Chiang Rai International School

[Mark1971]

Hi,

My wife & I are planning to relocate from the UK to Thailand in the future.

Our first choice is Chiang Rai, as that is where she is originally from & her mam still lives there.

My main concern with the move is not compromising the quality of my childrens education (7years & 5years old).

Therefore I am looking for some feedback on the newly opened CRIS.

As the school is new it will take time to be fully established, so there are no exam results yet.

However if anyone is sending their children there, or has knowledge of the school please share that information.

Specifically how do you think an education at this school would prepare the children, compared to an education in a good UK state school?

[klikster]

One of my best Thai buds recently moved from BKK to CR. He takes care of twin boys about 10 or 11 and told me he had enrolled them in CRIS, "The best school in Chiang Rai."

As an aside, the boys are now speaking the northern dialect quite easily.

[dindong]

I think if you are not concerned about the Christian side of the International school and if your kids intend to spend a lot of time in the future in the U.K then it may well be a good place for them.

On a recent visit I was impressed with the facilities that they offered but was surprised to see that Korean was the most spoken language there.

I think that a large percentage of the enrollment are Korean.

[Brucey7]

I relocated to Chiang Rai 6 months ago (after moving to Pattaya 5 years ago, my daughter used to go to Burapha International school there). The teacher to pupil ratio at CRIS is superb, the class sizes likewise are very small with only 120 boys in the school (capacity 500). I met 4 or 5 teachers who were all English, I didn't check their C.V.'s which I think is very important before making a decision. My 8 year old Thai daughter didn't like the school, and my concerns were (a) the social element, I think there aren't enough students to develop the friendships/inter-personal social skills I would want her to have, ( the curriculum is geared towards foreigners and I am told, not recognised by Thai Universities, and © I felt it was run as a business rather than for the students benefit, the owner also has a large golf course complex nearby. I think a lot depends on whether your children are going to stay in Thailand or go back to Britain later, if the latter then CRIS is perfect. AMEC is also very good, and perhaps better than CRIS, and certainly better established. In the final analysis, I let my daughter decide, she will never need to work for a living and I left the door open for her to go to CRIS in 2-3 years if she changes her mind. Remember also, the curriculum at CRIS is American, so end of year holidays are July/August whereas all Thai Schools are March/April etc. If you want the best, then board your children in one of Bangkok's excellent International schools. Finally, Chiang Rai is a wonderful place, though dining out can be a little restricted if you're a gastronome.