From a Sukhumvit soi to 2,300 students across two campuses

St Andrews International School Bangkok was founded in 1997 on a site on Sukhumvit Soi 71, in the Watthana District, that still serves as its primary campus today. The school opened as a British international school offering education from the age of two through to 18, following the English National Curriculum from the Early Years Foundation Stage upward.

Origins

The Sukhumvit 71 campus gave the school a foothold in one of Bangkok's most established expatriate corridors. From the start, the school positioned itself as inclusive and non-selective, a stance that would define its identity through every subsequent phase of growth. By the early 2000s the school had built a meaningful roll and a reputation in the city's British international sector.

Paul Schofield took the helm in 2003, arriving from Bangkok Patana School where he had served as founding head of the high school. He has led St Andrews for more than two decades since, making him one of the longest-serving heads of any major international school in Thailand.

Nord Anglia and expansion

Nord Anglia Education acquired St Andrews Bangkok on 2 August 2013, bringing the school into a global network that now spans more than 78 schools across 31 countries. The acquisition gave the school access to Nord Anglia's collaborative programmes with MIT, The Juilliard School, and UNICEF, as well as its shared curriculum development resources.

The single-campus model held until August 2017, when a purpose-built high school campus opened at 1020 Sukhumvit Road in Khlong Toei District, close to Ekkamai BTS Station. Years 7 to 13 transferred to the new Srivikorn site, while Early Years through Year 6 remained at the Sukhumvit 71 primary campus. The high school building was designed from the ground up for secondary education, with design technology labs, a 260-seat professional theatre, a fitness and yoga centre, and dedicated facilities for music and STEAM subjects.

As noted by WhichSchoolAdvisor, the 2017 opening marked a new era for the school: secondary students gained specialist facilities that the original campus could not accommodate, while the primary site retained its character as a quieter, garden-fronted environment in central Bangkok.

Curriculum and accreditation

Across both campuses the school runs the English National Curriculum from Nursery through Year 11. Students sit IGCSEs at the end of Year 11, then choose between the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) or the IB Career-Related Programme (IBCP) in Years 12 and 13, with BTEC options also available. St Andrews graduated its first IBCP cohort in 2025.

The school holds British Schools Overseas (BSO) accreditation, with the most recent inspection, conducted in May 2024 and valid through May 2029, judging the quality of education outstanding in all areas. It also holds the Education Development Trust (EDT) International Schools Quality Mark and is accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS). In 2024, it became the first school outside the United Kingdom to be awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark with Centre of Excellence status.

The school was the first in Thailand to secure a joint accreditation with the Thai Ministry of Education, meaning a St Andrews Bangkok diploma is recognised as equivalent to the Thai Mathayom 6 qualification, an important credential for Thai students seeking university entry domestically. The school is also an examination centre for Edexcel IGCSE, Cambridge IGCSE, and the College Board SAT.

St Andrews joined FOBISIA, the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, in 2010. In 2020, the school received the International School of the Year award at the International School Awards, recognised for its environmental initiative known as Eco Beasts.

Present day

The school now enrolls around 2,300 students from more than 60 nationalities, spread across the two Sukhumvit campuses. Thai students form the largest nationality group, followed by Japanese, giving the school a distinctly Asian rather than Anglo-expat demographic profile. The primary campus holds approximately 1,100 pupils; the high school campus a similar number.

Instruction is in English, supplemented by Thai language lessons and a First Language Programme serving native speakers of French, German, Japanese, and Korean. Spanish, Mandarin, and additional languages are offered as electives.

Recent IBDP results include a 98% pass rate, with 15% of candidates scoring 40 points or above, more than double the global average. The school recorded a top score of 45 out of 45 in the most recent cohort. Paul Schofield remains head of school.

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