Bangkok
Highgate School's First Overseas Campus to Open in Thailand This August
The Chonburi campus, built in partnership with Siam Motors Group, will bring the 460-year-old London independent's name to Southeast Asia for the very first time.
Highgate School, the north London independent founded in 1565, is weeks away from opening its first campus outside the United Kingdom. Highgate International School Thailand will welcome its inaugural cohort of Pre-Prep and Junior School students in August 2026 at a purpose-built campus near Siam Country Club in Chonburi province, roughly 80 minutes south-east of central Bangkok.
The project is a partnership between Highgate School UK and Siam Motors Group (SMG), with an investment reported at around 1.6 billion baht. According to the Bangkok Post, the founding head of school is Ben Keeling, who brings nearly two decades of leadership experience including eight years as principal of Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong.
A phased rollout toward boarding
The school will open with Pre-Prep and Junior School provision for children aged two to eleven, with a Senior School and boarding facilities planned for entry in August 2027. The curriculum follows the English National Curriculum, progressing to IGCSEs and A Levels, and the campus is designed to accommodate up to 1,400 day and boarding pupils aged two to eighteen when fully operational.
Facilities on the 27-acre site include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a FIFA-standard football pitch, a Golf Academy, a Library and Media Centre, specialist STEM spaces and a state-of-the-art auditorium. The school's operators describe it as a holistic environment intended to complement rigorous academic preparation with breadth of experience.
Chonburi as a new hub
The choice of Chonburi is notable. The province, home to a large industrial corridor and an established expatriate community, has until now been a secondary market for international schooling compared with Bangkok's western and northern suburbs. Highgate's arrival, alongside the broader wave of British independents choosing Thailand as their first Asian foothold, signals that operators see meaningful unmet demand beyond the capital.
Whether Highgate can translate its considerable UK brand recognition into enrollment momentum in a province where the school category is relatively new will be one of the defining questions of its opening year. The countdown, at this point, is measured in weeks.