Bangkok
Scotland's Glenalmond College Brings Its Brand to Phuket This August
Glenalmond Phuket International School opens in weeks, marking the first time the 178-year-old Scottish institution has planted a campus outside the United Kingdom.
Phuket is about to acquire its newest British school. Glenalmond Phuket International School, the first overseas campus to carry the Glenalmond College name, is set to open its doors in August 2026 inside the Thanyapura Sports and Health Resort in the island's northern Thalang district. According to Tes, Glenalmond International School Phuket will be the first school to carry the Glenalmond brand outside the UK, with secondary provision expected to follow in phased stages after the initial early years and primary opening.
The school is operated in partnership with 35 Education, a UK-based education group, and backed locally by Khun Chatchai Yenbamroong. It opens with Early Years, following the EYFS framework, and Primary, following the English National Curriculum, with Singapore Mathematics integrated from Year 1. Mandarin Chinese is compulsory throughout, and the school has signalled a deliberate focus on digital literacy, embedding coding, AI awareness, and robotics into the core timetable alongside dedicated mindfulness sessions.
A campus built around sport and wellbeing
The Thanyapura partnership gives the school an unusually strong physical proposition from day one. Students will have direct access to the resort's Olympic-standard swimming pools and athletic facilities, assets that most new schools take years to develop. Purpose-built specialist rooms for science, design technology, drama, dance, music, and digital literacy are supplemented by a 450-seat auditorium. Annual tuition for the 2026 to 2027 year runs from THB 270,000 for early years part-time places to THB 750,000 for Years 1 to 6.
Glenalmond College in Perthshire, Scotland, was established 178 years ago, making its international debut notably late compared with British school brands such as Dulwich, Harrow, and Wycombe Abbey, all of which have operated Asian campuses for years. The Phuket school intends to mark its opening ceremonially: a student pipe band from Glenalmond College UK is scheduled to perform on 19 August 2026.
Thailand's British school wave continues
Glenalmond Phuket joins a remarkably crowded cohort of new British-heritage schools opening in Thailand this August, including Dulwich College Bangkok, Highgate International School Thailand, Wycombe Abbey International School Bangkok, and SPGS International School Bangkok. Taken together, the cluster reflects sustained demand for UK-curriculum education from both the expatriate community and an expanding pool of affluent Thai families. Whether the market in Phuket, a smaller and more seasonal city than Bangkok, can sustain another premium new entrant at launch will be the school's first real test.