Asia
Vietnam's First British Boarding School Opens in Lao Cai for 2026 to 2027
Ardingly College Vietnam begins its inaugural academic year in northern Vietnam, becoming the first school in the country to offer a full residential British boarding model.
Ardingly College Vietnam has opened its doors for the 2026-2027 academic year in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam, in what the school's backers describe as the country's first authentic British boarding school. According to the Vietnam Investment Review, the campus is the result of a joint venture between Khoi Nguyen Investment Holdings Group and Ardingly College International Limited, which represents Ardingly College, a co-educational boarding school founded in 1858 in West Sussex.
The school is built on the site of the former Canadian International School Lao Cai, which was acquired and redeveloped to meet Ardingly's standards. The 10-hectare campus spans nearly 50,000 square metres of usable floor space and includes dedicated academic buildings, boarding accommodation for around 350 students, sports areas, and a performing arts centre. Phase one investment is reported at approximately VND 700 billion, equivalent to around 20 million British pounds.
Oxford AQA qualifications on campus
Students aged 11 to 18 may enrol in either the full international pathway, leading to IGCSE and A-Level examinations through Oxford AQA, or a bilingual programme that integrates the Vietnamese national curriculum with internationally benchmarked content. The school has been designated as one of only five official Oxford AQA examination centres in Vietnam, allowing students to sit qualifying exams without travelling elsewhere.
The Lao Cai opening adds to a small but growing network of Ardingly campuses abroad, alongside Ardingly College Zhongshan in China and Ardingly Astana in Kazakhstan. Vietnam's international school market has drawn sustained interest from British operators in recent years, but residential provision has remained scarce. Most established British-curriculum schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City operate as day schools; Ardingly is betting that a boarding option in a cooler, mountain setting can attract a different segment of the market altogether.