There is one school in Thailand where a Dutch family can enrol their child and have them taught two to three classes a week in Dutch by Dutch teachers, sit IGCSE Dutch in Year 11, and sit IB Diploma Dutch at 18. That school is St. Andrews Green Valley. It's not a marketing add-on; it's a structural curriculum stream that runs in parallel with the British National Curriculum from Year 3 onwards, meets the benchmarks set by the Dutch government, and has been the single reason a meaningful Dutch expat community has clustered around Ban Chang for the past two decades.
For a Dutch family weighing Pattaya, Bangkok, or moving to Thailand at all, this is often the school the decision turns on. For everyone else, the question is whether the rest of the school justifies the 30-minute commute from Pattaya. The answer depends on whether the Forest School + eco-literacy ethos and the smaller Cognita-network calibration are what you want — and whether you're willing to trade the louder premiums of Rugby and Regents for something quieter.
Forest School is a child-led, outdoor-based pedagogy that originated in Scandinavia and has spread through British primaries over the last 25 years. At St Andrew's it's not a once-a-week elective — it's embedded across the academic year, with student-led sustainability projects and vertical gardens integrated into learning. For families with a child who's more curious about ecology than competitive about sport, this is a meaningful differentiator from Rugby's sport-heavy ethos.
St Andrew's Green Valley is part of Cognita Schools — around 80 schools across eight countries, serving roughly 40,000 students. Comparable scale to Regents' Nord Anglia network, with similar global-mobility benefits: clean academic transfer between Cognita schools if your family relocates, shared curriculum standards, internal teacher development. The trade-off is the same as with Nord Anglia — some pedagogical decisions are made at the network level rather than by the local school leadership.
St Andrew's carries EDT Gold (Education Development Trust) accreditation — a thorough external audit covering achievement, personal development, teaching, learning, curriculum, and facilities. Gold is the top tier of EDT's framework. It is not the same as CIS (Council of International Schools); Garden International Rayong is the only school in the region with CIS. Whether EDT Gold or CIS matters more depends on the universities your child targets — both are recognised by Russell Group, Ivy League, and continental European admissions teams.
Ban Chang is the Rayong-province sub-district immediately east of U-Tapao airport, about 30 minutes south of central Pattaya — same area as Garden International. For most Pattaya families, this is a real daily bus commitment — not walkable, not even short. Add school-bus fees to the budget (per the school's published schedule).
The closest comparison — both are in Ban Chang, both run IB Diploma, both are British-curriculum schools. Garden has CIS accreditation (the more rigorous external audit), FOBISIA founding membership, and a published 100% Diploma pass rate in 2023. St Andrew's has the Dutch stream and the Forest School ethos. Choose Garden if academic credentials are the priority. Choose St Andrew's if you're Dutch, or if the Forest School + eco programme matters more than the accreditation badge.
Regents offers Sixth Form optionality (IB Diploma and A-Level — St Andrew's runs IBDP only), the Nord Anglia global network and partner programmes (MIT, Juilliard, UNICEF), boarding from Year 3, and a closer Pong location. St Andrew's is roughly comparable in fee tier, has the Dutch stream, and the more nature-and-eco-driven ethos. If your family is internationally mobile and the MIT/Juilliard programmes appeal, Regents probably edges this. If you want a calmer, ecology-leaning environment — St Andrew's.
St Andrew's publishes the full 2025/26 fee schedule as a PDF and on their fees page. First-year all-in for a 2-year-old (Nursery) is ฿485,800 once application + entrance fees are baked in. Annual tuition ranges roughly ฿270K (early years) to ฿650K (Sixth Form).
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual tuition (approximate range) | |
| Nursery (2yo, full school year) | ~ ฿270,000 |
| Year 1 | ~ ฿360,000 |
| Year 7 | ~ ฿500,000 |
| Year 13 IBDP | ~ ฿650,000 |
| One-time | |
| Application fee (non-refundable, per child) | ฿5,000 |
| Entrance fee · Nursery–Reception | ฿55,000 |
| Entrance fee · Years 1–13 | ฿100,000 |
| Capital levy · alternative (฿20K × 6 terms) | ฿120,000 |
| First-year all-in · 2-year-old Nursery student | ~ ฿485,800 |
Year-by-year tuition figures are approximate ranges based on the public Cognita data and international-schools-database 2025/26 record — the school's full PDF fee schedule (linked in Sources below) has exact per-year amounts including bus and exam fees. Verify with admissions before committing. Sibling discount not publicly stated on the school's fee page.
If you're a Dutch-mother-tongue family living in Thailand, this is the school. There is no other parallel Dutch-medium stream in any international school in the country, and the IGCSE and IBDP Dutch options at exam years make a genuine difference at university-application time. For non-Dutch families, the right fit is the family that values the Forest School + eco-literacy programme over sport-heavy or curriculum-heavy alternatives — a child who's outdoors-curious, ecology-oriented, and likely to flourish in a smaller, calmer environment than the larger premium-tier schools.
Rugby, Regents, Garden, and St Andrew's are live — the entire premium tier complete. The other ten schools roll out one editorial per week through Q3 2026. Maintained, not abandoned.