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An endearing house, one filled with the history and charm of old Bangkok, is the home to our beloved purple elephant created by one of our students – Per Jonsson from Sweden – in the eighties, the school exudes an ambiance of comfort and learning. Our children, aged eighteen months to three years, spend their time in a playground within an environment created especially for them. From here, they can make a comfortable transition to our Soi 49 campus, and their teachers often recommend placement in The Early Learning Centre to ensure that the children can stay with their special friends. Every August, the staff from The Purple Elephant comes to The Early Learning Centre to welcome the children back into our family of schools. We continually refine the quality of our relationships through the practice of documentation. Documentation affirms the children and makes visible our image of the child as a competent, creative, and articulate member of the school community. Our positive image of the child motivates us to make this competence visible to others. We document the children’s work using transcripts, photographs, and video to create a community of learners. Children revisit these documents to reflect on their assumptions, strategies, and goals. Teachers study these documents to improve their conversations with children. Parents review these documents to gather an intellectual understanding of their child’s work and to become an educational partner of the school. Through such records, the general public learns the good work of the school and advocates for its support. By degrees, our image of the child as strong and intelligent becomes known to all, including the children themselves. We understand that high-quality learning requires high-quality space. We constantly record, and study the relationship between space and learning, from the calming peace of a quiet space to the relationship between space and learning, from the calming peace of a quiet space to the positive energy of play space. We believe that the environment can be designed to communicate a message of welcome, support, and belonging. Each item in the classroom from furnishings to photographs is placed there to support this image of the environment as a teacher that engenders a disposition for the child to slow down, to reflect, and to enjoy. As a set of international schools, we value and support meaningful relationships among the diverse cultures of our families. We understand that diversity creates a reason to reflect, question, and grow in skills, awareness, and humanity. We value the relationship between listening and acting, between aesthetics and utility, and between parents and programs. Particularly in the context of this diversity, we maintain our image that each child is strong and competent, an image that also applies to the teacher, parent, community, and environment, each part creating and supporting the other. View full school

Happening upon a blissful bamboo forest just steps away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok is a rare occurrence. The Purple Elephant@49 – the latest addition to our family of schools – embodies this calm and tranquility. The gentle breezes flowing through the school and its environs beckon all who enter these hallowed grounds to pause, take a breath, and simply delight in the surroundings. And, if you think you’re hearing young children engage in discourse in three languages, you are not mistaken, because here these young citizens of the world are exposed to the rich experience that comes from a mix of three cultures, and communicate it in English, Mandarin, and Thai. The bamboo forest allows its young inhabitants, aged eighteen months to three years, to engage in a dialogue with one another, and their surroundings, as they forge lasting cross-cultural friendships, and learn new ways to communicate them, every day. Children who are members of a nurturing, collaborative community of young inquirers develop a sense of belonging, and an understanding of their own identity, voice, and feelings that lead to optimal development and learning. This, and the relationships they form with aesthetically pleasing settings, their teachers, and families, becomes the foundation for life-long learning that embraces fair-mindedness, inclusion, and the cultural values and practices embedded in every environment they encounter. Each child brings to the center unique life experiences that are respected for their diversity, and all are considered to be brimming with potential – potential that is supported by an approach to teaching that takes full advantage of the physical space to developmental and physical abilities as well as the foundational knowledge required for later literacy and numeracy. Purposeful play, one of the most effective ways young children learn, capitalizes on the child’s natural curiosity, joy, and sense of wonder. Play here is child-centered, engaging, and enhances development in all the domains: physical, social, emotional, communicative, and cognitive. Our ‘City School and Purple Elephant’ campuses are conveniently located within the neighborhood of Bangkok’s most popular international community, ‘Thong Lor and Phrom Phong’. Easily accessible to the BTS Sky Train, and just a stone’s throw away from world-class hospitals, international supermarkets, and restaurants, makes this a popular place to reside during your stay in Thailand. There is something for everyone, whether it be state-of-the-art shopping venues, culinary delights from around the world, or a wide assortment of indoor and outdoor activities for all ages, every member of the family is happy to call this city their home. Within minutes you can be whisked away, and find yourself relishing in an experience of days by gone, visiting temples and ancient ruins, but at the end of the day, you are happy to be back in the neighborhood where all the world-class amenities await you. View full school