Archives: Academics

Our Nursery will provide the same superlative academic standards as the rest of the school.  Wherein, the class will be in the capable hands of a qualified, expatriate teacher and will receive a range of specialist lessons from other experienced, internationally qualified educators.

BASIS schools were initiated in the USA thirty years ago by two university professors who felt the existing academic offers simply were not advanced nor challenging enough for children.  They felt children were capable of more! Thus all BASIS schools follow this credo – and are duly monitored by BASIS USA to ensure every school – including the international schools, meet their exemplary standards.

A robust academic nursery curriculum addresses social development alongside literacy and numeracy skills – and in our unique case, must also incorporate Thai language and culture.  Hence, the curriculum has been written to offer academic and social success built upon our understanding of early years’ development.  Ultimately, it will ensure seamless continuity as the Nursery children enter our PreK1 class – and so build a formidable foundation for longer term academic success!

We have opted for a ratio of one full-time member of staff to five children, with class sizes of no larger than fifteen children in each class.

We felt it beneficial to offer this new academic initiative based on the following criteria:

The provision of a structured experience in alignment with the rest of the school

Staff in the nursery are trained to create and maintain a secure and stimulating environment for children’s development. (Studies have found that children who had spent three years or more in nursery education could advance their academic attainment by up to a year or two over those whose parents kept them at home until the age of five.) 

Preparing children for school

Children benefit immensely from mixing with other children and will, therefore, be more prepared and better equipped when it comes to starting school-proper. They will also adapt easily to a learning environment, have greater social skills, and they will feel more secure in a different environment. Nursery helps children develop confidence in relating to adults.

Nursery encourages meaningful playtime

Your child will have a chance to play and learn in a group and one-to-one with an experienced educator. They will also benefit from playing with other children, as this can help them to gain confidence and develop necessary social skills. An active toddler is likely to remain active later, so it is important to encourage activities both indoors and outdoors.  

Nursery helps children offer the opportunity for vital social development

Socialising with other children is a huge part of preparing them for later life – whilst recent times have meant children have been too isolated. Children are eager to engage with their peers – an important stage in young children’s psychological development process. More mature children are naturally excited at the thought of playtime with their friends and they gain so much from mixing with other children. 

Our international High School program is recognized as one of the most advanced and rigorous college preparatory programs in the world. With a liberal arts and sciences curriculum benchmarked to the highest international standards, students benefit from advanced coursework, personalized guidance, and a supportive learning environment.

Our High School program in Bangkok, Thailand, challenges students to reach the highest levels of academic excellence and international benchmarks. The curriculum builds on the foundational knowledge and skills learned in Middle School by offering students a diverse range of advanced courses.

Starting in Grade 9, students take Advanced Placement® (AP) courses, which are an integral component of the curriculum. These globally recognized courses allow students to study college-level work and are externally measured and validated by the College Board. Through program acceleration, most of our students complete their AP course requirements within their first three years in High School.

Read more about AP performance and the philosophy behind our use of AP courses.

The BASIS international High School program in Bangkok offers various elective options that allow students to explore their interests and nurture their passions. Elective offerings often include arts, engineering, computer science, additional foreign language courses, and more. Our international High School students also participate in various extracurricular activities, sports, and clubs to complement their curriculum learning and to develop leadership and collaboration skills. Students are encouraged to take the initiative to create clubs or organize activities that allow them to experience interscholastic competition, serve the school and local community, and develop new skills through a non-academic or creative outlet.

Ultimately, their efforts come into focus during our unique Senior Year, which bridges the High School experience with the expectations of college. This comprehensive approach ensures that students from our international High School program are academically prepared and well-rounded, ready to take on the challenges of higher education.

A High School student at BASIS International School Bangkok.

In 1955, the College Board introduced the Advanced Placement (AP) program to enable students to earn advanced placement, ranging from college credit to a waiver of required courses. Today, the AP Exams are globally recognized as a way to demonstrate a student’s college readiness. AP success opens doors for our graduates at elite universities and supports strong university applications through measurable academic achievement.

The AP program at BASIS International School Bangkok is a cornerstone of our international High School curriculum. The AP Program at BASIS Curriculum Schools allows students to begin AP-level coursework even before entering High School. However, all students are required to take AP courses and exams starting in Grade 9, with a minimum of six (6) Advanced Placement courses as part of their graduation requirement. On average, our international High School students take more exams (12.9 exams as of 2023) with an excellent pass rate (95.6% as of 2023). These exams and results demonstrate our students’ capabilities and form an important component of the university application process.

The High School experience culminates in Grade 12, also referred to as the Senior Year. The BASIS Curriculum in Senior Year is a unique opportunity to learn at a more advanced academic level.

In the first two trimesters, seniors benefit from the expertise of their teachers in Capstone Courses, which are equivalent to 200 or 300-level university courses. These courses are diverse and in-depth, covering a wide range of topics, from Biomedical Engineering to Post-Colonial Literature, allowing students to explore potential university majors and future career paths.

The third trimester is dedicated to the Senior Project, where students conduct in-depth research or gain practical experience in their field of interest, allowing them to engage in advanced inquiry, gain real-world experience, and explore potential career paths before graduation.

The Senior Project is the culmination of the Senior Year at BASIS International School Bangkok’s High School, which is conducted in the third trimester. High School students have the opportunity to work with leaders in their field of interest to conduct an in-depth research project and gain hands-on practical experience in business or academia.

Our college counseling team works with leading universities, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations, pairing students to conduct advanced-level research studies. Our students have gone on to complete projects on medical research, environmental science, computer engineering, and more.

BASIS International School Bangkok is proud of our track record in preparing High School students for success in higher education in Thailand and beyond. We challenge each student to become the best version of themselves. As a result, our students develop into bright, capable, and independent young adults who consistently rank highly in academic performance compared to worldwide data.

Many of our graduates have gone on to receive scholarships from some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Brown, MIT, Princeton, University of Oxford, and other top universities across Asia, Europe, and Australia. This success is a credit to the rigorous preparation our students receive throughout their time at BASIS, as well as the individualized support they receive from the dedicated educators and college counseling team in our international High School program.