Burapha (Best) School Pattaya

[thedivezone]

Hello Guys and Gals,

anyone have any recent info on the Burapha (BEST) School of Pattaya. Several Years ago there were repeated reports of parents whose kids were hit by teachers at this school, but since 2008 no more reports on the internet.

Does anyone have any first-hand knowledge on the school at the present time ?

We will be visiting the school this friday, as well as Aksorn and Sathit schools, with the view of moving our kids there next term. Our daughter is nine and the son is three, both Thai-German.

Any info on any other school in Pattaya, good or bad reports, would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading

Mike

[thaimate]

MY SON HAS ATTENDED ASSUMPTION SCHOOL IN SRI RACHA FOR YEARS ,terrific school ,check it out

[Phil Conners]

If you like hard work (for your children) you might want to also consider Marywit - Sukhumvit road/Naklua.

[thedivezone]

If you like hard work (for your children) you might want to also consider Marywit - Sukhumvit road/Naklua.

Hard work, meaning ? Lots of homework , assignments, full schedule ?

[Phil Conners]

Yes precisely.

[thedivezone]

Yes precisely.

Well, thanks for that, will check them out tomorrow .

[snowgard]

Another good and cheap school is the Srisuvit School. You find it outside of Pattaya on the Sukhumvit to SriRacha. Around 2-3km after the the crossing Highway 36 on the right side. It's a good private Thai School with a english language programm if you want it.

Look here: http://www.srisuvit.net/

Location: http://tinyurl.com/srisuvit

[barryofthailand]

It all depends on what type of education you want for your children. Do you want your children to learn to read, write and speak fluent English? The challenge in Thailand is finding a school that allows foreign native English speakers to teach the same subjects that are taught in Thai. This is really the main challenge in Thailand.

Barry

[BangRon]

Pulled mine out of Montessori and Mooltripakdee Brit curriculum schools felt both were overrated and way overpriced, and put them in Maryvit where English, Thai and Chinese is standard bi-lingual model study there.

[thedivezone]

Thanks everyone for the input, we've had a look at Burapha, Aksorn and Sathit schools, and enrolled both our kids at Sathit.

Thanks for your help !

Mike

[pogal]

BIG mistake, little of no curriculum and VERY VERY Thai style program= sub-standard. Farang teachers treated very badly and so on. I can't talk about other schools but all the stories my friend has told me about that school, I would not dream of sending ANY kid there. You would be wise to privately talk to a farang teacher working there and ask about what really goes on. Read the books the Thai teachers have written (full of mistakes) etc etc...

but please update us yourself after the 1st term or year and let us know how happy YOU are with it. It may help others decide in the future. It "may" have changed in the past few years, please let us all know.

[thedivezone]

BIG mistake, little of no curriculum and VERY VERY Thai style program= sub-standard. Farang teachers treated very badly and so on. I can't talk about other schools but all the stories my friend has told me about that school, I would not dream of sending ANY kid there. You would be wise to privately talk to a farang teacher working there and ask about what really goes on. Read the books the Thai teachers have written (full of mistakes) etc etc...

but please update us yourself after the 1st term or year and let us know how happy YOU are with it. It may help others decide in the future. It "may" have changed in the past few years, please let us all know.

Your input is appreciated and i will look closely at the progress (if any) my kids will be making.

But other than just reporting about bad experiences with Sathit, do you have any other recommendations as to schools in Pattaya ?

[guzzi850m2]

My Son will soon be 2 years old (Thai/Danish) and we plan to enroll him mid next year. Sadly I can't afford an international school for him so next best choice is a bi-lingual school.

We live in North Pattaya near BKK-Patt hospital. We off-course want the best possible English/Thai program for our son.

I trying to make a short list for us to check when I come home from overseas work in Dec. This is what I have so far:

1: REPS, located in Rayong maybe too far away? But heard it should be good?

2: Assumption, good, a Catholic school I think? Also too far away in Si Racha?

3: Marywit, good I heard.

4: Srisuvit? Haven't heard anything about it.

5: Burapha? As above.

6: Aksorn? As above.

7: Sathit? One poster here says bad, but based on second hand experience?

Any I missed? Any inputs on above schools highly welcome, but as mentioned we will go and visit some of them in Jan 2012 and try go get some impressions, but how much can you learn by a visit for maybe 45 min? That's why I am asking here, thanks in advance.

[Rimmer]

A post and a quoted reply have been removed as the reply to the quoted post was made within the quoted post. To reply to certain parts of a post, learn to use the Insert quotation feature.

30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[janverbeem]

Thanks for the inputs janverbeem.

Which school do you plan for you boy for next term?

Very difficult to say,howver it is only 1 month away.he is only 7 at the moment so that makes him too young for an web based school.I'm considering about enrolling him in the closest Thai government school as they are free and will cover his school duty,and have additional some private teacher for maybe 1-2 days a week for the essential subjects like Maths and English and computer classes.Problem is to find a qualified farang teacher at an affordable price.Once he is old enough,internet based schooling will be the future I guess.

[JimmyTheMook]

Kids in REPs , the commute sucks. The school and class sizes are small it seems well managed with a British curriculum . They learn as opposed to when they went to a local school called Satit that seemed like nothing more than a babysitter.

Always a hard choice. 

[janverbeem]

Just one thing you have to keep in mind..............school in Thailand is a business,big business.

[PattayaParent]

^I'm sure I've seen Assumption school buses around Pattaya way.

There were recent reports in the news about the music teacher there hitting kids.

[Phil Conners]

Our daughter has gone to Satit since primary 1 or 2 can't remember precisely. She's now in secondary 3 and happy there. She is fluent in English from home though. I wouldn't put a kid in Satit and expect they come home magically speaking fluent English. I think they're probably in the better end of the Thai private schools.

If I should do it again, I would probably choose Marywit for their very hard curriculum. Today my daughter is old enough to have an opinion and blankly refuse to change

[guzzi850m2]

I properly rule out REPS and assumption due to the long travel distances, not nice to spend 1.5 hour every day commuting.

Maryvit sounds interesting, just checked their web page, will go and visit in person in Jan 2012. I think it a rather big school with app. 4000 students?

[Rickhkesq]

@ Phil Conners,

After reading your comments about Satit School I have a few questions I'm hoping you could answer for me.

I will be leaving the UK and returning to live in Pattaya with my Thai wife and 2 boys in this coming April and was thinking of putting both my boys into Satit School, I have been to the school last year and had a look around and it does look the part but unfortunately at that time it was closed for holidays so no kids or teachers were there.

The thing that most concerns me is the standard of education and also which program to put them into.

My boys are aged 8 and 5 and both are very bright, my 8 year old is top of his class here in the UK and reads writes and his spelling of english is almost perfect.

Can you give me your thoughts on Satit School and whether you would recommend the English or Thai program... I am obviously keen to build on the education they have from the UK but I also want to build there Thai language skills.

Do you think putting my boys into the Thai program is a good idea or too much for them to handle..?

They understand Thai quite well as my wife speaks to them in Thai but they answer her in English..!!

Also, is there any truth in the comments about Kathoey teachers etc..??

Thanks in advance for any info.

Regards,

Ricky.

[Phil Conners]

I don't know the English program so I can't really make suggestions which one you should take. It's considerably more expensive than the Thai program and after apparently a rocky start they seem to be doing ok from what I hear. They're not an International school but seem to avoid some of the the Thai idiosyncrasies.

Our daughter was born in Europe and my wife is fluent in English and we speak English at home. When our daughter started in school here at age 6 she didn't speak a word Thai. We hired a Thai teacher to give her a crash course for two weeks before starting in school and within another 2-3 months she was pretty good with it -- they learn fast at that age, I wouldn't worry much about that as long as you keep speaking English at home so they don't forget.

I've never seen any katoey teachers in Satit. Maybe it was in Best? Of course you know this is Thailand and in general no eyebrows are lifted over which way people swing here.

Of course if you have the funds there are probably better schools, but you need to be prepared not just for the expensive school fees but also for all the extras that their friends will have, holidays, latest gadgets, clothes, lifestyle.

Satit is IMO not a bad choice for the money, however, as i mentioned before, if I should do it again I would probably pick Marywit for their tougher curriculum. Of course they don't have any English program (that I know of) if that's what you want.

[Rickhkesq]

I don't know the English program so I can't really make suggestions which one you should take. It's considerably more expensive than the Thai program and after apparently a rocky start they seem to be doing ok from what I hear. They're not an International school but seem to avoid some of the the Thai idiosyncrasies.

Our daughter was born in Europe and my wife is fluent in English and we speak English at home. When our daughter started in school here at age 6 she didn't speak a word Thai. We hired a Thai teacher to give her a crash course for two weeks before starting in school and within another 2-3 months she was pretty good with it -- they learn fast at that age, I wouldn't worry much about that as long as you keep speaking English at home so they don't forget.

I've never seen any katoey teachers in Satit. Maybe it was in Best? Of course you know this is Thailand and in general no eyebrows are lifted over which way people swing here.

Of course if you have the funds there are probably better schools, but you need to be prepared not just for the expensive school fees but also for all the extras that their friends will have, holidays, latest gadgets, clothes, lifestyle.

Satit is IMO not a bad choice for the money, however, as i mentioned before, if I should do it again I would probably pick Marywit for their tougher curriculum. Of course they don't have any English program (that I know of) if that's what you want.

Thanks for your input Phil - I have also been thinking about Marywit as the tougher curriculum would suit my expectations better but seeing as there is no English program at all I'm thinking it maybe a bit too much to expect my eldest to handle... maybe getting him on a crash course in Thai as you mentioned would be a good idea.. He can already read and write the Thai alphabet which is as I was told last year now a prerequisit for acceptance into Satit after a certain age so my wife has been tutoring him...!!

Do you know of any good Thai teachers for such a crash course..?

[Phil Conners]

Actually if your kids are really that smart they will probably be bored at Satit - even more reason to check out Marywit.

We just asked in the school if one of the teachers would be interested.

[Phil Conners]

Oh, judging by this post they do have some sort of an English program ....

Pulled mine out of Montessori and Mooltripakdee Brit curriculum schools felt both were overrated and way overpriced, and put them in Maryvit where English, Thai and Chinese is standard bi-lingual model study there.

Probably not a bad idea learning Chinese the way things are going .......

[Rickhkesq]

I will definately look at Maryvit when we get back over but I dont want to put too much pressure on my boys.

They are bright kids but not genius, I think they have just had a good start from the UK school system and I want to

try and build on that.

Everything is subject to change...!!!

Cheers.

[hotandhumid]

What about Phoenix school? Does anyone have any opinions on that school? Although I believe they only cater for up to around 8/9 year olds at present.

[Rickhkesq]

I went to have a look at Pheonix and wasn't impressed.

Considering I was going to spend a lot of money by putting 2 boys into the school I was sat in front of an admin assistant and just given a price list.

This girl spoke no english and I was not offered a tour of the school and was unable to ask any questions.

The school may well be a first class facility, but first impressions count as far as I'm concerned and the first impression I got was that they was only interested in my money.

I then went across the road to Satit and was treated very well by a Thai admin girl who spoke perfect English - she was educated there apparantly - and gave me a full tour of the school and explained what their vision for the future of the school was and I was suitably impressed.

The only thing that concerns me now is the bad press I am reading on here, but to be fair, these posts are a good few years old now so if Maryvit is going to be too challenging for my boys with the language barrier I will very likely go with Satit.

[hotandhumid]

I went to have a look at Pheonix and wasn't impressed.

Considering I was going to spend a lot of money by putting 2 boys into the school I was sat in front of an admin assistant and just given a price list.

This girl spoke no english and I was not offered a tour of the school and was unable to ask any questions.

The school may well be a first class facility, but first impressions count as far as I'm concerned and the first impression I got was that they was only interested in my money.

I then went across the road to Satit and was treated very well by a Thai admin girl who spoke perfect English - she was educated there apparantly - and gave me a full tour of the school and explained what their vision for the future of the school was and I was suitably impressed.

The only thing that concerns me now is the bad press I am reading on here, but to be fair, these posts are a good few years old now so if Maryvit is going to be too challenging for my boys with the language barrier I will very likely go with Satit.

I can understand why that would not impress you to be fair. My 3 year old goes to Phoenix and overall I think it is alright. Thing is she is only 3 so at this stage just happy having her in that type of environment with other kids and learning as she goes along. She is enrolled in English classes and her English is getting very good now. Problem is I don't know if it is any better or worse than the other schools as we have no way of comparing. We had a look at Tara Pattana but that is way too expensive.

[Rickhkesq]

That's the thing - both my boys have had the benifit of a UK education until now and we can see how well they are progressing and have regular parent / teacher meetings etc, so we have certain expectations of whatever school we decide to put them into once we come back to Thailand.

This move has not been taken lightly and trying to find the right school for the boys is proving to be a bit of a minefield, there are good and bad reports for all of the schools in and around Pattaya and I even have friends who have there kids in the Regents and they all have opinions and not always good.

It's a difficult decision to make and what to do for the best... it could work out a very expensive mistake..!!