Mariepithak School and others.

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tamada
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Mariepithak School and others.

Post by tamada » January 23, 2017, 5:17 pm

Depending on if/when we move back to Udon, I am wondering if there's other recommendations beyond the usual Don Bosco and Udonpit for my soon-to-be 9 year-old boy? Anyone had their kids attend Mariepithak school from year 3 and up? My lad did his kindergarden there before we moved away so wondering how it fares among the other schools in town. There's the new Holy Mary on the Nongkhai road but that thread hasn't shown much activity so I don't know if anyone has their kids enrolled there yet. On a decision based solely on their published fees, UDIS is not a contender.



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Khun Paul
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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by Khun Paul » January 24, 2017, 8:27 am

Tamada, I am sure you do not need me to tell you that here schools live off their reputation not necessarily their scholastic records.
So a brief run-down based on my knowledge.
Mariepitak, not only hard to get to, but also becoming very full.
Don Bosco are undergoing what appears to be dumbing down of English teachers and utilising a company in Bangkok to start an IEP programme but the teachers are Thai and their knowledge well to put it politely not acceptable in my book.
What foreign teachers they have are not allowed to give homework and MUST stick to the book, so zero lateral or critical thinking or anything to enhance their English skills, as they teach only conversation, and when you take the nationalities of the teachers that can be interesting.
Udon Pitt, well they are now going to be nearly 7000 students on what was space for 3,500 students, overcrowded and full of the things that are bad, gangs,drugs, groups of boys who have no clue about learning and do not want to learn, They do have an English programme, but it is not cheap, plus the fact that that area was bad 15 years ago, with approx. 10,000 students trying to get into the surrounding schools at the same time ( Udon Pitt, Ratchinutit, Anuban, Achawar college ) , now increased to 13,000 students, personally as a learning environment ..NOT GOOD.
I had two private students there, but at 14 years old they tried for and got into a batter schools than Udon Pitt, in Bangkok and were glad to go , they were successful out of nearly 4000 applicants.

You should at instead of some of the other Wittaya schools to offer education to your child, also tutoring for those subjects that he is not so good at.

There are a few, Prajak Silapkon, Nong Sang just off the KK road near the army camp, The school opposite the entrance to the airport. All have better environments and many students there are just as successful.

it really does depend on where you intend to live, many places now have excellent Wittaya schools , many local schools now go up to M3.

One would think that with the adoption of English as the language of ASEAN and that Thailand which was once top of the tree almost cheek by jowl with Singapore in education they would be still there, unfortunately, the attitude and the everyone passes and the NO-FAIL policy , has taken its toll, Thailand is now near the bottom in educating its students ,, success amongst its students is limited to a few and even the Unis are stating that English skills are bad , from its graduates. .
So although you may have excellent reasons for relocating back to Thailand, educationally it could be a negative move regarding your sons education as eventually a Thai degree is worth less than toilet paper.
Last edited by Khun Paul on January 24, 2017, 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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lassebasse
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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by lassebasse » January 24, 2017, 8:30 am

Well, if you can consider a Thai school we had our children in the Udon Christian Suksa School and were very happy with them. School is in Nongsamrong and very small and I think grades are from Kindergarten to 6.

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tamada
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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by tamada » January 25, 2017, 3:16 pm

Khun Paul wrote:Tamada, I am sure you do not need me to tell you that here schools live off their reputation not necessarily their scholastic records.
So a brief run-down based on my knowledge.
Mariepitak, not only hard to get to, but also becoming very full.
Don Bosco are undergoing what appears to be dumbing down of English teachers and utilising a company in Bangkok to start an IEP programme but the teachers are Thai and their knowledge well to put it politely not acceptable in my book.
What foreign teachers they have are not allowed to give homework and MUST stick to the book, so zero lateral or critical thinking or anything to enhance their English skills, as they teach only conversation, and when you take the nationalities of the teachers that can be interesting.
Udon Pitt, well they are now going to be nearly 7000 students on what was space for 3,500 students, overcrowded and full of the things that are bad, gangs,drugs, groups of boys who have no clue about learning and do not want to learn, They do have an English programme, but it is not cheap, plus the fact that that area was bad 15 years ago, with approx. 10,000 students trying to get into the surrounding schools at the same time ( Udon Pitt, Ratchinutit, Anuban, Achawar college ) , now increased to 13,000 students, personally as a learning environment ..NOT GOOD.
I had two private students there, but at 14 years old they tried for and got into a batter schools than Udon Pitt, in Bangkok and were glad to go , they were successful out of nearly 4000 applicants.

You should at instead of some of the other Wittaya schools to offer education to your child, also tutoring for those subjects that he is not so good at.

There are a few, Prajak Silapkon, Nong Sang just off the KK road near the army camp, The school opposite the entrance to the airport. All have better environments and many students there are just as successful.

it really does depend on where you intend to live, many places now have excellent Wittaya schools , many local schools now go up to M3.

One would think that with the adoption of English as the language of ASEAN and that Thailand which was once top of the tree almost cheek by jowl with Singapore in education they would be still there, unfortunately, the attitude and the everyone passes and the NO-FAIL policy , has taken its toll, Thailand is now near the bottom in educating its students ,, success amongst its students is limited to a few and even the Unis are stating that English skills are bad , from its graduates. .
So although you may have excellent reasons for relocating back to Thailand, educationally it could be a negative move regarding your sons education as eventually a Thai degree is worth less than toilet paper.
Thanks KP, I was hoping you would pass a comment. I am very aware of the poor value of a Thai education and how to tiptoe the line between getting as as much bang for your buck versus the totally dire and paying way over the odds for a marginally less dire.

Mariepithak is a total dog to get in and out of but hearing that it is getting full would suggest what? Possible growing reputation as a decent school or just an overall lack of choices in the city, ie. they are ALL getting full?

There's a couple of older girls (sister in laws girls) that seemed to do well finishing at Prajak Sinlapakhan(on the east ring road) with the oldest getting into Rajabhat last year. They all went to Khunakorn before that after quitting the rapidly deteriorating Dom Udom in the early years.

If things had played out differently, we would all be living in the UK and he would be attending Gordonstoun but reality bites. He's born here and will probably live and work here so making a silk purse out of a sows ear seems the best we can do.

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tamada
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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by tamada » January 25, 2017, 4:39 pm

lassebasse wrote:Well, if you can consider a Thai school we had our children in the Udon Christian Suksa School and were very happy with them. School is in Nongsamrong and very small and I think grades are from Kindergarten to 6.
Thanks for that tip. I will ask around and see if anyone else has 'real world' experience there.

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grievous
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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by grievous » January 25, 2017, 6:46 pm

My children go to Appapatcharat. The school is good for Udon, my children are happy and they look to try and fix things we haven't been happy with. I must say I'm sure my kids haven't progressed too far since moving from Australia, they can read and write Thai now but Im sure they are a long way behind where they would have been if they stayed in Australia.
The schools here are all about show & now go.
Dress up in scout uniforms don't do scouts.
Massive parade for sports day and not all that much sporting events to be had. etc
I'm happy for them to spend the early years of school here but will send them back home one day to complete secondary school

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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by deankham » January 25, 2017, 8:11 pm

has anyone thought abut or is sending their kids to boarding school in thailand. Was looking at the British International School of Phuket and the price is in the same ball park as Udon International School but looks far far better.

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Re: Mariepithak School and others.

Post by tamada » February 16, 2017, 8:22 pm

Checked up on a few schools earlier in the week for my soon-to-be nine year old lad.

Mariepithak has class size of 45 and there's an acceptance test that allows for one resit. The place looks relatively unchanged from when our lad was in pre-school there. I understand that they also have boarding school? About 7,200 baht/term.

Udon Christian is capping the class at 40 but the acceptance test is a one-time thing. I have heard that Udon Christian has a reputation for pretty good discipline and noted that when we visited during morning recess, they had a 'janitor' watching the closed gate. About 13,000 baht/term

Udon Christian Suksa looks like around 40 as well but doesn't seem to have a great English program.The building looks OK from a distance but the grounds look really run down. About 7,800 baht/term.

Holy Mary also has an acceptance test and right now the enrollment for P4 stands at only 5. Guaranteed small classes moving forward and loads of fresh air are benefits that I can see. Not sure if small classes are helpful for social development though. Very impressive structure but the grounds are a work in progress since it only opened last May. About 28,000 baht/term.

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