Taylor’s Schools expands into Thailand with four-school deal

International schools group Taylor’s Schools is expanding into Thailand, with the purchase of four schools from Cognita.

The deal is for four St Andrews International School campuses: Sathorn, Dusit, Sukhumvit 107 - all in the capital, Bangkok - and Green Valley on Thailand’s east coast. Each school will retain its name, identity and existing staff.

St Andrews International School Green Valley

The acquisition of the schools, two of which are all-through schools and two of which serve pupils aged 2 to 11, marks the group’s first expansion beyond Malaysia and Singapore, and takes its total number of schools to 10, serving around 10,000 students.

More acquisitions for Taylor’s Schools

Speaking exclusively to Tes, Angelina Tee, who worked for Cognita for over a decade before joining Taylor’s Schools and becoming its CEO in January, said the deal might surprise some but had come about as a result of “relationships and networks...built over years working in this region”.

She described the acquisition of the four schools as “an important step”, being the group’s first move into Thailand, and promised “more to come”.

“We’ll embed these schools and make sure we support them to deliver excellent personalised education, like the rest of our Taylor’s Schools, before we look at expanding further in Thailand,” she said.

Potential future investment in the St Andrews schools, Ms Tee said, could include the addition of boarding at Green Valley, as well as the creation of a purpose-built outdoor education centre that could be used year-round by other Taylor’s Schools.

Ms Tee said: “To be able to have an outdoor education centre is something I’m really passionate about, and Green Valley is a location that would really lend itself to that.

Angelina Tee, CEO of Taylor’s Schools

“It’s a very open, green, luscious location and it would bring to life what I think is really important, which is all that education outside the classroom - the team building, collaboration, resilience and grit we want to build in our students.”

Increase in competition

Asked if she had any concerns that the international school market in Thailand would soon reach saturation point - with a number of UK private schools opening affiliated campuses in the country - Ms Tee said Thailand remained “a strong market” with demand from local families, as well as Asian expats.

She also said that St Andrews schools, which offer a mix of International Baccalaureate programmes, the English curriculum and IGCSEs, had been established for “15 years at least” and already enjoyed “very strong brand awareness”.

“As long as we make sure the facilities and the teaching quality justify the value proposition, we will continue to grow,” Ms Tee said.

She is one of the first female CEOs of an international school group in Asia.

In an interview with Tes in April, Ms Tee predicted that over the course of the next five years the group would “easily” have at least 15 schools.