Comments about this Report

guest

I totally agree with the above comments. I have pulled my kids out of this school; a large number of staff are leaving because they are unhappy with the school and in particular the senior school administration. The fees have risen again and in my opinion, the school offered very poor value for what it delivered.

guest

We also withdrew our child from this school. Why? The large staff turnover every year indicates that there is dissatisfaction with the school and does not augur well for continuity of education. The new principal appears not to have been able to turn the school around. The fees have continued to go up and you need to ask what you are actually getting for your money. The answer to my mind is "not that much". I suspect a large portion of the exorbitant fees go towards servicing the debt for the new campus. There are schools offering far better value in Laos and we chose one of them.

guest

Dear Guest posted at Apr 5, 2011 01:20 I am about moving to Laos. Could you tel which school is offering far better? Thanks for info

guest

If more of the parents knew what goes on at one of the local bars, in which one of the teachers has an interest, I suspect a lot more parents would be very worried and would pull their kids out of the school. I wonder if the principal knows about this; the senior head certainly does.

guest

I was a teacher in Secondary Faculty at this school for three years. The school itself and the facilities, resources, library and technology ICT resources are average (considering it's a new Campus). From an ICT 1:1 perspective, the school needs to upgrade it's IT department. The IT facilities are very outdated and lack a decent ICT Strategic Plan (there has been to many senior people in the school with their fingers in that one who think they know better than anyone else). Anyway, for the amount of money the school governing body has put on fees for "paying parents"; it's far too expensive. There are lots of other options out the in Vientiane. I know - I've lived there. I suggest others look for options before even walking into VIS. There is a steady rise in the expat community that facilitate more international school development in the country. I know some ADS students who are interested in pooling their money together to start one soon. Stay tuned. The wind is about to change. More options for your children coming soon.

guest

We too have removed our child and sent her to Thailand for education. VIS simply does not cut it for the money it charges. Whether the IB is worth it or not is debatable. The IB is ok for kids who do not know what they want to do with their lives, but is poor for kids who wish to specialise in certain areas. Last years IB exams were a fiasco. The IB co ordinator misplaced exams, exams started late, and I suspect that the results were poor. The school has not made the results public, but I know for a fact that even good students did poorly on the exams. The staff is not professional, and some are unqualified. The principal has abrogated responsibility to the Senior school co ordinator who is universally disliked and is not a competent teacher. I agree with the above post about ICT facilities. The principal has taken this role on himself and since then IT in the school has sunk to a low. I cannot recommend VIS. You can do much better for much less money.

guest

I am looking at taking up a position at the school. I am a highly trained and experienced professional with many years experience. I run my own successful private practice and am looking to share my knowledge here. However I am now somewhat dismayed, why are the teachers leaving? And also folks IT is not the be all and end all of excellent educational practice, is this the crux of the matter or not?

guest

I agree that IT is not the be all and end all. As I stated the IB is not for all; it is a worthy certificate for generalist students and not specialists. The MYP on the other hand is a waste of educational space. However those are not reasons in themselves for not taking up a position. There are other reasons that have been alluded to. The school's IB results last year were probably very poor; else why would the school refuse to release the results. Some of the current teachers do not have much of a reputation, either professionally or personally around town.

guest

From Los Angeles I want my daughter to continue her study in Vientiane. With all the comments, I'd rather put her to study at an international school in my home country, unless anyone out there can recommend me any better international school in Vientiane.

guest

I would be wary of taking anything written here as a truth. There are a number of ex VIS personnel who could not cut it and are now at other 'local international' schools around town. There are some blatant mis-truths written here, which is unfortunate because VIS is growing a reputation as a strong international school and many teachers on the International school circuit are seeking positions there. The comment about IB Exams is a blatant lie.

guest

Regardless of the latest comments posted, which I am inclined to doubt anyway, the following is in fact the case. I have decided to remove my child and send her to an International School in Chiang Mai. Why? A number of highly respected teachers have no job in the coming year, and at the same time retain some staff who do not have formal qualifications in the areas they teach. The school, probably for reasons of finance, has decided to offer a number of courses on-line only; Economics is one such example. As any educator will tell you, on-line courses work best with adults, not with kids who need constant reinforcement. When one considers the fees charged by VIS, this latest development is disgraceful and I would strongly urge any parent who values a balanced education for her child to look elsewhere. Finally there is no doubt that there is a discipline problem in the Senior School. Far from having a "growing reputation", the school has an ever declining reputation amongst expats. It is a shame that this is happening.

guest

Perhaps someone could explain why IB results were not released?

guest

I read these comments about VIS with interest. Until quite recently I did a lot of supply teaching at KIS. I left of my own volition, basically because i had had enough. Many of the posts above are accurate. Some IB exams did get mislaid for a period of time. The IB results were poor, with one of the best students in the school not doing well. A number of teachers are not qualified for the areas in which they teach and some of them do have a poor reputation around town, not for their teaching ability, but rather for their "social" lives. The Head, while an amiable person, has basically handed over the running of the place to the Head of Senior School, who, as mentioned above, is not really liked or respected. If you live in Vientiane and want a good education for you children, I would send them to a boarding school in Thailand. I found it amusing that some of the school's senior teachers removed their children from the school and sent them to Chiang Mai for their education. This does not instill confidence in the place, does it? Why did I leave? I had enough of the nonsense that goes on in the place. In addition, there are discipline problems and I just had enough of having to cope with these.

guest

Where is this school located? On what road.....

guest

As a newly enrolled teacher at VIS I feel I should respond to some comments here. I can only comment on a few of the points raised, I have no knowledge of the fees situation for parents. VIS seems to me to be a small ambitious school which is positioning itself to grow further as the main educational establishment in Laos. I can assure you that the teaching staff work exceedingly hard to deliver good courses to the students. Their are very little discipline issues in the school and a great deal of learning takes place in classes. My own impression of my colleagues is a very positive one on the whole including the principals, who are honest and professional. It is true that some expat teachers enjoy the night life here to suggest that in some way they are bad people is blatantly unfair and from my perpsective totally unjustified. Teachers are not priests or nuns, I am unaware if there are any Madrassas or seminary schools nearby. There is a strong emphasis on the students care and personal growth in the school and the teachers ( regardless of where they drink!) all give willingly of their time In loco parentis. The courses offered are being improved day by day as the school adopts and adapts to the IB programme, in my opinion the IB provides the best all round educational available. The school is not perfect, I have noticed that generally the language skills of students is worse than my previous schools and there are other problems which would be too detailed to mention here. On the whole VIS is a professional caring organisation which does work very hard to ensure a good education for the children in it's care, If you want your child to be cared for and educated in a truly international way by hard working professional staff then I happily recommend it.

guest

Some of the remarks on here are simply malicious and untrue. And ridiculous: how can you take seriously a post complaining about the IB as a curriculum? Like it or not, it is the curriculum used by the majority of International Schools worldwide, offers a holistic program and is the most internationally recognized qualification for universities worldwide.

guest

I certainly hope that the guest who posted on Jan 8th is not a teacher of English. I would not allow this person to "teach" my daughter.r

guest

This is an interesting debate. I live in Vientiane and own and run a small restaurant here. We removed our daughter and sent her to Thailand to complete her education. Why? We were not happy with the school administration, the subject offerings and the quality of some of her teachers. I guess it is understandable that a teacher currently working at the school would support the school, however to be fair to the kids you need to view the situation not through rose colored glasses.

guest

I am considering taking my child out of VIS because of discipline or should I say the lack of in her classroom..

guest

Most of these posts are simply malicious lies. Go onto any site that specializes in International Schools and you will get a totally different picture of the school. I have two children, one in Primary and one in Secondary, and am happy with the education they receive. I also talk with some authority being a former (American trained) teacher. This school is the only real international school in Laos offering the IB program from Primary to Secondary. Outside of Bangkok, where there are some outstanding international schools, there is not a better international school. We were previously in Chiang Mai. Believe me, Vientiane International School is a far better option than any establishment there.

dirkkoolmees

Dear reader, I accidentally stumbled upon this page and am unpleasantly surprised by the many negative comments about VIS. Hence my reaction. Let me start off by saying that I have been a teacher at VIS for over 2 years now. This may trigger responses from some previous commentators along the lines of 'rose tinted spectacles' but that would be a bit too easy. I am equally critical as many of you are. I am also not a teacher of English, nor a native speaker, so I can already take away any concerns, as indicated by one of the commentators, should I happen to make a grammatical error in this post ;-) It seems that a lot of the criticism is due to VIS being an expensive school. I fully agree that VIS is much more expensive compared to some other schools in Vientiane, or possibly in Thailand. There is however a big cost to any school that aspires the IB accreditation. The PYP, MYP and DP programmes at VIS have been accredited for several years now and have been positively evaluated by the IB. VIS is also accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). These accreditations don't come without big investments in both facilities and staffing. The VIS facilities are up to international standards I would say (with an Olympic swimming pool recently added as well) particularly within the context of Laos. The ICT, mentioned as a weakness by some commentators, needs to be seen within this context as well. The school's admin is doing their best to provide state of the art ICT resources, but are dependent on external providers. The internet connection, to name an example, does go down some times (although really not very often), but the school cannot be blamed for this. VIS has invested in the installation of smart boards, laptops for every secondary student, ipads within the library for primary, and audio/video equipment. A new wing has been completed in 2012 with very good facilities for the arts and technology and design. VIS is a relatively small school in a low income country and perhaps this is why the school fees are felt as being excessive, but if you compare them to other IB schools in the region (PP, BKK), you'll find them to be one of the lowest in comparison. There is a comment about the high staff turn-over, albeit from 2 years ago, but I don't think this a valid argument to dismiss the school. Vientiane is a very transient place and many people come for a limited amount of time to work here, not just at VIS. So yes, some teachers finish their 2 year contract and move on. And yes, not everybody is always happy with the way some things work at VIS and decide to leave. But doesn't that apply to any organisation or institute? From my contact with colleagues I can honestly say that the majority of people working at VIS are positive about their overall work conditions. Then there is a repeated argument about one or more members of staff with a certain reputation in the Vientiane night life, although it is left up to the reader's imagination as to what that actually entails. But even if we let our imagination go wild: VIS employs several dozen staff members, all qualified and with teaching experience in other schools and countries, and cannot be held responsible for the behaviour of individual staff members outside of school hours. It is not fair on the entire school to be dismissed if a staff member gains a certain reputation, whether based on hearsay or not. VIS is an alcohol and smoke free school, but does allow their staff members to have a private life as well. There is also a peculiar remark about teachers taking their kids out of VIS. That is really extremely uncommon. I know of one teacher who has indeed put her child temporarily in a boarding school in Thailand, but has brought her child back to VIS after one year because of disappointing results there. My two children are enrolled at VIS (in primary) and they love it. They have attentive and caring teachers, and a variety of after school activities to choose from. Lastly, about the results in the Diploma Course. VIS is still a small school (just over 400 students in the entire school) and we have relatively small cohorts of students in the higher grades. This means that comparing our DP scores to international standards is not fully justifiable given the relatively small sample size (I am speaking here as a mathematics teacher). Some years our scores are perhaps low, but other years are good (like last year's results). The difference often depends on a few students's results that can tip the balance. VIS has nonetheless seen a positive trend in DP results over the last years, which is to be expected given the increase in DP students and ongoing investment in professional staffing and professional development. Having said all of that, in an attempt to put things a bit in perspective, I do understand that some commentators, whether parents or teachers, have had such a negative experience with VIS for some reason to the extent that they rate the entire school in such a negative way. That is very regrettable. I don't think however that it represents the general opinion of the majority of the large community that is involved with VIS. Regards!

guest

I am glad that the poster who posted on Sept 23rd admits that he/she does not teach English at VIS. A whole report without any paragraphing certainly does not entail confidence. The fact is that, yes, VIS is expensive and does not offer value for money. Also, Vientiane is a small town and the shenanigans of some of the VIS staff are noted and observed by both other expats and Lao nationals. This is disappointing. The comment "VIS employs several dozen staff members, all qualified and with teaching experience in other schools and countries, and cannot be held responsible for the behavior of individual staff members outside of school hours." is, I am sorry to say, absurd. Of course the school is responsible for the actions of its teachers. From an educational point of view, the PYP in particular, but also the MYP have lost ground worldwide; the IB is certainly a highly regarded qualification. However be aware that it is aimed more at students who need a generalist education and are perhaps not sure of their future career paths. It is unfortunate that the previous poster does not address these concerns.

guest

I am curious why so many parents of VIS students are looking for tutors elsewhere, particularly in Math. Is there a reason for this?

guest

Thailand is dangerous. It is no place for a child in a boarding house. So many children are raped and then killed to silence them. It astounds me that parents could have such little regard for their children.