new. But I may be wrong. It would help if they replied to my enquiry email!

The three you asked about all have websites and are all in the Chalong area: Buds is on Chaofa East Road, not far from the Phuket Zoo turning, Cravens is close to the new Homepro village and Smiley Kidz, I believe, is also just off Chaofa Road.

There's also a similar pre-school in Rawai but I can't remember the name.

They all have websites so do a google search.

[taxin]

Very Happy with Kajonkiat English Language Program for my (now) 4 year old, she has been there since 2 1/2 yrs old. Spoke hardly any English going in and is fluent now, They teach in English with a Native Speaker, a Philipino and a Thai Teacher for around 25 kids. They also teach some Thai which I think is important (reading/writing).

They teach "some Thai" ? I would have thought the schools in Phuket would be the other way round, teaching in Thai with some English. With the exception of the major international schools like BIS.

[Benjie]

Kajonkiat has an English Language program/school, all subjects apart from Thai and Social science (customs, Thai history etc...) are taught in English.

[seaeagle]

Kajonkiat has an English Language program/school, all subjects apart from Thai and Social science (customs, Thai history etc...) are taught in English.

.........except that where the Thai kids in class don't understand what on earth is going on, then the lesson reverts to Thai language.

A friend's sister-in-law was invited to do a "guest session" of teaching. Reasonable idea - gives the kids a new face to look at. She's Thai, but fluent in English, and simply was asked to read a story, then do some drawing exercises after the story was over.

She said the Thai kids lost interest very quickly in the story, as the couldn't understand it. So, the story was terminated, and the rest of the drawing / cutting lesson was carried out with instructions in Thai.

No wonder many Thais can't speak English, and English speakers end up speaking 'Tinglish'.

BTW, Headstart must have been going for nearly 3 years now. But they have just changed to their new location at the sart of this term.

[seaeagle]

Hi all.

My wife and I are moving to Phuket Jan 2010, for 6 months.

We have a 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter.

We haven't decided where to live yet.

One of the biggest choices is schooling.

We are Americans, from Southern California, and would like our daughter to continue with Kindergarten... we intend to continue traveling the world for the next 2 years.

For our son, we would like to have a part-time nanny, and put him in some sort of organized pre-school.

Can anyone recommend a list of english language schools and pre-schools on Phuket?

(I have lots of questions and just started searching through the forum, so as time goes by, I hope to meet many of you. Thank you in advance for your help. We are trying to plan as much in advance as possible).

You know, I've just re-read the original post...........and I'm gobsmacked. (Many times we end up answering a previous posting, rather than the original enquiry.)

JDuarte - you have a daughter who is 5 already, yet you propose to continue travelling the world until she's 7. Bit selfish don't you think? She should be settling down into structured formal education at this age, and learning how to make friends, not dragged around the world, living out of a suitcase, moving from school to school to school.

You should've got the travel bug out of your system before you had a family.

Don't suppose for one minute you'll change your plans and give your daughter a bit of priority, but if you do come to the south of the island, don't bother about any of the formal schools mentioned in this thread. Just use the nurseries for such a short period - they'll charge by the month, rather than by term.

I wish you well........but kids need to be in a stable environment, especially at your daughters age, not on a world tour.

[Benjie]

.........except that where the Thai kids in class don't understand what on earth is going on, then the lesson reverts to Thai language.

A friend's sister-in-law was invited to do a "guest session" of teaching. Reasonable idea - gives the kids a new face to look at. She's Thai, but fluent in English, and simply was asked to read a story, then do some drawing exercises after the story was over.

She said the Thai kids lost interest very quickly in the story, as the couldn't understand it. So, the story was terminated, and the rest of the drawing / cutting lesson was carried out with instructions in Thai.

No wonder many Thais can't speak English, and English speakers end up speaking 'Tinglish'.

BTW, Headstart must have been going for nearly 3 years now. But they have just changed to their new location at the sart of this term.

Sounds like you've just made a huge sweeping generalisation and decided it applied to kajonkiat (which has 2 schools btw).

In the English Program I have never heard the tutor address the class in Thai, in fact most of the Teachers can't speak Thai being from the Uk, USA, Australia etc...

The whole idea is that its all English, from roll call through to homework, Thai is simply a class as is Maths etc...

I've been very impressed with the school, there are things I don't like about it but it is taught in English and my daughters education seems to be coming on at an amazingly fast rate.

[smartecosse]

my eldest daughter has been at abc in rawai for about 18 months, very happy with them so my second will be going there shortly as well

[seaeagle]

.........except that where the Thai kids in class don't understand what on earth is going on, then the lesson reverts to Thai language.

A friend's sister-in-law was invited to do a "guest session" of teaching. Reasonable idea - gives the kids a new face to look at. She's Thai, but fluent in English, and simply was asked to read a story, then do some drawing exercises after the story was over.

She said the Thai kids lost interest very quickly in the story, as the couldn't understand it. So, the story was terminated, and the rest of the drawing / cutting lesson was carried out with instructions in Thai.

No wonder many Thais can't speak English, and English speakers end up speaking 'Tinglish'.

BTW, Headstart must have been going for nearly 3 years now. But they have just changed to their new location at the sart of this term.

Sounds like you've just made a huge sweeping generalisation and decided it applied to kajonkiat (which has 2 schools btw).

In the English Program I have never heard the tutor address the class in Thai, in fact most of the Teachers can't speak Thai being from the Uk, USA, Australia etc...

The whole idea is that its all English, from roll call through to homework, Thai is simply a class as is Maths etc...

I've been very impressed with the school, there are things I don't like about it but it is taught in English and my daughters education seems to be coming on at an amazingly fast rate.

No, not at all. Your point was about Kajonkiat, and my point was also about Kajonkiat.

It was in the EP, and it was, of course, the Thai teacher who took control of the class, not the English or Filipino.

Whatever arguements are made, Kajonkiat remains a Thai school that follows the Thai government curriculum. It is NOT an International School, and merely teaches the Thai curriculum in English.

Unless parents are happy and content that much classroom emphasis is placed on the 3 Thai standards of Nation, Religion and Monarchy, then they should consider other establishments offering a more 'international' type of learning.

For JDuarte, while I have reservations about the merits of travelling the world with a young family, my suggestion is as my last posting.......one of the international nurseries

[Seringa]

My 4 year old has started Phuket International Kindergarden. He is very happy there. In fact I see some children crying not wanting to leave at the end of the day. Now that tells you something about the place. He learned so much in such a short time. He is telling me now what is good to eat and what is not . On top of that he can count to 100 and knows phonics - now that is something for a 4 year old. I am very happy with this school. The teacher is University graduate in childcare not just TOEFL or simply native speaker. And they cheap!

[madmitch]

My 4 year old has started Phuket International Kindergarden. He is very happy there. In fact I see some children crying not wanting to leave at the end of the day. Now that tells you something about the place. He learned so much in such a short time. He is telling me now what is good to eat and what is not . On top of that he can count to 100 and knows phonics - now that is something for a 4 year old. I am very happy with this school. The teacher is University graduate in childcare not just TOEFL or simply native speaker. And they cheap!

I can't find this on the internet. Is it part of the new Phuket International Academy in Thalang? If not, where is it? Thanks.

[ozymandious]

I'm Very pleased with PIA's instruction, mission and philosophy. My Daughter was part of the inaugural class last year and I've watched the school grow tremendously in one year with students, faculty and facilities (The sports complex will be fantastic when fully completed and I'm already enjoying the pool)

I feel that PIA will become the preeminent school on the island.

[Seringa]

I don't think they have a website yet. They are located at the road opposite Tesco (Chalong). If you come from Chalong round about just opposite Tesco will be a road with a Big A sign in front of it. Go down this road about 300 miters and they are just on the right hand side.

I heard PIA is good but for us the price of Phuket International makes more sance as our son is just 4 so maybe we will consider paying PIA fees when he is 7-8. Right now Phuket International Kindergarden has a promotion for full time students - 8 000 Baht a month. Which is great as the place is truly wonderful. I like good deals

You can call them yourself if interested at 0822712392

Edited October 12, 2009 by Seringa

[madmitch]

I don't think they have a website yet. They are located at the road opposite Tesco (Chalong). If you come from Chalong round about just opposite Tesco will be a road with a Big A sign in front of it. Go down this road about 300 miters and they are just on the right hand side.

I heard PIA is good but for us the price of Phuket International makes more sance as our son is just 4 so maybe we will consider paying PIA fees when he is 7-8. Right now Phuket International Kindergarden has a promotion for full time students - 8 000 Baht a month. Which is great as the place is truly wonderful. I like good deals

You can call them yourself if interested at 0822712392

Sounds good. I'll ring them. Thanks for the info.

[LadyinRed]

I'm very happy with Headstart - my son's with them for 3 years now.

[leonpeng]

My kids goes to Smiley kidz international school in chalong. We love the school a lot.