Questions parents ask.

No. Pattaya School Guide is not owned by a school, an admissions consultant, or a parent-Facebook-group operator. It is run by TimPaemi Co., Ltd., a Pattaya publisher that operates several other editorial properties in the city. Schools don't pay us — to be listed, to rank higher, or to be reviewed kindly. No sponsored tags, no affiliate links to admissions agents.

Because the "best" school depends on your child, not on a league table. A student who thrives in a rigorous IB programme would struggle in a project-based American one, and the reverse is just as true. Every editorial carries a "Best for:" line that names the kind of family the school actually suits. We rank by fit, not by quality.

We do not invent unpublished fees. If a school publishes no current tariff, the editorial says fees on application and names the missing items rather than estimating them. Where a school does publish fees, we read the school's own admissions page or fee PDF, record the academic year, and list the one-time and recurring extras that are actually disclosed.

Every academic term. Fees change at the start of each year, accreditations renew on their own cycles, and schools occasionally close or rebrand. Every school's data is re-checked each term and the page is stamped with the verification date. Closed schools are archived, not silently removed.

Not as a general local-schools directory. The core coverage is international schools, but the live 29-school decision set also includes source-verifiable Thai-bilingual, Thai-private and specialist French or Japanese pathways when Pattaya families genuinely compare them against the international route. Generic Thai schools with no decision-set relevance or no usable primary sources stay out.

Email info@pattaya-school-guide.com with the school's name, address, curriculum and accreditations. The school goes into the next source-verification queue (reviewed every term). Note: a listing is not a positive review — the editorial reports what it finds, weaknesses and all.

Start with the Start Here parent primer. If the first decision is really Thai route versus bilingual versus full international, read Thai system vs bilingual vs international next, then shortlist three or four schools that fit your budget, curriculum and area. Tour before you fall for a brochure.

Three or four. Fewer than three and you have no real comparison; more than five and the tours blur into each other. A workable shortlist usually mixes one aspirational school, two realistic fits, and one budget-sensible option — so the final decision is a genuine choice, not a single yes-or-no. Our side-by-side comparisons are built for exactly this stage.

Yes. On the directory, tap + Shortlist on each school card (or + Shortlist this school on any editorial), then Share shortlist on mobile or Copy share link on desktop — or build a URL like /?schools=regents-international-school-pattaya,tara-pattana-international-school#schools with school slugs separated by commas. Anyone opening that link sees only those cards.

Let your child's likely university destination and learning style lead. A British curriculum (IGCSE then A-Level) suits children who do well specialising into three or four subjects at 16. The IB Diploma suits all-rounders who want breadth held open to 18. An American curriculum suits families returning to the US system or who prefer continuous assessment to terminal exams. Curriculum should drive the decision, not price alone.

No — and this is the most important thing to understand about the directory. The tier labels track price and facility scale, not classroom quality. A premium-tier school has a bigger campus and a higher fee; it does not automatically teach better than an established-tier school at half the cost. Read the individual editorial. Tier is a budget signal, not a quality verdict.

Across the current 29-school decision set, published tuition runs from ฿47,000 to ฿999,000. That range spans Thai-bilingual, specialist and fully international routes, so the real question is the child's exact year group and the route you are comparing. Tuition is only the headline number; one-time fees, transport, lunch, support and exams can change the budget materially.

Expect a one-time application fee, a one-time enrolment or registration fee, and often a refundable security deposit. Some schools also charge a building or development fund. Recurring extras on top of tuition typically include bus transport (usually zoned, billed per term), school lunch, uniform, exam fees in the final years, and residential trips. Real first-year cost is commonly tens of thousands of baht above the headline tuition.

Tuition itself is rarely negotiable — but structured discounts are common and worth asking for in writing. Most schools offer a sibling discount that grows with each additional child, and many give a few per cent off for paying the full year up front. Scholarships exist at some schools but are limited and competitive. Ask admissions for the current discount schedule rather than assuming the headline fee is final.

Most full international schools here run a three-term year starting in August and finishing in June. Thai-system and many Thai-bilingual schools often start in May instead. Confirm the exact calendar before signing a lease or planning a mid-year move, because the intake pattern changes with the route.

Most schools in the directory are day schools. Where boarding is offered it starts at very different ages — Regents International Pattaya boards from Year 3, while Rugby School Thailand boards from age 10. If boarding matters to you, check the starting age carefully — it varies more than parents expect.

The live directory currently tracks 29 source-verified school records across Pattaya and the wider Eastern Seaboard. That set includes full international schools, Thai-bilingual routes, selected Thai-private schools and specialist French or Japanese pathways where families make the same decision in practice. See the full list on the homepage directory or browse by topic hub.

The complete verified list lives on the homepage directory — filter by area or curriculum, or use + Shortlist to build a shareable list. For route-first browsing, start with Thai vs bilingual vs international; for curriculum-first browsing, open British schools, IB Diploma, fees by school, or Rayong schools. The site now has 34 head-to-head comparisons.