In October 2021, Scandasia published the story of King’s College International School Bangkok (“King’s Bangkok”) and described its mission to nurture talent and develop its students into well-rounded adults with inquisitive mindsets and the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century. This month, we have an opportunity to learn more about the school’s rapid development into one of the best in Asia, and find out how they are able to attract excellent teachers. Headmaster Thomas Banyard has given us an overview of the beginning of their academic year while the school was forced to lock down like others in Bangkok, but, despite the circumstances, never stopped going above and beyond for its community.
“Looking back to the period of online learning, we are so grateful to all the staff and parents for ensuring that we never let COVID-19 be an excuse for failing to deliver the best possible education. Although we are lucky to be able to adapt our academic curriculum from nearly two centuries of experience at King’s College School, Wimbledon, we are most proud of adapting their pastoral care systems that help us look after every child as an individual. This is how we ensure that our students are happy and excited to come to school each day; it is rooted in building a strong community, a community of kindness, and it is this focus that allows us to persevere together when we face challenges.”, said Mr. Banyard. “We are lucky to have parents and carers who are always fully supportive of the school. In difficult circumstances, they understood how hard the school tried to help, but they also played a huge part in supporting the teaching and learning online.”
“It is this sense of community that the King’s Bangkok team went about trying to develop further when it may have been easier to focus on other things. The school team initiated several wellbeing initiatives, such as an online mocktail class for staff and parents to mingle, online Yoga class every week, cooking classes and workshops. We also have an outstanding school counselling team who monitored the situation closely and proactively offered advice to parents, children and staff where we felt they needed help. With all these components at work, we were able to transition from online learning to on-campus learning seamlessly after the campus was forced to close for over 6 months.”
“In January, we welcomed even more families to our community, and, by August this year, there will be a total of over 1,000 students who will enjoy our education on campus. We are proud that our student body is made up of 25 nationalities, because this diversity is an important ingredient in helping our students develop a genuine understanding of global citizenship and internationalism.”
King’s Bangkok’s Senior School is in its inaugural year. It currently contains students from Year 7 to Year 10, but will open Year 11 this August and subsequent year groups in following years. Mr. Banyard has shared his vision for King’s Bangkok’s Senior School: “We have adopted 3 core pillars: Academic Excellence, a wide-ranging Co-curricular Programme and outstanding Pastoral Care. This approach is underlined with a focus on good manners and has been proven successful at King’s College School, Wimbledon. To make this structure work effectively, we need to have the right people aboard. I am fortunate to have some of my former colleagues from King’s Wimbledon join me here as Senior Leaders and Departmental Heads. However, I am just as privileged to have outstanding staff in every position who have been selected from a pool of over 5,000 applicants. Regardless of where our staff come from, they all have one thing in common: a love of teaching, and they always place the child at the centre of every decision. In a recent survey with our Senior School students, 98.1% of our students told us that their teachers at King’s Bangkok have given them opportunities to explore new things and that their teachers made them feel welcome. As well as this, 99.1% of them said that they are proud to be a part of the King’s Bangkok community. Their energy and love of our school is an inspiration to all our staff as we are trying to do everything we can to help them through the challenges of the pandemic.”
“We will build on the foundations we have already established to help our children shine brighter and go further. This year, we have IGCSE options to suit every student’s interests: Modern Foreign Languages (French, Spanish, Mandarin and Thai), Art, Music, Drama, Design Technology, Business Studies, Geography, History, PE and Computer Science; and this coming August, we will add more subjects (Economics and Japanese) to provide more options for every Year 10 student to select. In August 2023, we will run our A-level curriculum to give students qualifications which will enable them to access the best universities around the world, from the USA to the UK, Asia, Australia and beyond. We are lucky to have so much support from King’s Wimbledon, who have a track record of helping 90% of their leavers to attend their first choice university. Providing outstanding careers and university support is just one way we help our students achieve their dreams. This is a very exciting journey of King’s Bangkok, and we are all working hard to pave the road for the students’ path ahead. If you are interested in finding out more, please drop in to our campus and we would be happy to invite you into our community of kindness.”
King’s Bangkok’s campus is situated in the prestigious Ratchada-Rama 3 area of Bangkok, with easy access to the financial district (5 km from Sathorn) and the city centre (7 km from Sukhumvit). If you are interested in finding out more about King’s College International School Bangkok and applying for a tour of our beautiful campus, please visit our website (www.kingsbangkok.ac.th) or email our admissions team ([email protected]).
