Are Older Men in Thailand Trading Love for Financial Ruin

[4404drummond]

We are thinking of moving to CM and transferring child aged 11 from UK state system to international school in CM. anyone done that and have tips to share

[oldgeezer]

Costs of International school are very high. Not unusual to pay 200,000 baht and up per semester plus large registration and other fees. Other than the price, the two thais I know personally that have attended intl schools speak near perfect english and seem to be well educated.

If one can afford it, and get good references on the school it would be much preferable to public.

Edited October 13, 2010 by oldgeezer

[zippydedodah]

Most, if not all, the international schools have webpages where you can find out their fee structure. CMIS is "only" 77K per semester, with a modest registration fee. As mentioned in other places, where you are considering your child to move on to (meaning college/university) could also impact which school you choose, as some schools are american education focused and others are british focused.

Also, where are you going to live? how close is that to school? We initially started out in San Kamphaeng, believing that the commute to CMIS would not bother us. Well, one year of that and we gladly moved in closer to town.

[Ricardo]

Most, if not all, the international schools have webpages where you can find out their fee structure. CMIS is "only" 77K per semester, with a modest registration fee. As mentioned in other places, where you are considering your child to move on to (meaning college/university) could also impact which school you choose, as some schools are american education focused and others are british focused.

Also, where are you going to live? how close is that to school? We initially started out in San Kamphaeng, believing that the commute to CMIS would not bother us. Well, one year of that and we gladly moved in closer to town.

Just to say, that's very-relevant, about where you live relative to the schools, especially as not all of the schools have a comprehensive transport-service. Off the cuff I'd say :-

north of town ... look at PTIS, NIS or CMIS

central ... CMIS, LIST, Varee & the better local-schools (Prince Royal & Montford & so on)

south of town ... LIST, Varee, CDSC, Grace & APIS

If you search this forum, you'll find a number of threads talking about the local international-schools, as this is a common problem for new-arrivals, and opinions do vary (as do the fees !).

Good Hunting and Welcome to Chiang Mai !

By the way, you have heard about the smoky-season, yes ?

[folium]

The easiest switch for your child would be to Lanna International School as they have a full British curriculum for primary, KS3, then on to IGCSEs and A levels.

The school is small (275 kids aged 2-18), with good teachers and while the site is fairly basic the atmosphere is friendly and positive. My kids go there and the transition from the UK was pretty seamless. Compared to a typical UK state school Lanna is great with small class sizes and no discipline issues. My one piece of advice is don't delay, as the earlier a child is moved the better. Years 10 and 11 are too busy and important nowadays to be moving kids around. If your child is now in Year 7(?) that's ideal.

The central south side of town has plenty of choice re housing and we live 7 minutes from school which makes things very easy. Suggest you fix on a school then find a place to live. Good news is that the rental market is very "soft" at the moment with plenty to choose from.

If you need more info drop me an email.

[Throatwobbler]

Quite amazed the Varee Marketing people haven't been all over this thread like they are every other school thread.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Varee is an excellent choice. Affordable, yet high quality and a very fun and supporting environment.

[CMgossip]

Varee is an excellent choice. Affordable, yet high quality and a very fun and supporting environment.

There it goes again! So, here's an alternative view:

My understanding is that Varee is a fairly good Thai school (typical new Thai school - excellent facilities, okay(ish) in other aspects), but it is NOT an international school. It has opened an "international annexe" which at the moment caters for Year 7 to Year 9 only. They had planned to start a Year 10 this year, but decided the kids weren't ready for it, so had them repeat Year 9 again.

One of the problems they have is that most of the students are from the Thai part of Varee school and are therefore going to struggle studying at a high level in English. They do not have an international mix of students. You could put yours in there to help them out, and perhaps be the first to experience the teaching of an IGCSE curriculum for the first time (if it goes ahead this year). You choose - but my childrens education was too valuable to ever have mine be the first ones to "try something out".

Varee also suffers from the "international annexe" being situated within a Thai school, with all of the associated "political" problems that the teachers suffer. As I understand it most of their "international" teachers would jump to one of the established international schools at a moments notice if they were given the opportunity. This is not a good basis for a new "international annexe".

Any of the established international schools mentioned earlier in the thread would serve you well, but all offer something a little different and fees that vary quite a bit - with some being twice as expensive as others, some being more religious than others, some having better teachers, some having better grounds, some having better curriculums, etc. - all of course, very subjective. Location, is also something you should consider carefully, unless you want your child on a bus for an hour each way, plus homework when they get home. My choice would be to do as an earlier poster said and choose my school, and then get a house.

If you intend to go for a British curriculum then Lanna is the obvious choice and has been mentioned quite a bit in other threads (search and see what others say). They have an "Open Day" on November 10th according to their website, but to be fair I think all of the schools are "Open" and you could go and look around any of them any time you want if you are considering moving your kids there. If you are looking for an American curriculum then CMIS or NIS are the obvious choices closer in to town. If you want to be further out, but still have an American curriculum then consider Prem (PTIS) or APIS, although I think APIS has some fairly serious issues going on and Prem is very expensive, with not all parents thinking it is good value for money (beautiful campus aside). Grace should only be considered if you are an evangelical christian and you want prayers with everything.

[JimShortz]

The easiest switch for your child would be to Lanna International School as they have a full British curriculum for primary, KS3, then on to IGCSEs and A levels.

The school is small (275 kids aged 2-18), with good teachers and while the site is fairly basic the atmosphere is friendly and positive. My kids go there and the transition from the UK was pretty seamless. Compared to a typical UK state school Lanna is great with small class sizes and no discipline issues. My one piece of advice is don't delay, as the earlier a child is moved the better. Years 10 and 11 are too busy and important nowadays to be moving kids around. If your child is now in Year 7(?) that's ideal.

The central south side of town has plenty of choice re housing and we live 7 minutes from school which makes things very easy. Suggest you fix on a school then find a place to live. Good news is that the rental market is very "soft" at the moment with plenty to choose from.

If you need more info drop me an email.

As a teacher (at Lanna) I agree that Year 7 is a great time to be switching schools. If a child has been studying in England and then moves to Lanna this should be pretty much seamless. Studying at Lanna would also allow for an easy switch back into the English system, should you ever be unfortunate enough to have to leave the paradise of Chiang Mai and return to the UK!

My only advice would be to contact the school in advance of any move and have a place reserved if you are sure you want to send your child here as the school is increasingly full. There is a strict class limit of 25 in the middle school and currently there are 24 students in Y7, 23 in Y8 and 24 in Y9 - so not many spaces left! It may sound like 25 is a large class size for an international school, but bear in mind that they are only ever taught together as a class for PE, Art and ICT, for other subjects they are split into smaller groups (3 groups for English and 2 for other subjects) and so class sizes are actually very small indeed.

From a teacher's perspective it is lovely teaching such small groups. I can't imagine ever going back to England and teaching classes of 30+, one after the other, and hardly getting to know half of the children, let alone having time to mark their work in a meaningful way! You'd have to drag me back kicking and screaming...

Edited October 15, 2010 by JimShortz

[ianf]

The easiest switch for your child would be to Lanna International School as they have a full British curriculum for primary, KS3, then on to IGCSEs and A levels.

The school is small (275 kids aged 2-18), with good teachers and while the site is fairly basic the atmosphere is friendly and positive. My kids go there and the transition from the UK was pretty seamless. Compared to a typical UK state school Lanna is great with small class sizes and no discipline issues. My one piece of advice is don't delay, as the earlier a child is moved the better. Years 10 and 11 are too busy and important nowadays to be moving kids around. If your child is now in Year 7(?) that's ideal.

The central south side of town has plenty of choice re housing and we live 7 minutes from school which makes things very easy. Suggest you fix on a school then find a place to live. Good news is that the rental market is very "soft" at the moment with plenty to choose from.

If you need more info drop me an email.

My son moved here at the age of 10 and also went to Lanna for a while. He loved it there and the teachers are very nice but I understand they have problems with a falling role. Currently my son is back in the UK boarding on a scholarship in Oxford. He is looking to come back and we are looking at the Thai private schools. Apparently much cheaper and good quality schools. So we'll see. Lanna is also lower cost than other schools so I gues it also depends on your budget. We tried to avoid the Christian schools like Grace, which was another factor in our choice. If you go to Lanna there is plenty of good housing in the local moo baans.

[Mapguy]

I am particularly impressed by CMGossip's contribution. There are some other quite helpful remarks above.

The lesser-expensive schools have understandably become more popular these days.

[4404drummond]

The easiest switch for your child would be to Lanna International School as they have a full British curriculum for primary, KS3, then on to IGCSEs and A levels.

The school is small (275 kids aged 2-18), with good teachers and while the site is fairly basic the atmosphere is friendly and positive. My kids go there and the transition from the UK was pretty seamless. Compared to a typical UK state school Lanna is great with small class sizes and no discipline issues. My one piece of advice is don't delay, as the earlier a child is moved the better. Years 10 and 11 are too busy and important nowadays to be moving kids around. If your child is now in Year 7(?) that's ideal.

The central south side of town has plenty of choice re housing and we live 7 minutes from school which makes things very easy. Suggest you fix on a school then find a place to live. Good news is that the rental market is very "soft" at the moment with plenty to choose from.

If you need more info drop me an email.

As a teacher (at Lanna) I agree that Year 7 is a great time to be switching schools. If a child has been studying in England and then moves to Lanna this should be pretty much seamless. Studying at Lanna would also allow for an easy switch back into the English system, should you ever be unfortunate enough to have to leave the paradise of Chiang Mai and return to the UK!

My only advice would be to contact the school in advance of any move and have a place reserved if you are sure you want to send your child here as the school is increasingly full. There is a strict class limit of 25 in the middle school and currently there are 24 students in Y7, 23 in Y8 and 24 in Y9 - so not many spaces left! It may sound like 25 is a large class size for an international school, but bear in mind that they are only ever taught together as a class for PE, Art and ICT, for other subjects they are split into smaller groups (3 groups for English and 2 for other subjects) and so class sizes are actually very small indeed.

From a teacher's perspective it is lovely teaching such small groups. I can't imagine ever going back to England and teaching classes of 30+, one after the other, and hardly getting to know half of the children, let alone having time to mark their work in a meaningful way! You'd have to drag me back kicking and screaming...

[4404drummond]

The easiest switch for your child would be to Lanna International School as they have a full British curriculum for primary, KS3, then on to IGCSEs and A levels.

The school is small (275 kids aged 2-18), with good teachers and while the site is fairly basic the atmosphere is friendly and positive. My kids go there and the transition from the UK was pretty seamless. Compared to a typical UK state school Lanna is great with small class sizes and no discipline issues. My one piece of advice is don't delay, as the earlier a child is moved the better. Years 10 and 11 are too busy and important nowadays to be moving kids around. If your child is now in Year 7(?) that's ideal.

The central south side of town has plenty of choice re housing and we live 7 minutes from school which makes things very easy. Suggest you fix on a school then find a place to live. Good news is that the rental market is very "soft" at the moment with plenty to choose from.

If you need more info drop me an email.

As a teacher (at Lanna) I agree that Year 7 is a great time to be switching schools. If a child has been studying in England and then moves to Lanna this should be pretty much seamless. Studying at Lanna would also allow for an easy switch back into the English system, should you ever be unfortunate enough to have to leave the paradise of Chiang Mai and return to the UK!

My only advice would be to contact the school in advance of any move and have a place reserved if you are sure you want to send your child here as the school is increasingly full. There is a strict class limit of 25 in the middle school and currently there are 24 students in Y7, 23 in Y8 and 24 in Y9 - so not many spaces left! It may sound like 25 is a large class size for an international school, but bear in mind that they are only ever taught together as a class for PE, Art and ICT, for other subjects they are split into smaller groups (3 groups for English and 2 for other subjects) and so class sizes are actually very small indeed.

From a teacher's perspective it is lovely teaching such small groups. I can't imagine ever going back to England and teaching classes of 30+, one after the other, and hardly getting to know half of the children, let alone having time to mark their work in a meaningful way! You'd have to drag me back kicking and screaming...

I appreciate your post, thankyou. maybe we shall meet in the future.

[electracm]

The easiest switch for your child would be to Lanna International School as they have a full British curriculum for primary, KS3, then on to IGCSEs and A levels.

The school is small (275 kids aged 2-18), with good teachers and while the site is fairly basic the atmosphere is friendly and positive. My kids go there and the transition from the UK was pretty seamless. Compared to a typical UK state school Lanna is great with small class sizes and no discipline issues. My one piece of advice is don't delay, as the earlier a child is moved the better. Years 10 and 11 are too busy and important nowadays to be moving kids around. If your child is now in Year 7(?) that's ideal.

The central south side of town has plenty of choice re housing and we live 7 minutes from school which makes things very easy. Suggest you fix on a school then find a place to live. Good news is that the rental market is very "soft" at the moment with plenty to choose from.

If you need more info drop me an email.

My son moved here at the age of 10 and also went to Lanna for a while. He loved it there and the teachers are very nice but I understand they have problems with a falling role. Currently my son is back in the UK boarding on a scholarship in Oxford. He is looking to come back and we are looking at the Thai private schools. Apparently much cheaper and good quality schools. So we'll see. Lanna is also lower cost than other schools so I gues it also depends on your budget. We tried to avoid the Christian schools like Grace, which was another factor in our choice. If you go to Lanna there is plenty of good housing in the local moo baans.

As far as I understand schools here, (and the education system in any Thai school, be it private or public), for an intelligent boy with a history in good English education any Thai school or even a Thai university would be a serious mistake.; The international schools are, truly, the only way to go with this. I wish I didn't have to say this, but education even in the private schools is focused towards issues that would be no use in your son's life and, generally speaking, the quality of teachers is not what it should be. There are exceptions, I know some very talented tand well-qualified eachers who are breaking their hearts and heads over the Thai education system.

Sorry, for that!