ABOUT KSTVS
An Award-Winning Language School in Koh Samui, Thailand.
Koh Samui’s Tutor and Vocational School is Samui’s oldest licensed Thai and English Language School. Run and owned by Pat Saohin and Dave Belcher, we combine our Thai and English roots to provide the best style of education, taking the finest aspects from both cultures and mixing them to provide a triple award winning educational experience.
We first opened our doors on Koh Samui back in 2003 in Bang Rak offering English classes to both native and international adults and children. After 2 successful years we quickly reached the point of expansion and made the bold move to relocate our school to our present location in Maenam back in 2005.
Our school received its Tutor and Vocational School license from the Ministry of Education in 2007, which gave us the support we needed to go on to get our license to teach Thai in 2009. Suddenly we were impelled into offering educational course to expanding our reach native English speakers. This license also granted us the ability to offer education visas to our students, and with our firm relationship with the Ministry of Education, our students were granted peace of mind knowing they can live and study legally in Samui.
Our ability to provide education visas has helped us to create a stable learning environment for our students, an aspect which cannot be taken for granted. Stable and secure working and learning environments are almost just as important as the teacher you have, without the stability it can become impossible to properly take in information and feel the drive to learn.
Our triple award winning educational institute is by far the most accredited, long running, ground breaking language and vocational school in Samui. With almost 10,000 satisfied students to date, affordable courses, no hassle education visa service and highly trained professional staff, we really are the first choice language school on Koh Samui.
OUR AWARDS
This first time we were awarded this great honor by the ministry of education. We had just been granted our Language and Vocational School License, a feat which took plenty of hard work.
Since our first award our school went from strength to strength, becoming even more popular since our Thai language license was granted. English speaking students began coming through our doors for the first time.
This year marked our third time to be awarded the Thai Ministry of Education award for Outstanding School Quality, and in doing so made us the first Language school in South Thailand to have been awarded this prestigious title three times.
A HISTORY OF OUR SCHOOL
Beginning of an Idea
The turn of the millennium found Dave Belcher and Pat Saohin working together at Samui’s first international school in Cheweng, aiming to help create and build this school up from its foundations. They both had a dream of one day running their own school, but for now it would have to wait, the international school was of prime concern.
As time went on and Dave begin to feel more confident working in the Thai system, he began to ease himself into the tutoring and summer school business alongside his classes at the international school. The summer school and tutoring took off like a storm, and with help from his new Thai colleagues, these magnificently put together classes turned into a great success.
Laying Foundations
After 2 years the international school they worked so hard on closed its doors, and so, Dave and Pat took their opportunity to seize their dream, and officially opened their own tutoring school on Koh Samui, in Bang Rak. They continued with their summer school program and also expanded their teaching field to corporate teaching, teaching English to staff at many local business and organisations, such as Samui Bangkok Hospital, Tesco stores and high end hotels, just to name a few.
Due to their unique management style of having both nationalities running the school, once again their vision materialised, and so they finally had begun on their journey of recognising their dream of owning their own school.
Moving On Up
After 2 hugely successful starting years they had quickly reached the point of expansion, and so moved locations to their current 4 story town house in Maenam. Now, with their own building, they were finally in the position to apply for a Tutoring School license. This was ground breaking, no one at the Ministry of Education knew how to handle their request as they had never seen it before, and due to their uniqueness it would take 2 years for them to be officially granted their Tutoring School license.
In these 2 years they meticulously adapted to meet all license specifications, from dealing with building regulations to Pat taking an Education Management course in Bangkok University in order to be the school’s Principle. But none of the strict licensing rules perturbed them, and so they strived on, finally successfully meeting every criteria for their requested license in 2007.
Award Winning Performance
'Education AND a Visa?``
In 2009 they were granted their second license, and so the ability to teach Thai language. This opened up their doors to the entire English speaking community. The school suddenly took on a whole new aspect of their business, that was the ability to offer their students not just quality education, but an education visa as well, a privilege that only a few educational institutes have.
This great privilege is one which has helped massively towards to schools success, as offering students a chance to live and study in the country legally would help many of a good willed student.
More Awards!
A Look Towards the Future
In their 11 years being open, KSTVS has employed almost 100 teachers and taught over 10,000s students and currently have almost 200 adults enrolled in their English or Thai classes, most of those students benefiting from the schools Education Visa honours.
Their summer and autumn camps, which have been running since the beginning, have kept up with the pace, with the camps still regularly running every school holiday, once having an impressive 200 children at one camp!