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 Pattaya Authority, a Pattaya web studio 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.

Three ways. We request the current fee sheet through the school's public admissions form, exactly as a parent would. We cross-check it against the most recent fee circular issued to current parents and against the international-schools-database record. And we publish the academic year each figure was verified against. If a fee couldn't be verified, it isn't printed as fact.

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.

No. The directory covers international schools — English-medium, with a British, American, IB or French curriculum — plus premium Thai-bilingual programmes that feed into them. Pure Thai-curriculum schools are outside the scope of this directory.

Email [email protected] 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.

Read the Start Here parent primer first — it explains how to read fees, accreditations and the tier signals before you walk into a single admissions office. Then shortlist three or four schools that fit your budget, curriculum and area, and book tours through each school's public form. 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 directory, verified annual tuition runs from roughly ฿92,000 to ฿975,000 depending on the school and the year group. But tuition is only the headline number — the figure a family actually pays is higher once one-time and recurring extras are added on. Every full editorial publishes a year-by-year fee table with the real all-in number, not the brochure number.

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 international schools in the Pattaya region run a three-term year that starts in late August and finishes around mid-June, with breaks at Christmas and in spring. Thai-bilingual programmes can follow a different calendar. Confirm exact term dates with each school — they vary by a week or two.

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.

This directory lists 14 international and premium Thai-bilingual schools serving Pattaya City and the wider Eastern Seaboard — Banglamung, Sriracha, Sattahip, and Rayong. That is every school we could verify against primary admissions sources in May 2026, not every school that markets to Pattaya on Google. Pure Thai-curriculum schools are out of scope. See the full list on the homepage directory or browse by curriculum hub.

The complete verified list lives on the homepage directory — filter by area or curriculum, or use + Shortlist to build a shareable list. For curriculum-first browsing, open British schools, IB Diploma, fees by school, or Rayong schools. Thirty-one head-to-head comparisons help once you have two or three names.