EYFS

When children begin their journey at Garden International School Bangkok they are taught with guidance from Development Matters.

First School:

When children begin their journey at Garden International School Bangkok they are taught with guidance from Development Matters. This guidance takes into account that children develop quickly within the Foundation Stage and helps guide teachers to do all they can to help children have the best possible start in life. 

The four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage underpin our practice. This document – Development Matters – shows how these themes, and the principles work together. 

Children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them. Development is not an automatic process, however. It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments. This is something we believe strongly at Garden International School, Bangkok.

Our curriculum is split into seven areas of learning, 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas. Prime areas are fundamental, work together, and move through to support development in all other areas.These areas are our primary focus, once the children have a basic level of skills in these areas they are ready to further develop skills within a specific area. 


At Garden International School Bangkok, your child is at the heart of everything we do.

We spend time observing your child watching how they interact with peers and materials. We use this to reflect on how your child is performing in all seven areas of the curriculum and then we use all of the information to plan what to teach your child next. To further engage your child we will then incorporate their interests.

Alongside the curriculum areas are the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These are extremely important in supporting children’s development. By teaching through play we encourage and support your children to engage, motivate and think. Your child is the future and we will help them develop the skills needed to be successful. 

A Day in the Life of a First School Student:

Our day in First School begins at 7:30 when the gates for both pedestrians and cars are opened. This is when our children and families are welcomed into the garden for play and socialising before we raise the flag at 8:00am, sing a song together and move to classes. Parents are welcome to join us for this time, however, if their schedule does not permit this, then there are always members of staff in the garden to interact and take care of the children before lessons.

We end our day at 2:10 for all classes, Pre-Nursery to Year One. At this time, we have a ‘pick-up and go’ system for our car park where our staff work together to call the children from their classes as the families arrive to collect them.

For our Nursery to Year One students, we offer an Extra-Curricular Activity (ECA) programme. There are options for families who would like their child to participate with a variety of activities available for them. Some are free, offered by our teaching staff, and others are paid clubs from external providers.

Our families can keep up to date with their child’s learning through the platform Seesaw. Each week, our class teachers make posts; individual posts will only be available through the individual family login and the Weekly News from the class will be shared to all families in the class. The teachers will keep families informed of special events for the children, such as a picnic or show, as well as the current theme for learning and dates to remember. Families can also message their child’s teacher through this platform to help keep communication open so that everyone can work together so our students have the best day possible, everyday! 

Part of our curriculum is also swimming. For our Nursery to Year One classes we have the experienced, qualified teachers from Bangkok Dolphins teach our children in the onsite pool. These weekly swimming lessons develop students’ swimming skills and safety through fun and engaging lessons. For our Pre-Nursery students, we have Water Splash on Friday mornings to build water confidence. These are in our garden space with paddling pools and incorporates sand play as well!

For students in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) we have specialist Thai and Physical Education (PE) lessons twice weekly. All other lessons are with their child’s class teacher and the supporting Teaching Assistants (TAs). Our Year One students also enjoy specialist Music, French and Mandarin lessons in addition to the Thai and PE.

A typical day; times are approximate and will vary for each year group:



  • 7:30 – 8:00: Students arrive in the garden
  • 8:00: National anthem and flag raising before moving to classes
  • 9:00 onwards: Snack time begins, provided by the school
  • 9:15 onwards: Outdoor play in the garden (times vary depending on year group)
  • Indoor or outdoor classes
  • 11:00 onwards: Lunch begins, provided by the school
  • 11:15 onwards: Outdoor play in the garden (times vary depending on year group)
  • Pre-Nursery students will nap after lunch instead of outdoor play
  • Indoor or outdoor classes
  • 1:00 onwards: Snack time being, provided by families
  • Indoor or outdoor classes
  • 2:10: End of the school day; collection of Pre-Nursery students and children who do not participate in the ECA programme
  • 2:15: ECA Programme begins for Nursery to Y1 students
  • 3:00: End of day. Students are to be collected promptly from First School at 3:00pm or from the Upper School campus if they have siblings in Primary or Secondary.

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