Schools

[Siwanan]

Hello!

We are an European family (Finland) with two boys adopted from Thailand (5 and 6 years).

We moved about one year ago from Finland to Thailand and boys went to bilingual school in Pattaya (they only spoke Finnish then) where teaching was in English and Thai. Now they speak Thai and some English.

Next week we will move to Chiang Mai (Hang Dong) and have no idea about the schools there. We know there are many fine international schools, but too expencive for us now, and we also want boys to learn Thai well.

We would like to find good private Thai school or bilingual school..we have found Wichai Wittaya bilingual school, does anyone know about that?

We can not find any information about private thai schools from internet, how can we find them that we could visit?

About goverment schools..our older son has ad/hd-disorder, and teachers in goverment schools might not understand why he can not stay still for very long time..punishment is not the answer to his problems!

Please, if someone has any ideas, let us know!

[PeaceBlondie]

Sorry that no one has answered your quesitons yet.

The nearest school to Hang Dong that I know of, claiming to be "international" would be LIST, Lanna Intern. School Thailand, just south of the big Tesco-Lotus store on the Hang Dong Road.

I know one graduate of Wichai Wittaya, and it seems to be a good school, but I don't know directly. It seems to be a big bilingual program.

Look at the top of the Chiang Mai forum; I think there's a pinned topic there about schools in the area. As for ADHD, I started a discussion on that in the Health section. I doubt that most Thai educators know very much about learning disabilities.

[Siwanan]

Thank You for the answer!

I know Lanna international, but we wish our children learn Thai well before English..

Can You tell me what is the health section, I'd like to talk about AD/HD too!

In our children's school here in Pattaya teachers know about AD/HD now, after I have told them about it, I think I have to give some lessons for the teachers in Chiang Mai too!

But, what wouldn't I do for my child..

[too true]

International schools to government schools is a very big jump. Private Bilingual schools like Wichai generally have one Thai and one native English speaker in the class all day. The teachers do seem aware of the ADD/ADHD issues. I think, though, that most of the teachers at Wichai are native speakers with degrees in just about anything, or Turkish people hired to teach math and/or science. Just to deepen your pool a bit, why not look at Varee School or Montfort or Prince Royal or Dara Academy? Montfort and Varee have got bilingual programmes at the primary level. And I know a couple of teachers at Varee who are certified elementary school teachers.

Good LUck!

TT

[earlofwindermere]

I've heard good things about Dara and Prince Royal as well. Their campuses are beautiful.

[Siwanan]

Thank You all!

Varee seems to be closest to our house and looked quite nice from the pictures..can not say anything else because I can't read Thai!

I sent e-mails to all those schools and asked about school fees, and we have to visit them next week when we arrive.

..In Finland finding school is so easy, just send Your child to a school near Your living area, and that's it!

[stateman]

Don't know what your plan is for your children when they grow up. Prince Royal has a strong alumni tie. I met some alumni from the school who told me of "connections" if one graduates from there. So it can be a plus if your children will work in Thailand in later year.

Montfort supposed to have aluni ties also, although I haven't met anyone recently to ask about it.

Good luck!

[namprikong]

Both of our kids are at Varee and we are very happy about our decision. You can check out their website, it has an English Version also. They have lots of information on the website. You can read the EP blogs to have an idea what they are doing in class. Our oldest one can read fluently in both languages and loves school. The little one is at Kindergarten 2 and started to read and write Thai and became very fluent at both languages as well. Varee is maybe a little bit more expensive than other schools but I feel they invest a lot in infrastructure and they have great teachers.

[richard10365]

Varee has the best facilities in their new international branch. I went to their grand opening. It is a very modern school. But...expensive. I would visit it for sure before you make your decision.

[Greenside]

Thank You all!

Varee seems to be closest to our house and looked quite nice from the pictures..can not say anything else because I can't read Thai!

I sent e-mails to all those schools and asked about school fees, and we have to visit them next week when we arrive.

..In Finland finding school is so easy, just send Your child to a school near Your living area, and that's it!

Here's the Varee website in English - my son goes there and likes it a lot.

We just sent him to a class on Sundays so we could see how he was getting on in comparison to kids of his own age from other schools and he did pretty well, so I'm feeling confident the standards are up with the local competition.

The thing that may appeal to you is that they offer a Thai programme (the Thai curriculum but with some additional English lessons), a proper English Programme where the Thai curriculum is is taught in English and have just started an International Annexe (teaching the Cambridge IGCSE) which gives a lot of choice for the future without having to change schools.

[cdnvic]

I've removed one post that made serious allegations regarding a school. this was made by someone who signed up just prior to posting, and there was absolutely no evidence cited to back up the claim. Libel is a serious issue and Thai courts don't take it lightly. Do not repost without citing credible evidence.

[Maestro]

...Can You tell me what is the health section, I'd like to talk about AD/HD too!...

It is the forum "Health, Body and Medicine" on ThaiVisa: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/23-health-body-and-medicine/

The topic "Attention Deficit/hyperactivity/etc." started by PeaceBlondie is here:

[hanuman1]

Varee is good for younger kids, especially kindergarten level. My 4 your old goes there and seems pretty happy.

On the other hand I pulled my 15 year old daughter out because the Thai teaching staff seemed pretty inneffective. They were mostly just out of university/college themselves and couldn't control a class. Homework appeared nonexistent as the discipline was so lax students knew there were little or no consequences for not doing it.

At teacher/parent meetings they just kept saying everything was fine when I knew for a fact that certain things needed attention. When I mentioned the lack of homework they said 'get extra classes'.

At the moment, I'd say Varee 'looks' like a good school - clean because its new, and apparently favoured by Thais with very nice cars. But the emphasis in this school I would suggest is not on hard work. Which may or may not be a good thing - up to you.

We ended up putting my daughter into Montfort, which to my mind at least is way better. It's more expensive than Varee but definitely has more of an academic focus. And as someone mentioned getting 'connections', that's definitely true with Montfort. During this current term break, my daughter is doing 'work experience' for the first time in the offices of a department store downtown because the father of one of her classmates knows one of the bosses there. Very useful for her.

[cutejeab]

<br>Thank You for the answer!<br>I know Lanna international, but we wish our children learn Thai well before English..<br><br>Can You tell me what is the health section, I'd like to talk about AD/HD too!<br>In our children's school here in Pattaya teachers know about AD/HD now, after I have told them about it, I think I have to give some lessons for the teachers in Chiang Mai too!<br>But, what wouldn't I do for my child..<br>

<br><br>i know one good bilingual on hangdong road , name is The school of Promise. <br>http://theschoolofpromise.com/default.aspx  <br><br><br>

[WinnieTheKhwai]

^ That one seems *VERY* Christian, to the point of scary.

A little Christianity is hard to avoid and easy to ignore, but keep out the brain washers pls.

[anonymouse]

Does everyone realise this is a 4 year old topic they are replying to? I'm guessing siwawan has found his children a school in Hang Dong by now