St Andrews International School Bangkok
St. Andrews International School Bangkok (STA) is a recognized international school located in Sukhumvit Soi 71 and another campus opposite the King's Palace at Dusit District, Bangkok. The school was founded in 1997 and has been developed through the years to cater to a growing community of students.
As of 2011 there are over 650 students ranging in age from Nursery (aged 2 years) to Year 13 (18 years +). To reflect the growth and development of the school, further facilities have been built. Improved facilities include a drama studio; music practice rooms; art suite; science laboratories; 25 metre swimming pool; sports hall; design technology; primary classrooms and small teaching rooms. The physical developments have been supported by a growth in specialist teachers and a professional learning support department.
About The School
During the last six years of growth the school has sought international accreditation and authorisation for their academic standards and management of their administration. In April 2007 the school completed a three year accreditation process with the World Wide Education Service of CfBT Education Trust, a non-profit international agency based in the UK. The school was awarded full accreditation for all areas of its performance for five years.[1]
The international accreditation process was also linked with the Public Office responsible for the assessment of education in all public and private schools in Thailand, the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA). The school was the first school in Thailand to receive this joint accreditation award. This means that a St. Andrews International School Bangkok Graduation diploma will be equivalent to the Thai School Mor 6 qualification which is essential for Thai students to enter many Universities in Thailand.[2]
St. Andrews International School, Bangkok is an examination centre for both Edexcel IGCSE and the University of Cambridge IGCSE. Furthermore, the school is also authorised to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme to their Year 12 and 13 students.
St. Andrews Dusit Campus opened in April 2010 ranging students from Nursery to Year 4.
Phases/ Key Stages
St. Andrews International School, Bangkok follows the National Curriculum of England and Wales.
Senior Students in Year 12 & 13 have the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) as the academic backbone to the Key Stage 5 programme.[3]
House system
Students and Staff are allocated a House when they first join St. Andrews. Siblings are put into the same house to encourage house spirit both at school and at home. Students remain in the same house throughout their time at St. Andrews. The Four Houses are the colours Red, Green, Yellow and Blue named after Thai Tribes (Akha, Karen, Lahu, Yao). Every Friday, everyone including teachers, students and staff has to wear their coloured House T-Shirt (red for Akha, green for Karen, yellow for Lahu and blue for Yao). Most Friday mornings house activities such as competition between house teams or individuals are carried out. These activities are enjoyable and encourage everyone to get involved and fight for their own house. House points can be earned by each student who participate in each house activity and the points will go toward their own houses, and at the end of an academic year the winning house that has the highest score overall will be announced followed by the second, third and fourth place winners. The total score will be shown on Moodle (the school website for students and teachers) for the members of each house to see how many points their houses have and encourage them to work harder to earn more house points. The winning house from each academic year will get a trophy and will be recorded as the winning house of the year.
Application process and fees
Students who wish to apply to St. Andrews International School Bangkok are required to complete an application form and pay an application fee in order to be considered according to the admission criteria. The steps of applying are as follows: first complete and sign the application for an admission, then pay an application fee of 3,000 baht, after that photocopy parents’ and the student’s passports and visas, photocopy the student’s certificate, submit the official transcript or report cards for two years prior to the current grade level (in English), and lastly submit the educational assessment or specialist reports. After the documents have been submitted and the application fee has been paid, the administration staff will review the application documents. St. Andrews then contacts the student’s family to schedule a date for the student to take Math and English tests, and a meeting with the head of the school. Then the school informs the family whether the student is accepted or not. Finally, when the student is accepted to the school, the entrance fee is required to be paid within 7 days otherwise the place will be given to other applicants.