[ADVERTORIAL] GCSE Secondary School Program

[advocate]

Padma,

thank you for your response.

If these children are ready for this material at such a young age it reflects very well on the quality of education provided at your school.

If the children are ready to take these exams at the age of 14, after the 2 year course, are they allowed to do so? Is there a minimum age a student must be to be allowed to write the exams?

If they do pass the exams at say 14- 16 years of age, are they then able to attend university? If not, does the school plan on further educational programs? Perhaps university level courses until they are old enough to enroll in university?

[nanyang]

Advocate -

Our iGCSE program begins in May 2012. The courses are two year programs, usually for children age 14-16. The children that have been studying with us for the last few years are ready for this material, but they range in age from 10-12. All of our students are studying at an academic ability level way ahead of their years. As parents we see that they are ready for this next challenge, and so we are moving forward to provide it for them.

Thanks for asking, and please let me know if you have any other questions,

Padma Fischer-White.

My question is, "Are you accredited by the Thai Ministry of Education?"

[nanyang]

A message for interested parents of High School age children - if you look at the website's of High School's in Hua Hin they infer that they are an international school, NO school in Hua Hin is licensed to deliver the Cambridge or Edexcel iGCSE, to do so they have to be Ministry of Education Licenced International High School's. The way the school's get around the problem is to take information/material from the Cambridge/Edexcel website, [they cannot access anymore materials than you can] and then register the children to take the exam at The British Council Office in Bangkok, hence the children are not taught by teachers associated with Cambridge, meaning that they could be at a disadvantage at exam time. As an official Cambridge and Edexcel Examiner with no affiliation to any school in Hua Hin I think that needs to be made clear to parents, maybe the school's have already done this and my information is useless to you, I have no way of knowing as I don't have any school age children.

I trust you're not an examiner in the correct use of the apostrophe.

[advocate]

Ladybiker brought up an important issue to those of us with children, and I thank her for doing so.

[ladybiker]

In reply to Nangyan. " I trust you're not an examiner in the correct use of the apostrophe "

I rarely reply to any forums as they are full of people like yourself [who must be trying to increase their number of posts for some reason] that have nothing important to say.

I am not an English teacher so my use or misuse of the 'apostrophe' is unimportant.

Parents - Generally with few subject exceptions such as English Language a student in an exam is not penalised for incorrect grammar, punctuation, spelling etc. As long as the examiner can understand what the student is trying to say in their answer to the question they will be awarded the mark the answer deserve's. This is relevant to UK exams, I have no experience of exams in other countries.

Even though I've had a very good Academic career I do not profess to be perfect.

[nanyang]

I am not an English teacher so my use or misuse of the 'apostrophe' is unimportant.

You are, clearly, a charlatan.

[Big Boy]

Guys, this is not a spelling or grammar test. It is an advertorial through which a sponsor is paying for a service. Can we please keep this thread on subject?

If you both wish to continue your discussion, please either do so by PM, or start a new thread in FOO.

[padma]

Jimmy Greaves - Thai is very important to us. When we started the program, all of our children were bilingual. Now we have some children who are learning Thai as a foreign language, but all of our students study Thai reading and writing. We currently teach 7 levels of difficulty for native speakers ranging from kindergarten to grade 6, where they are learning skills like typing in Thai. We also offer some fun courses in Thai like "Experimental science" and two of our fine arts teachers are Thai. Many parents have been surprised to see how much their child's Thai improved when they left a Thai school and came to our western school. It's because we separate the children into ability-based groups, rather than age-based groups. Each child learns exactly what they need to progress, so they progress very quickly. We also offer a course called Thai Pride, where we choose a region of Thailand each month and interview people to learn about all of the unique things about that region. After some class discussion and brief introductions, students choose topics of interest to research in depth and present to their peers.

Nanyang - We are licensed by the MOE to be a school in Thailand. Our legal name is Saatsin School, and our regional office is Ket 2. When we submitted our iGCSE program, we were told that because it was not a Thai standard for measurement, it was not something they could review to check for validity. We were told we could proceed teaching what we wanted, because it still fell under our license category of "English Language Instruction."

Advocate - The iGCSE exams can be taken by anyone that registers and pays the fee, regardless of age. Upon completion of our iGCSE program, our students will study both core subjects and academic electives which prepare them for their High School Diploma and the American Standard Achievement Tests (SATs). The SATs serve as an entrance exam qualification for Universities and Colleges around the world. For students who do not meet the academic level required for SATs, Halio provides an alternative track that prepares students for the GED High School Equivalency Examination.

I hope my answers are clear and helpful. Thank you all for your thoughtful questions.

Padma Fischer-White.

[Terry]

This all sounds very interesting

Where is the school actually located.............

[Terry]

ok - found it - I should look more...............

[Spitfire]

Sounds like a good idea that's worth investigating and I don't blame a group of parents for trying to give their kids a better education, especially so when the normal choice of school here in Thailand is generally either lamentable and archaic or a profit-orientated private business that is only interested in 'bums-on-seats'.......

......unless of course you have a seriously large disposable income for a real international school with foreign teachers with a real MA/PHD etc in a relevant subject to what they are teaching, plus a DELTA/CELTA or such like to compliment their ability in teaching.

[Hua Hin US Brit]

Hey Spitfire,
Most teachers at this school have Western Master level university degrees, and all have at least Bachelor level qualifications.
Being so small, teachers have to teach more than one subject, so it is true, they may not have the highest available academic qualification in every topic they teach. They are, however, creative educators, who are there because of the freedom. Teachers structure student-centered (learning by doing) classes of any shape that inspires them. The students tend to enjoy the classes and meet the academic objectives, - (which is the basic plan.)

[Terry]

Sounds like a good idea that's worth investigating and I don't blame a group of parents for trying to give their kids a better education, especially so when the normal choice of school here in Thailand is generally either lamentable and archaic or a profit-orientated private business that is only interested in 'bums-on-seats'.......

SO - I investigated and will be placing my sons there from 07 May.

Whilst home over Songkrhan I visited the school with Mrs.T and both my boys aged 10 and 13 (to be 11 and 14 quite soon). We met Padma and I was impressed - and when considering the choices facing us as a family, I think that this is the best option.

WHY?

A little history.

The first school that my eldest boy attended was a Montessori kindergarten in Kuala Lumpur where I was working at the time. He was there almost one year before we returned to Hua Hin. My youngest son was still a baby. That small KL school was fantastic and my eldest was soaking up education like a sponge - it was great.

Now back in Hua Hin, I wanted to ensure that he and his brother got (as far as possible) a good Thai and English education. The only choice was Somtawin

Well - they both had approx 4-5 years there and whilst they were reasonably happy there, the number of teachers (staff turnover), cramped facilities, lack of disciplie and the one hour a week of Thai was taking its toll on them both. In fact my eldest regressed so much at Somtawin that I was desparately looking for something better.

Then Yamsa-ard opened (As did this home school at about the same time).
I moved my boys to Yamsa-ard because I was nervous of the concept of home schooling and worried that they would not get an adequate level of education.

Yamsa-ard has been good for my lads - but I feel that it has gone as far as it can for them. They loved the place (Compared to Somtawin) at first, but over the last two years they have said that it has become boring and that the 'rote' teaching, lack of interest from teachers when asking questions and the general style of education makes them feel inhibited.

I have certainly noticed this in that whilst they are both well behaved (As far as boys can be........) they exhibit the usual Thai reserve and lack of courage to say what they really think. This - to me - is a direct result of the Thai teaching methods.

There is precious little relevant history or geography teaching i.e. it's all Thai and not international. Most extra subjects are financiallyy extra as well.

And of course as Spitfire said, I have found that it is a 'profit-orientated private business that is only interested in 'bums-on-seats' as indeed was Somtawin.

My eldest would have had 2 more years at Yamsa-ard and then be Bangkok bound for further schooling.
I do not want this. It's bad enough that I will still be working away from my family for the foreseeable future. Our home is Hua Hin and I want them both educated here as far as possible.

Now we have an oportunity to stay as a family with the boys at an interesting place of learning.

They will also be studying Chinese - someting that hey are both interested in doing.

We all have differing reasons for doing what we do - I am confident that we have chosen a better way.

As I told Padma - it can't be worse........

[nanyang]

Sounds like a good idea that's worth investigating and I don't blame a group of parents for trying to give their kids a better education, especially so when the normal choice of school here in Thailand is generally either lamentable and archaic or a profit-orientated private business that is only interested in 'bums-on-seats'.......

Now we have an opportunity to stay as a family with the boys at an interesting place of learning.

They will also be studying Chinese - something that they are both interested in doing.

We all have differing reasons for doing what we do - I am confident that we have chosen a better way.

As I told Padma - it can't be worse........

It's refreshing to hear about someone with a positive, and considered, attitude towards their children's education.

I wish you every success in a difficult environment.

[Takiap]

Good on you Terry, and I wish your boys the best of luck. I would put our two girls in this school without a moments hesitation if we could afford to do so.