School in Phuket: from first comparison to first lesson

Before any visits, you receive a comparison table of the schools that suit your child’s age and curriculum. It is a ranking for your family, built from facts rather than marketing:

• curriculum and leaving exams: IGCSE, A Level, IB Diploma, AP courses;
• accreditations and exam results, where the school publishes them;
• English support for children who are not native speakers;
• places available in the right year group for your dates;
• tuition fees from the school’s current fee schedule;
• the morning journey from home to school.

The curriculum determines where your child can go next and how easily they can change schools. Phuket has British, IB and American systems.

• British International School Phuket has been open since 1996: the National Curriculum of England, then IGCSE, and the IB Diploma in the final two years. Ages 2 to 18, with boarding.
• HeadStart International School⁠—a British curriculum for ages 2 to 18, with A Levels in the senior years. The Cherngtalay campus is for children up to 14 (Year 9); older students study at the Chaofah City campus.
• UWC Thailand⁠—a non-profit school in Thalang, in the north of the island: IB programmes from pre-kindergarten to Grade 12, with boarding from Grade 9.
• QSI International School of Phuket in Kathu⁠—a non-profit American school accredited by the Middle States Association; AP courses, including by distance learning.

For younger children there are kindergartens, such as SILK within Laguna Phuket. The names are a guide only: the comparison includes every school that suits your child.

Age and year group, language and current curriculum, how long you will be on the island and where your child will study afterwards. For a single season, an easy transition matters; for several years, a curriculum that lets them return to school at home or go on to university.

We choose the school and the house together: the morning journey is part of the decision. If the villa has not been chosen yet, we start with the school.

We schedule visits to your chosen schools back to back, so you can compare while impressions are fresh. Documents are gathered to each school’s own list: reports from current and previous schools and, where needed, translations into English.

Admission steps differ from school to school. BISP, for example, reviews school reports, requests a reference from the current school and tests children for whom English is not a first language. We tell you in advance what to expect and keep track of application deadlines.

Timing depends on the year group: BISP accepts applications for entry at any point in the school year, but the right class may already be full. So the first thing we check is availability.

To attend school, a child needs an ED visa based on the school’s enrolment letter, unless the family’s long-stay visa covers it. Whether it does, we check before applying. A parent of a child under 20 can apply for a Non‑Immigrant O visa. More under Visas & Long Stays.

• swimming, tennis, sailing, languages⁠—with a coach or tutor at the villa or at a club;
• resort children’s clubs: we find out which ones welcome children staying in villas;
• your child’s birthday⁠—see Celebrations & Events;
• the villa: pool fencing, socket covers, stair gates⁠—checked before you arrive, and we tell you what is missing.