Asia
North London Collegiate Signs Deal to Open Phuket Boarding School
NLCS International has agreed with a Phuket hospitality group to build a 1,000-place day and boarding campus, adding a seventh school to its Asia network.
North London Collegiate School is heading to Phuket. NLCS International has signed a partnership agreement with VLC Group, a Phuket-based hospitality company led by the Chirayus family, to develop NLCS Phuket International School in Cherng Talay, one of the island's fastest-growing residential districts. According to the Bangkok Post, the deal was formalised at a signing ceremony in mid-May, with NLCS Managing Director Daniel Lewis and VLC Managing Director Naruj Chirayus representing their respective organisations.
The school will offer education from Early Years through Year 13 as a co-educational day and boarding institution, the first NLCS campus in Thailand and the group's seventh internationally, joining existing schools in Singapore, Jeju, Dubai, Kobe, and Hong Kong, where a campus is due to open in 2027. Initial capacity is set at around 1,000 students, with scope to grow to approximately 1,500. Planned facilities include boarding residences, science and technology blocks, a 50-metre swimming pool, a sports gymnasium, indoor tennis courts, and football pitches.
A market gap in Phuket
The announcement reflects a sharper competitive dynamic in Thailand's international school sector, where demand is spreading well beyond Bangkok. Kasikorn Research Centre has projected that Thailand's international school market will grow by 9.7 percent in 2025, with student numbers rising by 8.3 percent, and notes that provincial markets, particularly Phuket, are among the key areas of expansion. NLCS Phuket is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2028, giving the project roughly two years of development runway.
For VLC Group, the move into education is framed as a long-term community play. "For many families, Phuket already offers an exceptional quality of life, but there has been a clear gap in the market for a highly academic school with a direct connection to one of the UK's leading educational institutions," said Naruj Chirayus. The group's hospitality portfolio, which includes the Phuket Marriott Resort and Spa and Le Meridien Khao Lak, gives it established land and infrastructure connections across the island.
What NLCS is bringing
NLCS International has emphasised that Phuket will not operate as a franchise in name only. The school will draw on NLCS support across curriculum design, teacher recruitment, staff training at the founding London campus, and academic planning, mirroring the model in place at its other Asian schools. Founded in 1850, the London parent institution was named Independent Secondary School of the Year in The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2026 and ranked number one girls' school nationally.
NLCS Phuket arrives in a year already crowded with British school openings on the island: Glenalmond Phuket International School launches in August 2026. With a 2028 opening date, NLCS has time to build a campus from scratch, but also faces the task of establishing founding-family enrolment well in advance. Admissions timelines and further campus details are expected in the coming months.