School search in Southeast Asia: which curriculum exists where, before any school is named
A transfer inside Asia means a programme that has to continue and a place that has to exist mid-year, which narrows the field before a campus is visited. Asia Relocation compares what is genuinely available in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, then runs the visits and the application in the country you choose.
Choosing a school is the most local decision a relocating family makes, and the one most often made before the country is final. A child on the International Baccalaureate, a British or an American track, or in a French programme, can continue in any of Thailand, the Philippines or Vietnam; a child in a German school in one of them; a bilingual local-international school exists mainly in Vietnam. The question is not which school is best, but where the programme exists at all.
The second question is the date. An August start is a different search from a March one: places open and close by year group, not by school, and a transfer inside Southeast Asia arrives mid-year more often than not. Reputation says nothing about a place in Grade 7 in the country you are moving to; we ask the admissions office before a name goes on a list.
Asia Relocation has placed expatriate children across Asia since 2011, with consultants in each of the three countries who visit the campuses and carry the file to enrolment. This page compares the three maps; each country page names the schools.
What the search carries wherever it runs, and what sits beside it
The work is the same in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam; the map is not.
Carried by the service
- The comparison of the countries in play: which tracks exist in each, whether the child's programme continues there, and where a place in their year group is realistic.
- A brief built around the child: schooling to date, languages at home, needs or stretch, the programme to continue.
- A written shortlist in the country chosen: programme, admission steps, class sizes, accreditation, and the districts each campus makes liveable.
- Visits with our consultant, on campus or by video before you land, our questions beside yours: year groups, waiting lists, bus routes, mid-year entry.
- The application to enrolment: reports and references gathered, deadlines held, the admissions office spoken to by us, the seat confirmed.
Which schools are approached, and in what order, is fixed at the brief, in writing.
A different service
- The home the campus decides. Once the school is chosen the district follows; finding the home in it is home search, run after this one.
- A roof before the lease. Term rarely waits for a signed contract: temporary housing covers the gap.
- The language the child will hear. A few words for the playground: language training, for the whole household.
- The dependant's visa. Every school asks for it, and it is an immigration file: visa and immigration in the country concerned.
One Asia Relocation consultant carries all four beside the school file.
Four cases where the country question comes first
These begin wider than one market.
The posting is offered in two countries
The employer leaves the choice open, and the family's side of it is the school: whether the programme continues in each, and whether a place exists in the year group this year.
A transfer inside the region, mid-year
The child leaves a school in one country mid-year and needs the same track in another. Year groups, not reputations, decide it, and both admissions offices are ours to speak to.
A national system to keep
A French, German or Japanese family that would rather not change system. Each exists somewhere in the three countries, not everywhere, which belongs in the country decision.
A programme for several families
HR teams with children arriving in more than one country want one brief form, one report and one contact, while each search is run by the local consultant.
Five steps from the child's file to a confirmed seat
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The brief, and the map
The child's history, languages and needs, the programme to continue, and the countries in play. We say which tracks exist in each before a school is named.
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Places, by year group
In the country chosen, admissions offices are asked for the child's year, now. A school open in one grade and full in another is the region’s normal case.
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The shortlist and the visits
A written comparison, then visits with our consultant on campus or by video. Bus routes, waiting lists and mid-year entry are asked on the day.
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The application
Reports, references and forms gathered, deadlines held, the admissions office contacted directly so the file arrives complete. Where the school assesses the child, we say what to expect.
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Enrolment and the first term
The seat confirmed, the handover with the school, and the home search opened in the district the campus has decided.
Four families, and what the regional view decides
Each ends up on a country page, faster with Asia Relocation holding the comparison.
The family choosing between countries
The offer is open, the children are not negotiable. Where the programme continues, and where a place exists this year, is the family's half of the decision.
The assignee transferred within Southeast Asia
A mid-year move from one of our countries to another, with a child who must not lose a year. Two admissions offices, one file, a departure that sets the arrival.
The household keeping its national system
French, German or Japanese schooling that should continue rather than restart. Present in some of the three countries, not all, said before the posting is accepted.
The mobility team with several children a year
One process across the three countries, one report, a local consultant on each campus. Asia Relocation holds the programme; the countries hold the schools.
Three maps of schools, and the page that names them
What each country has, without a single school named here.
In Thailand the international schools follow four tracks, the International Baccalaureate, the British, the American and the French programme, in the capital and in a smaller northern market with the same four; which side of the city a campus sits on is a daily cost in hours. In the Philippines the American programme is paired with the IB Diploma, the British track is carried by a school whose year groups fill earliest, the French and the German schools share one site, and Christian, Australian and Japanese schools complete the map; places open by year group, the year starts in August.
In Vietnam there are two school markets, one in each of the two largest cities, with the IB, American, British and French programmes, Australian, Canadian, Japanese and Singaporean schools, and bilingual Vietnamese-international schools found nowhere else in the three. Asia Relocation visits in all of them; the country pages carry the names.
What families ask before comparing countries
Which curricula exist in all three countries?
We are transferring inside Southeast Asia mid-year. What changes?
Do you name schools on this page?
How early should we start?
Can visits happen before we arrive in Asia?
What does a school ask for at application?
Is the home searched after the school?
How is a school search priced?
The service that follows this one, and the whole offer
The school is chosen; now the home
The district the campus decides, searched in whichever of the three the family lands in, lease or letter read before signing.
Home search in Southeast Asia →The whole relocation service
Home, school, office, temporary housing, cultural and language training across the three, and which of them your move needs.
Relocation services in Southeast Asia →Tell us the child and the countries in play
Asia Relocation says which programme continues where, checks the year group, then runs visits and application in the country you choose.
Start a school search →