In brief
Three 2026/27 Year 6 first-year non-refundable examples using published tuition without elapsed prepayment discounts total ฿338,400 at El Dream, ฿520,340 at ISC with lunch and Zone A bus, and ฿993,500 at Rugby before its refundable deposit. These are arithmetic baskets, not child-specific quotes.
ISC and Rugby sources rechecked 23 September 2026 · El Dream PDF checked 26 July 2026
The worked comparison uses the same year group, academic year and day-school scope. It starts with El Dream's published annual tuition, the sum of ISC's three term instalments and Rugby's standard annual tuition. ISC's June 2026 and Rugby's 13 August 2026 prepayment deadlines have passed, so neither 3% saving is used. These examples are not rankings: El Dream uses A.C.E., ISC follows the English National Curriculum through primary, and Rugby is a much larger British day-and-boarding school.
First-year non-refundable cost includes tuition, entry charges and the recurring extras selected in the example. Cash required adds refundable deposits. Keeping those two numbers separate stops a deposit being mislabelled as annual spending while still showing the money needed before the first day.
| School and assumptions | Tuition | One-time, non-refundable | Recurring extras used | Refundable deposit | First-year cost | Cash required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Dream Grade 6 · lunch + books |
฿250,400 | ฿45,000 | ฿43,000 | Not published | ฿338,400 | ฿338,400 |
| ISC Pattaya Year 6 · lunch + Zone A bus |
฿370,800 | ฿73,000 | ฿76,540 | None listed | ฿520,340 | ฿520,340 |
| Rugby Thailand Year 6 · day school |
฿788,000 | ฿205,500 | Meals, books, trip and standard exams included | ฿100,000 | ฿993,500 | ฿1,093,500 |
El Dream's example includes the school-published Grade 6 lunch and textbook charges. ISC uses the sum of its Year 3–6 term instalments plus five-day lunch and the published Zone A two-way bus charge. Rugby uses its standard Year 4–6 tuition. The earlier ISC and Rugby 3% prepayment amounts remain source history because their 2026 deadlines passed. Uniforms and unpriced services are excluded.
El Dream's 2026/27 sheet separates almost every classroom cost. Grade 6 tuition is ฿250,400. A new Grade 6 pupil also has a ฿2,000 application fee, ฿3,000 diagnostic test and ฿40,000 registration fee. Adding the published ฿28,000 annual lunch charge and ฿15,000 Grade 5–6 textbook charge produces a first-year total of ฿338,400.
| Line item | Amount | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4–6 tuition | ฿250,400 | Annual tuition |
| Application | ฿2,000 | One-time, non-refundable |
| Grade 3–6 diagnostic test | ฿3,000 | Admissions charge |
| Registration | ฿40,000 | One-time, non-refundable |
| Grade 1–12 lunch | ฿28,000 | Annual published charge |
| Grade 5–6 textbooks | ฿15,000 | Annual published charge |
| First-year total | ฿338,400 | No deposit published |
Learning support is a separate ฿60,000 per year (the school’s 2026–27 fee sheet; earlier labelled ESL), which would take this example to ฿398,400. The fee sheet does not price transport, uniforms, trips or external examinations, so none is treated as zero. El Dream's four quarter dates run from 12 June 2026 to 17 March 2027, and overdue fees carry a 2.5% penalty.
Open El Dream's 2026/27 fee PDF · checked 26 July 2026
ISC's published Year 3–6 tuition instalments of ฿156,560, ฿117,420 and ฿96,820 sum to ฿370,800. Its earlier discounted annual figure was ฿359,676, but the 3% offer required full-year payment in Term 1 before the June 2026 due date, now passed. The school also separates the ฿3,000 application fee, ฿70,000 registration fee and ฿2,000 annual insurance.
Lunch and transport are optional. For a five-day Year 6 pupil, the three lunch terms total ฿21,960. The published Zone A two-way bus charge — Naklua, North Pattaya, Rong Poh or Maprachan within the school's stated distance basis — totals ฿52,580. Those choices bring the first-year arithmetic basket to ฿520,340, subject to the school's current child-specific quote.
| Line item | Amount | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Year 3–6 tuition | ฿370,800 | Sum of 2026/27 Term 1, 2 and 3 instalments |
| Application | ฿3,000 | One-time, non-refundable |
| Registration | ฿70,000 | One-time, non-refundable |
| Insurance | ฿2,000 | Annual, non-refundable |
| Five-day lunch | ฿21,960 | Optional; three-term total |
| Zone A transport | ฿52,580 | Optional; three-term total |
| First-year total | ฿520,340 | No deposit listed |
Compared with the elapsed annual-payment offer, the term tuition sum is ฿11,124 higher. Assessed EAL or learning support adds ฿21,000–฿70,000 per year. The school decides the applicable bus zone and says fuel tariffs may be added, so the route and all current charges need written confirmation.
Open ISC's official 2026/27 fee page · checked 23 September 2026
Rugby's standard 2026/27 Year 4–6 tuition is ฿788,000. The earlier 3% full-year payment saving of ฿23,640 would have reduced tuition to ฿764,360, but required payment by 13 August 2026; that date has passed. The first-year non-refundable entry bill adds a ฿5,500 application fee and ฿200,000 acceptance fee, taking the standard-tuition arithmetic cost to ฿993,500. The ฿100,000 student deposit is refundable under the published notice and balance-clearance conditions, but raises the illustrated enrolment cash requirement to ฿1,093,500.
| Line item | Amount | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Year 4–6 standard tuition | ฿788,000 | Published 2026/27 tariff; earlier 3% offer expired |
| Application | ฿5,500 | One-time, non-refundable |
| Acceptance | ฿200,000 | One-time; published as non-refundable |
| First-year non-refundable cost | ฿993,500 | Before refundable deposit |
| Student deposit | ฿100,000 | Refundable under published conditions |
| Cash required | ฿1,093,500 | Includes deposit |
Tuition includes lunches, twice-daily snacks, textbooks, the standard extracurricular programme, the annual residential trip and common internal and external examination fees with one retake per unit. The displayed ฿993,500 first-year arithmetic cost uses standard tuition; cash required rises to ฿1,093,500 when the refundable deposit is added. Ask for a current written quote.
Boarding is available from Year 6. Part boarding adds ฿285,100 per year, weekly boarding ฿417,700 and full boarding ฿493,800, with a separate ฿20,000 expenses deposit. The school does not publish its general transport or uniform tariff in this fee document.
Open Rugby's 2026/27 fee PDF · rechecked 23 September 2026
Start with the exact year group and payment method, then add every compulsory and chosen service. Keep three totals: recurring annual cost, first-year non-refundable cost and first-year cash required. That distinction matters most when a school charges a large acceptance fee or refundable deposit.
| Cost | Where it belongs | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | Recurring annual cost | Exact grade, number of terms and whether the quoted annual figure assumes prepayment |
| Application, registration, acceptance or enrolment | First-year non-refundable cost | Which charges are non-refundable and whether siblings receive a reduction |
| Student or boarding deposit | Cash required, not annual cost | Notice period, deductions, refund timing and whether it can offset the final invoice |
| Lunch, snacks and books | Recurring cost unless included | Whether participation is optional and whether senior textbooks are excluded |
| Transport | Recurring optional cost | Exact stop, one-way or return, fuel surcharge and whether the school can re-zone the address |
| EAL, SEN and learning support | Assessed recurring cost | Whether support is required for admission and the hours, review point and exit criteria |
| Exams, trips, uniforms and devices | Recurring or event cost | Which items are compulsory for that year group and which remain quote-only |
Do not compare a discounted annual tuition figure with another school's term-by-term total. Do not treat a refundable deposit as spending, and do not treat an unpublished tariff as free. A useful admissions quote names the academic year, grade, start date, payment schedule and every required support service.
The three worked figures are 2026/27 primary-age day-school examples. They show how entry fees, meals, books and transport change the first-year bill; none is a personal quotation.
These examples add only the labelled school-published amounts above. Missing costs remain unanswered; request a written total for your child’s year group.
