New International School Coming to Udon?

Post by **grievous** » December 12, 2014, 10:30 pm

UDIS had there Christmas holiday's concert today and it all looked like a lot fun. The parents and teachers even put on a performance. I wasn't able to be there for the day but I was kept up to date with the school posting pictures and video's on Face Book.
So far so good with UDIS.

Post by **Teacher Dan** » January 11, 2015, 5:00 pm

marjamlew wrote: Fees:
http://www.udoninternationalschool.com/ ... 4-2015.pdf

Easy to follow look at what's in the curriculum:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education

Nearly $10000 per year for grades 4-6? Holy crap that is high! Who can or would choose to pay that much for school when they could send their kids to school in the UK or US for that price or less? The school I teach at in Laos is less than $3000 per year for grades 5-7 (those are the groups my kids fall in, so I know those numbers for a fact). Even VIS in Laos doesn't cost that much.....Heck that's actually higher than a well-established Garden International School in Bangkok for grades 1-6 or even. Although it is lower than BPS or St. Andrews, two of the top 10 schools in Bangkok....

http://www.gardenbangkok.com/Bangkok%20 ... eng%29.pdf

http://www.patana.ac.th/Gateway/Notices ... 15.pdf?q=3

Post by **merchant seaman** » January 11, 2015, 5:23 pm

Sure glad I don't have any school age children. If I did don't think they would be going to Udon International School. But then again I'm retired, might be different if working.

Post by **grievous** » January 11, 2015, 10:36 pm

Yes you can send your children to school in the US, UK or for next to nothing in Australia but then you'd have to live there. We want to live in Thailand for a few years and as our children have spent their first seven and eight years growing up in Australia they don't speak Thai yet so an International school is the only reasonable option for us and fare option for our children.
By the way Vislao for Prep to Grade 5 is US $13,860 tuition + $3,990 (english support) + $2,400 (Annual Capital fee) which is quite a bit more than what Teacher Dan mentioned.

Post by **KHONDAHM** » January 12, 2015, 7:49 am

Beware of the "international" or "English Program" schools here. They are packed with the underperforming children of the Thai elite and adhere to the same indoctrination requirements of regular schools. Those underperforming students will collectively hold your children back. No school in the Northeast has students who could pass an international standard test. None.

Your children will find the other students performing 2 or more grades behind them. They will try to "fit in" by dumbing themselves down enough to not attract unwanted attention to themselves in class. Their brains will atrophy and in a few years they will not be able to pass a grade appropriate standards test either.

Consider homeschooling online instead.

These are lessons learned from my daughter's experience which I shall not repeat with my son. We intend to pull her out after this term and start him with online homeschooling in the fall. Both will go on to pass the US GED exam when they are 18, attend 2 years of US college, and then transfer to a university to finish up their degrees. The US GED exam is offered by Pearson in Bangkok.

Thailand schools are garbage. There are a few good teachers here and there, but any positive initiatives they have always get crushed by the Administration's bias to maintain the status quo and collect payola where they can...

Post by **KHONDAHM** » January 12, 2015, 8:05 am

Oh...after ASEAN is in full-effect, you may be able to hire or share a dedicated, well-educated, English-speaking private teacher from the Phillipines, Malaysia, or Singapore. That is another option I am considering, too. However, I expect demand for them will be ridiculous...

Post by **grievous** » January 12, 2015, 11:52 am

The class that my son and daughter attends is majority mixed race children or Thai children with a western step father.
From what I've seen not many Thai elite have many children attending UDIS.
It's too early to tell how their education is going at this stage as they have only attended a few months.

Post by **Teacher Dan** » January 12, 2015, 4:44 pm

KHONDAHM wrote:Beware of the "international" or "English Program" schools here. They are packed with the underperforming children of the Thai elite and adhere to the same indoctrination requirements of regular schools. Those underperforming students will collectively hold your children back. No school in the Northeast has students who could pass an international standard test. None.

Your children will find the other students performing 2 or more grades behind them. They will try to "fit in" by dumbing themselves down enough to not attract unwanted attention to themselves in class. Their brains will atrophy and in a few years they will not be able to pass a grade appropriate standards test either.

Consider homeschooling online instead.

These are lessons learned from my daughter's experience which I shall not repeat with my son. We intend to pull her out after this term and start him with online homeschooling in the fall. Both will go on to pass the US GED exam when they are 18, attend 2 years of US college, and then transfer to a university to finish up their degrees. The US GED exam is offered by Pearson in Bangkok.

Thailand schools are garbage. There are a few good teachers here and there, but any positive initiatives they have always get crushed by the Administration's bias to maintain the status quo and collect payola where they can...

You are quite right and I think we spoke a lot about the homeschooling idea before I moved to and started working in Laos; however, it is much harder to make that change after they have been in school for some years as they grow accustomed to the social aspect--it's much easier if they have never been in a public school. Furthermore, I don't know about your kids, but mine know how to push my buttons or pull my heartstrings and would probably get away with entirely too much with me teaching them--I found that out over the long summer teaching my sons to get ready for coming here to the international school. And I agree completely that Thai schools are garbage--even the bilingual schools in Bangkok as I have friends in those and a lot of what happened to make me dissatisfied at Don Bosco is repeated there or worse even.

Grievous: By the way Vislao for Prep to Grade 5 is US $13,860 tuition + $3,990 (english support) + $2,400 (Annual Capital fee) which is quite a bit more than what Teacher Dan mentioned.

Grievous, you are correct about the VIS. I mis-converted when I was calculating, but my kids wouldn't need the English support, so I wasn't including that or the annual capital fee as I'm not sure about the requirement for that. I do know that they tend to cater to embassies and the mining companies which all have tuition paid plans, so I'm not sure that all have to pay it.

Post by **parrot** » March 18, 2016, 4:48 pm

A look inside one of the school's recent activities at
https://www.facebook.com/17200189954447 ... 5/?fref=nf

Post by **grievous** » March 18, 2016, 6:19 pm

Hi Parrot do you have children attending UDIS? If you do I was wondering how you are finding the school and if they have passed the authorization process to become an "IB World School" yet?

Post by **parrot** » March 18, 2016, 6:48 pm

grievous wrote:Hi Parrot do you have children attending UDIS? If you do I was wondering how you are finding the school and if they have passed the authorization process to become an "IB World School" yet?

No, I don't. But many people have expressed interest in an international school, and I found the video on one of Udon's Thai facebook pages. They've been in operation a few nows now, so I'd imagine they've worked out the bumps in the road. It'd probably be worthwhile to pay a visit for anyone interested in their curriculum and campus.

Post by **grievous** » March 19, 2016, 12:31 pm

Ah ok. My children attended the school when it first opened but at the time I felt they were still finding their feet. They're at a different school now so I was wondering if things improved.

Post by **wazza** » March 26, 2016, 1:34 pm

They have had a few years, as you say G,

Perhaps musical instruments are now provided in their music classes.