Moving to Phuket

Well we have one smal step towards our goal. I have enrolled with TESOL so it is back to study for myself and now we are starting with looking at schools /location as to where is the best place to find our home in lovely phuket. Next step employment relocation for husband. Anyone with any advice or opinions on schools to cater for our children aged 4 and 6. I would love to hear from you.

Hello smjackson!

I hope that other members will soon give some advice to you.

Good luck,
Harmonie.

้็hello smjackson ,i am new as you .

i am looking the school for your children ,  we have two Internation schools at PHUKET

there are a famous .

1.British International School, Phuket (BCIS)
This is the Primary and the Secondary School ,so i give you the link as below .
phuketindex.com/travel/living-here/bt-bcis/index.htm


2.QSI International School of Phuket

qsi.org/pkt_home/pkt_home.htm

i have a little imformation for you i hope my advice can asistant you .

ps..i am not good English much cause i am Thai .. please kindly to improve my skill if i use uncorrect grammar .
thanks a lot .

Thank you very much for your information on the schools. It was very much appreciated. We were also looking at the montissorri school in Raiwai. At this point of time I am currently studying myself to receive my diploma so I will hopefully be able to teach english in the same school we place our children in once we move to Phuket.
Have a great day and thank you again for your reply.
Stace.

  wow ,it's okay .I really don't know about PHUKET much cause I live in BANGKOK . I sometime go to travel there people are very nice and friendly,I am sure .
On weekend you and your family will enjoys and travel in PHUKET or KRABI .

I hope you and your family will be happy at PHUKET .

hear your news soon ..

have a wonderful day ,

Hello Stace, I'm afraid I am well out of your league but while visiting here for the last 20 years have just retired and living permantley. I too come from Perth and have a loving family including 13 grandchildren who visit often when you do come up here and have a spare moment would like to have a chat unfortuneatly had a leg removed last year so not very active but not too boring I have not met many ex pats yet but if I here of any work vacancies for your husband will make contact.
Wishing you and fanily the best of luck
Regards   OLDBUTOK

Hello smjackson,

My wife and I are making the move from Perth next month Sep 11 to Rawai, our children are grown up so I can not help you there.

The visa application can be confusing particulaly if you are going for a work visa, best option is to either find someone that will employ you and they make the application for you or use one of the many legal offices that service visa applications, you can look them up on the web, to obtain a long stay visa.

You have not indicated what you husband's skill set is so its hard to advise there, he can look up overseas jobs on seek.com.au and there is a couple of other good sites, expatjob.net and rigzone.com as they break the jobs down by country.

As for the move itself unless you realy want you own furniture and other house hold items, look for a fully furnished villa/house again you can check type and availability on the web.

It also advisable to apply for an international drivers licence prior to arrive in Phuket.

Hopes this helps

Hi Sabenny

Thankyou so very much for all your advice and help. My husband works for orica and is a Leadinghand underground explosives operator.

We have been looking at Raiwai to make our move to mainly because of the school that is there or our other choice has been Chalong. We are trying to organise another time soon to head back over without the children so we can go and have a look at both areas.

Your advice about the visa's was very helpful as I was finding it quite confusing on the website provided, especially for myself as much as I would like aposition over there teaching I think in the beginning it would be best if I didnt have to so I can make sure the children are both 100% settled and happy in their new home and school. So the less stress possible would be great advantage.

I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sending me yr email address through to my inbox as I would very much like to be able to keep in contact with you if you don't mind.

Thank you once again for all yr help and it certainly has clarified a couple of areas in which we need to take a different pathway to acheive our move.

I hope yr move goes smoothly and will be thinking of you on that particualr date as it is also our wedding anniversary.

Take care and be safe

Many many thanks

Tony and Stacey

Hi Sabenny - we're hoping to move to Phuket at the end of the year too. Your info was useful, but I wanted to ask: is an international driver's licence really needed? They seem a thing from the distant past now, when I was doing my OE in the mid-80s.... they arent a legal document, just a translation.... and in my driving in south and north america, europe, north africa and australasia, i've never been asked for anything other than my actual licence. Maybe its different in Asia?

Sunilk

I thought the same thing but it has been recommended to me as a long term resident to obtain one and then get it transferred in to a Thia drivers license

hi Sabenny
I don't know if you moved to phuket yet?!
we stayed in phuket for 3 years now! we used to live in rawai and moved last year to Kathu. I think Kathu is better when you have children: it is central so you can access easily the wide choice of activities on the island and your friends!
for the school: my children are going to QSI in kathu. small international school from 3 to 18 years old. they really love it: family atmosphere, qualified teachers, and a very good curriculum. because it is a small school the teachers really adapt to every child needs: we love that!
have a look at their website: http://phuket.qsischool.org/

I know one thing..  Definitely stay away from the Thai government schools! They are so bad, they even hired ME as a teacher! Yikes!

I put some pictures of the schools and the classrooms up on my blog if you wanted to take a look:

peteinphuket.com/teaching-in-thailand/what-to-expect

Good afternoon from Phuket !

As regards schools for your children; mine has attended QSI Int'l school for the past 10 years.  It is an extremely family friendly, informal school with very small classes (typically 8 per class) taught by Expat teachers.  This is the smallest ratio of students to teachers in Phuket and ensures very focused education for your child. The school grounds have recently been refurbished and looking great ! The location is very central for those living in Patong, Phuket town and greater Phuket town, Chalong, Rawai, Nai Harn.  They run school buses that pick up and drop kids to the front door of the homes.  I can certainly wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.  Any more help with other issues, feel free to contact me. I am a hotelier with 20 years clocked up in Thailand.
Best regards....

G'day,


  we lived in Perth for six years and are now considering a move to Phuket as well.  While in Perth, we did take several trips to Phuket and loved it.  It would be myself and my 14 yr old daughter so we are looking to organise education and so on. It would be helpful to see how you are getting along with the same.

Kind Regards,
Steven and Cami

good morning steven and Cami
As I wrote before our 2 children are going to QSI international school in Phuket for 3 years now. the school is following an american curriculum and is accredited by the United States and Thai government. It goes up to high school and is the longest established international school on the island! it is a small school with a great family atmosphere. the quality of the teachers and curriculum is very high. the school provides 3 kinds of diploma : academic with honor to prepare to best universities in the USA and the world, academic and practical. the school can also help you to get proper visas to live in Thailand.
you can contact them with any questions you may have! pHuket is a great place to live with children: there are so many things to do and Thai people are amazing!
have a nice day
aurelie

Good morning,

M son is in QSI too, it is a fantastic school, informal with a great family atmosphere, where your child will be happy (as mine has for the past 10 years).  You're always welcome to inspect the school, or let your child sit in for a few days to sample the education and atmosphere. Please  feel free to contact me for more information if you like; [email protected]

Hi,
We're in the process of considering relocating too.
Does anyone have any experience / comparisons between the British international school and QSI?
Many thanks,

Hi,

The difference as I see it is this;

BIS;
Good facilities
British curriculum
Uniforms compulsory, regimental, very formal
Accredited
Daily showing off of car models and fashion
High ratio of students > teachers
Expensive


QSI;
Facilities are good (no pool)
American curriculum
No uniforms, very friendly, relaxed atmosphere, informal atmosphere
Accredited
Nobody cares who drives what
Low ratio students > teachers = more focused education
Quite less expensive

Today was graduation party, my son is now entering his eleventh year at QSI, I wish my education had been like my son's...As a parent it is actually a pleasure to visit the school, without appointment and being able to email and call teachers with questions...it's more like an extended family. I could not wish for my son to have a better education that the one he's getting at QSI !  I am not a teacher by the way :-)  feel free to ask me more..

There are only 2 accredited Int'l schools in Phuket; QSI being the oldest, BIS being the 2nd oldest, none of the others have full accreditation yet.

Hi All,
I am a newbie to this Forum and looking for some info. After reading some of these  questions I noticed  SABenny and SM Jackson you were both looking to make the move to Phuket last year or year before. I just wandered how things were going.
My Hubby and I are in Thailand at present actually will be in Phuket for 10 days with the view of making the move ourselves.
We have holidayed in Thailand past 25 years, love the place, so we are on a 5 week vacation now looking at various areas to place ourselves(currently in Hua Hin)
Our aim at the moment is to select a place we would like to be, come over and give it a try for 3 months(rental) then consider rent or buy condo.
It's a big decision to make, obviously on holiday you see things in a different light, so I would really love some feedback on perhaps how your settling and anybody else for that matter. Generally speaking I think it would be a lot easier for the guy to settle as expat than western female?.. Thoughts please. My Husband as not long retired, so neither of us would be working, we love walks along the beachfront, would prefer to be in an area close enough fr this, also for public transport, be close to shops of some kind, restaurants, coffee shops, not so much on all the bars ect.
Look forwArd to hearing from anybody!