Enjoy this short video snippet about Phoenix House International School from our 2025 Tokyo Expo.
Transcript
We spoke with Claire Fletcher (Head of School).
ISTimes Global: (00:00) Hi. I’m here with Claire at the Phoenix House International School booth. Claire, welcome to the Expo.
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (00:05) Thank you so much. Thank you for having us.
School History
ISTimes Global: (00:08) Our pleasure. Could you tell us a little bit about your school’s history and background?
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (00:12) Sure. Well, um I’m actually the founding Head of School and we opened Phoenix House in August 2021. So we’re four years old now. Um we’re a British prep school, so modeling ourselves on the prep schools in the UK. And we’re based in Chiyoda-ku in Central Tokyo. So we’re four years old now, heading into year five from August. Um and uh very proud of of what we what we’ve done so far.
ISTimes Global: (00:39) Congratulations on making it this far.
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (00:40) Thank you.
Academic Life
ISTimes Global: (00:41) Can you tell us a bit about what learning is like at your school?
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (00:44) Yeah, so we’re we’re a British prep school, so we follow the UK national curriculum. Um but we are um unashamedly academic. We do have a focus on an a rigorous academic curriculum. Um so uh we we we do challenge our children. We like to make sure that they are challenged in their in their academics. Um but we place equal value and equal importance on the wider curriculum, giving children opportunities to try so many different things outside of the classroom as well as those academic subjects. We have um specialist teachers for art, for music, for sports, for Japanese. Um and um they’re real specialists in their field. Um so giving children lots and lots of opportunities to try different things is very important to us.
Extracurricular Activities
ISTimes Global: (01:27) Sounds great. How about outside of the classroom? How do students get involved in their community?
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (01:33) Yeah, clubs is a big part of life. As I said, we’re very academic, but we also focus on that wider curriculum, the enrichment. Um so we do have clubs every single day uh from 3:40 to 4:40. There’s about I think this term we’ve got about 85 different clubs going on, lots of things. Um screen golf, music, choir, drama, um football, lots of sports, running club, we’ve got fencing club, ballet, um you name it, it’s in there. So children have the opportunity to try lots of different things. And we think that’s very important at prep school age. It might be that they pick up a violin and they love it and they do it for the rest of their lives. It might be that actually they think that’s not for me and they try something else that they’re really passionate about. So, um we do encourage children to really get involved in all those clubs, whether that’s five a week, three a week. Um we do like to see them engaging with the the wider curriculum.
Lasting Memories at Phoenix House International School
ISTimes Global: (02:28) Sounds wonderful. For the students that graduate from Phoenix House, uh what are some of the memories that you think children take away from their time at your school?
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (02:37) Um I think the obviously the the the academics are very important, but it’s often those extra things, isn’t it, that children really remember. Um we twice a year, we take all of our our children up to Hokkaido to our enrichment campus and we give them a boarding school experience. Um so they definitely remember that. They often talk about talk about that experience. We um have embedded skiing into our curriculum, so we want every child to leave Phoenix House a skier. Uh so they definitely remember all those extra things where they get to go away with their friends. Um we’ve got big focus on confidence building. Um so uh getting them up on the stage, performing different productions and shows. I know that they talk so fondly about those. Um and and the kindness. Honestly, we’ve got one one golden rule at Phoenix House and it’s to be kind to each other. So I think the children do look back and reflect on the friendships that they’ve made and the bonds that they’ve made. We have a very strong uh warm family orientated school and with a beautiful community and I think the children really reflect on that. Once a Phoenix, always a Phoenix, we always say. So um they do come back and visit us and often talk about that, their friendships that they’ve built.
ISTimes Global: (03:49) Wonderful. All right, Claire, thank you so much for your time.
Phoenix House International School (Claire): (03:51) Thank you so much. Thank you.
About Phoenix House International School
- British prep school in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (founded 2021)
- Follows UK national curriculum with academic focus
- Creative and language-rich international education
- Strong enrichment program with 85+ weekly clubs
- Specialist teachers for arts, music, sports, Japanese
- Hokkaido enrichment campus with boarding experience
- Embedded skiing curriculum (all students learn to ski)
- Focus on confidence building and performance
- “Once a Phoenix, always a Phoenix” community ethos
- Core value: Kindness as the golden rule
- Prepares students for top UK senior schools
