Singapore · History
From Ulu Pandan to Aljunied: Nexus International School's 15-Year Arc
Taylor's Education Group brought the Nexus brand to Singapore in 2011 by acquiring an existing school on Ulu Pandan Road. A purpose-built 12-storey campus in Aljunied, opened in 2020, defines the school today.
The Nexus International School brand was born in Malaysia. According to the school's own history page, Taylor's Schools founded the first Nexus campus in Putrajaya in 2007, establishing a template, combining inquiry-based learning with an IB continuum, that it would carry across the Causeway four years later.
Origins: An Acquisition, Not a Greenfield
Taylor's Education Group entered Singapore not by building from scratch but by buying an existing operation. In July 2011 it acquired Excelsior International School, a sole-proprietor entity registered at 201 Ulu Pandan Road, and rebranded it as Nexus International School (Singapore). The legal entity, Nexus International School (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., had been incorporated in May 2010 ahead of the transaction. The school opened under the Nexus name in July 2011, inheriting the Ulu Pandan site in the west of the island, close to Holland Village.
Excelsior had itself offered IGCSE and the IB Diploma, so the curriculum bones were already in place. Taylor's layered on the full Nexus philosophy: personalised learning, small class sizes, and an explicit ambition to produce globally mobile graduates.
The Ulu Pandan Years, 2011 to 2019
For eight years the school operated from the Ulu Pandan campus. During that period it built its curriculum stack from the bottom up, adding the IB Primary Years Programme and IB Middle Years Programme to sit alongside the existing IGCSE and IB Diploma offer. It also accumulated its accreditation portfolio: becoming a Cambridge International Examination centre, receiving IB World School authorisation for the PYP and Diploma programmes, and achieving joint accreditation from the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in 2017, following what the school described as a lengthy evaluation and rigorous inspection process. Singapore's Committee for Private Education granted Nexus EduTrust four-year certification, the highest tier available under that regulatory framework. The school was also designated an Apple Distinguished School in recognition of its technology integration.
The Aljunied Campus, 2020
In January 2020 Nexus vacated Ulu Pandan and moved to a purpose-built 12-storey building at 1 Aljunied Walk, Singapore 387293. The move was notable for its design process: teachers and staff were invited to specify what they wanted, with ideas sourced globally and tested before construction. The result was an open-plan, flexible campus built to eliminate the standard classroom layout in favour of what the school calls learning hubs. The building drew attention from the outset, winning awards for its campus design.
Facilities include an Aquatics Centre with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a FIFA- and World Rugby-certified Astroturf field, a two-storey auditorium with a large LED screen, black box theatres, arts and design studios with 3D printers and a ceramics kiln, a Science Mega Lab, and music technology studios with recording facilities. The campus sits near Aljunied MRT and carries close access to two MRT lines, placing it within reach of Singapore's eastern and central districts.
Curriculum and Accreditation
The school runs a sequential IB pathway from Nursery through to Year 13. Early Years and Primary follow the IB Primary Years Programme. Years 7 to 9 take the IB Middle Years Programme. Years 10 and 11 sit Cambridge and Edexcel IGCSE examinations. Years 12 and 13 complete the IB Diploma Programme. Languages on offer include Mandarin and French in primary, with Spanish added in secondary. A Foundation English and a bilingual/multilingual programme serve students at various levels of English proficiency.
CIS re-accredited the school in June 2022. The school holds concurrent WASC accreditation, meaning its graduation certificate is recognised by US universities as equivalent to an American high school diploma. Nexus joined FOBISIA (the Federation of British International Schools in Asia) in June 2024.
Results and Present Day
The 2025 IBDP cohort averaged 35.1 points against a global average of 30.58. The top score was a perfect 45 out of 45, 43 percent of candidates scored 35 or above, and 23 percent earned a Bilingual Diploma. At IGCSE, 52 percent of Cambridge grades were A or A-star, and 55 percent of Edexcel grades fell in the 9 to 7 band.
Current enrolment stands at approximately 1,500 to 1,570 learners from over 60 nationalities; no single nationality exceeds 20 percent of the school community. Simon Mann, who holds a Master of Philosophy in Education from the University of Hong Kong and brings more than two decades of headship experience across the region, including Garden International School in Malaysia, British School Manila, and Dover Court International School in Singapore, serves as Principal. Taylor's Education Group, described as Malaysia's largest private international school group, continues to own and oversee the school.