Berkeley Internnational School

[mintyfresh]

Hi, I have my son in a smaller Intl School now, and have been driving by the new Berkeley Intl School construction site every day....they also have a website:

http://berkeleybangkok.com

It's over kind of next to and before hitting Central Bangna. The building looks impressive, but I imagine the air and noise pollution in that area must be atrocious. I suppose if they grow trees around the school it would help, but that would take some time. the facitilites look rather 'grand', for lack of a better word, it's obvious that they have put a lot of work into the outer presentation of the school; would be curious to see if they are making the inner facilities and resources as equally as impressive.

Just curious if anyone here had stopped in to see the school. I see they have a Dr. in Education running the place, which is probably a good sign (too many business people trying to run schools in Bangkok). Anybody know who this guy is? I also wonder if they are hiring real teachers with proper certification or a bunch of staff with TEFL certificates, teaching core classes and homerooms (like a lot of schools in BKK get away with). I generally find schools that are accredited have qualified teachers. I was taught by a colleague here that any school from the states that purports an American curriculum should be accredited by WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges), but don't see that affiliation with this Berkeley anywhere on their website.

I also wonder about the name....it evokes and insinuates that they are related somehow to Berkeley University? Not really sure why else they would use that name...well, except for name recognition. Still, a bit deceiveing if they are not related to Berkely U in California.....but wouldn't be the first time this has happened here (Stamford, Dulwich, et. al.).

Finally, their title in their website, "We are the Best International School of Thailand" is a pretty ambitious tag-line, considering they are still a concrete shell with a little paint on top . You would think that in boasting something like that they would have some test scores to prove their claim, which since they don't have students or teachers yet, is probably a hard thing to actually prove.

Anyway, if anybody has gone to visit the school and/or talked to any administrators or such with information that would be great. Also, if I head over there, I'll do likewise.

-Minty

[mintyfresh]

bump...

[kannon99]

I have wondered the same. Quite ambitious, considering how economy here may be over the next year or so. And considering that ICS and BPS are right around the corner.

[samran]

I'd always be concerned with a school trying to use the name of a more prestigous US institution as its own...

If they are being derivative with their name, gawd knows how they'll go in the orginality stakes when it comes to teaching.

Bit like Stamford university in Hua Hin or wherever it is.

[mintyfresh]

Hmmmm, it does look impressive from the outside, but what really counts to me is a strong curriculum, qualified teachers and administration, and also school owners who are education-minded. Seems many schools in Thailand are missing at least a couple of these elements.

[robturner49]

The school does indeed look impressive but i have to agree that the location is not healthy for kids. Alot of traffic and pollution in that area. Like others on this forum, i find it concerning that the school has tried to adopt a prestigious name without having an affiliation. It is also worth knowing that a new school like this is not accredited by an overseas accreditation board like WASC. This will take years! Anyhow i wish them the best of luck.

I know some teachers who like to hang out at the Robin Hood. They said that the Dr Guy has been around Thailand for a few years. Maybe a bit of a dinosaur!

Edited May 19, 2010 by robturner49

[BangkokEd]

My wife has been looking at this as well - anyone have any more information on it? She visited and was told that since the kids were US citizens they would have a 50% discount on tuition, good for the life of the child. You could also attend, then leave, come back and the 50% is still good. Too good to be true so I have emailed the school for confirmation.

[tominbkk]

Still wondering about this school, they say they are opening in August but the last time I went by it there was still obviously a lot of work to be done. Anyone heard about this school? Also still no notice whatsoever on their website of accreditation plans for the school, which is always a bit scary - they could be hiring anyone there! Also all the photos on the website are details of their roof and outside foliage. What about the classrooms?

Edited July 6, 2010 by tominbkk

[mintyfresh]

My friends went to see it, said the classrooms are nice...but the sparse amount of students she saw were 99% Thai. She only heard Thai language being spoken as well when there.

Guess you can build it, but you can't necessarily make them come! Gaining the confidence of the international school community takes a bit more than a flash building.....

[ppmacready]

My friends went to see it, said the classrooms are nice...but the sparse amount of students she saw were 99% Thai. She only heard Thai language being spoken as well when there.

Guess you can build it, but you can't necessarily make them come! Gaining the confidence of the international school community takes a bit more than a flash building.....

Studies show that the average home schooled 8th grader performs four grade levels above the national average. My 7 year old daughter goes to Tantaruck school.But I'm seriously thinking of home schooling next year.My friends in Singapore swear by it.When they lived in Thailand there daughter went to the Regents .The father is CEO of an investment bank in Singapore, so the fees were not part of why they made the decision to home school.I recently meet 15 children home schooled in Singapore.There was a huge difference in there education level and there maturity all round.I am interested in finding up to 5 other children,whose parents who would be interested in employing a teacher to run a home school.If we all chipped in just 10,000baht a month I'm confident we would get exactly the type of teacher we would want for our children , the curriculum we wanted used and any thing else we thought in the best interests of our children.Please contact [email protected] if you are interested.

[banchangbob]

I'm a teacher at an international school outside of BKK. I was looking at this school as I wanted to move back into the city. Does anyone have information on class sizes? number of pupils? There is very little information on their website, and still only computerised images of the place........

[tominbkk]

They are accredited now by ISO 9001? Bizarre! Oddly, no mention of the agencies that really matter in being accredited with in Thailand and Asia: ISAT, WASC, and EARCOS.

[tonititan]

Studies show that the average home schooled 8th grader performs four grade levels above the national average. .

Wow, I have never heard that before. Do you have a reference or a source for any of these studies? I'd like to take a look.

I am interested in finding up to 5 other children,whose parents who would be interested in employing a teacher to run a home school.If we all chipped in just 10,000baht a month I'm confident we would get exactly the type of teacher we would want for our children , the curriculum we wanted used and any thing else we thought in the best interests of our children.

Did you find anyone? I'm assuming that you're talking about a foreigner teacher, right? Personally, I would seriously doubt that you could find a highly-skilled, qualified teacher who was capable of designing an entire at-home program and teaching all subjects, and getting curriculum materials, all for 60,000 bath/month.

[phaethon]

Well if you really want to send your kids to Hogwarts...

[jsrit]

There is an informative discussion transpiring about this school at another website:

http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?p=7150#7150

[RBOP]

After having my child enrolled for 1 year at Berkeley International School, I can say the teachers are top notch. All expat teachers except for the teacher assistants and the Thai Culture teachers. Some of the expat teachers hired direct from overseas with some being lured away from other Bangkok international schools such as Harrow and New Sathorn International.

It's a brand new school that had 99 pupils enrolled in the first semester. More joined in the second semester but I never asked how many or how many they expect next school year which they have added another grade (7). As with any new school (or company) there were some growing pains but that's to be expected and they are continually improving especially once they got their ISO9001 management accreditation.

There are 2 covered swimming pools (one Olympic size and 1 kiddy pool). Tennis and basket ball courts, soccer field, computer lab, science lab, music room (a bit lacking in instruments but ok for current size of enrolment and should be getting more as enrollment goes up), and an arts lab with a great art teacher. The library opened mid term and is impressive.

The school just passed their 1^st phase towards obtaining WASC accreditation which is a 4 year process.

As for the location, it's very convenient opposite Bitec, close to BTS which opens next year, close to Central City Bangna, and the soon to open Mega Bangna super mall Also close to other International Schools such as St Andrews, Patana, CIS.

Go visit the school and see the plans for Phase 2 construction which will see an 8 - 10 storey multi-use coliseum which will house an 800 seat auditorium, sports facility etc.

Happy hunting.

Edited June 11, 2011 by RichardO

[champken]

After having my child enrolled for 1 year at Berkeley International School, I can say the teachers are top notch. All expat teachers except for the teacher assistants and the Thai Culture teachers. Some of the expat teachers hired direct from overseas with some being lured away from other Bangkok international schools such as Harrow and New Sathorn International.

It's a brand new school that had 99 pupils enrolled in the first semester. More joined in the second semester but I never asked how many or how many they expect next school year which they have added another grade (7). As with any new school (or company) there were some growing pains but that's to be expected and they are continually improving especially once they got their ISO9001 management accreditation.

There are 2 covered swimming pools (one Olympic size and 1 kiddy pool). Tennis and basket ball courts, soccer field, computer lab, science lab, music room (a bit lacking in instruments but ok for current size of enrolment and should be getting more as enrollment goes up), and an arts lab with a great art teacher. The library opened mid term and is impressive.

The school just passed their 1^st phase towards obtaining WASC accreditation which is a 4 year process.

As for the location, it's very convenient opposite Bitec, close to BTS which opens next year, close to Central City Bangna, and the soon to open Mega Bangna super mall Also close to other International Schools such as St Andrews, Patana, CIS.

Go visit the school and see the plans for Phase 2 construction which will see an 8 - 10 storey multi-use coliseum which will house an 800 seat auditorium, sports facility etc.

Happy hunting.

Well done, you have advertised the school very well