# How can my partner's daughter miss school to visit the UK with us for 6 months?



## LostNomad (Nov 30, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I am about to apply for a tourist visa for my girlfriend and her 12 year old daughter to visit the UK from March to September. lane:

Her daughter will finish Prathom 6 in March. The original plan was for her to spend six months in the UK and then we would enroll her in an international school in Bangkok for 1 year while we work on getting a 2 year partnership visa for them both so that we can start to live in the UK, my girlfriend can work there and her daughter can study there. 

The problem arose when I saw the fees for the international schools. We currently pay about B40,000 per year for a decent private school, but all the international schools I have found are about 10x that price at B400,000+ per year, and there is no way we can afford that. 

I have tried to think about our options, which I will explain here. If you have any other suggestions please let me know. 

1. Find a cheaper international school or a Thai school that runs from September. Does anyone know of any schools (international or not) that start their academic year in September but are less than B100,000 per year?

2. Try to arrange to homeschool her for the forst term of Mattayom 1 that she will miss. I am an English and biology teacher, my mother is a well-travelled doctor and my father is a financial advisor. Between us we can give her a much better education than she would receive in a Thai government school, with her mother teaching her Thai language, Thai history and Buddhism. Of course the trip itself will be hugely beneficial for her and we will take her to many historical and important sites in the UK. However, I have read that arranging homeschooling is a complex process in Thailand and I'm not sure if it would even be possible for this situation. :ranger:

3. Pay for her to attend her current school for the year, but arrange for her to be absent all term and return in September for her end of term exams. We would teach her the curriculum while in the UK. I'm not sure whether this is legal as she would normally be required to attend school, as well as take her final exams.

4. She would miss a whole year of Thai school and be a year behind her age group. This would not matter too much if we are successful in moving to the UK within that year so she can continue her studies there. If there is a problem with this plan though, and she must complete her studies in Thailand, she would be a year behind...

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Ideally we need a reasonably priced school that she can start in September when she gets back to Thailand so that she doesn't miss any schooling. :confused2:

Thanks


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