Phuket International Academy opens day school
With Thai government approval and having obtained candidate status from the International Baccalaureate Organisation, Phuket International Academy (PIA) now has its day school up and running, with 52 students having started lessons on September 2.
The school has very well equipped science, music, art (both “dry” and “wet”) and other classrooms, and the kitchens are under the command of a chef who formerly worked at Mom Tri’s Boathouse hotel. Minds and tummies alike are well taken care of.
The Phuket International Academy top team, with school buildings in the background. From left: Sean Panton, GM of the sports club; Len Peters, Acting Head of the day school; Rae du Toit, PR and Marketing Consultant; Lister Hannah, Executive Chairman of the school; and PIA Founder Klaus Hebben.
The student body has accumulated so far through word of mouth. One mother said she was delighted with the school. Her child had been bullied in his previous school and, naturally, hated going there. Another parent said his boy had done poorly at his old school because “his mind is different”. At PIA Day School, this difference had been understood and he was now excelling.
Part of this success may be due to the fact that the school currently has a student-teacher ratio of about 3:1, so each child gets plenty of attention.
But this is not the story, says Klaus Hebben, founder and director of PIA. Or, at least, it’s only a part of the story.
Hebben’s dream – and he has the funds, the will and, now, the team to realise it – goes much further.
The school will eventually educate children right through to the International Baccalaureate, a qualification recognised by most of the world’s top universities.
But the dream is much bigger than that. The Academy will have three parts, of which the school is only one. “I have an interest in sports,” Hebben explains. “I do the triathlon myself and my idea was not just to create a school, but to create a sports club with the school, which would be available not only for the children but for parents and the community, and also to develop an environment where parents can enjoy themselves with their children and form a closer bond with their children.”
The academy already has the beginnings of the sports club up and running, with a 50-metre Olympic-spec pool and another 25m pool under construction. It also has a newly-completed all-weather futsal field with floodlights, and a basketball court that is close to completion.
Sports Club GM Sean Panton tries out the newly-completed all-weather futsal field. The "grass" is polyurethane and the "sand" is made of rubber chips.
Later there will be a gym (it’s under construction), six tennis courts and a full-size soccer pitch with running track and stands. The stadium will be open for island tournaments, whose organisers currently have a tiresome time nailing down venues.
“Since the sports club would not be sustainable with parents and children only, we said, ‘Let’s open this up to the community and to professional athletes who come to Phuket for training.’ In many parts of the world, in the winter it’s hard to train. For example, a triathlete in Europe in the winter is reduced to doing a bit of maintenance in the gym.”
So Hebben will build a 78-room hotel for visiting athletes. But that’s not the whole story either. With the intellect and the body taken care of, Hebben also wants to give children, parents and the Phuket community the chance to develop aesthetically. So there will be a performing arts centre for theatre or dance, for example.
And that’s still not the entire story. “The third part is addressing the spiritual part of the
human being – what we call the Mind Centre, which will have courses in meditation for coordinating your
body, your mind and your intellect,” Hebben explains. “Next year, in April, we will have a six-week
course with Prof Paul Ekman from the US who is one of the great psychologists of our time.
“We also have a project in cooperation with the University of California to explore what happens to your body during meditation, and we are just starting a second cooperation with Oxford University, studying consciousness. Over time, this will become a very important part of PIA, because the school will become great if the teachers are great. We have the best teachers, but we want to make sure they have access to developing themselves further.”
He also foresees athletes using the Mind Centre. “A lot of physical capacity is only usable if you can control it mentally. Tiger Woods is a perfect example. He bridges east and west, and that’s what we plan to do here, to bring out the best of both worlds.”
The Mind Centre will be open to all, with six-week or eight-week residential courses, or weekend courses for those who don’t have time for the longer ones.
“We’re not just a school,” Hebben says with a smile. “We are much more than that.”
The Academy’s website is here, or email here for information on the school or here for information on the Sports Club or Mind Centre.
