Childcare on Koh Tao.

The island's main dedicated early-years option and the one most consistently open, mixing Thai, Burmese-migrant and expat children across two classes - Babies & Toddlers (0-3) and Nursery & Reception (4-7) - plus tutoring for children keeping their English up. It is in a quiet residential pocket close to Sairee, not in Mae Haad as we previously stated, and sources disagree on whether it was established in 2007 or 2008. The detail that matters most here: drop-off from as early as 5:45am for parents starting a dive course, late pick-up, out-of-hours babysitting and sitters who will come to your resort.

Listed by both the island's tourism association and its main local travel directory: Monday to Friday 9am-4pm, children of any nationality from nine months to two years, English-speaking staff, a large equipped garden playground, and daily as well as monthly packages. Book ahead - places depend on both child numbers and staff availability. We could not confirm from a source of its own whether this is an independent business or another name for a setting listed elsewhere on this page, so treat it as listed rather than verified, and note that its age ceiling of two is the tightest on the island.

Founded in 2015 by Eliza Taylor and Claire Wyndham as a not-for-profit school for local Thai and Burmese children living on the island, teaching the International Primary Curriculum across Thai language, literacy, numeracy, science, art, music and sport, with full-time and part-time places and its own short-stay childcare arm for visiting families. Its own website now carries an undated temporary-closure notice: it will reopen through a new Thai foundation, the Right to Learn Foundation, and stays shut until foundation funding is approved. There is no reopening date - confirm directly before planning around it.

The island has one government basic-education school, Ban Koh Tao School in Mae Haad, behind the temple. Contrary to a claim that circulates on island directories, you do not need a Thai parent: Thailand's Education for All policy and the 2005 Cabinet Resolution entitle every child resident in the country to free basic education regardless of nationality or documents, and the school demonstrably enrols non-Thai children. The real trade-off is fit, not eligibility - instruction is in Thai, English teaching is limited, and the calendar and curriculum differ from the systems most relocating families plan to return to.

With the island's dive-industry community often working irregular hours, hiring a Thai nanny (phi liang) or live-out helper is common and flexible for babies and toddlers, often used alongside Koh Tao Playskool for part-day cover.

Koh Tao's compact, close-knit foreign community - concentrated around dive shops and resorts - supports informal playgroups and word-of-mouth referrals for nannies and part-time care, useful given how few formal settings exist island-wide.

Sairee is Koh Tao's longest beach and busiest expat and dive-industry hub, with the biggest concentration of foreign families and the most active informal networks for nannies and playgroups - and Koh Tao Playskool & Daycare sits in a quiet residential pocket close to it. For families whose day is built around early dive-course starts, this is the shortest run.

Mae Haad is the island's main pier and town area with the widest everyday services, and it is where Ban Koh Tao School - the island's only government school - sits, behind the temple. A practical, central base, and a short ride from Sairee.

Chalok Baan Kao, on the island's southern side, is quieter and more residential, popular with dive-industry families wanting distance from Sairee's nightlife. Note that it is the longest run to both Sairee and Mae Haad, and there is no school bus of any kind on Koh Tao - every school and childcare run here is a parent, a scooter or a taxi.

Koh Tao's early-years settings generally accept children on a flexible, rolling basis rather than a fixed international-school-style admissions cycle, reflecting the island's small, practical approach - though Koh Tao Pre School advises booking ahead because places depend on both child numbers and staff availability.

Expect to provide your child's passport and birth certificate, immunisation records, recent photos, and a parent passport with proof of your Koh Tao address. Paperwork at the island's private early-years settings is lighter than at a formal international school, since none of them is one.

DTV, LTR, retirement, marriage and other visa families - as well as the island's many dive-instructor and dive-industry households - all use the same settings and pay out of pocket, with no visa requirement tied to enrolment.

Koh Tao's foreign community is small and close-knit, largely centred on the dive industry. Asking other parents in the island's expat Facebook groups is typically the fastest way to get an honest, current read on which settings are actually open this month and which are between staff - on an island this size, one person's absence can close a setting for a week.

The island's roster changes. Koh Tao International Primary is currently closed by its own notice, the island's tourism association still points visiting families to it, and Koh Tao Pre School we could not confirm from a source of its own. Call each number before you build a relocation around it, and apply the three-part test: a site of its own, a findable address, and a phone that answers.

The private settings run out at about seven, and Koh Tao has no English-medium school beyond that at any age - no international school, no IB, no Cambridge, no sixth form, no boarding. Secondary education does exist on the island, but it is Thai: the government school and the Ministry of Education's non-formal learning centre. Families wanting an English-medium exam track plan for homeschooling, an accredited online curriculum, or a move to Koh Samui or the mainland - see our Koh Tao schools guide for the detail.

Many resident families work in or around the dive industry with irregular or shift-based hours. Combining Koh Tao Playskool's day-care hours with a part-time nanny is a common pattern for covering early mornings, late afternoons or weekend work.

None of Koh Tao's settings publishes fees the way a formal international school does, and we deliberately publish no per-setting figures: daily, hourly and monthly rates on a small island move constantly, and a stale number is worse than none. Confirm current rates, hours and part-time options directly with each before committing.

Koh Tao Playskool & Daycare, in a residential pocket close to Sairee, is the main and most consistently open setting - ages 0-7 in two classes, with drop-off from as early as 5:45am for parents starting a dive course. Koh Tao Pre School is listed separately for nine months to two years, Monday to Friday 9am-4pm, though we could not confirm it from a source of its own. Koh Tao International Primary, the not-for-profit primary founded in 2015, is currently closed by its own notice. Beyond those, Ban Koh Tao School and hiring a nanny round out the options - there is no branded international nursery chain on the island.

None of the island's settings publishes fees the way a formal international school does, and we deliberately publish no per-setting figures - small-island rates move constantly and a stale number is worse than none. Confirm current rates directly with each. As a general guide only, a full-time live-out Thai nanny runs roughly THB 8,000-14,000 a month, and the government school is low-cost or near-free.

Yes, but only in Thai - and this page previously said otherwise, which was wrong. Ban Koh Tao School's own history records it becoming an 'opportunity-expansion' school teaching into lower secondary, to Mathayom 2 in academic year 2553, though its most recent district competition entries were all primary and early-years, so we cannot confirm that section still runs. The Ministry of Education's non-formal service also has a learning centre on Koh Tao offering lower- and upper-secondary completion. What the island has no version of, at any age, is an English-medium or international school.

Sairee is the shortest run to the island's main early-years setting and has the largest expat and dive-industry population with the most active informal parent networks. Mae Haad is the central services hub and home to the government school, behind the temple. Chalok Baan Kao, on the quieter south side, suits families wanting distance from Sairee's nightlife - but it is the longest run to both, and there is no school bus anywhere on Koh Tao, so every run is a parent, a scooter or a taxi.

Not formally, but the island's practical, informal approach suits families with irregular dive-instructor or resort-work schedules - many combine Koh Tao Playskool's daytime hours with a part-time nanny to cover early mornings, late afternoons or weekend shifts, arranged through the island's close-knit expat community rather than a formal agency.