St Mary's school

[Paulcarr]

My wife and I are moving to Thailand in Oct 2019
We have daughter 13yrs so we need a school
St Mary's school came to our attention.
Is there anybody out there who have or had had there children at this school.
Just looking at feed back and price also do they Offer accomadition
Regards
Paul Carr

[mak]

Approx. 7,500 baht/term, 2 terms/year. All classes taught in Thai. It is run by Salesian Sisters, an Italian based teaching order.

[Doodoo]

I don't believe St Mary's offers accommodations

If you have deep pockets there is an International school for what grades I am unsure but another one is being built for older studebts about 30KM north of Udonthani to open in 2020?

http://www.santhaya.com/projects/detail/35

Hope this helps

[Shado]

St. Mary's does have some accommodation for some students. Our neighbors had to make an extended trip to the States and their daughter stayed at the school while they were away.

[parrot]

A number of years ago the daughter of a British friend lived at the school for 3 years while school was in session. The family lol ived about 100km away

[mak]

They have boarders. The dorms are located in a seperate building adjacent to the P1-3 building near the rear gate. I would guess there are about 50 boarders. Also, many teachers have boarders in their homes.

[runrunshaw]

Approx. 7,500 baht/term, 2 terms/year. All classes taught in Thai. It is run by Salesian Sisters, an Italian based teaching order.

Mak, I have a daughter in Grade Level 1 and son in K2 right now. It costs quite a bit more than you indicated.

For kindergarten, I pay 14,000 per term X 2 for my son.
For Level one I pay about 11,000 per term X 2.

Then there's the cost for all the extras: several different types of uniforms, shoes, sport shoes, books, special school supplies, etc.

There is the option of official "extra learning" of about 2500 per term, and unofficial "extra learning" that takes place at a teacher's house on a weekend day at 1000/month. We do the unofficial extra learning because it's more focused and less about simply getting the homework done.

They also have an all-English curriculum--IEP--but I don't know much about it. My kids speak perfect English so we didn't sign them up for IEP.

[mak]

Fees range from 7.4k to 13.4k depending on grade and class.

[mak]

School term ends March 2, starts May 16. Summer school starts March 25, ends April 26.

[runrunshaw]

School term ends March 2, starts May 16. Summer school starts March 25, ends April 26.

The summer session costs an extra 2500 baht.

I can only dream that some day my daughter's tuition will be just 7500 THB per term.
14,107 for my daughter for one term.
16,422 for my son for one term.

Regardless, Saint Mary's is a good school. Boys can only attend through kindergarten, so we'll be pulling my son out in one more year.

[runrunshaw]

7500 might be the cheapest base price, but 2500 will be added to that for summer school...whether your child attends the session or not.

So caveat emptor.

[Chriss]

Your kindergarten cost also includes Summer School, the IEP program, daily meal, books etc. Our daughter is just finishing K3, P1 first term cost 16400 bht. Again including Sumner School, the IEP program et al.

[runrunshaw]

Your kindergarten cost also includes Summer School, the IEP program, daily meal, books etc. Our daughter is just finishing K3, P1 first term cost 16400 bht. Again including Sumner School, the IEP program et al.

Chris,
Yes, the summer school cost is automatically added into the lump sum bill, but I'm told attendance isn't mandatory--meaning you have to pay for it whether your kid goes or not.

In our experience--like yours--the cost for books in the kindergarten levels was included in the lump sum bill, but once my daughter reached Grade level 1, some books were included in the price but other books and supplies we've had to pay extra for. In fact, I'm having to pay 205 baht for a new book TODAY, even though we're almost to the end of the term. I think it's been about a thousand baht extra for books this term, something like that.

I find the IEP program to be confusing; we didn't enroll in it because my children don't need it, but we've got it just the same. IEP costs shift depending on grade level and I have no idea how many hours per week a child is actually in an IEP class. Certainly not the majority of class time. And while my wife, the kids and I all like St. Mary's a lot, I wish their English teachers were native speakers. Maybe there are some, but the two English teachers I've met there were both Thai.

No school is perfect, and they are a business, after all. And this is Thailand. St. Mary's is considered to be one of the best schools in Udon. The actual rank depends on who you talk to.

[Chriss]

It seems like our daughter is in an English class pretty much every day and brings home regular English homework and a page of Thai plus a page of English once maybe twice a week.
Do agree with your native English teacher comment but I have to say I've met a couple of 'native' English teachers from other school who are from Scandinavia.... not doubting their qualifications just not Native English.
My wife and I also like St Mary's and we're very happy with our daughters progress but if I have to find any fault in the school it's their lack of communication to parents. With technology today it would be easy for the school to inform parents electronically, for instance, when they are to have a teachers day instead of a notice pinned to a board outside the class and our 5 year old telling us 'No school tomorrow.' Just my opinion.

[runrunshaw]

My wife and I also like St Mary's and we're very happy with our daughters progress but if I have to find any fault in the school it's their lack of communication to parents. With technology today it would be easy for the school to inform parents electronically, for instance, when they are to have a teachers day instead of a notice pinned to a board outside the class and our 5 year old telling us 'No school tomorrow.' Just my opinion.

You hit the nail on the head regarding the lack of communication. In terms of scheduling, sometimes it seems like they are flying by the seat of their pants. I suspect these issues apply to all of the schools here, not just St. Mary's.

[frankieboy37]

Projection of power, slackness or a combination of the two?


"There was a recent thread on this forum entitled “Noisy Thai Inconcideration(sic).” In which a contributor named Giggle conjectured that a number of things people brought up in the west sometimes find irksome here could be conveniently explained by the locals, or the locals through their organizations, wishing to project their power.
I thought it was a very useful explanation and was grateful to Giggle for his insight. Merely on the narrow example of a school (not) providing scheduled dates for future school activity I thought the cap would fit very nicely.
I think many of you are very generous in your indulgence with what could easily be arranged for something that is clearly in the pipeline long in advance and has been every year since every school was first established. There is no getting away from the important fact that the schools do it because they can. Which is the first (sometimes only) requirement when projecting power.
However, if it is a simple choice of laughing or crying then it seems most of you seem to make the right choice."

link to thread: post527327.html#p527327

[Wide Awake]

Have you considered home schooling? I would never send a kid to a 'school" that teaches "Core Education".
This is why people today can't do math. Only google.

[Doodoo]

WE (the elders) can do math today because we were taught without the use of electronic devices
We had to march into the testing facility with ruler , pen, pencil and eraser

Today so many have devices to do what is required nowadays

[rick]

My daughter (7 years) goes to St, Mary's and i am reasonably content with it, certainly better than the Thai government schools. Have to agree with the lack of communication - also got the 24 hours notice to pay 205 baht for book via our daughter. They have a facebook website, but it is just an empty shell.

OP says daughter is 13 years. I presume she can speak and write thai already or she will have a problem.

[mak]

It's a tough world when you have to take a test to get into kindergarten.

"Announcement of students who passed the admission.
Kindergarten preparation level - kindergarten
St. Mary's school for the year 2563"