The British School in Tokyo gets top marks for giving young people the head-start they deserve.
This year, for the first time in its history, The British School in Tokyo will be home to well over 1,000 students. There are many good reasons to explain the remarkable surge in student enrolment at BST in recent years, but foremost among them is the widespread recognition that this is a school where young people of all abilities from the most diverse backgrounds can find their niche and fulfil their potential.
Since 2012, we have seen the number of 15- to 18-year-old students on our IGCSE and A level courses more than double to almost 250. What’s more, examination results have improved to the point where they match the gold standard set by the United Kingdom independent sector, and our graduates are winning places at some of the most prestigious universities around the world. But we have no intention of standing still. Here are five ways we’re making a difference…
Curriculum Innovation
In keeping with our determination to accommodate a range of interests and ambitions, we continue to develop our curriculum. Next year, for example, in response to increasing demand, we will offer both economics and drama at A level, in addition to the arts, humanities, maths and science courses that are already proving to be so popular.
Character Development
While academic excellence is always a priority and our results are consistently far above the UK national averages, it is also clear that our care for each student as an individual, our focus on character development, and our offer of a rounded education extending well beyond the four walls of the classroom have all struck a chord with the many parents who share our values. Our unique BST Outdoors programme, for example, offers exciting challenges to students of all ages, while our sport and ECA provision is now second to none. After all, opportunities to practise teamwork and leadership, to explore and build confidence, and to exhibit and perform are every bit as important as exam preparation.
Underpinning all that we do at BST is our simple model of the young learner whom we aim to nurture here. This template guides us as we seek to encourage in our students the skills and attributes that we believe will help them meet the exciting challenges they will face in what has become a demanding and rapidly changing world beyond school.
Meaningful Mnemonic
We use the British mnemonic, not because we consider these characteristics to be the exclusive preserve of young people educated in the British system – far from it – but it certainly helps even our youngest students to understand what BST really stands for and to remember what it is we are trying to achieve.
Teacher Talent
There is no doubt that good schools are built on the vision, commitment and talent of good people. Almost without exception, our teachers are recruited from the very best schools in the UK or from other highly rated British international schools around the world. Because we know that finding the right people is crucial to our future (and to that of our students), we insist on seeing each one of them teach in their own schools before any appointment is confirmed. Only the best will do.
United Ambition
The British School in Tokyo and the close-knit community it supports can take pride in the achievements of recent years – but it is the future that counts: the goals for the next academic year, the journey towards the next milestone. Perhaps it is this ambition, this rejection of complacency that has resulted in so many parents making it the school of choice for their children here in Tokyo. Or perhaps it is simply because at BST we have the right team in the right place, all working together with one aim in mind – to bring the best out of the young people in our care. Why not come see us and judge for yourself?
For more information, visit www.bst.ac.jp.
To arrange a visit, contact [email protected], 03 6418 5351.
Sponsored Post
