Varee School

[alfieconn]

Are there any parents of children who go to Varee School on Thai Visa ?

[doppa]

no, but i plan to visit them and have a look at the international dept they've recently opened for gcse's. my little un has just started k3, varees kindergarten appears its only thai teaching.

[Throatwobbler]

<br>no, but i plan to visit them and have a look at the international dept they've recently opened for gcse's. my little un has just started k3, varees kindergarten appears its only thai teaching.<br>

Varee's international school program doesn't start to year 7, so your little one has a few years to wait yet.

Edited June 26, 2010 by Throatwobbler

[jackr]

Are there any parents of children who go to Varee School on Thai Visa ?

Think they mostly teach kids there as opposed to parents.

Seems to get favourable reviews, although super-busy on the road in the morning so I hear.

[Greenside]

My stepson goes there and has just started his third year which is Prathom 3 (he's nine). He came to CM from a village school with not a word of English and, after a year in what was then called the bilingual programme (now simply the Thai Programme) he moved to the English Programme where all the teaching is in English by native speakers except for the Thai lessons, that is.

Firstly, before the usual fracas about schools in CM starts, I'd like to say that I don't think any of them can be objectively called the best, although there are some government schools that due to budget restrictions and overcrowded classrooms probably don't give the kids the opportunities they should so they're certainly not all the same. The temperament and ability of the child, the aspirations and support of his or her family, where you live and what you can afford without placing undue pressure to achieve all come into it and at the end of the day you probably won't know if you made the right choice until it's way too late. There is no such thing as the right school for every child and I wouldn't claim Varee is anything other than the one that seems best for us at this point.

Varee Chiangmai School has just over 2500 children on a very modern and well equipped campus - approximately half that of other front line schools such as Dara, Prince Royal or Montfort. Class sizes in the English Programme are about 30 (my son's class last year 29, this year 31) and in the Thai Programme a little higher, whereas class sizes at Prince Royal can exceed 50 or so I was told by one of their teachers the other evening. It's got over 200 teaching and teaching support staff about 15% of which are native English speakers plus some new ones coming on board for the International Annexe. My wife and I took a look at several other schools before we made our choice and were impressed by the surroundings and atmosphere.

My main delight is that my stepson loves going to school. I went to a middle class boarding school in England and, other than the fact it was co-ed, for the most part hated it . My biological son went to a pricey Public (that's Private, if you're an American) School like Prem and, although he chose it, he too ended up hating every minute. It's hard to put a value on how great it feels to have my stepson run off to school every day and come home with the same smile but I can tell you it's worth a lot to me. It's easy to interpret this as maybe a lax approach on the school's part and some parents we meet say "It's great to have fun but is he learning anything?" but within the constraints of the Thai curriculum I think he's doing OK although to test this out we've just enrolled him in a weekend class with kids from lots of local schools to see how he shapes up. It's only been a couple of weeks but so far he's in the top half of his group so I'm not panicking. For what it's worth, I don't think VCS sets homework that's challenging enough but that's something I'm taking up with the school who seem to be responsive to feedback.

Whether we put him in the International Annexe when he reaches the right age for intake depends on how I feel he's coping with his work at the time and (not least) the exchange rates but I think the IGCSE is a good choice since it's a very rounded curriculum and was designed for students whose first language isn't English. Since it's more like what I learned, I feel I'd be able to help him more easily (with the spelling if nothing else!) and with reasonable A Levels going on to study at almost any university is possible.

By the way, I agree the traffic can be a bit grim in the mornings but pity the poor folk who have to suffer the road where Dara, Prince Royal, Sarasass and CMIS are located - someone once told me that's about 14,000 children! We moved to be nearer his school and, has been mentioned in previous school threads, I'd advise anyone to think long and hard about the commute and to try it out during term time in both directions at 7:45 and 4:00. Living out of town and relying on the school bus can lead to impossibly long days for the kids and nervous tension for you (if you've seen how some of these guys drive).

Schooling is a tough decision, hope this helps.

Edited June 26, 2010 by Greenside

[millwall_fan]

My Stepson (14 years old) goes there and is generally very happy and is doing well. I won't be sending my son to anubarn there though as I dont like the 2 hour compulsory sleep at lunchtime.

[whopper]

My son always says school was fun. So they must be doing something right.

[Thailion]

My 2 sons both go to Varee and love it. I would go into more detail but think Greenside covered it all nicely.

I too live close to the school as I agree with NOT putting my children on the "school bus" !

My boys even want to go to extra school on Sat mornings with their teacher.

I don't have a problem with them learning only Thai now as very soon they will be learning all in English. When I was their age I was still eating dirt in the backyard...so I am very happy with how they are doing.

[Greenside]

Since someone revived this thread and I guess some parents may be reading it, here are a couple of pictures from last weeks Varee World Cup event. Each class chose a country and used it as a topic for a couple of weeks, decorated the classroom and learned about the people, food, geography etc, then there were two days of mini soccer with the classes playing as the country they had chosen. England were RUBBISH and Italy won!

Slideshow here.

[peterpop]

I am English, my wife is Thai and her daughter of 12 years has just joined us after the death of her Grandmother who was caring for her. Despite learning english in a Thai school, her ability is practically nil at the moment.

We have enrolled her at Varee School, having consulted Thai friends, who are teachers and other parents. She started TODAY

Varee School is only 7 years old but already enjoys a high reputation here in Chiang Mai. The fees are, I think, reasonable. I have just paid Bht 29k for the first term [2 terms per year], and she is in the Thai stream. Total for the year will be Bht 48500 ish.

I hope that her English will improve to the point that we can consider the International stream next year.

We have been impressed with the professionalism of those staff we have met. We will know more later in the year.

I live within 6 kms of the school and the delivery this morning was uneventful. I hope the collection will be similar at 4pm. The staff were reluctant to discuss the school bus situation but gave us a card for a local Song tow operator without comment.

I will publish further reports on our first impressions if anyone is interested.

[Greenside]

I think you may be expecting too much of the Thai Programme to have her English improve that much in a single year. They do have more English lessons at VCS than other schools teaching the Thai curriculum but she'll almost certainly need extra coaching to make the jump to International in one year. My stepson was in the same position and we started him in the Thai Programme and then after one year with me teaching him and us mostly speaking English at home he made the move to the English Programme where he is doing well. He'd be doing better if he concentrated a bit more and checked his work, but that's boys for you. I'd suggest you make sure her teachers know your goal and start extra English earlier rather than later.

[thomo]

12 yrs old.

English is virtually nil.

she is in the Thai stream

I hope that her English will improve to the point that we can consider the International stream next year.

That's going to take an awful lot of hard work. Make her English learning fun, so she wants to and enjoys learning it.

Putting a student into an International program that they can't understand or follow will benefit no one.

[scorecard]

I'm moving my whole family from Bangkok to CM next year, in fact we've planned the moving date to align to my granddaughter finishing Anubarn 3 (English immersion program) here in Bangkok and starting Pathom 1 English program at Varee, and I must mention that GREENSIDE has previously shared a lot of valuable insight into Varee and other CM schools (thank you GREENSIDE).

We have already visited Varee and we were quite impressed.

Our only concern is class size. Other posters on this current thread have quoted 29, 30, 31 students in the Varee English program classes.

The school where my grandaughter is currently doing Anubarn 3 English immersion, has class sizes of 22, and this is then always split into 2 groups of 11 with each teacher.

The Bangkok school is Amnuay Silpa on Sri Ayuthaya Road, which is operated by a very old and wealthy Thai education foundation, they strictly follow a British curriculum.

I'm convinced that the very small class size has helped my granddaughters overall development, however I guess the bottom line is that we will never again find such small classes.

When we visited Varee (about 6 months ago)we mentioned class size and the response was that their policy was a maximum of 24.

Overall, given the broad research we conducted on all CM schools I would still select Varee even though the class numbers shared are above what we were told was their policy.

Would appreciate any comments on this point that CM members might like to share.

[namprikong]

Both of my kids are at Varee. My oldest one is in EP, the youngest one is in Anubaan.

There are 24 students in the EP class. I think maximum for one class is 35, not 24.

Both of them are happy to go to school everyday and have made a lot of progress. We feel we have made the right decision for them after visiting all the schools in Chiang Mai.

I think it is important for kids who are living in Thailand to fully be able to use Thai language. EP gives you both.

I am also impressed with the teachers, both foreign and Thai. Altough I think it would be a good idea to get parents a bit more involved. I think it would be a good idea to start a PTA at Varee school. In the past I have noticed that any feedback from parents is taken seriously.

Overall, I 'm sure Varee is one of the best schools in Chiang Mai to send your kids to.

[whatsupdoc]

My son used to be at kindergarten at Varee. I liked the school, the teachers and the facilities. However, he needed more personal attention which meant that he had to change school. Now he is at NAPA (same premises as NIS; Nakhon Phayap International School). Very small class size (15), dedicated teachers, excellent facilities. All in all I am very happy with NAPA. For my son it is a better environment than Varee. The costs are higher as well but if you can afford it I would recommend NAPA.

I understood that NAPA will extend their educational program until grade 6. Hope my son can stay there until then.

[peterpop]

I'm moving my whole family from Bangkok to CM next year, in fact we've planned the moving date to align to my granddaughter finishing Anubarn 3 (English immersion program) here in Bangkok and starting Pathom 1 English program at Varee, and I must mention that GREENSIDE has previously shared a lot of valuable insight into Varee and other CM schools (thank you GREENSIDE).

We have already visited Varee and we were quite impressed.

Our only concern is class size. Other posters on this current thread have quoted 29, 30, 31 students in the Varee English program classes.

The school where my grandaughter is currently doing Anubarn 3 English immersion, has class sizes of 22, and this is then always split into 2 groups of 11 with each teacher.

The Bangkok school is Amnuay Silpa on Sri Ayuthaya Road, which is operated by a very old and wealthy Thai education foundation, they strictly follow a British curriculum.

I'm convinced that the very small class size has helped my granddaughters overall development, however I guess the bottom line is that we will never again find such small classes.

When we visited Varee (about 6 months ago)we mentioned class size and the response was that their policy was a maximum of 24.

Overall, given the broad research we conducted on all CM schools I would still select Varee even though the class numbers shared are above what we were told was their policy.

Would appreciate any comments on this point that CM members might like to share.

At the end of the first week I can make the following comments.

My step daughter has settled in and made some friends.

She has been given loads of homework as she is clearly well behind the Varee standard, she got 36% in her initial assesment.

She enjoys the school meals

Delivery and collection has not been a problem, though for parents wishing to access the Lamphun road after leaving Varee, there is a usually a traffic jam on the approach road.

Class size at 31 does not seem to be major problem, a class size of 5 would clearly be preferrable but I suppose size is determined by a combination of commercial and teaching priorities,

There are some interesting visits planned by the school in the next few weeks.

So OK so far