Topsy Turvy International School

[Dfenhert]

Hi

I am thinking of apllying for a job at this school. Can any teachers, past or present, or any parents, tell me what it like?

Thanks

Dan

[tonititan]

I can't tell you much. I know one woman who sends her child there, and she thinks it's great. My only thought on Topsy Turvy is how silly the name is. It sounds like a kids' gym or tumbling center, not a school.

[Goinghomesoon]

I think you'll find the only ones who call it Topsy Turvey are the kindergarten kids/parents. Once your child gets into the regular school they call is BSB (British School of Bangkok) and that's what's on their shirts.

Our daughter went there for a couple of years. She loved it and for the most part so did I. Small classes equals lots of individual attention and emotionally and developmentally she came ahead in leaps and bounds. However by the time she got to the upper class levels the numbers were dropping fast, as most Thai parents started putting their kids into the bigger international schools like NIST and Patana in preparation for high school. The class numbers dropped so low they had to combine Year 5 and 6 and that didn't work very well for anyone. We chose fairly quickly after that to move our daughter to a bigger school. Academically she tested at, or slightly below, class-level for the Tier 1 international schools. The only subject which had clearly been neglected was math, where she appeared to have made no progress at all in 2 years. For the life of me I can't figure out what the math issues weren't ever mentioned to me, I was always assured she was doing great and at class level.

The teachers were lovely and, at the more senior years, were all experienced classroom teachers. I know there are personality issues with the British Principal, who owns the school and operates it as a business. During our time there she also employed her own daughters on staff. I know that some staff felt this was just plain wrong, but hey, she was upfront about it. There was quite a bit of staff turnover so I assume it was either salary or personality related but not privy to that, as a parent it was well-hidden from us.