Enrolling at Global Star School follows seven steps: you send an enquiry and pick a campus, book a tour through the admissions site globalstarschool.com, visit with your child, try a trial week if one is offered, submit the enrolment file, read and sign the enrolment agreement, and then plan the first days with the homeroom teacher. Most of the real decisions happen in the middle three steps. The tour tells you whether the place feels right, the trial week tells you how your child responds, and the agreement tells you exactly what you are committing to.
This guide walks through each step in order and explains what it is for, so you can move through admissions in English without guessing what comes next. It is written for international families, mixed-nationality couples and English-speaking Vietnamese parents whose children are between 12 months and 6 years old. Where something depends on the campus or on the current year's rules, we say so and tell you what to ask, rather than giving a figure that may already be out of date.
The seven steps at a glance
Before going into detail, here is the whole path. Families often find it helpful to see that admissions is a sequence of small, reversible steps rather than one big decision made on the spot.
- Enquiry. You tell the school your child's date of birth, the area you live or work in, and roughly when you hope to start.
- Campus shortlist. The four campuses share one curriculum but sit in different parts of former District 12, so the shortlist is mostly about the daily journey.
- Tour booking. Tours are booked on globalstarschool.com by choosing the campus and filling in the form for that location.
- The visit. You see classrooms in session, meet the admissions team and ask the questions that matter to your family.
- Trial week. Where available, your child spends a few days in the class they would join, which is the most honest test there is.
- Enrolment file and agreement. You fill in the forms, provide copies of identity and health papers, and sign the agreement that sets out fees, terms and withdrawal rules.
- Start date and settling in. You agree on a first day and a gentle plan for the first weeks with the class teacher.
None of these steps obliges you to the next one. A tour does not commit you to a trial week, and a trial week does not commit you to enrol. The only step that creates an obligation is signing the agreement, which is why it deserves the slowest reading of all.
Step one: the enquiry, and what to tell the school
A good first enquiry saves a round of back-and-forth. The admissions team needs three things to give you a useful answer: your child's exact date of birth, the part of the city you will be travelling from, and the month you would like your child to start. The date of birth matters more than parents expect, because it decides which of the five classes your child would join and whether there is likely to be a place in that class at the time you want.
It also helps to mention anything that shapes the placement: the languages your child hears at home, whether they have been in a nursery or playgroup before, any allergy or health condition the kitchen and teachers must know about, and whether a sibling might join later. You are not being assessed at this stage. The school is simply trying to understand which room, which teachers and which daily rhythm would suit your child.
The admissions site is published in five languages, Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, so you can write in the language you are most comfortable with. If you are writing on behalf of a partner who does not read English or Vietnamese, say so early. It changes how the school communicates with your family later, and it is much easier to set up from the start than to fix after the first misunderstanding about a pickup time.
Steps two and three: choosing a campus and booking the tour
Global Star School lists four campuses in former District 12: Hiep Thanh, Thanh Loc, Ha Huy Giap and An Phu Dong. Since the city reorganised its administrative units in July 2025, these neighbourhoods sit in new wards with new names, so check the current ward and street address on the admissions site rather than relying on an old map app entry. The curriculum is the same at all four, which means the choice usually comes down to the daily journey, the building and outdoor space, and how the campus feels to you when you stand in it.
For most families the honest test is the commute at the hour you will actually travel. A campus that is fifteen minutes away at ten in the morning can be forty minutes away at half past seven on a rainy weekday. If you can, drive or ride the route once at drop-off time before you book. We cover this in more detail in a separate guide to choosing between the campuses.
Tours are booked through globalstarschool.com: you choose the campus closest to you and submit the form for that location, and each campus has its own admissions staff who will contact you to confirm a time. If you are still deciding between two campuses, it is perfectly reasonable to book both and visit them in the same week, ideally at a similar time of day so the comparison is fair. Morning visits usually show more of the day, because the main activity and the bilingual circle time happen before lunch.
Step four: the visit itself
A tour normally includes a walk through the classrooms, the nap rooms, the kitchen and the outdoor areas, followed by time with the admissions team to talk through ages, schedules and fees. Bring your child if they are old enough to walk around. Watching how they react to the space, the noise level and the other children tells you something no brochure can. A child who drifts towards the block corner and has to be coaxed away at the end is giving you useful information; so is a child who clings and wants to leave, though that alone is not a reason to rule a school out.
Use the visit to see the things that are hard to describe in writing: how teachers speak to children who are upset, whether the Vietnamese homeroom teacher and the foreign or bilingual co-teacher actually work together in the room, how the classroom is laid out for the age group, and how calm the nap room is. Ask to see the class your child would join rather than the one that happens to be closest to the office.
Take notes during or right after the visit. If you see two campuses or two schools in one week, the details blur together within days. A short note on the commute, the room, the teachers and your child's reaction is enough to compare properly later. A wider list of questions to ask when comparing preschools in Saigon sits in our guide to choosing a preschool.
Step five: the trial week as a decision tool
The admissions site lists trial weeks alongside tours, and for a young child it is the single most useful step in the whole process. A tour shows you the school on its best behaviour for an hour. A few days in the class your child would actually join shows you how the routine works for your child: whether they eat the food, whether they nap, how they react when you leave, and how the teachers handle the moments that go wrong.
Ask the admissions team what the trial covers before you agree to it. Useful questions include how many days it lasts, whether your child stays for the full day or only the morning, whether lunch and nap are included, whether there is any charge, and whether you can stay in the building on the first day. Ask, too, how the teachers will tell you how it went, whether that is a conversation at pickup, a note in the parent app or both.
Treat what you learn in a trial week with some patience. Many children cry at drop-off for the first few days anywhere, and a child who is upset on Monday and playing on Thursday is showing an entirely normal pattern. What matters more is how the teachers respond and whether your child is a little more at ease each day. The settling-in process after enrolment has its own guide in our section on the first weeks at a new school.
Step six: the enrolment file and the agreement
Once you decide to go ahead, the school will ask you to complete an enrolment file. Expect an application form with your child's details, copies of a birth certificate or passport, the parents' identity documents, recent photographs, a health and allergy questionnaire, a vaccination record, emergency contacts and a list of people authorised to collect your child. Some of these documents may need translation if they were issued outside Vietnam. Ask for the current checklist in writing so you can prepare everything in one go.
The enrolment agreement is the document that matters most. It should set out the monthly tuition for your child's class and campus, any annual or one-off fees, how meals and transport are billed, when payments are due, what happens during holidays and absences, and the notice and refund rules if you withdraw. Global Star School publishes tuition starting from around 6.2 million VND per month depending on campus, with a separate annual development fee; these figures are as published by the school, so confirm the current amounts with admissions for your child's class before you sign.
Read the agreement at home, not at the desk, and ask about anything that is not clear. Under Vietnamese civil law, when a standard-form contract contains an unclear term, that term is interpreted in favour of the party who did not draft it. That is a useful protection, but it is far better to have the answer in writing before you sign than to rely on it afterwards.
Step seven: the start date and the first days
The last step is agreeing a start date and a plan for the first week. Good preschools do not expect a child to arrive on Monday and stay from seven in the morning to half past five in the afternoon straight away. A gradual start, with shorter days at first and a parent nearby for part of the first morning, makes the transition easier for most children. Ask the class teacher what they recommend for your child's age and temperament, and share what you know: how your child falls asleep, what comforts them, what they eat at home, and which words they use for the toilet, water and food in each language they hear.
This is also the moment to set up communication. Global Star School uses a dedicated parent app on iOS and Android for daily updates, photos and messages with the homeroom teacher. Install it before the first day, check that both parents have access if you both want it, and confirm which language you prefer for messages. If one parent is the main contact, make sure the teacher knows.
Finally, keep a simple folder with copies of everything you signed and submitted. It sounds bureaucratic, but when you need to check a notice period, update a pickup authorisation or move your child to the next class, having the papers in one place saves time for you and for the school.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How long does the admissions process usually take?
It depends mostly on availability in your child's class and on how quickly you can visit and gather documents. Some families move from enquiry to first day within a couple of weeks; others take a month or two because they compare schools or wait for a place. Ask admissions about current availability for your child's age at the campus you prefer.
Can we enrol without visiting in person first?
You can ask, but a visit is strongly recommended, especially for a child under three. If you are still abroad, ask whether a video call with admissions is possible, then plan an in-person visit or a trial week soon after you arrive and before you sign the agreement or pay fees.
Do we need to speak Vietnamese to go through admissions?
No. The admissions site is available in English and four other languages, and the school works with English-speaking families. It is still worth asking which language the homeroom teacher and the office use for daily messages, so that pickup changes and health notes are never lost in translation.
Is there an entrance test for children?
Preschool admissions should not involve testing young children or ranking them. What the school needs is information about your child's age, health, routines, languages and any support needs, so that the teachers can place them well and prepare. Treat any conversation with your child as getting to know them, not an exam.
Is the tuition the same at every campus?
Not necessarily. The school publishes tuition starting from different amounts depending on the campus, and meals and transport are billed separately by campus. Ask for the full fee sheet for your child's class at the specific campus, and confirm the figures in writing with admissions before you commit.
What happens if our child does not settle after enrolling?
Talk to the homeroom teacher first, because most settling difficulties ease with a clear plan and a few weeks of consistency. If it does not improve, check the withdrawal and notice terms in your enrolment agreement, which should state how much notice is needed and what, if anything, is refunded.