Hi Nicola, thank you for your time, tell us about how Si Ri Panya started?
Wherever you live in the world the education of your children is of the utmost importance. At Si Ri Panya, we wanted to offer families an opportunity to live on this wonderful island knowing that their children are getting a top quality education that is above or of the same standard received back home.
For those of you who know me, you understand that creating Si Ri Panya Tutorial School has been my life for the last four years and that it is not a decision I made lightly. As this school and the education of all the children who come here, have become my life’s work now and will be in the future.
I first opened Si Ri Panya in 2012, in a converted house with just five students. Since then we have significantly grown but are still a ‘small’ school and take pride in our family atmosphere where children can feel safe, nurtured and love the experience of learning.
Tell us what it is like to learn at Si Ri Panya?
Being a small school with class sizes of fifteen students we can offer each child an individualized learning experience.
Small groups enable us to take into account the children’s academic and social needs with plenty of one to one teaching from the teacher.
I think this is one of the reasons we have grown so quickly from just five students to fifty two students over the last four years as we have proved ourselves to offer families a great all-round education.
Since 2014, we have offered children a range of fifty minute long after-school activities from Monday to Friday. This has been a huge success and the variety of activities on offer has grown each term. Creative dance, Jazz/MTV dance, music and drama, art, football, rounders (baseball) and homework help are just a few examples.
Over the last four years our school has developed a strong reputation for excellence and we have become known for our spectacular Christmas musical theatre performances; our enthusiasm for sports day and the way our mixed age and mixed ability teams show so much support to each other.
We also teach respect for Thai cultural events and they are celebrated within the school curriculum such as our yearly ‘Wai Khru’ and ‘Loi Grathong’ celebration.
We also have a tradition at the end of each academic year for each class to go on exciting class trips. This year we had fun with youth sailing, a Thai cooking class, a treasure hunt on the beach and a behind the scenes look at how a five star resort is run.
What have been your best moments this year?
2015 was an amazing year of progress for us. We had a new building built for the school with four purpose built air conditioned classrooms, library, office, kitchen, assembly and dining area.
We moved into this new building in April 2015. The building has been built on 2.4 rai of land which is owned by the school so we can feel secure here for years to come as we develop and continue to expand the school.
The greatest achievement this year was obtaining our official Thai Ministry of Education Tutorial School License. What many may not realise is that since 2012 hard work was busy taking place behind the scenes preparing everything required for the land, building and license!
What is the ethos of Si Ri Panya?
The school makes a point of being very family oriented and operates an open door policy. This means that parents can be actively involved in what’s going on with their child’s education.
We send out fortnightly academic update emails, four academic progress reports as well as holding four parent teacher meetings each year.
What are your plans for the future of the school?
As we move forward into the new academic year – our 5th academic year! We have a solid foundation to take us forward and feel confident that the provision we offer students and parents is something we can be proud of.
2016/17 is going to be yet another year of growth and development. With a bigger budget we can invest more in some additional facilities and resources, as well as build upon the community feel we have at the school with more family events and projects, like our fun planting party for our new edible garden!
What has the experience of running a school taught you?
The school was started by one person but it has developed and grown thanks to the help of many and the continuing support of parents and students who shared our vision.
As you walk around Si Ri Panya Tutorial School looking into the classrooms and see children enjoying the experience of learning, it becomes clear that both the students and the staff are happy here and there is a friendly family atmosphere which helps the children feel safe and secure and are therefore in an ideal position to learn.
If after reading this article you would like more information about Si Ri Panya or to enroll your child for the new academic term starring on April 25th please email info@siripanya.com
Keep updated with phanganist.com by following our Facebook page.
