More than a tropical island: Phuket residents discover international school that offers world-recognised holistic ‘education in paradise’
- British International School, Phuket offers students from around the world a curriculum with IGCSE and IB academic programmes, and professional coaching in football, tennis, swimming, golf, aerial arts and gymnastics
- Headmaster Simon Meredith says the school encourages lifelong love of learning for each individual child and provides holistic preparation to attend top global universities
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The idyllic tropical resort island of Phuket, in southern Thailand, is a popular tourist destination known for its luscious-green mountains, pristine white-sand beaches and dramatic coastal scenery.
Yet families who have chosen to stay as residents have been pleasantly surprised to learn that it is also home to the English-medium, co-educational British International School, Phuket (BISP). BISP offers a world-class education, high-performance sports facilities and extracurricular activities for day and boarding students aged from two to 18 at its extensive 18-hectare (44-acre) campus.
Simon Meredith, BISP’s headmaster, says many parents are amazed to discover that such a school exists on the island. “The last thing you’d expect in the middle of a tropical paradise is an iconic 25-year-old British-style building, which looks as if Harry Potter may have just walked out the door,” he says with a laugh.
BISP had only 59 children when it was founded in 1996, but had about 820 students during the past school year. Meredith, who has worked at the school for 17 years, as a secondary mathematics teacher and, for the past two and a half years, as headmaster, says he expects the school could soon have up to 900 students as more families relocate to Phuket.
“We’ve never had such an enormous rate of enrolments and we are keen to continue to welcome new families to BISP,” he says.
A melting pot to mould global citizens
Children are taught in modern, purpose-built facilities covering early years learning, for “Little Ducks”, aged two to three, and nursery and reception, aged three to five, primary education, aged five to 11, and secondary education, aged 12 to 18.
“There are over 40 different nationalities represented in our student body,” Meredith says. “The nice thing about the school is that it’s really international in its focus.”
Gilbert Leung relocated from Hong Kong to Phuket with his wife and son, Quintas, 12, in March in pursuit of a more relaxed lifestyle, and was immediately impressed with the diverse nationalities of the school’s students.
“As soon as we moved here, we started to look for a school for my son, and BISP was recommended by people in my social circle in Phuket as a good choice,” Gilbert, director of a luxury villa company on the island, says.
“I was surprised that Quintas has managed to make friends from all over the world in such a short time. He was so committed to the school that he even gave up the chance to return to Hong Kong for the summer holiday, preferring to apply to BISP’s summer camp.”
BISP’s 110 teachers, many of whom are long serving staff, come from 16 different countries. “The teachers stay for about seven years, which is quite high for international schools,” Meredith says. “I think if you’ve got an international student and staff body, that makes for a better world-class education … it helps the students to learn to become global citizens.”
World-class curriculum and facilities
BISP students are offered a high-quality education, with younger children following the Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 curriculum, setting out a compulsory range of subjects and required academic standards, based on the National Curriculum of England.
It also offers two English-language-based, globally recognised qualifications – the International General Certificate of Secondary Education programme for Year 10 and 11 students, and the International Baccalaureate programme for those in Years 12 and 13.
“The students finish off their last four years with programmes that will enable them to go anywhere in the world,” Meredith says.
From Year 9, students are assigned dedicated university counsellors and the school also hosts annual university fairs where they can meet admissions staff directly.
In addition to pursuing higher education in schools in Britain, BISP graduates often go on to attend leading universities around the world, he says. “This year, 20 graduates from the class of 2022, which is about one-third of the graduating class, received scholarship offers.”
Focus on children’s holistic development
He says BISP places a strong emphasis on “holistic” education, which involves helping developing children to cultivate their social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills and encourage them to have a lifelong love of learning. This includes supporting a child’s interests beyond the classroom environment – whether it is on a football pitch or in a dance studio.
The school’s modern facilities include six science labs and two information technology labs, four music rooms, a drama studio, four high-performance sports academies for football, golf, tennis and swimming – all led by professional coaches – 25-metre and 50-metre swimming pools, a 400-metre athletics track, trapeze and gymnasium.
“In one year, we usually have more than 300 after school activities on offer … such as football, tennis, golf, swimming, aerial trapeze and gymnastics, Meredith says. “And we have professional coaches in all of these sports.”
Students can also take part in non-sporting activities by joining various groups, including robotics, business and investment clubs, he says. “In the arts, we stage two or three productions a year and have music bands, drama performances, art clubs, pottery wheels and workshops hosted by visiting artists as well.”
Since joining, Quintas is being coached in golf at the school. “He is really keen on the sport, which he started to play when he was six, but didn’t have too many opportunities to hone his skills in Hong Kong,” Leung says. “Now at BISP, he trains every Tuesday and Thursday with two coaches. He’s really enjoying it.”
Living and learning on a tropical island
The Leungs and other families who have moved to live on Phuket and enrolled their children at BISP say they have found it easy to settle into life on the island.
“The natural environment and open space makes it easy for us to try learning and doing more activities,” Leung says. “We raise chickens, grow vegetables and take our dogs for evening walks at the golf course near our home. There’s good security, and we feel quite safe.”
The lifestyle very much aligns with the school’s mission – to inspire learning, nurture well-being and ignite passion, which are all interdependent and essential parts of a balanced and productive life, Meredith says.
“Every child is an individual and they have their own way of learning and it’s our job as educators to inspire their learning,” he says. “When it comes to nurturing well-being, everybody is unique in what makes them feel happy and healthy, which is why we have so many offerings and activities because we want to make sure everybody is satisfied.
“Not every child is going to find their passion while at school but it’s important we help them discover what they like and what they don’t like,” Meredith says, adding that the school is lucky to be situated on such a beautiful island.
“Our families really do experience ‘education in paradise’.”
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