Bangkok Patana School

What the school is

A not-for-profit British school with an IB finish

Patana opened in 1957 for the children of Bangkok’s expatriate community and still runs as a foundation: no shareholders, a Foundation Board, and a fees page that says the money goes back into staff and buildings. The 2025/26 profile counts 68 nationalities, with Thai families the largest group at 20%, then British at 14% and North American at 11%. Roughly 2,300 children attend, 1,126 of them in the secondary school.

The pathway is English National Curriculum through (I)GCSEs in Year 11, then two years of IB. Most seniors take the full IB Diploma or the IB Career-related Programme; the school also lets pupils take IB courses short of the full diploma alongside its own Bangkok Patana Academic Diploma. There is no A-level route, so a family set on A levels should look elsewhere now rather than in Year 11.

Three house rules shape who sits in each classroom. No single nationality may exceed 20% of the school. Year groups follow British age cut-offs, 1 September to 31 August, with out-of-year placement only in exceptional cases. And a child must live in Bangkok with a parent or legal guardian; an appointed guardian is the exception, not a boarding substitute.

Academics in practice

Published results: 65% A*/A at IGCSE, 36-point IB average

The school reports 65% of its 2025 (I)GCSE grades at A*/A or 7–9, and 85% at A*–B. For the Class of 2026, 137 pupils sat the IB Diploma: a 99.3% pass rate, 22% at 40 points or more, and one pupil on the maximum 45. The 36-point average is, in the school’s own words, for students who passed, so compare it carefully with schools that average every candidate.

The first Career-related Programme cohort, five pupils, also graduated in 2026. Five is too few to read anything into, so treat the IBCP as new rather than proven. The school says its only entry requirement for senior studies is motivation and the ability to benefit, which is a description of the ethos rather than a guarantee of a place.

Patana does not rank pupils or calculate a GPA, and it puts projected IB grades on transcripts. That matters most for US applications, so ask the counsellors how they explain the format to universities, and how you will hear about your own child’s progress without a class rank to anchor it.

Admissions

Which application you file, and when it closes

Start by working out which of the two applications is yours. If the child holds only a Thai passport, or both parents hold Thai passports even alongside other ones, the family applies through the Thai-national route. Everyone else, including dual nationals with one non-Thai parent, uses the non-Thai application. The admissions office will tell you which if you are unsure, and it is worth asking before you pay anything.

The Thai route runs once a year on a fixed calendar. For August 2027 entry the online application is open from 1 September 2026 to 15 January 2027, with no fee at submission. After it closes the school shortlists against available places, contacts shortlisted families within February for an assessment, and only then charges the THB 5,500 application fee. It aims to tell families by 1 May 2027 whether it can offer a place; if not, you are invited to update the file for the following year.

The non-Thai route is rolling, and it is busy. On 4 October 2026 the school was still taking applications for 2026/27 but said many year groups were full, so new files go into a waiting pool. Applications for 2027/28 opened on 1 September 2026. When a place does come up, the pool is weighed on whether the school can support the child’s English or learning needs, any sibling or alumni connection, the nationality and language balance of the year group, and the date the application was completed.

International applicants also need a recommendation and writing sample sent straight to the school by the current teacher, professionally translated copies of any documents not in English, and a valid non-immigrant visa before the child starts. Non-native English speakers are assessed by an EAL specialist before a place is confirmed, and every Nursery and Foundation Stage applicant is assessed in person. Disclose any learning-support needs on the form; the policy page says the school’s ability to meet them is part of the decision.

An offer comes as a letter from the Head of School, and nothing before that letter is a place. On acceptance you are invoiced a THB 50,000 initial fee payment, which both application pages call non-refundable; the fee sheet adds that it is credited against the first tuition invoice. The separate THB 50,000 deposit is a different charge, and that one is returned when the child leaves.

Fees and the real cost

2026/27 fees — tuition, entrance fee and the all-in first year

The school’s 2026/27 fee announcement lists annual tuition of THB 515,000 for Nursery, THB 749,000 for Years 1–2, THB 842,000 for Years 7–9, THB 957,000 for Year 10 and THB 1,014,000 for Year 12. A THB 30,000 capital assessment is billed on top each year. Set against 2025/26, the Nursery, Years 7–9 and Year 12 figures are each about 4% higher.

Year 11 (THB 707,000) and Year 13 (THB 749,000) look like bargains on the table. They are not: those are exam years, and the school charges no tuition for Term 3, only the external examination fees. Read them as two-term bills, not as a discount.

Joining costs sit on top. The application fee is THB 5,500 from 1 August 2026. The entrance fee is THB 250,000 for the first child and THB 200,000 for each sibling: once-only, non-refundable, due when invoiced before the child starts, and the offer lapses if the invoice is missed. Foundation Stage entrants may pay THB 40,000 up front and the balance before Year 1; new Year 1 entrants may pay THB 40,000 and the balance before Year 3. On either plan the next year’s place is not guaranteed until the fee is paid in full.

So a first child starting Year 7 in August 2026 costs THB 842,000 tuition, THB 30,000 capital assessment, THB 250,000 entrance fee and THB 5,500 application fee: THB 1,127,500 before the bus, lunch or a uniform. The THB 50,000 deposit is cash you part with but should get back, so keep it out of the spending column; the THB 50,000 initial payment is already inside the tuition figure.

The fee sheet is unusually frank about extras. Tuition includes the compulsory residential trips and lunch for primary pupils; a secondary set lunch is THB 21,600 a year. Everyone from Year 6 brings their own laptop. If the school decides a child needs English as an Additional Language support, the EAL fee of THB 105,000 a year for Years 1–9 is not optional, though it stops after six terms at most. Three or more children earn discounts of 5% to 15% on tuition from the third child.

For a posting that might end early, read the withdrawal page before you sign. The school wants half a term’s notice to leave at the end of Term 1 and a full term’s notice for Terms 2 and 3, with a THB 50,000 late-withdrawal fee if you miss the deadline. Refunds of tuition run on a half-term basis.

The family experience

Bang Na, and the bus

The campus sits at 643 Lasalle Road, Sukhumvit 105, well south-east of the Sukhumvit and Sathorn apartment belts. The pay-off for the distance is space: a review guide describes a 48-acre site with three swimming pools and extensive sports pitches, which is what most central Bangkok schools cannot offer.

The price of that space is the journey. A comparison guide warns that Bang Na routes can run an hour each way at peak, and that the bus is what surprises new families most. The school runs its own zoned buses: for 2026/27 a round trip costs THB 80,100 a year in the nearest zone and THB 120,800 in Zone 2, with a mandatory THB 5,400 car-seat supplement for Nursery to Year 1. A cheaper shuttle bus fare of THB 18,000 is listed, but the sheet does not say where it runs, so ask.

Before you sign a lease, ask admissions for the bus zone and pick-up time for the actual address, then drive it yourself at 7am. A map of Bangkok tells you very little about a school day in Bangkok.