Schools in Pattaya: what tuition costs and how the school dictates your choice of district

International schools in Pattaya cost from 47,000 to 999,000 ฿ a year, and the school bus adds up to 94,000 ฿. We look at programmes, fees and sports facilities — and why the school's address decides which district you live in.

A family moving to Pattaya with children has two problems to solve at once: school and housing. The order matters here — school first, then district, not the other way round. International schools cost from 47,000 to 999,000 ฿ a year, are scattered across the whole eastern seaboard, and the choice determines whether you live by the sea or twenty minutes inland from it. Here is what the market offers, what it actually costs and how it connects to housing.

All the prices below are for the 2026–2027 academic year, taken from the schools' official fee lists. Rates are reviewed annually, so confirm the final figure with the admissions office.

Three price tiers

The Pattaya school market splits into roughly three levels, and the top of the market costs roughly twenty times the bottom.

Nursery and part-time places are noticeably cheaper everywhere, which is why the range within each school is so wide. Russian-language centres are a separate category, covered below.

Premium schools: what a million buys

Rugby School Thailand is the most expensive: from 345,000 ฿ for half-day nursery to 999,000 ฿ for the final years with the A Level programme. But the fee covers almost everything that is charged separately elsewhere: lunches and snacks, textbooks, standard clubs, trips and examination fees. The campus is in Khao Mai Kaeo between Pattaya and Bang Saray, with 55,000 sq m of sports pitches and four pools, one of them 50 metres long with ten lanes. Boarding is available from Year 6: from 285,100 ฿ for three nights a week to 493,800 ฿ for full boarding.

Regents International School Pattaya — from 440,800 ฿ for Pre-Nursery to 854,050 ฿ for Years 12–13 when the year is paid in advance; paying by term works out about 5% more. It is the largest school in the area: more than 1,100 pupils and over 50 nationalities. It is also the only one where senior pupils can choose between the IB diploma and British A Levels, which matters to families who have not yet decided which country to apply to. The campus is in Pong, by Mabprachan Lake, about 10 km from the centre.

St Andrews International School Green Valley — from 213,000 ฿ for three half-days in nursery to 867,500 ฿ for the IB diploma. It is the smallest school here, with around 450 pupils. The International Baccalaureate runs right through: primary on the IB PYP programme, then the English programme with IGCSE, finishing with the IB diploma. The campus is on the grounds of the Green Valley golf club in Ban Chang, Rayong province.

Highgate International School Thailand is the only branch of a named British school in the region: London's Highgate School was founded in 1565. Fees start at 375,000 ฿ for half-day nursery and 595,000 ฿ for a full day, rising to 795,000 ฿ for Years 4–6. The campus is in eastern Pattaya, in the Pong area next to Siam Country Club, about three kilometres east of Mabprachan Lake.

Two further things are worth knowing about Highgate. The Thailand campus took its first pupils in August 2026, so its own leavers and examination results will take time to appear — the figures on the website relate to the London school. The 2026–2027 fee list has no rates for Years 7–9: the school is waiting for approval from the Thai regulator, and until that approval comes the option will not suit a family with a teenager of 15–17. For the younger years the offer is competitive: a 5% discount for a second child and 10% for each subsequent one, plus scholarships from Year 3 in the academic, sporting and creative categories.

The mid-range: the British route for less

Mooltripakdee International School — from 210,000 ฿ for a preschool group three days a week to 517,500 ฿ for the final years. That is roughly half the premium price for the same route to A Level, though examinations are paid for separately. There are 630 pupils, the average class size is 20, and the campus is in Nong Prue — eastern Pattaya, within the city.

Tara Pattana International School is the only British school in Pattaya itself and takes children from six months. From 273,000 ฿ for nursery to 665,000 ฿ for Sixth Form: the school did not publish a fee list for 2026–2027, so the prices here are for 2025–2026. The fee includes lunches, primary school textbooks and insurance; IGCSE and A Level examinations, uniform and the bus are extra.

International School Eastern Seaboard — an American programme with a US High School diploma and the IB in the final years, from 357,600 to 646,000 ฿. Around 300 pupils and very small classes. The campus is in Bowin near Si Racha, north of Pattaya.

Garden International School in Ban Chang — roughly 147,000 to 610,000 ฿ (the school publishes its prices per term). It has been IB-accredited since 1998. It is the only school in this selection with boarding from the age of nine, full or weekly: a realistic option for families who live in Pattaya but are not prepared to drive a child an hour each way.

Bilingual schools: when the budget is limited

Here the Thai state standard is combined with intensive English, and the prices are several times lower than at the international schools. One important caveat: they do provide an English-speaking environment, but not an international diploma.

The Russian programme: what exists and what does not

There is no Russian state school in Pattaya. The nearest school attached to the Russian Embassy is in Bangkok, about 150 kilometres away, so a daily commute is unrealistic. The city does have private providers.

The practical conclusion: the Russian programme in Pattaya covers the preschool and primary stages, after which families either move to an international school or switch the child to home education with certification in Russia. Ask which Russian school the pupils are registered with — that determines the legal standing of the certificate.

What the fee does not include

Alongside the annual fee there are one-off costs almost everywhere, and they are substantial.

Most schools offer discounts for second and subsequent children, but the terms differ: Tara Pattana gives 5% for a second child and 10% for a third, Highgate 5% and 10%, and ISE 5% for a second child, 15% for a third with the enrolment fee waived, and 25% for a fourth. Paying a year in advance earns another 2–5%.

One sum worth working out in advance: entry to a premium school for one child means not only a year of tuition but also a 200,000 ฿ non-refundable fee plus a 100,000 ฿ deposit.

Sport and music: how a programme differs from a club

The same sport means different things at different schools: a subject on the timetable, a paid after-school club, or a line in a list with no coach and no fixture calendar.

Golf. There are two full school programmes. Highgate runs an academy based at Siam Country Club Waterside with a PGA professional coach, and intake is so far limited to the younger age groups. Rugby School is opening a golf centre together with a specialist academy: four levels are advertised, from beginners to competitive standard, and children from outside the school are accepted. Everywhere else golf is a line in the list of clubs. No school publishes the cost of golf lessons.

Swimming. The spread here is the widest. Rugby School has four pools and swimming on the timetable from the age of two; the school has hosted the championship of the federation of British schools in Asia. Regents has a 25-metre saltwater pool, with the squad training before lessons from 6:30. St Andrews has a 25-metre pool with eight lanes, and Tara Pattana a 25-metre pool and its own swimming academy. International School Eastern Seaboard has no pool of its own: the children use the pool at the golf club's clubhouse.

Football. Highgate has announced a FIFA-standard pitch and a Manchester City football school with a certified coach on the staff; the campus took its first pupils in August 2026. Regents has an artificial pitch and takes part in federation fixtures, and at Rugby School football is one of the sports eligible for sports scholarships, worth up to 20% off the fees.

Music. The facilities check out: Regents has its own 350-seat hall, Highgate and St Andrews award scholarships in the creative category, and at St Andrews the discount reaches 50%. Individual lessons are paid for almost everywhere: at Rugby School an instrumental lesson costs 25,000 ฿ a year for thirty lessons, with instrument hire extra. No school in Pattaya officially advertises preparation for the British music examinations, so ask about that separately.

On leagues. There is no single school league in Thailand. Schools on the eastern seaboard play in the local ESAC league and in tournaments run by the federation of British schools in Asia; the main Games are hosted by a sports resort in Si Racha, 40–50 km away and with no flights involved. Pattaya schools are not part of the Bangkok league, which saves the family a good deal of travel.

What to ask on a visit: whether the club is included in the fees, whether there is selection for the team and what the child does if they do not get in, and who pays for tournament travel and kit. Ask for the answers in writing — the verbal version and the contract wording diverge more often than you would think.

The academic year and admissions

International schools in the area follow the British calendar: the year runs from mid- or late August to June and is divided into three terms. The exception is International School Eastern Seaboard, which uses the American model with two semesters. Russian-language centres follow the Russian calendar, from September to May.

Admissions run all year round, but places in the popular year groups are taken well in advance, and some schools select their pupils: English and maths testing for the senior years, a family interview for the youngest. The school arranges the student visa after enrolment; at some schools this is a separate paid service — at Garden International, for example, preparing the student visa documents costs 15,000 ฿. The procedure, and the accompanying visas for parents, depend on the school and change periodically, so this is question number one for the admissions office.

How the school chooses your district for you

The main point the school brochures leave out: almost all the strong schools stand inland or outside the city altogether, not by the sea.

And now the arithmetic worth doing before you sign a tenancy agreement: the school bus is charged by zone, and the difference between districts runs to tens of thousands of baht a year. At ISE the zone up to 35 km costs 70,000 ฿ a year, 36–45 km costs 78,800 ฿ and 46–60 km costs 93,700 ฿. At St Andrews a route around Ban Chang comes to 57,000 ฿, while one from Pattaya is 77,500 ฿. Garden International charges per term: 18,000 ฿ within Ban Chang against 28,900 ฿ from Pattaya. At Mooltripakdee a door-to-door route around Pattaya and Chonburi costs from 39,000 to 90,000 ฿ a year depending on the zone.

In other words, the same year group at the same school costs a family noticeably more purely because of the address. Add the morning traffic: the road inland runs along Sukhumvit and Thepprasit, and the bus sets off earlier than a car would — for the child that means getting up an hour earlier.

Hence the pattern we see among families:

Hence the rule we suggest to families: rent for the first academic year, do not buy. Until you have lived a couple of months with the real timetable, there is no telling what matters more — fifteen minutes to school or five minutes to the sea. How long-term contracts and deposits work is set out in the article on long-term rentals, and the character of each district in the guide to Pattaya districts.

For us this is not just a work topic: the children of Realty 51 staff attend local schools — we have been through it ourselves, so what we know about enrolment queues, school buses and morning traffic does not come from brochures.

Where to start

  1. Settle on the programme: the British track, the IB, an American diploma or a bilingual school — that alone narrows the list to two or three addresses.
  2. Work out the whole of the first year's budget: tuition, the enrolment fee, the deposit, the bus, uniform, meals and, if needed, language support.
  3. Drive the route from the school to the districts you like at 7:30 in the morning, not at midday.
  4. Rent for the academic year: options for a family are in the rental catalogue, and once the school and the commute have fallen into place, move on to buying.

If you would like to enrol your child

We deal in property, not education, and we do not promise a place — the decision always rests with the school. But families do part of the journey with us.

Write to us: +66 92 263 2456 — K.Tan, English and Thai. +66 61 245 2665 (WhatsApp) — in Russian.

More about the region itself, its districts and its prices is on the Property in Pattaya page.

See also

Sources

This blog is written by Anna — Realty 51’s AI guide. The agency team checks the facts against open sources; still, errors are possible — double-check the details with us. Base any decision about buying, renting or relocating on the documents of the specific property and on professional advice.

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