Education - Sacred Heart College

[scorecard]

I've searched old posts but couldn't find much comment from parents on Sacred Heart College (but must be honest I'm not a techie).

Would very much apreciate if parents of current Sacred Heart students would please share their thoughts about this school.

I'm so far aware that it's girls only school and goes right through to the end of high school

Would you please share your comments on:

- The full English program (all subjects, except Thai language and Thai history or something very similar, taught in english), or of course any of the other programs.

- Do they have a number of western teachers? And do they appear to be professional?

- What's the typical total number of students in each class?

- Do they push christianity?

- Do they encourage regular parent/teacher discussions?

Any other comments you'd like to share of course very welcome and much appreciated.

Thanks.

[johnsjourney]

Daughter very happy there for years. She would prefer to be in English programme, and we are considering that, but mainly for the air con, because she's doing great academically and the money seems better spent on tickets to England.

Christianity is not a major issue as far as I can tell, except that the teachers all seem very positive people and our daughter enjoys their conversation, including the different British English teacher each year. I'd prefer 'good' than 'professional' so I don't judge on the latter. Results have been superb, with daughter starting bottom of the class having come from a village school and progressed very well since then.

Very large class sizes, but seems to be two teachers for her class, so I don't know if that's an issue, as I say she's doing fine academically and the teachers don't mind being phoned even late at night with questions about homework. Our style is to be involved with teachers but that's not everyone's style. In both children's schools we find the teachers very keen on that as a lot of parents don't seem to be. In the Thai language and culture though so mostly not by me!

[scorecard]

Daughter very happy there for years. She would prefer to be in English programme, and we are considering that, but mainly for the air con, because she's doing great academically and the money seems better spent on tickets to England.

Christianity is not a major issue as far as I can tell, except that the teachers all seem very positive people and our daughter enjoys their conversation, including the different British English teacher each year. I'd prefer 'good' than 'professional' so I don't judge on the latter. Results have been superb, with daughter starting bottom of the class having come from a village school and progressed very well since then.

Very large class sizes, but seems to be two teachers for her class, so I don't know if that's an issue, as I say she's doing fine academically and the teachers don't mind being phoned even late at night with questions about homework. Our style is to be involved with teachers but that's not everyone's style. In both children's schools we find the teachers very keen on that as a lot of parents don't seem to be. In the Thai language and culture though so mostly not by me!

Dear johnsjourney,

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

Yesterday I called and spoke with Ajahn Nar who speaks advanced English, very focused, good listener.

I asked about class size for the full English program, her reply was that most classes have about 20 students, and the maximum policy is 24.

Thanks again.

[anonymouse]

My girls go to Sacred Heart (girls only) EP Program - class sizes are around 16 kids per class. Basic EP (English Program), is about 40k per tem, but most kids have extra lessons after school for a 5k top up. My youngest gets free lunch (8 y/o) and the eldest doesn't. They seem to care very much about the kids in their care and they are learning well.

I was in the school office a while back and a Thai parent was there complaining about his girl's grades and that they were failing her - the administrator simply said that his daughter refused to do homework and was disruptive in the classroom, so if he wanted better grades he needed to talk to his daughter as they had asked him previously (My wife gave me a running commentry). Certainly didn't look like they had too much problem with upsetting the parents or giving realistic grades to me - an accusation often leveled at Thai schools

Yes, I know what IB is (as most Europeans would) - but this is Thailand, Universities accept Thai qualifications - as I said it depends on your long term plans. If you expect to leave and take your kids back home with you, or you want therm to go to a western Uni then Int. school for you - if they are to stay here, then a good private Thai school will give them great connections and good opportunities to go to Uni here.

This post has been edited by wolf5370: 2009-09-11 01:08:22

I've edited and posted this from a previous post from Wolf 5370.

My daughter is just about to start kindergarden at the moment Sacred Heart is my first choice for her when she reaches school age.

--------------------

[SEETEFL]

Yes, I know what IB is (as most Europeans would) - but this is Thailand, Universities accept Thai qualifications - as I said it depends on your long term plans. If you expect to leave and take your kids back home with you, or you want therm to go to a western Uni then Int. school for you - if they are to stay here, then a good private Thai school will give them great connections and good opportunities to go to Uni here.

Most western universities take foreign students at undergraduate and post-graduate level. These universities have minimum educational qualifications particular to each country. For Thai formal education (not international schools) it tends to be complete Matayom 6 with a GPA of at least 3.25/3.5 plus English language proficiency of IELTS 5.5 to 6.5 or TOEFL 550-570 (paper based test). The language proficiency criteria is the most difficult to achieve for most Thai students. However, Western universities usually offer a foundation year/semester program to bring the students' skills up to the required level.

As you can imagine 3 or 4 years of undergraduate study in the UK, Australia or the USA is very expensive. Add on living and travel costs and you have a very expensive education. However, some of the more respectable Western Universities (James Cook University, Liverpool John Moores University, Greenwich University for example) have set up campuses in Singapore so that Asian students can study either their full degree in Singapore or even transfer to the Australian, US or British campus after one or two years of study. Living costs are cheaper in Singapore, and it's only a 2-hour flight for mum and dad to visit their children. The degree awarded is the same whether study took place in the West or Singapore.

There is only 1 Singapore Government appointed education specialist in the North of Thailand (EFL Learning Centre):

http://www.singaporeedu.gov.sg/htm/stu/stu0305h.htm#2

If your child studies at a Thai formal school, such as Sacred Heart, and completes Matayom 6 well and has good all-round English language skills, there is nothing, other than cost, stopping him/her from being accepted on to a Western university undergraduate degree course.

Singapore Education Scholarship news:

http://www.efl-learning-centre.com/index.p...e&Id=566865

EFL learning Centre and SEE TEFL are owned by the same company.

John

Edited October 1, 2009 by SEETEFL

[johnsjourney]

Thanks SEETEFL, that's really helpful.

[BlackArtemis]

As I've said before. My wife went to Dara from start to finish and then went on to CMU for a BA in English. Along with studying at the british council her English is impeccable. She will be attending a University here in the US without problem.

This goes for Sacred as well, these schools do give a better education and with parent involvement and hardwork, there is no reason why a Thai student could not enter a western University. In America many Universities even slash the cost as to diversify the student population.

On a side note, I tutored students who had gone from a local government school to Sacred Heart and there was drastic improvement, the students really enjoyed SHC as well.

[Flatouthruthefog]

As I've said before. My wife went to Dara from start to finish and then went on to CMU for a BA in English. Along with studying at the british council her English is impeccable. She will be attending a University here in the US without problem.

This goes for Sacred as well, these schools do give a better education and with parent involvement and hardwork, there is no reason why a Thai student could not enter a western University. In America many Universities even slash the cost as to diversify the student population.

On a side note, I tutored students who had gone from a local government school to Sacred Heart and there was drastic improvement, the students really enjoyed SHC as well.

This looks like all good news apart from one aspect. My Thai wife is sure that Sacred Heart accepts boys in kindergarten (ours is 4). However, no point in starting him there if he cannot continue.

We are Christian, the boy's Thai is excellent for his age, English sporadic, and his behaviour good and friendly.

Can anyone advise me please?

[wolf5370]

As I've said before. My wife went to Dara from start to finish and then went on to CMU for a BA in English. Along with studying at the british council her English is impeccable. She will be attending a University here in the US without problem.

This goes for Sacred as well, these schools do give a better education and with parent involvement and hardwork, there is no reason why a Thai student could not enter a western University. In America many Universities even slash the cost as to diversify the student population.

On a side note, I tutored students who had gone from a local government school to Sacred Heart and there was drastic improvement, the students really enjoyed SHC as well.

This looks like all good news apart from one aspect. My Thai wife is sure that Sacred Heart accepts boys in kindergarten (ours is 4). However, no point in starting him there if he cannot continue.

We are Christian, the boy's Thai is excellent for his age, English sporadic, and his behaviour good and friendly.

Can anyone advise me please?

Hi,

Varee is another choice being that your kids is a boy. However, someone said here a while back they had heard rumours that Sacred was going co-ed (it was news to me - with 2 kids there - but you never know).

As to the original post, my kids are in the EP and love it. They are taught only 3 lessons in Thai I think, Thai (obviously), Morality (which is actual Thai customs like how to Wai and how to sit etc - bit like finishing school) and Thai dance. They have always been in Christian schools (private in the UK) before coming here and the religion is pressed much more heavily in the UK. Indeed, I asked the daughter just a couple of days ago what they were learning in religion, and they said "the life of Buddha" ! So, they certainly don't ram it down their throats.

Parents can pretty much drop by when they want to chat with teachers, but yes they send home reports and they have parent teacher meets/days.

As to anything else, I would say they are an extremely caring school. The really care about the kids. When my girls first came, they couldn't eat the Thai food, so one of the Sisters took them under her wing and got food for them they would eat! She comes their hair for them (when the ribbons come off) and have replaced uniform bits from stores when they have lost them (at nil charge I might add) - usually hats, scarves and ribbons. They love their teachers and talk about them at home.

One other thing is the uniforms - they do seem to go for a new T-short a month! I have 7 uniforms now for each kid - special Queen's birthday T-Shirt, school trip T-Shirt, sports day T-Shirt. Its not expensive (usually about 300B), but a bit weird having a uniform in the wardrobe for use once a year. The normal uniforms are: Normal EP, Scout (different for 7 y/o and 10 y/o), PE and Lanna.

They have a lot of native English speakers (teacher-wise) in most subjects. They have a farang teacher parent get together every now and then - the last time was about a month ago at City Life (garden party).

Student numbers - 16 and 17 in my kids classes (7 and 10 y/o). There are 4k odd kids in the school, but only 100 or so in the EP.

They have a policy of opening new classes if the yhear gets too big rather than cramming them in the classroom - one of the main points I chose SH.

All in all, its a good school, my kids are happy and learning well. Its not a bad choice IMHO and one I do not regret at all.