HEI Schools Phuket International School
Phuket, Thailand · PrivateKey facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP · authorised programmeHEI Schools · school is part of the networkWhat stands behind each entry
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: PYP (ages 3-12). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →A Finnish company with its own site, heischools.com; the "Company" section reports that "HEI Schools (Helsinki International Schools) was co-founded by the University of Helsinki and experienced educational and design experts in 2015", while the home page names the University of Helsinki and Professor Lipponen as co-founders and academic partners. The head office is given in Helsinki. The site describes the working model as a licensing one: "a scalable, easy-to-implement licensing model", with the curriculum, teacher training, the design of the environment and the materials passed to those who open a kindergarten locally - that is, the schools do not belong to the company but work under licence. The numbers on its own pages disagree: the home page writes "25+ HEI Schools", "140+ partnered schools", "50+ countries worldwide using our solutions" and at the same time "4000+ educators in more than 35 countries" and "over 35 countries"; the locations page gives no totals at all and lists some twenty countries. The first kindergarten of the network, by the site, opened in 2017 in China. Thailand is present on the locations page, with a direct link to HEI Schools Phuket; who exactly runs it locally is not named by the company site.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.