St. Andrews Samakee is a small British international school on Tiwanon Road, teaching the English National Curriculum from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 9. It is structured as First School (2-5), Middle School (5-10) and Upper School (10-14), and it deliberately stays small -- around 152 pupils drawn from more than 25 nationalities. Its distinguishing features are a well-developed inclusion and special educational needs programme, a Forest School and a working on-site farm, and an unusually long accreditation record: the school holds ISQM Gold for the fourth consecutive inspection cycle and states it was the first school in the world to be awarded the Gold Standard, which it has held since 2012. It has also been inspected under the British Schools Overseas framework. Families should plan around its ceiling: Samakee ends at Year 9, and a second school is part of the deal.
Also known as: St. Andrews International School Samakee; SAS; SMKE
Where this school stops
Nonthaburi’s eight schools end at four different ages, so this is the first question to settle — not the last. “Runs to 18” and “has a sixth form on this campus” are separate claims.
Year 9, age 14. This is the single most important fact on the page. Samakee runs NO IGCSE year and NO sixth form -- families must plan a second school for Year 10 onward, and the school is open about this: its own alumni story describes a pupil who "graduated in Year 9" and moved on to Harrow with an academic scholarship.
Where the campus actually is
43 Soi Tiwanond 48, Tiwanon Road, Nonthaburi
On the Tiwanon Road corridor, which carries both the Pink Line above it and a heavy road commute beneath it. School hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 3:30pm.
Is it on a rail line?
Yes -- this is the best-railed campus in the province. Samakee sits on Soi Tiwanond 48, off Tiwanon Road, and the MRT Pink Line monorail runs along Tiwanon Road, with Samakkhi station (PK04) at the junction of Tiwanon and Samakkhi roads in Mueang Nonthaburi. We do not publish a walking time we have not measured, but of the eight schools here this is the one where a rail-based school run is worth actually testing rather than dismissing.
Area guides families use for this school run: Ngamwongwan & Rattanathibet · Mueang Nonthaburi & Bang Kruai (riverside) · Pak Kret & Chaengwattana
The curriculum pathway, stage by stage
- First School -- 2 to 5 years (Nursery through Year 1, EYFS and into Key Stage 1)
- Middle School -- 5 to 10 years (roughly Year 1 to Year 5)
- Upper School -- 10 to 14 years (Year 6 to Year 9)
Accreditations & authorisations
Worth separating: an examination-board authorisation (Cambridge, IB, College Board) means a school may enter pupils for those exams. A whole-school accreditation (WASC, CIS, COBIS, Cognia, ISQM) assesses the school itself. Both matter; they are not the same claim.
- ISQM Gold Standard accreditation -- awarded for the fourth consecutive time; the school states it was the first school worldwide to receive the Gold Standard Award, and has held it since 2012
- British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspected -- the school describes itself as an Outstanding British School
- Education Development Trust (EDT)
- ONESQA (Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment, Thailand)
- ISAT (International Schools Association of Thailand)
Religious character
None published. Samakee advertises no statement of faith, chapel or religious studies requirement.
Boarding
Day school. Samakee advertises no boarding.
Who it suits
Families who want a small, genuinely close-knit primary and lower-secondary school and who accept -- or actively want -- a planned move at 14; families who need real special educational needs provision, which is unusually well developed here; and families drawn to outdoor and environmental learning. The school runs a Forest School and keeps ducks, goats, tortoises and turtles on site, and pupils talk about the farm as readily as the classrooms.
What we could not verify — and where sources disagree
We publish these openly rather than smoothing them over. A school guide that hides its uncertainty is not much use to a family making a decision this big.
- Cognita ownership could NOT be verified. Several directories describe Samakee as part of the Cognita group, and Cognita does own a family of St. Andrews schools in Thailand -- but Cognita's own school listings name Sathorn, Sukhumvit 107, Dusit, Green Valley and Rayong, and do not name Samakee. Two schools sharing the St. Andrews name is not evidence they share an owner. Ask the school directly.
- The school reports around 152 students and 25-plus nationalities. Small is the point here rather than a shortcoming, but a family should know the scale before visiting.
- Special educational needs assessment is routed to an external partner, Merak Clinic, for developmental paediatric assessment where the school judges it necessary. That is a real and unusually transparent process, but it means part of the SEN pathway sits outside the school -- ask what is provided in-house and what is referred.
- The school publishes its own air-quality page, which suggests smoke and dust are treated as a live issue on this corridor. We have not verified what filtration, if any, it describes.
Ask every Nonthaburi school this
- Does the school actually go as far as your child needs? Two of the eight -- St. Andrews Samakee (14) and MYIS (16 for now) -- stop before the end of secondary, so you will be choosing a second school. Ask before you enrol, not in Year 8.
- Which rail line, if any, is genuinely usable for your household? Nonthaburi has the Purple and Pink lines, but no campus here is a station-to-gate walk. Establish whether you are a rail family with a feeder leg, or a car family who happens to live near a station.
- What does the school bus actually cover, and is your address inside the catchment? In a province split by the Chao Phraya and by two motorway corridors, the bus map decides which neighbourhoods are realistic far more than the distance on a map does.
- Drive the run at 07:00 on a weekday before you sign a lease. Chaeng Watthana, Ratchaphruek and Tiwanon at rush hour bear no relation to the same roads at midday.
- Is the accreditation whole-school, or is it an examination-board authorisation? Cambridge, IB and College Board authorisations say a school may run those exams. WASC, CIS, COBIS, Cognia and ISQM assess the whole school. Both matter, and they are not the same claim.
- If faith matters to you in either direction, ask directly. Two of the eight schools are explicitly Christian -- one Catholic, one Bible-based and ACSI-affiliated -- and the other six publish no religious character at all.
- Ask what the year group's actual size is this year, not the school's total roll. Several of these schools are small by design, which many families want -- but you should know the number before you decide, not after.
BAANLYY does not rank, endorse or accept payment from schools. Facts on this page are compiled from St. Andrews Samakee International School's own published material and independent cross-checks, and we deliberately publish no per-school fee figures — they change annually and a stale number is worse than none. Always confirm current admissions, fees, year groups, accreditation status and campus details directly with the school. Visit the official St. Andrews Samakee International School page →
Sources & References
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Find a home for this school run
Nonthaburi has two MRT lines but no campus at a station gate — the neighbourhood you choose is still the commute. Compare all eight schools first, then match an area.
