Good Start Foundation
Educational support for 133 kindergarten children attending poor rural schools in Prachuapkirikan province, Thailand
Nong Ta Pao School Kindergarten Class
Dear Donors,
Good Start Foundation presently provides educational support to 133 kindergarten children attending poor rural schools in Prachuapkirikan province, Thailand.
2025 was a memorable year for Good Start. The official approval of Good Start as a registered charity foundation was received on February 25th. This approval was due in no small measure to the kind agreement of Napasiri Sae-Kuay and Pramote Srisamai to join the board of Good Start. Khun Napasiri is the deputy managing director of the Mechai Foundation, one of the largest Thai foundations which supports over 200 rural Thai schools. Khun Pramote is a senior partner of a leading Thai law firm and provided invaluable assistance in registering Good Start as a foundation.
We review below in detail the 2025 results of our educational programs and our other educational initiatives. We believe that our foundational literacy and numeracy programs will have a life changing impact on the children by:
Preparing them to begin primary school where all textbooks are in Thai language.
Encouraging their further educational progress to completion of high school.
Enabling them to get a better job when they leave school.
2025 At a Glance
Kindergarten children supported
Reading exam score
Scholarship students
Donations raised (USD)
Thai Language Literacy Program
Our core educational program to teach kindergarten children Thai language reading and writing skills continues to deliver very good results. Our literacy program has enabled the children to progress in one year from zero Thai alphabet knowledge to writing simple sentences and reading short stories.
The children were ready to begin primary school where all textbooks are in Thai. Children, who had taken our Thai language classes, scored 92% in the annual government reading exams.
These good results reflect the excellent teaching skills of Ava, our Thai language teacher. This year Ava increased the amount of small group classes to 40% of class time, because she found smaller classes were more effective in helping students with learning difficulties or who were just shy and needed encouragement.
Ava also took the initiative to enroll in an AI course, which she has used to plan and create more interesting content for her classes.
Ava enjoys the confidence and support of school directors, who requested her to give remedial Thai language classes to 22 primary school students with poor reading and writing skills. These students were able to resume their normal studies on completion of these special classes.
Numeracy Program
We have just recruited a very experienced science teacher, Khun Sujira Meakniti, to introduce kindergarten children to mathematics. This numeracy program will cover knowledge of numbers, counting, and simple single figure additions, and will complement our Thai language literacy program. Again, our objective is to prepare the children to enter primary school without a learning gap.
Other Educational Support
Teacher salary support
Salary support for two kindergarten teachers, one at each of our schools. This enables Ava to give smaller group classes which require two teachers. It also mitigates the teacher staffing shortages of poor rural schools.
Provision of learning materials and equipment
This includes an enrollment package comprising school uniforms, school bag, writing materials and a sleeping blanket for each new kindergarten student. This is popular with parents as it defrays their school enrollment expenses.
Summer learning camp
Support for a summer learning camp for 82 students.
Scholarships
We have granted 5 scholarships according to the following criteria:
- A family in extreme poverty such that the applicant is unlikely to continue their studies without support.
- A good reference from the school director of one of our schools, testifying to the good character as well as academic ability of the applicant.
- Strong academic performance as evidenced by a GPA score of at least 3.0.
Our 5 scholarship students continue to do well at their studies and had GPA scores of over 3.0. One of our scholarship students has been admitted to the Asia Pacific International University to qualify as a registered nurse.
Siriwipka “Kip” Jaikla
Kip comes from a very poor, single-parent family of four children with an income of less than US$200 per month. Our scholarship of US$80 per month not only makes a financial difference to the family but has given Kip extra confidence. Kip has won numerous awards for creative art and regularly volunteers to do community work.
Review of Finances
Audited Accounts for the period ended December 31, 2025 are available here. We were able to raise donations of US$58,290 this year, in addition to initial funding of US$32,000. Consequently, our year-end financial position is strong with cash reserves of US$51,296. This complies with our policy to maintain reserves more than sufficient to cover our budgeted expenses for the coming year.
Expenses for the period totaled US$40,577, comprising educational expenses of US$30,645 and administrative expenses of US$9,932. Administrative expenses were high because of non-recurring legal expenses associated with establishing and registering Good Start as a foundation with the Thai authorities.
How we spent — Educational vs Administrative
Of US$40,577 in 2025 expenses
Funding & reserves
USD, period to 31 December 2025
The full audited financial statements (in Thai Baht) are available on the Audited Accounts 2025 page, audited by The Sun Auditing Co., Ltd. and signed on 12 March 2026.
Development Plan 2026
Maintain literacy quality
Our primary objective is to maintain the quality and good results of our literacy program at our two schools.
Continue numeracy program
Secondly, we plan to continue our numeracy program to introduce kindergarten children to mathematics.
Recruit deputy for Ava
Priority will also be given to finding a high calibre, experienced teacher, who can deputise for as well assist Ava. Until this recruitment is in hand and satisfactory fund raising for the 2025/26 school year achieved, plans to extend our educational programs to more schools will be deferred.
Thanks
Good Start is a team effort. So, I must express a special thank you to:
- My colleague directors, Khun Napasiri and Khun Pramote — for their good advice.
- Khun Wanida and Khun Prappasorn, directors of Nong Tapao and Nong Kra Toom schools — for their strong support of our programs.
- Khun Ava — for her outstanding teaching results.
- Giovanni van Dam — for his voluntary expert IT assistance in building our website.
- Napaporn (Ben) Boonyinglua, Administration Manager — Ben maintains excellent relations with the school directors and it is her good work that often resolves or avoids problems encountered with the execution of our programs.
I hope this report shows you that the money you have generously donated to Good Start has been put to good use.
Roger Perrin
President, Good Start Foundation
PO Box 106, Hua Hin Post Office, Prachuapkirikan, Thailand 77110 +66 89 88 36 670 goodstartcharity.org [email protected]