Bangkok · History
Harrow Bangkok: Asia's First Harrow School Turns 28
Founded in 1998 on a bond between a 450-year-old English public school and the Thai royal family, Harrow International School Bangkok has grown into one of Southeast Asia's most prominent British campuses.
The decision to plant a Harrow in Thailand was not arbitrary. Since the late nineteenth century, 23 princes of the Thai royal household had made their way to Harrow-on-the-Hill, among them Prince Mahidol, grandfather of the current king. That connection made Thailand the logical choice when Harrow School in London resolved, in the 1990s, to take its name overseas for the first time. Harrow International School Bangkok opened in September 1998, the first Harrow school ever established in Asia.
Origins
The founding Head Master was Stuart Morris, who led the school from 1998 to 2002. Under his watch enrolment climbed quickly to 800 pupils. The school opened as a co-educational day and boarding institution, departing from the single-sex, boarding-only model of its London parent. That pragmatic difference reflected the local market; it has defined the school's identity ever since.
Morris was succeeded in 2002 by Dr Mark Hensman, who served for seven years. The most consequential decision of his tenure came in 2003, when the school relocated to a purpose-built 35-acre site in the Don Mueang district of northern Bangkok. The move was accompanied by the introduction of the house system, expanded boarding provision, a discrete Preparatory School for Years 6 to 8, and what the school branded its Leadership in Action programme. Enrolment reached 1,200 by the time the dust settled.
The AISL Group, Asia International Schools Limited, operates the school under a licence granted by Harrow School in London. Two governors from the London school sit on the board of governors of the international schools, and the ties run to day-to-day cooperation: teacher exchanges, student exchanges, and admissions interviews conducted at the original Harrow campus.
Growth and Leadership
Hensman left in 2008 to become Director of Schools for Harrow International Management Services, overseeing the foundation of new Harrow campuses in Beijing and Hong Kong. He was succeeded by Kevin Riley, formerly Headmaster of John Lyon School, the Harrow Foundation's day school at Harrow-on-the-Hill. Riley's tenure coincided with one of the school's most testing moments: severe flooding in 2011 forced Harrow Bangkok to temporarily relocate across multiple sites around the city. Staff, students and parents kept lessons running throughout.
Riley returned to the UK in 2012 to lead Bradford Grammar School. Michael Farley, formerly Head Master of the British School in Tokyo, took over that summer and initiated HBuild in 2013, a five-year campus redevelopment programme. By 2017, a Creative and Performing Arts Centre with a dedicated Steinway Hall was complete, and new Chiu and Pullman Libraries were opened as the school marked its twentieth anniversary.
In January 2019, Farley moved to Hong Kong to become Director of Group Operations for AISL. Jon Standen, formerly Head of Plymouth College, an independent boarding school in the UK, took over. On 1 September 2023, as the school celebrated its 25th birthday, a further headship transition took place: James Murphy-O'Connor, who holds a degree in Modern History from Oxford and a PGCE from Cambridge and had previously served as Founding Principal of the Prior Park Schools and Director of Educational Development for the Haberdashers group, was appointed Head Master.
Curriculum and Accreditation
The school follows the English National Curriculum from Early Years through to Year 13, culminating in IGCSEs at Year 11 and A Levels at Year 13. The Early Years programme, called Little Lions, runs from 18 months and incorporates a play-based approach across ten developmental domains. From Years 1 to 8 the English primary curriculum applies, before students enter the Senior School's IGCSE track and then the Sixth Form.
Harrow Bangkok gained accreditation from the Council of International Schools in 2006. It also holds British Schools Overseas accreditation; in a March 2023 BSO inspection, as reported by WhichSchoolAdvisor, the school received an Outstanding rating across all categories, including curriculum, quality of teaching, premises and personal development. The school is a full member of FOBISIA, a member of the International Schools Association of Thailand, and is listed among HMC-affiliated schools.
Present Day
The campus spans 35 acres in Don Mueang, site of Bangkok's original international airport, and accommodates around 1,860 students aged 18 months to 18 years from more than 35 nationalities. Four boarding houses, The Knoll, West Acre, Bradbys and The Grove, serve boarders from Year 4 upwards on both weekly and full-boarding arrangements. The school's six houses are named Sonakul, Suriyothai, Nehru, Keller, Byron and Churchill, combining Thai royal and British cultural references.
In 2025, the school recorded A Level results of 70 percent A* to A and 90 percent A* to B; IGCSE results ran at 71 percent A* to A and 92 percent A* to B. University destinations in recent years have included Oxford, Cambridge, Cornell, Penn, Imperial and LSE. James Murphy-O'Connor leads the school today as it enters its 28th year of operation, still the founding campus in the AISL Harrow network that now extends to Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and beyond.