Co-founder and Early Childhood TeacherOriginally Thai, Soonya spent her childhood years predominantly outside the country. After studying at Jiddu Krishnamurti holistic schools in India for almost 10 years, she moved to England for further studies. She has a BA in International Relations from England and a MSc in Development Studies from Sweden. Prior to starting Wonder Valley, Soonya worked for a German political foundation and later as a business news reporter for the Bangkok Post.
It took over 20 years of many educational initiatives first started by her mother at Suan Sai Nam, a Krishnamurti Retreat in southern Thailand to finally arrive with the idea for Wonder Valley.
Soonya believes that “true” education is the fundamental and most sustainable endeavor to bring about happy human beings attuned with who they really are. And it is such people who will readily contribute their full potential for the betterment of humanity.
Soonya is married and has a daughter, Kamin who also studies at Wonder Valley.
Nicole (Nicci) Mulholland-Dobbs
Early Childhood EducatorNicci is a New Zealander who left New Zealand in 2019 to pursue her dream of sharing her passion for quality early childhood education by teaching abroad.
Nicci has been in the education sector for 24 years having been involved in a variety of teaching, and management roles. In the past, she owned and developed and a professional development business in New Zealand where she taught teachers practical hands-on teaching skills and strategies. Her passions are music and movement, storytelling, being in nature and learning alongside children about the world around us. She is passionate about the New Zealand curriculum and can see how this will complement Wonder Valley's education system.
Nicci and her husband Trev, have 6 grown up children between them who all reside in New Zealand.
They both love to explore nature and have a keen interest in gardening.
Aom Apinya Kaenwongkam
Early Childhood EducatorApinya has an open heart. Being and learning with children makes her happy. She believes that love is the most important tool for both the children and herself to overcome various forms of changes in life. She has been working with children since 2011, after graduating with a degree in education from Burapa University.
With a strong motivation and passion in working in social work and working with children, along with a wide range of skills including art, music, classroom management for different age and other relevant trainings she received (such as crisis management), led her to work with people from all around the world.
Nowadays, Apinya is one of the educators of Wonder Valley, which situated hundreds of kilometres away from her hometown in the Mae Khong region. She decided to settle her energised spirit in the valley for love to be close to the nature. She also believes that this community will nurture not only the children to find their own paths of growth here, but so is she.
Aileen Yuet Lien Chen
Educator and LearnerFor the last 10 years, Aileen has been associated with the education space in various capacity but teaching has always been closest to her heart. She started her journey as a teacher (as part of the Teach For India fellowship), teaching students in an underserved school for 2 years, following which she led various programs at Mantra4Change, an NGO based in India working towards school improvement. Aileen has worked with various school leaders, mentoring and coaching them to improve their schools holistically. In addition to this, she has designed and implemented various teaching learning materials and training modules (with a specific focus on mathematics and literacy) for teachers. Aileen holds a Masters in Education with specialization in School Organisation, Leadership and Management. Her other areas of interest include photography, sketching, painting, athletics, sports and spending time with children. Her love for being with children and exploring together has brought her to Wonder Valley.
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Primary Teacher"Hi everyone! My name is Chelsea, I'm a certified teacher for primary education from Canada. I've been living in southern Thailand for almost 5 years, and Wonder Valley is the third school that I've been blessed to work at.
I feel particularly drawn to Wonder Valley's philosophy of learning, which aims to ignite curiosity and inquiry from the students, rather than teacher-led instructional lessons.
For myself, the idea that children are naturally interested in the world around them and don't need direct instruction from an adult in order to learn new concepts is something that I passionately believe and have seen firsthand over my 15+ years of experience working with children under 12 years of age.
I am beyond excited to get to know our parents, students and the wider school community over this upcoming year and hope to have a long, fun-filled future of exploring and adventuring at Wonder Valley school! "
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Chinese Teacher"Hello everyone, I am Yan Ge, a Chinese teacher from China. I believe that children will be able to grow beautifully here just like the nature all around them. I look forward to sharing my language and culture with the children here through activities like calligraphy, paper-cutting, Peking Opera facial makeup, making dumplings and many more.
I really like the teaching environment and teaching philosophy of Wonder Valley, and really thank parents here for their trust in us".
Our Mentor
Mr.Pichai Srisai
Director, Songkhla Community Foundation
Mr.Pramote Juthaporn
Retired academic and electrical engineer.
Associate Professor Dr.Soree Pokaeo
Former lecturer in Counselling at Chulalongkorn University
Assistant Professor Amporn Sornprasit
Assistant Professor of Science Faculty, PSU
Dr. Nirand Wichsethsamit
Specialised Doctor in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine in Community's Mental Health and Director of Mayo Hospital, Pattani
Dr. Woralak Chookamnerd
Licensee of Woraphat Nursery and Educational Innovator
