Surat Thani is growing into a major city in southern Thailand, which attracts both Thai and Expats to relocate there. As a result, Surat Thani is available with plentiful infrastructure to support long-term stays for both bachelors and families, including an adequate number of schools ranging from local to international schools for kindergarten to upper secondary education.
Some parents prefer international schools to provide education to their children. This article will help parents in Surat Thani choose International schools, providing what you need to know about International schools. What do you need to expect from them? and Where is a better international school in Surat Thani?
Why did your children need an International education?
International Education would be a great benefit for both local native and expat youngsters, not only for their education path but also for their development to be global citizens. These benefits include:
An international curriculum
International schools mostly rely on International Curricula such as British, European, or American, which are adapted to comply with local education standards. The result is an inclusive and complex curriculum that provides both knowledge needed for understanding the world and knowledge needed to understand their local heritage and identity.
International curricula also benefit students needed to relocate to different countries as International curricula provide a seamless transition within the curriculum. Most International curricula are designed to be compatible with standardized evaluation, such as IGCSE or International Baccalaureate, which helps both students and educators transfer into appropriate levels in different curricula or gain access to broad options of higher education.
Multilingual Environment
International schools are beneficial in a multilingual environment for two reasons. First, international schools teach in a bilingual environment, mostly in English and their mother tongue. Some schools are adding a third language, such as Chinese, Japanese, French, or German, as an additional option for their curricula. These multilingual curricula are aiding their students to enable their multilingual skills seamlessly.
However, the benefits from multilingual curricula would be unavailable if international schools are composed of one major nationality. Multi-nationality within international schools would help nurture local students to learn about varieties of languages and cultures from their foreign friends. They also help foreign students absorb the language and culture of their host countries from their native friends, which would accelerate their transition into multilingualism.
Preparation into a Global Citizen
Diversity within the international school plays a major role in developing students into global citizens by providing them with multicultural knowledge, self-awareness of their identity, respect for difference, empathy and a sense of global connection between themselves and others.
International schools also provide skills needed for living and working in the multicultural world of the 21st century, including analytical and critical thinking, adaptation and flexibility, problem-solving, teamwork, and effective and appropriate communications. These skills are crucial for facing the unknown and unprepared situations, which would occur later in their adulthood.
Greater chance to develop themselves
International schools are the best place for students to develop themselves in terms of physical, emotional, educational, and social. The nature of school provides a competition that motivates students to develop themselves. However, the competition is at a level that does not overstress them, which is not good for their joyful life as teenagers.
Most international schools are also providing students with an environment which helps them nurture themselves into a better version, including smaller class sizes, a greater range of extra-curricular activities, individualized care for students, and coordination between parents and teachers in children’s development.
A Checklist before enrolling on any International School
Choosing a school is of the same level of importance as choosing a future path for your children. As a result, there are lots of key factors to concern when choosing an international school, including
The accreditation
The most straightforward indicator to identify a good international school is an accreditation, such as the Council of International Schools (CIS), the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and the Council of British International School (COBIS). Schools that gain these badges of honor need to meet the set of criteria and standards which help assure that those schools would provide an appropriate education for your children.
The curriculum
Most international schools are using one of these curricula as a framework for providing education – American, British, or European. Each of them has its individual strength. Choosing curricula that suit your long-term education pathways will help your children in continuous progress through higher levels of education.
Educational Method
A curriculum can briefly outline an educational method provided by the school. Thus, each school may have their unique ways of teaching combined with its core curriculum. A better school should provide out-of-classroom learning such as experiments and activities. Also, a better school should motivate and has facilities to support students’ individual learning.
Activities Provided
As education can be achieved from both learning and doing things, a good school needs to provide their students with a wide range of activities from educational activities, recreational activities, playing, and sports to helping students develop themselves. The school also needs facilities to support its students’ needs in performing activities, such as laboratories, libraries, gyms, and playgrounds.
Caretaking
Schools also acted as the second home for their students. As a result, students needed greater care from teachers and staff, both physical, emotional, and mental. A better school should provide an objective way of assisting and caretaking the student in cooperation with parents. Schools are also needed to provide a policy dealing with bullying, harassment and other kinds of violence that would take place within schools.
International Environment
What makes international schools different from bilingual schools is their environment. A prefered environment for international schools is a composition of students and teachers of mixed nationality, races, and cultures, which would help them widen their perspectives, learn from differences and prepare them to be better global citizens. International schools should provide an inclusive and vibrant international environment for students.
PBISS, a better choice of International education for students of Surat Thani (and nearby)
PBISS, a Cambridge-accredited International School located in the heartland of Samui, is one of the best British International Schools available in Surat Thani, with both day school and boarding school available.
Our Samui campus is located among a lush tropical greenside and beaches to help our students live within a natural environment. However, our campus is the same standard as an urban campus with state-of-the-art facilities, including STEM Grounds, a library, music room, swimming pools, playgrounds and a beachside boarding house for our boarding students.
We provided an excellent education for the local community for years with a Cambridge-accredited Curriculum, used by more than 10,000 schools in 160 countries. By using them in compliance with Cambridge International Standard and local education standards, our curriculum also emphasizes local context, knowledge and our unique Thainess, integrating them into our education.
Another integration into our teaching is STEM+, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics with a plus, in which we applied logic and scientific learning method to most subjects not limited to pure and applied science to help our students engage in interactive learning that enhances their learning capacity.
STEM+ also plays a major role in our extra-curricular activities, helping our students develop themselves both in educational and non-educational ways. Ranging from Science, Robotics, Coding, and Agriculture to Arts and Crafts, Drama, Music, and Sports, our activities have a goal to help our students build their own skills and personality.
PBISS is also known as a Home away from Home, with our inclusive culture where students, parents and staff act together as an active partnership for providing personalized support and monitoring the progress of our students in their concerns on educational, emotional, and well-being.
Currently, our students, including pre-school, primary, secondary, and A-Level, represent more than 40 nationalities, with half of them being foreign nationals. We ensure that we are providing well-rounded individuals with an ability to be impact makers for themself, their surroundings, and their communities.
If you are interested in enrolling your children into our program or have some questions about our teaching or our policies on education. Please visit our campus directly or feel free to contact us via our email at info@pbiss.ac.th
