Rbis International School

A Philosophy Built on Moments

At the heart of RBIS's educational identity is a deceptively simple mission statement: "One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world. At RBIS we create the teaching and learning moments that change our lives." This is not rhetorical flourish — it shapes daily classroom practice and the school's broader culture.

The philosophy acknowledges that international education is about more than university admissions. For RBIS, the aim is to produce graduates who are lifelong learners: independent, responsible, confident, culturally aware, and equipped with the critical thinking skills to navigate a rapidly changing world.

Fifteen Core Values

Unusually specific for a school of its size, RBIS publishes fifteen explicit core values: Kindness, Compassion, Honesty, Integrity, Resilience, Determination, Creativity, Innovation, Communication, Collaboration, Respect, Mindfulness, Adaptability, Flexibility and International Mindedness. These values span the personal (honesty, resilience), the interpersonal (compassion, collaboration), and the global (international mindedness, adaptability) — a deliberate breadth for a school that serves families from dozens of nationalities in central Bangkok.

Personalised Learning at Scale

With approximately 200 students and average class sizes of around 15, RBIS has the structural conditions to make personalised learning a reality rather than an aspiration. The school's official approach emphasises tailoring the learning experience to individual strengths and needs, while maintaining the academic rigour of the full British curriculum from EYFS through to A-Levels. EAL (English as an Additional Language) support is woven into the programme to ensure no student is left behind because of language.

Holistic Wellbeing

The philosophy extends beyond academics. The house system (Unicorn, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix), the rich extracurricular programme, community service, and life-skills development all reflect a school that views character formation as inseparable from academic achievement. The vision statement explicitly calls for graduates who contribute to "a healthy and sustainable society" — a framing that connects individual growth to global responsibility.

Humble Beginnings (1971)

RBIS began as the Rasami Kindergarten in 1971, a small early-childhood institution in Bangkok's Phayathai district. The founding name — Rasami — has been preserved in the school's identity to this day, reflecting continuity with its origins even as the institution grew dramatically in scope.

Expansion into International Education

Over the following decades, Thailand's international education sector expanded in step with the country's economic development and growing expatriate population. Government policy increasingly encouraged the establishment and growth of international schools, and the Rasami Kindergarten seized that opportunity. The school extended its age range, introduced the British national curriculum, and eventually built out a full secondary programme including Cambridge IGCSE and A-Level courses.

Renaming and Rebranding

The institution was renamed Rasami British International School (RBIS), a name that captures both its heritage (Rasami) and its curriculum identity (British International). This rebranding signalled the school's formal commitment to British educational standards and international university preparation.

Today

More than 50 years after its founding, RBIS operates as a cohesive Pre-Kindergarten to Year 13 school serving approximately 200 students from a range of nationalities. It sits in a central Bangkok location within walking distance of BTS Victory Monument, offering families convenient access while maintaining the feel of a close-knit school community. The school's graduates have gone on to universities in Canada, the Netherlands, Thailand and beyond — a testament to the distance travelled from a single kindergarten classroom in 1971.

The Four-House System

At the centre of RBIS's community life are its four houses: Unicorn, Dragon, Lion and Phoenix. Every student is assigned to a house on joining the school, creating vertical communities that span year groups and age ranges. Each house has student captains — elected or appointed peer leaders — who help organise inter-house competitions, events and activities throughout the year. The house system is a deliberate tool for building belonging, resilience and leadership in a school small enough for every student to matter.

Student Council and Leadership

Beyond the houses, RBIS runs a formal Student Council that gives secondary students a voice in school decisions and genuine leadership experience. The school explicitly frames its extracurricular programme around leadership development, offering activities that build confidence and decision-making skills alongside the academic curriculum.

Community Service

Community Service Programmes form a core strand of the extracurricular offer, particularly for secondary students. RBIS encourages students to engage meaningfully with their local Bangkok community through volunteering and service projects, connecting the school's value of "compassion" to real-world action.

Inter-School Connections

Despite its relatively small size, RBIS competes regularly with neighbouring international schools in both sports (football, basketball, badminton) and academics (mathematics competitions, science contests). These inter-school engagements widen students' social circles and give them experience of friendly competition beyond the RBIS gates.

A Multilingual, Multinational Environment

With Thai, English, and Mandarin all present in the curriculum, and a student body drawn from expatriate, returnee and local Thai families, RBIS embodies the "International Mindedness" it lists as a core value. The Language, Social and Cultural Club formalises cross-cultural exchange, while the everyday reality of a diverse, 200-student campus means students encounter difference as a normal part of school life.

The British Framework

RBIS follows the British national curriculum throughout, structured into the familiar key stages: Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Key Stage 1 and 2 (Primary), Key Stage 3 and 4 (Secondary, including Cambridge IGCSE), and Sixth Form (A-Levels, Years 12–13). This framework provides a globally recognised academic pathway that prepares students for university admission in the UK, Canada, the USA, Europe, Australia and Thailand.

Cambridge Qualifications

At the secondary level, RBIS uses Cambridge International qualifications — IGCSE at Key Stage 4 and A-Levels at Sixth Form. These externally assessed qualifications give RBIS students internationally portable credentials that universities worldwide recognise and value. The school is a registered Cambridge International centre.

Small Classes, Personalised Learning

With average class sizes of approximately 15 students (and a maximum of around 20), RBIS teachers are in a strong position to know each student individually. The school explicitly promotes a "personalised learning" philosophy — adapting pace, approach and support to each student's needs — which in a larger school would be aspirational but at RBIS is structurally achievable.

University Destinations

RBIS Sixth Form graduates have been accepted to universities including the University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Calgary (Canada), Maastricht University (Netherlands), and Thailand's own Chulalongkorn University and Kasetsart University. The school presents these destinations proudly as evidence that its A-Level programme opens doors to competitive institutions internationally.

Academic Enrichment Beyond the Classroom

For students who want to go further, RBIS offers Academic Enrichment Clubs, participates in the International Mathematics Olympiad, and runs a Model United Nations (MUN) programme. These activities extend learning beyond the prescribed curriculum and give academically ambitious students contexts in which to excel.

A Non-Selective Entry Philosophy

RBIS does not operate a competitive academic entry examination in the traditional sense. Third-party data confirms the school is non-selective, meaning that families who apply in good faith and whose children can access an English-medium curriculum are likely to receive an offer. This makes RBIS a welcoming option for families new to Bangkok who may be arriving mid-year or at short notice — a common situation for expatriate families.

The Admissions Process

While non-selective, RBIS does conduct interviews and assessments as part of its admissions procedure. These are primarily used to understand a student's current level and any support needs (such as EAL provision), rather than to filter out candidates. The school's EAL programme means that students who are not yet fully fluent in English can still be admitted and supported.

Merit Scholarships: Up to 100% of Tuition

For Year 6 and above, RBIS offers merit-based scholarships in four categories:

• Academic Scholarship: for students with outstanding academic records
• Arts Scholarship: for students demonstrating achievement in visual or performing arts
• Music Scholarship: for students with talent in music or performing arts
• Sports Scholarship: for students with sporting achievement

All four scholarships can cover between 20% and 100% of annual tuition fees, making them genuinely transformative for eligible families. Application deadlines fall in late March (e.g. 28 March 2025 for the 2025/26 cycle). The school does not publish the number of awards made each year.

Fees in Context

Annual tuition at RBIS ranges from approximately THB 210,000 (Pre-Kindergarten) to THB 459,000 (Years 12–13), with a one-time admission fee of THB 100,000. Relative to Bangkok's larger international schools, RBIS sits at the more accessible end of the fee spectrum, which aligns with its welcoming admissions culture.