St Andrews International School (Sukhumvit 107) Review
As an all-through school with around 450 students, St Andrews International School Sukhumvit 107 is definitely smaller than most in Thailand. Students and teachers talk a lot about the “villagey feel” and “sense of family” at this British school, and how everyone knows the students by name. That can often be hard to find in a city centre school like this.
Founded in 1997, St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 teaches children from 2 to 18 years at a surprisingly large and leafy green campus for such an urban school. Students start at age 2 in the Nursery and will stay within the dedicated Early Years Centre until age 5, when they move on to Year 1 in the main school.
Located at the heart of Bangkok, the school is part of the St Andrews group of four schools in Thailand; it has close links with St Andrews Dusit, its feeder primary school. (It’s not to be confused with St Andrews International School Sukhumvit 71, which is also in the neighbourhood.) The other two schools are St Andrews Sathorn primary school in Bangkok’s CBD and St Andrews Green Valley, an all-through school on the outskirts of Pattaya.
St Andrews is part of the international Cognita group of schools, which has headquarters in the UK and educates 15,000 pupils in more than 70 schools worldwide.
Carl Hutson joined the school as Principal in September 2021. Born in the UK, Mr Hutson spent the last 10 years as Principal at the British International School of Stockholm. Prior to this he worked at schools in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Jakarta and England.
The curriculum
Students follow a rigorous curriculum aligned with the National Curriculum for England, using the IB framework, standards, and practices. The school offers IGSCEs for Years 10 and 11 and the IB Diploma for Years 12 and 13.
All early years’ students learn Thai and Mandarin, and there’s a specialist English language support programme to prepare students for mainstream education. In terms of sport, children have PE and swimming lessons from as young as 2. Other specialist classes include music, drama, and art.
The primary curriculum covers KS1 (Years 1 – 3) and KS2 (Years 4 – 6), and includes the following subject areas: maths, English, science, IT, history, geography, design technology, art, PE, and music, as well as personal, social, and health education. While teaching is strongly aligned to the National Curriculum for England, the school continues to follow the learner-centred principles of the International Baccalaureate. St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 also encourages multilingualism; as well as daily Thai lessons, primary students have the option to learn either French or Mandarin from Year 3.
The secondary school, from Years 7 to 13, continues to offer the broad and well-balanced English curriculum; subjects include English language and English literature, maths, science, Mandarin, French, geography, history, ICT, art, and business studies. Years 10 – 11 follow the two-year IGCSE course, and Years 12 – 13 then take a more international learning path as they study for the IBDP. IGCSEs give students a good grounding for the IBDP, which was introduced to the school in 2013, and many international schools have decided to follow this route rather than offer A Levels.
Students learn the importance of exercising for a lifetime from a young age. There’s a strong PE programme that includes swimming, basketball, tennis, badminton, mini golf, football, taekwondo, dance, athletics, gymnastics, and rugby. The school also fields teams in various competitive fixtures against sports teams from international schools across the country; as well as playing in the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) Games, the school’s basketball and athletics teams regularly compete at TISAC (Thailand’s International Schools Activity Conference).
Technology supports learning at all stages of education at St Andrews Sukhumvit 107; classrooms are equipped with smartboards and tablets, there’s a dedicated ICT suite, and a 1:1 laptop programme from Year 10. The school is a Common Sense Digital Citizenship certified school, which highlights its commitment to creating a culture of digital teaching and citizenship. How? Well, the school focuses on the seven Cs (critical thinking; creativity and innovation; collaboration; cross-cultural understanding and communication). This teaches the “digital skills necessary for them to use relevant technology, and teach them how to use that knowledge responsibly.”
The curriculum is also very creative, and all students have specialist music, drama, and visual arts lessons. In music, students work with percussion instruments, keyboards, recorders, and ukuleles to learn vocal skills and composition; from Year 3, all students select a specialist music instrument. Students are encouraged to showcase their talents – there are at least ten musical performances every year, an annual art exhibition, and several drama productions.
There’s also plenty going on outside of the classroom, from a wide choice of extra-curricular activities for students from the age of four to community service projects and residential trips from Year 2. St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 has a varied programme of Creativity, Action, and Service activities, which are part of the IBDP.
"Our students have built water tanks in remote areas of northern Thailand, supported medical charities such as Operation Smile and worked closely with refugee organisations."
School community
St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 has built up a close-knit community, where parents are actively involved with fundraising, social events, and learning support. There’s also an active house system that awards points for academic performance, behaviour, and teamwork; it helps to build a strong school community spirit, which is seen every Friday when students come to school in their house t-shirt. As well as receiving a weekly newsletter, parents can log onto a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) to keep track of what’s happening on campus.
There are more than 30 different nationalities represented at the school, and this is embraced by celebrating key cultural festivals throughout the year. St Andrews Sukhumvit 107’s university and careers counselling team supports senior students on their path to further education – and the school fosters a strong reading culture through author visits and other literary events.
The campus
The first thing to say about St Andrews Sukhumvit 107 is that it’s incredibly easy to get to. Located next to the Skytrain Bearing station, the school is easily accessible from the city. It’s also a large, green campus that gives its small population of students more than enough room to work, rest, and play.
It's a spacious and well-resourced campus that includes a modern canteen; a 250-seat theatre; modern science labs; fully-equipped art, drama, film, and music rooms; computer suites; specialist classrooms, including a large food technology room; primary and secondary school libraries; a 25m swimming pool; and a FIFA standard football pitch.
Admission and fees
Tuition fees are in the mid-range for international schools, but significantly more expensive than primary fees charged at its feeder school St Andrews Dusit. 2019-20 fees range from THB 192,945 to THB 586,400 for Year 12.
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