Local and Global Influences: Getting the Balance Right

Local and Global Influences: Getting the Balance Right Principal, Mike Walton reflects on how a great international school like Regents in Pattaya offers its students both domestic and international experiences. One thing parents tell me that they love about this school is that, whilst their children have to work hard, there are always opportunities for them to enjoy the educational experience in class and beyond.

This was highlighted on the last day of Term 2, when we used the Songkran Festival as an opportunity for all the students and staff to get actively involved in this most important of Thai celebrations. Our students and staff tried Thai dance, Thai boxing, Thai cooking and the main seasonal event – soaking each other with water. With less than a third of our students being Thai, such cultural understanding and enjoyment is an opportunity not to be missed.

So Regents is without doubt a school which opens minds and hearts to the joys and benefits of its host country. Thailand has so much to offer to students from other countries. In return, as a British international school, we offer students of all nationalities a passport to universities around the world, in the form of the International Baccalaureate Diploma. To my mind, this combination is the hallmark of a truly international school: one which can meld in its students an appreciation of local communities and customs with global outlook and ambition.

Mike Walton, Principal