New School: NLCS To Open in 2022
The highly selective, academically 'elite' British day school North London Collegiate School has announced plans to open a junior school for Vietnamese families in Ho Chi Minh City in September 2022. North London Collegiate School Ho Chi Minh City (NLCS HCMC) will be a co-ed bilingual school for students aged 6-11 years old.
The school, which has a reputation for delivering strong results in external examinations, will offer a primary education based on Vietnamese, NLCS and international curricula. It promises to offer Vietnamese families the city's first selective, bilingual school with all the principles of an NLCS education – academic rigour, a diverse after-school enrichment programme, and individual pastoral care.
Parents can expect NLCS HCMC to be a premium-plus school for academically able students. NLCS UK (pictured above) is among the highest performing IB schools in the world, with an average IB score in 2021 of 43.2.
This will be the fourth international campus for the leading British public school NLCS, following NLCS Jeju in South Korea, which opened in 2011, NLCS Dubai, which opened in 2017, and NLCS Singapore, which opened in September 2020. North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is due to open an all-through, all-girls day school in central Bangkok. The opening date, which was set for August 2020 pre-Covid-19, has yet to be announced.
The school will be opened in partnership with the Vietnam based Embassy Education Group.
The campus will be purpose-built, with state-of-the-art facilities designed for junior school learning. Teaching staff are being recruited from Vietnam and across the world, and trained at the UK campus. the founding principal is Dr Alan Phan, currently Head Of School at the Royal Embassy Academy in Vietnam.
Dr Phan said:
“With this venture, we aim to bring the heritage, unique ethos and outstanding educational standards of our NLCS schools to Vietnam. We are excited to be working with Embassy Education Group to develop a bilingual school, integrating the best of Vietnamese and international educational programs, for Vietnamese families.”
The number of British independent schools operating outside of the UK continues to grow globally, with several schools choosing to open campuses in Singapore, Thailand and the UAE.
Only last week, Wellington College announced that it will open three new South East Asian schools in the next few years – in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia – through a regional partnership with Singaporean businessman Peter Lim. At least one school is expected to open by 2025. Read more here.
Until recently, British public schools have not expanded to Vietnam. The opening of NLCS HCMC will be the third UK school to move into Vietnam.
Uppingham College opens its first overseas campus in Vietnam in 2023; the new school will offer a choice of day, weekly or full boarding to students aged 11-18 years.
Reigate Grammar School has partnered with an international school in Vietnam to open the first UK independent school in the country; the International School of Vietnam (ISV) has been renamed Reigate Grammar School Vietnam, and has adopted several aspects of RGS culture and life, including the introduction of an A Levels programme. RGS is also planning to open a Sixth Form College in Hanoi in 2023, and, potentially, a third secondary international school soon after that.
