Kornkaew (Dusit Campus)
- Trilingual: taught in Thai, English daily, Mandarin weekly
- Montessori in a Thai context, mostly outdoors in the garden
- The original campus, established 1984
- 2 terms (May | Nov)
Where young children learn to create, grow and lead.
Kornkaew International Montessori School - Ari, Bangkok
International Montessori education for ages 1 to 6, where children learn by doing real things: growing food, making what they imagine, and selling it at their own market. Built on 40+ years of Kornkaew heritage.
Ages 1-6years
Montessori X + EYFScurriculum
English-mediuminternational
Small groups1:3 average ratio
3 termsSep | Jan | May
Ari, BangkokPhaya Thai
Why choose KIMS?
Curriculum of the future
Montessori X alongside the EYFS framework, all taught in English.
Holistic care
Small groups at 1:3, a health check every morning and strict safeguarding.
40+ years of heritage
The first Kornkaew school opened in 1984, and KIMS teaches the same method today.
Ministry-recognised
Accredited by Thailand's Ministry of Education and assessed by ONESQA.
Early-childhood specialists
Educators trained specifically to nurture children aged 1 to 6.
A loving community
Families from around the world, and two generations: many of today's parents were once Kornkaew pupils.
Montessori X
Real skills for a changing world, learnt through work and play.
Montessori X builds on the Montessori method and the EYFS framework, drawing on child development research and on Kornkaew’s classrooms since 1984. Its three pillars feed each other: children grow food on the school farm, trade at the markets with their own currency, and make, test and build their way through the afternoon core activities. Out of all of it grows the mindset and the human skills they will need.
The Montessori approach
Underneath Montessori X is the Montessori method the group has practised since Kornkaew Montessori School opened in 1984. KIMS carries those four decades into an international setting: authentic Montessori materials, carefully prepared environments, and teachers trained to the group’s own standard. Read the group’s story.
Learning here is personalised. Children work in mixed-age groups, each at their own pace and on their own next step, in open learning spaces indoors and out, with the English Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) behind it.
Children meet every idea with their hands before they meet it on paper. Worksheets follow, written by our teachers for each activity and personalised to each child’s age and level. There are no tests: instead, the teaching team assesses every child regularly, so we know how each one is developing and which milestone comes next, and we tell you what we see.
A day at KIMS
The morning follows the same gentle rhythm every day, and the afternoon brings a different core activity, so every child meets every subject across the term. Two things run through all of it: children earn KIMS coins for the jobs they do, and every activity builds the future-ready skills.
Morning
Arriving
Children arrive between 7:30 and 8:30, to a warm welcome and a health check at the gate, then walk in together through the garden, often hand in hand with a friend. Lessons begin at 8:30.
Creative Play Space
Play the children design themselves. They set up their own activity stations and invent the roles to go with them, and the science, maths, language and human skills arrive along the way.
Montessori work cycle
An unhurried stretch of the morning in which each child chooses their own work and stays with it as long as it holds them. The materials cover the Montessori areas of learning: Practical Life, Sensorial, and Academics, which takes in mathematics, language and culture.
Farming
This is the farm ecosystem in action. Boots on, and out to the farm: children collect and count the eggs, tend their vegetable plots, look after the chickens, and record what they observe.
Mealworms. Children raise mealworms, sorting the larvae from the pupae and beetles as each one changes.
The market. Farming ends each day at the KIMS Market, where children buy and sell what the farm has produced with the coins they have earned. How the money works.
Lunch
Everyone eats together, with fresh fruit to finish. Lunch is cooked fresh every day in our own kitchen at the Dusit campus, which cooks for both schools.
Afternoon
After lunch comes a core activity, a different subject each day. Two things reach into the afternoon. Entrepreneurship, which runs through the whole day, has its own lesson here, when the KIMS Market opens again. And the farm comes in too, above all in Food science, where children cook what they have grown.
- Maker Lab
- Food science
- STEM
- Creative art
- Physical development
- Entrepreneurship
- Cultural studies
- Music and movement
- English
- Thai
- Mathematics
A closer look at some of them:
Maker Lab
Product design from the beginning: a problem worth solving, a drawing, and then the building of it, with whatever tools and materials the job calls for. What does not work gets changed and made again.
Food science
Measuring, mixing, heating and tasting, often with what the garden has just given: maths and science children can eat.
STEM
Questions tested with real experiments: warm and cold water, filters, circuits and colours, and what happens if we try it again.
Creative art
Paint, chalk and prints made with whatever the garden offers, with room to make a mess and something of their own.
Physical development
Running, climbing, balancing and team games on the sports field.
Home time
Half-day children go home after lunch, at 12:15. Full-day children finish at 14:30, and those staying on for extra-curricular activities carry on until 15:30, with pick-up by 16:00.
Holistic care
Every child known, safe and well looked after.
- Small groups. A 1:3 teacher-to-child ratio on average, with 1:1 support when a child needs it.
- A health check every morning. Temperatures are checked at the gate, and a child who becomes unwell is cared for apart while we call home.
- Toilet training at each child’s pace. Children do not need to be toilet-trained to join, and many of our youngest still wear nappies. We agree a plan with each family, and trained staff change and clean children gently, with care for their privacy.
- Help at mealtimes. Children who cannot yet feed themselves are fed by their teachers, and encouraged a little more each day to manage on their own.
- A closed campus. During school hours the campus is closed to anyone outside the school community. That is why campus visits happen only after classes: no visitor ever walks through a classroom while children are in it.
- Privacy and safeguarding. Strict child-protection policies, CCTV in designated areas with footage kept confidential, and children’s information and photographs handled with care.
- Clean and well kept. Classrooms, facilities and equipment are cleaned and maintained every day, so children can explore freely and safely.
- A hospital partnership. KIMS families receive discounted rates at ViMUT Hospital.
Life at KIMS
The latest moments from school, shared with our families every week.
Two campuses, one family
Both campuses share the same Montessori foundations, the same family and over forty years of the same care. Each leads with a different strength.
You are reading about
KIMS (Ari Campus)
- English-medium and international
- Montessori X with EYFS: the farm, the KIMS Market and future-ready skills
- Built on over forty years of Kornkaew heritage
- 3 terms (Sep | Jan | May)
Enrolment and fees
Applications are welcome up to a year ahead. See the steps, the fees and what to prepare.
See the enrolment processQuestions parents ask
What age range do you accept?
We welcome children aged 1 to 6. They do not need to be toilet-trained or speaking fluently to join: our teachers work with each family on both. The one practical requirement is that a child can walk independently.
At what age should my child apply?
Most families apply about a year before they would like their child to start, so a two-year-old usually applies now for a place at three. Children take in different skills at different ages, and starting earlier gives teachers more of those stages to work with, but the best time is the one that feels right for your family.
Can I schedule a school visit?
Yes. Private visits are held by appointment on weekday afternoons at 16:00, after classes, so we can give you our full attention while protecting our children's privacy. You will see the classrooms, the garden and the farm. To book, message us on LINE: @kims.
What language are lessons taught in?
English is the language of instruction and of the school day. Thai language and culture are taught in dedicated Thai lessons, so children build an international foundation while staying connected to their Thai roots.
How will I know how my child is doing?
Every day, and then in depth each term. You can speak to your child's teachers at drop-off and pick-up, so anything on your mind is dealt with the same day. Photographs of the day go into a private group for parents, so you can see how the day actually went and keep those years. At the end of every term there is a parent-teacher meeting, where the teaching team takes you through a personalised report: what your child has done, the milestones they have reached and what comes next.
Where do children go after KIMS?
Children are with us until six, and go on to both international and Thai primary schools in Bangkok. Neither door closes: children leave us reading, writing and working in English, with the Thai language and culture they have had throughout.
Is there a half-day option?
Yes. Half-day children are collected at 12:15 and full-day children at 14:30. Children can also stay on for extra-curricular activities until 15:30, with pick-up by 16:00.
What do children eat at school?
Every meal is cooked fresh each day in our own kitchen at the Dusit campus, which cooks for both schools so the quality stays in our hands. Meals are made from wholesome, minimally processed ingredients, and the menu rotates over four weeks. Instead of sweet snacks and desserts we serve fresh fruit. Please tell us about any allergies or dietary needs and we will plan around them.
How do you help a new child settle in?
Every new child joins the Transition Programme: four weeks in the holidays before their first term, with parents taking part too. Children get to know their teachers, their classmates and the shape of the day, and families get to know the school. The full process is on the enrolment page.
Visit us
KIMS (Ari Campus)
21 Ari 3, Phaholyothin Rd., Phaya Thai, Bangkok 10400
Tours run outside school hours, so you see the classrooms and the grounds without disturbing the children.
Book a private tour
