Welcome

Pataravitaya School is a private, Thai educational institution established by the Catholic Church more than four decades ago.  Catholic schools around the world, including Pataravitaya, have a well-deserved reputation for providing a loving and peaceful environment, well-trained and qualified teachers, moral discipline, and experienced guidance for children growing into young adulthood.  Located in the remote countryside of rural Thailand, Pataravitaya School’s campus is set upon large and beautiful grounds.  Students often study outside amongst a natural environment away from the noise and distractions of a large city.  Parents from the local community have realized over the years that they can trust the school and its staff to provide a supportive ‘home away from home’ for their children.  Here, they can safely begin to learn and continue their life studies into the future.

English Program

The Pataravitaya English Program School was started four years ago and has slowly grown since then.  A new grade is added each successive year.  As a result of this continued growth, the English Program offers classes from the kindergarten level through the 5^th grade.  The English Program uses the same textbooks as students have in the rest of the school but the curriculum is expanded to include learning activities that help immerse the children in the English language. Additionally, the program’s teachers include native speakers of English to better help students improve their speaking skills and to learn about foreign cultures where English is useful. Children and their teachers often celebrate holidays together at school and participate in intercultural activities that enrich their appreciation of other countries and their cultures.  These holidays include:  Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and additional local Thai festivals.  Our students are slowly learning about the larger world we live in.

Facilities

The English Program does a good job of keeping a low student to teacher ratio.  Each class has a homeroom Thai teacher and an additional foreign teacher with no more than 20 students.  This ensures students receive enough individual attention from their teachers to study well.  The school environment also makes possible a lot of ‘outdoors’ classes – at several pagodas, in an herb garden with tables, at a modern swimming pool and on several basketball courts, and on a recently improved sports field -- where science and P.E. lessons can be carried out appropriately.  Moreover, the English Program has its own library with internet access and additional learning materials and a recently added science lab.  The school has several canteens -- one for kindergarten students, one for the elementary level, and another for the high school level.  A nutritious school lunch is part of the program for all students.  Many English Program students and teachers share picnic lunches at special events as well as for birthdays.  Older students learn cooking with their teachers and about foods popular in other cultures.

Family Environment

A hundred or more years ago, before schools became primarily indoctrination centers for the recruiters of the world’s corporations, education was a family affair.  The English Program, with its small student body of less than a 100 children, tries hard to go back to this family environment where ‘parents’ were the first educators.  By developing close relationships with their students, teachers are able to best motivate them to study what interests them.  Education is not  just about learning to pass tests.  Education’s true purpose is in helping young people learn how to use their minds to think for themselves.  True, future citizens must meet the expectations of the society they live in, but they also must learn to judge that same society realistically.  Only then can young adults responsibly make life decisions that affect themselves, their families, and the society at large.  Our students are learning from their teachers that all the world’s people are one large family.  As such, by equipping themselves with the English language, they are acquiring a useful skill -- that is, the ability to communicate with others who can help them to grow further in independent thinking and responsible behavior.  As Thai citizens, they will then be ready to make their mark upon the world.