International School Phuket - Lighthouse - Thailand

The Lighthouse Phuket International School Story

Founded by parents and educators, Lighthouse Canadian International School Phuket has a unique vision to help students find their own path in life through structured study that allows students to follow their passion. The founders have six children at the school and as such, are completely committed to excellence in education and the absolute best for the students.

Much of our learning methods are influenced by the Canadian curriculum and IB-inspired project-based learning. Our schools focus on learning to learn through projects and real-life examples, as opposed to memorization of information.

We help students find THEIR path
Lighthouse Education is focused on each student and seeing them reach their full potential. We are a  

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school of the future and completely committed to our children’s success.

We have small class sizes so that children receive personal help and direction.
Native English speaking teachers, with English and Thai speaking assistants.
Dynamic learning methods so that children enjoy learning, which is especially important as our children begin school.
Complete facilities set in a natural surrounding. At Lighthouse it is natures way instead of the factory way.
The current education system was developed in the 1800’s when most people were working in factories. Schools were a place employees could send their children while they worked. Children were taught how to be good factory employees.

Of course, much has developed and changed since that time, however many things are still the same. There is a bell to tell you when to start, a bell to tell you there is a brake, a bell for lunch, another brake, then a bell to tell you to go home.

This system worked when most people worked in factories and still can work if your desire is to grow children up into good employees.

However, if we desire our children to be leading the way in innovation and creativity in today’s economy we’re going to have to do things differently. We are going to need to teach our children in a non-traditional way, preparing them for a non-traditional workplace.

We desire for our children to lead their lives in a way that will impact the world in a positive way. Allowing them to have a good work/life balance where they have strong families, strong convictions, good work ethic and an innovative mind.

Some real ways we make this happen:

We bring in professionals in their respective fields. From computer programmers, to chefs, to artists, to business owners to scientists. This allows children to learn and ask questions of successful leaders in their field, getting a real feel and desire for their potential future.
We use the accelerated curriculum methods, which allow students to work quickly through easy topics and spend more time on those that are more difficult, or that they are more interested in; given them more time and freedom to explore subjects of interest. Giving them a lifelong love of learning.
Children learn in classes with children from different ages. Children from 3-6 are together, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15. This enables children to learn from their peers and help their peers. Giving students insight and experience in what it really looks like to work in team and be leaders. Research shows that mixed age learning is better for students. Benefits of Mixed Age Learning.
Children are able to do their work in classrooms, but we also encourage some of the older children to work in the school cafeteria, cafe, or even at the park. Currently about 45% of the workforce does not go into a traditional office to work. They work from their homes, cafe’s, or different offices around the world. We equip our students to be diligent and be able to work in different locations, with different distractions. This encourages children to develop their work habit and leads to more creativity and a love of learning.
Of course, some things stay the same. We still need to cover the basic subjects, not only that, we need to students to excel at these subjects; math, reading, writing, communicating, problem solving, information technology.

What we don’t need in today’s changing economy: memorizing large amount of information, the fear of being wrong, listening to a teacher tell you what to think all day. We prepare students for life in college and beyond. Focusing on allowing them to make mistakes and learn from them. Giving them the confidence to go forward from challenges stronger and better equipped for the future.

Instead children of today need to know where to find information, identify what information is true and relevant, compile that information in a concise way and finally present that information dynamically, whether that is as an individual, or as a group.