Bilingual or International Schools available in Khon Kaen.

[AlfGarnett]

Hi, we are soon relocating to just outside KK and are looking around at the schools there.

I have had a bit of correspondence with KKVS, bit expensive but seems to be providing what we need. Has anyone got experience with that school ? Problem we have found in Thailand is that all schools seem OK initially, but are not quite delivering what they claim.

Is there any other schools we could look at ? Google doesn't seem to throw up many hits and often the ones that do come up are a bit dated.

Children are 10 and 12 incidentally, both can read and write basic Thai, 12 year old spoken Thai is a bit limited, 10 year old is fully fluent. (From wasting time in so called International Schools !)

Many thanks in advance.

AG

[abrahamzvi]

Some years ago we had our two daughters at KKVS. One could hardly speak any Thai when we moved to Khon Kaen and both did not command the English language properly. Both did very well and within a year or two they spoke and wrote and read English well and the younger learnt thai and spoke it fluently with hardly any accent. Both have now graduated from University, one with a BA degree and the youngest is sitting for her Masters in a UK University.

KKVS is officially a bilingual Thai school, but has been licensed by the Cambridge University to follow and carry out the Cambridge English curriculum.

From our experience and that of other parents we know, we can really recommend KKVS, which has an excellent management and highly qualified and dedicated teaching personnel.

[AlfGarnett]

Some years ago we had our two daughters at KKVS. One could hardly speak any Thai when we moved to Khon Kaen and both did not command the English language properly. Both did very well and within a year or two they spoke and wrote and read English well and the younger learnt thai and spoke it fluently with hardly any accent. Both have now graduated from University, one with a BA degree and the youngest is sitting for her Masters in a UK University.

KKVS is officially a bilingual Thai school, but has been licensed by the Cambridge University to follow and carry out the Cambridge English curriculum.

From our experience and that of other parents we know, we can really recommend KKVS, which has an excellent management and highly qualified and dedicated teaching personnel.

Thank you, gives me a bit of relief having a first hand account.

Regards

AG.

[WormFarmer]

Our daughter aged 15 has just started at KKVS for senior school, ie. M4 onwards. She boards in the school boarding house, comes home for weekends. We live in Roi Et so too far to be a day-girl. She is already fluent in both English and Thai so has no problem with the bilingual bit. Her comment on the teaching is that it seems very good and that because the classes are small it is much easier to learn. Maybe a bit early to comment in detail, but so far all seems pretty good, I was impressed by the quality of the teachers I met when we visited the school.

Edited May 23, 2016 by WormFarmer

[Here we are again]

KKVS is expensive, they talk the talk but fail to deliver a higher standard to justify the extra expense? Check their Cambridge results on the Cambridge website. Ok for younger kids but the older ones tend to be those who can't get into the good local government schools

[AlfGarnett]

KKVS is expensive, they talk the talk but fail to deliver a higher standard to justify the extra expense? Check their Cambridge results on the Cambridge website. Ok for younger kids but the older ones tend to be those who can't get into the good local government schools

Hi, I don't suppose you could post a link for this information please ? Have tried a few variants on Google but nothing in particular has come up.

Many Thanks

AG

[WormFarmer]

KKVS is expensive, they talk the talk but fail to deliver a higher standard to justify the extra expense? Check their Cambridge results on the Cambridge website. Ok for younger kids but the older ones tend to be those who can't get into the good local government schools

Not entirely true, our daughter passed the test for the EP divisions of the best local schools, but on research we decided that KKVS offered better education than the government schools.

[Here we are again]

KKVS is expensive, they talk the talk but fail to deliver a higher standard to justify the extra expense? Check their Cambridge results on the Cambridge website. Ok for younger kids but the older ones tend to be those who can't get into the good local government schools

Not entirely true, our daughter passed the test for the EP divisions of the best local schools, but on research we decided that KKVS offered better education than the government schools.

Note the use of the qualifier tend, didn't say all.

[Here we are again]

KKVS is expensive, they talk the talk but fail to deliver a higher standard to justify the extra expense? Check their Cambridge results on the Cambridge website. Ok for younger kids but the older ones tend to be those who can't get into the good local government schools

Hi, I don't suppose you could post a link for this information please ? Have tried a few variants on Google but nothing in particular has come up.

Many Thanks

Hi AG try cie.org.uk for the league tables, British Institutions are keen on these kinds of statistics so they should be able to provide details. Took my daughter down to BKK for better education having had a few years in KK and the overall standard being lower than I had expected. Education all depends on the child and their willingness and interest in learning so don't be put off by individual posters comments, they are purely personal opinions. Hope you find somewhere your child is comfortable and successful.

AG

[danbradster]

On 5/27/2016 at 8:03 PM, Here we are again said:

 

I couldn't find the league tables.  I'm interested.  I didn't get any hard stats back when asking the school about their results.

To add some details to KKVS - my questions, and their answers:

1. What is the minimum/starting age for students?
2. Is there some kind of ranking that shows how the school results
compare to international, Thai and Isaan schools?
3. What is the rough proportion of mixed nationality and non-Thai students?
4. Is the culture partly similar to AU-NZ?
5. What is the rough fees per semester or year.

The minimum age for students here at school is 2.5 years. That is the Pre-K class. 
In terms of ranking the best measure is where the students go upon graduation. Our students go to universities both here and abroad and have no trouble getting into courses. Our students have become doctors , engineers, pharmacists etc. The school has a rigid policy of only appointing trained and qualified teachers. Our definition of a qualified teacher in terms of the foreign staff is that they are able to teach in their country of origin - currently that means NZ, UK or the US.
Mixed nationality students make up about 30% of the school. Most of the rest are Thais.
The school is run very similarly to schools in NZ or Australia with the styles of teaching and also the expectations.
The fees are around the 100,000 baht per semester [ 2 semesters 1 year]