About me

Me and my wonderful family

Tao and Phoenix on his 6th birthday

My name is Bree, I am an expatriate living on the island of Koh Tao. I have two children, Phoenix, aged 10 and Crew, aged 18 months. I came to Thailand back in 2003 originally as a backpacker. I fell in love with this country when I first visited at 5 years old and found myself falling even more in love with it 13 years later. I moved to Bangkok where I worked at one of the most prestigious kindergartens, I was the Head of the English program. I met my husband there and we welcomed little Phoenix into the world. Unfortunately, things didn't work out for us both and we decided to part ways shortly after he was born. Tao now lives on Koh Tao and we remain dear friends and consider him very much a part of our family. I decided to move back to Koh Tao so I could be close to my parents with the dream of opening up my own business. I packed my whole life up, my newborn son, my months' wage and that was it! With every last baht I had, I started up the school. I will never forget my first large purchase which was the Koh Tao Playskool sign that still hangs over our gates today. We opened up on Phoenix's 1st birthday and started with just 4 students. For the last 9 years, blood, sweat, tears and every last baht to my name has been and still is poured into this school and that has made it what it is today.

Our weird and wonderful family

In 2013 I met my fiance Steven, he has been my rocks through some of the most stressful times in my life and I would not be who I am today without his support. In 2015 we welcomed another bundle of joy into the world, Crew. We are very blessed however he certainly is a very lively little boy. Pairing that with managing a business, cutting costs by taking on as many roles as I can to save money and parenting two children with a big age gap has been very challenging the last 2 years.

This would all not have been possible without the support of my mum, she has stood by me since this whole journey began. My children and I would not have been where we are today without her. My mum, Gigi, has contributed so much to our wonderful school and the life we have built together.

Today, we continue to move forward and keep growing what was once a tiny seed into a garden of confident, happy, hard working, honest, polite and kind little flowers.