Montessori Education Start Up In Chiang Mai

[DanRW]

There is a well established Montessori school in Lampang which may give you a better idea on fees in the North. This is the link.

Hi there. I replied to this already but it seems to have dissappeared somehow. Thanks for your contribution anyway. We already know about this school actually. They're certainly a cheap option - especially so by Chiang Mai (international school) standards but Lampang is a different market and as it's over 100km away from Chiang Mai we're not currently considering ourselves to be in competition with them.

It would be good if we were closer actually. Then we could start to form some sort of a network.

[nikster]

Shah Jahan I am in Pai as well, and yes, there are lots of Luk Kreung here, all young kids. We are thinking we will have to move to CM rather soon, I did not previously realize this but even for our 2 year old a decent preschool is so good, he learns so much there. We had him in a nice one in Chiang Mai for a month, he learned lots of things. There are a few Thai kids who'd like to go to such a school as well.

To the OP:

The school we gave out kids to in CM was great, they had 2 kids / teacher or even 1 on 1 for the very small ones, and they charged 7k/month. Some I talked to thought that was steep. It was not a montessori school.

So if you plan on a brand new school with no credentials, you need to use some heavy discounts on your 120k/year idea. I think 120k/year is doable, but you need to have a reputation and you need to have been in business for two or three years. So I'd plan for some serious discounts during the startup phase, also because you can't really expect everything to be running at 100% from the beginning. Once you build reputation, you'll soon have to fend off applicants and you can then charge as much as the market will take.

And please have a garden and some greenery in the school. That was the only thing missing from little stars - all they had was some concrete outside playground, and it seemed like the kids were inside with air con all day most of the time anyway. I'd like them to get some fresh air and get their hands dirty a bit outside too.

I didn't check into CM too much but I also got the feeling that schools there are really exploding at the moment. I think there is a lot of opportunity as people want the best for their children, and that's why there is a lot of activity in this sector. A friend sent her kid to a bi-lingual preschool for 3k/month, they had 24/7 webcams in all rooms as well - I think that will become standard very quickly because it's a very good idea, and it's relatively cheap to implement, all you need is a few cams and an internet connection.

If you opened a school in Pai I'd sign up and I know about at least 5 others who would do too. We had a little kids party once, told everyone we knew and on very short notice and despite the fact that quite a few couldn't make it we had 15 luk kreung tearing up the house, from 2 - 6 years old. Lots of fun! Should do it again, actually

Schooling options in Pai are currently non-existent. Monkey cage is a good analogy, except worse. My wife once saw a toddler escape through the open gates onto the road... he was running full speed towards the intersection of the mae hong son road when she caught up with him! It's shocking!!

Please keep me posted on when and how you are starting your school. Like I said we very well might move to Chiang Mai.

[DanRW]

I wouldn't have thought Asians would have been very much into Montesorri type education, surely it's not rigid enough for them?

Critics will pobably say that its either too loose or too rigid ... depends on their point of view. But Asians are a different kettle of fish for sure. There's quite a lot of misunderstanding going on about Montessori - don't know if you've been in to a Montessori classroom but the first time I did I was shocked how quiet and ordered the whole thing was. 25 3-4 year olds doing their own thing and hardly a sound. I didn't think children so young could behave like that for long periods.

You make a good point for us to take on board - not to underestimate the value Asian's put on discipline and, perhaps, the more traditional format i.e. desks all facing the same way and teacher standing out front - or if not at this age, an approach which is leading to that system. I'm not sure how our Asian parents will like the freedom our children will have to work how and where they want. We'll have to wait and see.

[earlofwindermere]

Dan

Welcome to Chiang Mai! We are likely a family that you would target for your school (expats in Chiang Mai with kids under 5). Here's my opinion....

1. There are many great options in Chiang Mai already and having a "pure" montesorri program would likely not be a huge drawing card even though it is one of the more popular philosophies with the foreign community.

2. Your suggested costs are on the high side...but not the highest in the city.

3. Your competition would be the following:

- Prem (they are expensive but have great facilities, teachers and resources).

- CMIS (they have just started a play-based school for toddlers. The preschool section is not accredited yet but plans to be).

- Mars Hills Pre-school (Montessori and Waldorf philosophy)

- Hanna Christian Kindergarten (a play-based school).

- Tongkla (a mix of Montessori and Waldorf).

- Kiddy Bear

- Little Stars

-Nandachart School

-American Pacific Kindergarten

-Baby Bee School

and many others

As an example, look at Tongkla school (I added the link). Their facilities are incredible, they have cctv via the internet, the teachers are all trained and billingual and the classrooms have more resources than any school I've seen. Their cost is 23,000 baht per term (two terms per year). With options like this (and others always starting up as well), I'd doubt that you could charge the amount you're thinking unless your school was really impressive. Like others have said, the typical expat here doesn't have a lot of money. The ones that do are usually well connected to Prem or CMIS already.

You'd also probably get more responses if you posted this (or had it transferred to) the Chiang Mai forum. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Edited October 30, 2009 by earlofwindermere

[earlofwindermere]

It might also be worth mentioning that there is a Montessori training program in Bangkok. A Chiang Rai Foundation, the Khom Loy Development Foundation, also trains Thai teachers in Montessori and then sets up Montessori programs in rural villages. Because of this Montessori is becoming a more accepted and well-known educational system in Thailand.

[chiangdan]

Hello there,

I thought I'd pick your collective brains about my / our plans to set up a Montessori nursery in Chiang Mai.

Our basic plan is this: private / bilingual school, will rent a house in which to hold the class - plans to build new later, aim to start with a small number of children aged 3 - 4 (under 8 in total) in Jan '10 who will be paying a very small intoductory fee while we put together our application to the local education authority - once license aquired then class size will grow to 20 from August '10 at which point fee will rise to around 120,000THB per year all in.

My partner, who is a qualified Montessori teacher with teaching experience in London, is a Thai national and we have other Westerners on board too. Unique Selling Point is to be found within the *genuine* Montessori child-centred approach (apologies for using a well worn cliche), constant CCTV access for parents via website, the provision of organic food at mealtimes and giving children access to growing vegetables and plants (among other things). I, myself, am a UK national and will be handling the face to face and admin / management side.

Comments, ideas and opinions please. All will be very much appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Dan Walker.

What is Montessori

[DanRW]

Thanks, this is really useful. We'll take a better look at these schools facilities - two of these schools we know intimately well. We hope we will be able to compete on facilities but its much more complicated building a good team of staff. I'd better look at moving the duscussion too .. still not sure how the forum works!

Dan

[DanRW]

What is Montessori

Montessori is an education system which is most commonly found for 3 - 6 year olds, although there is a curriculum in place to 24 years I believe. It is named after its founder Dr Maria Montessori, an Italian pediatrician (and engineer) (1870 - 1952). She believed that chidlren between 0 - 6 are primarily sensorial learners and therefore develop best within an education system / environment that is designed to maximise this early stage in their development.

The teacher does not instruct the class as a whole unit - instead children choose their own activities and when they need help the teacher steps in. The teacher, the so-called 'prepared environment' i.e. classroom, and the children 'work together' to make the system work - the teacher is not an obviously dominant feature of a Montessori classroom. Montessori was the first person to think of child-sized furniture and many more of her ideas and theories are being used in national curriculums - including the UK. The recent introduction of EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) in the UK, for example, is full of what Montessori was talking about 80 years ago.

The Montessori system is a cognitive approach to education rather than a behavioural one, which is the system in which most of us would have experienced.

This is just a tiny snap shot and probably not a good one at that. If you're interested to find out more there's plenty of material out there. Or if you're in Chiang Mai you should come along to one of the info events that we'll be organising over the coming months. Keep an eye out in the Chiang Mai Mag or Compass. Doesn't mater if you have kids or not - come and grill us!!!

[ericjt]

H Dan --

I've seen all the posts and I guess expats in CM do have a reputation for being frugal, but all I know is Prem School seems to be doing very well, and they charge the heck out of their customers. Starting up? Can't say. Comments are probably right. You might have to start slowly and build a reputation, but once you have one, the money seems to be there. I don't know where all the kids are coming from, but they all seem to be finding their way to Prem, and Prem raises its prices between 2% and 4% per year.

We'd be most interested in helping you start a Montessori School here and having our daughter attend. Please let us know how your project is progressing. I've also sent you a PM.

Thanks --

Eric Taylor

[email protected]

089-576-0686