To The Millions Of Overseas People Who Read This Sight

[WOOHOO]

Its great you feel that way.. And totally agree.. Tho what do you plan for your child's education and future advantages ?? The hard to quantify life skills of learning to trade and hustle in a western environment ?? The advantages that this would be for him in his later life.

2 more years before school payments. starting at 120 k a year for english program, add transportation and teacher attention thats 240k a year.

back home its free

the budget in LOS easily becomes equal to a western one

I don't know what teacher attention is, so would be interested to learn. As for transportation, again I'm not sure what you mean. It depends where you live and where the school is but it won't really make a dent in the fuel budget I already have so it's not really relevent. So if we take the other figure of 120k per year, I make that less than 45 quid a week. So yes the education in England is free, but how long would it take to eat up that 45 quid with pack lunches, bus fares, price of school uniform and books etc. Yes I realise there are more costs to consider in Phuket, and for me, schooling in a couple of years is going to be a major one, but that still wont bring it close to western costs in my opinion. Today my dinner cost me less than 200 baht for three of us. We had a picnic at Sappan Hin. Great location, great food, 5 or 6 different dishes and a couple of drinks. We stopped of at Tesco on the way home for a couple of bits, and including petrol I probably haven't spent a tenner today. You tell me how to have an enjoyable day in England, in winter, for a tenner. O.K so there's probably people laughing at me right now. People who have been to Mom Tris boathouse, had a couple of bottles of wine and spent 5k or 10k, good luck to them. What it comes down to for me is, the minimum amount of money needed to have an enjoyable life in Phuket, is much much less than the minimum amount needed to have the same amount of enjoyment back home. And the further away from 'minimum' you get on the financial scale, the better it gets.

[KarenBravo]

Seriously? You're going to educate your child in a Thai school?

Where learning is by rote? Where asking questions is discouraged?

Where independant thought is not nurtured?

That 45 pounds a week is going to turn out to be very expensive in the long run for your child.

[pagallim]

Folks,

Get a grip. We have an OP who puts forward a post praising the better elements of Phuket. Why on earth has this degenerated into a flaming contest between school teachers? What are you guy's taking? Bottom line, sad folks, sad posts.

[LivinLOS]

Nobody is flaming... Yet is someone is claiming how cheap it is, is it not fair to point out that schooling here (the only school that I would consider putting a kid of my own into) can run 500k or so a year.

Its not a flame.. Its not an argument.. Its simply pointing out facts in a debate.

[katabeachbum]

Nobody is flaming... Yet is someone is claiming how cheap it is, is it not fair to point out that schooling here (the only school that I would consider putting a kid of my own into) can run 500k or so a year.

Its not a flame.. Its not an argument.. Its simply pointing out facts in a debate.

it is inexpensive to live in Phuket, if you choose to live inexpensively. I like international food and some wine, but still can live inexpensively

3 kids in an international standard school is however at least 1,2 mill+++ baht a year

4 thai kids in thai school cost me 550k a year

[LivinginKata]

The cost of education is a big consideration for people settling here on Phuket Island. Even if you are a more mature gentleman, it's often the case that you end up looking after your lady's children or even start a new family. From what I hear it is quite expensive for tuition fees at the 'better' schools and can be a big drain on budgets.

[Peterocket]

So is my understanding correct in that there are free schools here in Phuket or Expensive International schools.

Isnt that the same as England; there are free local state schools many of which are well below par, english is the second language and you probably wouldnt want to send your children to. Then there are also expensive private schools with great academic results.

In my mind I'm struggling to see where Phuket schooling is more expensive. I dont have children so please enlighten me if ive got this completely wrong.

[WOOHOO]

Seriously? You're going to educate your child in a Thai school?

Where learning is by rote? Where asking questions is discouraged?

Where independant thought is not nurtured?

That 45 pounds a week is going to turn out to be very expensive in the long run for your child.

To be perfectly honest with you it's not something I am too worried about yet. I know when the time comes I have the earning ability to put my son in to a good school. I don't believe the most expensive is always the best though. It all comes down to getting the balance right. If putting my son in to the most expensive school on the island meant him not seeing his father for long periods of time because he's away working, then what you're giving him with one hand you are taking away with the other. I would bet money that a lot of parents that send there kids to Dulwich aren't particularly good parents. There's a lot more to raising good, intelligent children than signing a school fees cheque every term.

Folks,

Get a grip. We have an OP who puts forward a post praising the better elements of Phuket. Why on earth has this degenerated into a flaming contest between school teachers? What are you guy's taking? Bottom line, sad folks, sad posts.

What are you talking about? This is a friendly conversation still very much on topic.

[katabeachbum]

Seriously? You're going to educate your child in a Thai school?

Where learning is by rote? Where asking questions is discouraged?

Where independant thought is not nurtured?

That 45 pounds a week is going to turn out to be very expensive in the long run for your child.

To be perfectly honest with you it's not something I am too worried about yet. I know when the time comes I have the earning ability to put my son in to a good school. I don't believe the most expensive is always the best though. It all comes down to getting the balance right. If putting my son in to the most expensive school on the island meant him not seeing his father for long periods of time because he's away working, then what you're giving him with one hand you are taking away with the other. I would bet money that a lot of parents

Good post Woohoo.

If your happy with having your kid in a public thai school, there actually is one rather good in Phuket town. Cant recall the name, but they score among the 10 best in Thailand year on. Kid must be a resident in Phuket town to be allowed there. Its supposed to be free, but expect 3k a month pluss transportation.

but hey, this is not a school thread

I would rather do that, than having to go away for work half the year