Bangkok · History
Harrow Bangkok: Asia's First Harrow School, Built on Royal Ties
Founded in 1998 on the back of a century of Thai royal connections to Harrow London, the school has grown from a rented condo space to a 35-acre campus with 1,600 pupils.
The decision to plant the first Harrow School in Asia on Thai soil was not arbitrary. Thailand was chosen because of the strong links between Harrow School in London and Thailand's royal family, with 23 princes of the royal household having been educated at Harrow from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, including His Majesty the King's grandfather, Prince Mahidol. The earliest recorded royal connection came in 1894, when Prince Purachatra Jayakara, Prince of Kamphaengphet, attended Harrow School London. By the time the Bangkok school opened, that lineage ran more than a hundred years deep.
Origins
Harrow International School Bangkok was founded in 1998 and first operated as a language school at Riverine Place Condo. The first headmaster was Stuart Morris, who had previously been headmaster of a school in Malaysia. From the outset the school was co-educational and admitted day pupils, departing from the all-boys boarding model of Harrow in London. It was part of a broader trend of bringing British-style schools abroad, rather than sending students to Britain.
In 2001, three years after its establishment, the school joined the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA). By 2002, the school had grown to 800 pupils under Morris's leadership.
The Move to Don Mueang
Morris was succeeded by Dr Mark Hensman, a former headmaster from New Zealand. Hensman oversaw the school's relocation to a purpose-built campus at Don Mueang, near Don Mueang Airport, in 2003. The new 35-acre campus included new facilities, sports fields, and boarding houses, and allowed enrolment to increase to 1,160. During his tenure, the iconic boater hat and the House system were introduced, strengthening ties to the original Harrow School. The introduction of the House System, expanded boarding facilities, the Leadership in Action programme, and a dedicated preparatory school for Years 6 to 8 contributed to growth to 1,200 students.
The school received accreditation from the Council of International Schools (CIS) in 2006. Hensman served for seven years before departing to a network role: he became Director of Schools for Harrow International Management Services, overseeing the foundation of the new Harrow Schools in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Headship Changes and the 2011 Floods
Hensman was succeeded by Kevin Riley, formerly headmaster of the John Lyon School, the Harrow Foundation's day school at Harrow-on-the-Hill in London. Riley's tenure included one of the school's most testing moments. In 2011, Harrow Bangkok was forced to relocate to different locations around the city as the Don Mueang campus was flooded, requiring a remarkable effort of coordination between staff, students, and parents to keep the school open and ensure lessons continued.
Riley returned to the UK in 2012 to take up the headship of Bradford Grammar School and was succeeded in summer 2012 by Michael Farley, formerly Head Master of the British School in Tokyo. Farley launched the school's most significant capital programme. In 2013, 'HBuild', a redevelopment of the Bangkok campus over a five-year period, was initiated. In 2017, the first Steinway piano concert was held in the newly built Creative and Performing Arts Centre, and the Chiu and Pullman Libraries opened.
Recent Leadership
Farley's successor, Jonathan Standen, joined in 2019. The school celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2023, the same year James Murphy-O'Connor was appointed as the new Head Master. Murphy-O'Connor started the role in September 2023. He previously served as founding principal of the Haberdashers' Monmouth Schools and, before that, held the headship of Prior Park College in Bath.
Curriculum and Accreditation
The school follows the National Curriculum for England, with students sitting IGCSEs in Year 11 and A and AS Levels in Year 13. The structure runs from Early Years — known internally as Little Lions — through to the Sixth Form. Students benefit from a High Performance Learning approach, specialist IGCSE and A Level subjects including French, Mandarin, Japanese, and Thai, and dedicated university guidance.
In its 2023 British Schools Overseas (BSO) report, conducted by a UK government-approved inspectorate, Harrow Bangkok received the highest possible rating of Outstanding in all key categories, including curriculum and quality of teaching. It is the only school in Thailand to carry an Outstanding BSO rating across all categories. The school also holds CIS accreditation and is a member of FOBISIA and the International Schools Association of Thailand.
Present Day
Harrow Bangkok opened in 1998 as the first Harrow-branded school outside the UK and remains the largest in the Harrow family worldwide. It is operated by Asia International Schools Limited (AISL), which runs Harrow International Schools across Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong under licence from Harrow School London. The school now has around 1,600 pupils from more than 35 nationalities, spanning 18 months to 18 years. Since opening four boarding houses in 2016, the school has the capacity to board 40 per cent of its students. A key feature of the campus is the lake, used for sailing, kayaking, wakeboarding, water skiing, dragon boat racing, and raft challenges. The campus, according to WhichSchoolAdvisor, carries the feel of an archetypal British public school set in open countryside, despite sitting in the suburban north of one of Asia's largest cities.