[ADVERTORIAL] GCSE Secondary School Program

[Lev]

ADVERTORIAL

GCSE Secondary School Program Hua Hin

Hua Hin Alternative Primary School is expanding to open a Secondary School branch. The curriculum will prepare students for the British international GCSE examinations.

This high quality private program has been operating in Hua Hin for six years with excellent results. The school is appropriate for native English speaking students. Run by parents for the benefit of their children, this program selects only the best teachers for only the best students.

If you would like to learn more or think that your child is a match for this program, please visit our website and set up an interview at the school.

Please use this thread to ask any questions and communicate with establishment representatives who may also respond here.

Click here if you are interested in having your own advertorial thread on Hua Hin's busiest website

[Takiap]

Would love to send my kids, but unfortunately it's simply beyond my reach finacially.

[dtaai-maai]

It looks fascinating - how come we haven't heard anything about it before?

[padma]

Hello Dtaai-Maai -

We have been operating as a very small private program, and students have joined by word of mouth referrals only.

Now that our children are older, we need to expand a little to offer what they need at the high school level.

Thank you for your question,

Padma Fischer-White
Director

[advocate]

I pay over 100,000 Bt per year for 1 child to attend Yamsaard kindergarden. Very expensive! How much are fees for this other school? Anyone here have kids attending this other school? How does it compare?

[advocate]

I checked out the website. Very good teacher to student ratio, but 150,000 Bt per year will be too expensive for most people.

[splitlid]

i have a friend whose son goes to the school. He says it is excellent, good staff, great teaching methods. The kid loves it as well.
especially the disecting body parts.

[JimmyGreaves]

Any Thai exposure?

[dtaai-maai]

I'm not sure a comparison with Yamsaard kindergarten is hugely relevant!

Having said that, if I could afford over 100k for kindergarten at a pretty average set-up like Y, I'd be inclined to look with considerable interest at somewhere charging 150k with the teacher-student ratio this place has, with secondary education and offering iGCSEs.

I've followed the threads on educating farang and luk kreung children with interest over the last few years and this school looks like it ticks a lot of the boxes.

However, I'm beginning to sound like I run the place...

[advocate]

dtaai-maai (edited to proper name)

Your right as this school starts at age 7.
Considering the educational advantages, I agree it is a better choice.

Taking into account that we spend 60-80 minutes driving time 5 days per week to go to Yamsaard, and that we live very close to this other school, the transport savings would make this school cheaper for us and a better choice for our son.

We will be applying a few months before he turns age 7.

[ladybiker]

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.

[advocate]

Thank you for the interesting info Ladybiker. Hopefully for my son the schools are properly accredited by the time he goes to high school. If not, we can only choose the best that is available in Hua Hin.

I wonder how many of the students have passed their exams? How many failed?
In the end, that is what matters.

[padma]

Ladybiker - You are absolutely correct. Thank you for making this clear. We have researched the licensing process extensively. There is no school licensed to deliver the iGCSE between Bangkok and Surat Thani. The licensing process is extremely expensive, and would make our school unaffordable to all of our existing families. As parents, we have worked out the next best solution, which is to hire highly qualified university professors to deliver the information to prepare our children for the exams. Is that a disadvantage to taking it in Bangkok, over taking it in the comfort of their own school? Yes, of course. We have to work with what we have. Compare our price to a school that is licensed to offer the iGCSE on campus.

Advocate - I invite you to read our "testimonials" page. We are only 25 families, and none of them use this forum, but any of them would be willing to talk to you on email or telephone. Halio is not for profit. The fees have been decided by the parents and reflect what we offer. When we decided that we wanted Spanish and Mandarin language lessons, we all agreed to pay a little more. When we wanted to offer computer animation, guitar and keyboard lessons, we all agreed to pay a little more. The price of the school is the cost of running the program.

Thank you for your kind words, Splitlid and Dtaai-Maai.

Padma Fischer-White

[advocate]

padma

Would you please indicate what the success rate is of the students taking these exams?

[padma]

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.