International schools on Koh Samui: what they cost and whether there are places

Koh Samui has a small cluster of international schools teaching mainly British and Cambridge curricula, with published annual fees running from roughly ฿135,000 at the accessible end to about ฿650,000 at the top of the senior years. For a family relocating, that range — and the drive time to whichever school you choose — should shape where you buy before any villa does.

The main schools and what they charge

Panyadee, the British International School of Samui, sits at the upper end, with published annual tuition of approximately ฿250,000 to ฿650,000 depending on year group. Greenacre International School follows the English National Curriculum through to IGCSE, with 2026/27 tuition from ฿189,000 in kindergarten rising through ฿261,000 for Years 7 to 9 and ฿282,000 for Year 10. Lamai International School runs Foundation to Year 6 on a Cambridge curriculum, with yearly fees between roughly ฿135,000 and ฿180,000.

Two things are worth saying plainly. First, published tuition is not the bill: registration, application fees, uniform, transport, lunches, trips and examination entry are usually charged separately, and it is normal for the true annual cost to land meaningfully above the headline. Ask any school for a full fee schedule rather than the tuition line.

Second, provision thins out at the top end. Several schools run to Year 6 or Year 10 rather than to Year 13, which means a family with a young child may face a second decision — boarding, relocating again, or online provision — before that child finishes school. If your children are already at secondary age, verify the senior school offering before anything else.

Are the schools full?

This is the question every relocating parent asks and the one with the least published data behind it. Schools here do not generally publish live availability or waiting-list positions, and we are not going to invent numbers. What can be said honestly is that the island's international capacity is small relative to a growing resident population, that popular year groups do fill, and that places are allocated on application rather than on proximity.

The practical move: contact your two preferred schools and ask for current availability in your child's exact year group, in writing, before you commit to a purchase. A villa is a ten-year decision; a school place is an annual one, and it is the harder of the two to change.

Why this decides where you buy, not just where you enrol

Samui is a ring road with a mountainous interior. Journeys are measured in time, not distance, and school-run traffic in Chaweng and Lamai is materially worse than the map suggests. A twenty-minute commute done twice a day, five days a week, is roughly 130 hours a year in a car. Forty minutes is 260.

In practice, families cluster on the north and north-east of the island, where the ring road is faster and the schools, the airport and the hospital are all within a reasonable radius. Maenam, Bophut and Bangrak all work on that basis. If you are choosing between areas, drive the school run at 7.45am on a weekday before you decide — not at midday when the road is empty.

What the fees do not include

The published tuition figure is the beginning of the conversation. Schools here typically charge a one-off application or registration fee, an annual capital or development levy, uniform, books and stationery, school transport, lunches, residential trips and public examination entry. Individually these are small; together they routinely add a meaningful percentage to the headline number.

There are two further items families underestimate. Fees are usually payable termly in advance rather than monthly, so the cash-flow requirement is lumpier than a monthly budget suggests. And where a child needs learning support, English as an additional language provision, or specialist tutoring, that is generally charged separately and can be a significant line in the first year of a move.

Curriculum, and what happens if you move again

The island's provision is predominantly British and Cambridge, running towards IGCSE. That has a practical implication worth thinking through before you commit: a child on a British curriculum transfers reasonably cleanly into the UK, much of the Commonwealth, and international schools across Asia and the Middle East. A child two years into IGCSE coursework transfers considerably less cleanly into a French, German or American system.

If there is any realistic chance of relocating again during your children's schooling — and for internationally mobile families there usually is — the curriculum question is more consequential than the campus, the class size or the swimming pool. Ask each school which system it feeds into, what its recent leavers went on to do, and how it handles a mid-year arrival from another country, because that is the situation you are about to create.

Visiting properly

Website tours are worthless. Visit in term time, during a normal school day rather than an open day, and ask to see the year group your child would actually enter rather than the showcase classroom. Ask what proportion of teachers have been there more than three years — staff turnover is the most reliable single indicator of a school's health, and on small islands it can be high. Ask to speak to two current parents the school has not selected for you.

How much are international school fees in Koh Samui?

Published annual tuition ranges from roughly ฿135,000 at the lower end to about ฿650,000 in the senior years at the most expensive school. Extras such as registration, transport and exams are usually charged on top.

What curriculum do Koh Samui international schools teach?

Mainly British and Cambridge curricula, with IGCSE at the schools that run to Year 10 and beyond.

Do Koh Samui schools go all the way to Year 13?

Not all of them. Several run only to Year 6 or Year 10, so check the senior provision if your children are approaching secondary age.

Which part of Koh Samui is best for families with school-age children?

The north and north-east — Maenam, Bophut, Bangrak and Choeng Mon — because the ring road there gives reasonable access to schools, the airport and Bangkok Hospital Samui.

Are there waiting lists at Koh Samui international schools?

Schools do not publish live availability. Contact them directly for your child's specific year group; do not assume a place exists.

We build in Maenam, which is one of the areas families tend to shortlist for exactly these reasons. That is a genuine advantage of the location rather than a claim about our houses — and if your school of choice is at the other end of the island, we would rather you bought closer to it.