Enjoy this short video snippet about North London Collegiate School Kobe (NLCS) from our 2024 Osaka Expo. We spoke with Lizzie (Vice Principal).
Transcript
ISTimes Global: (00:00) Hello, we are here with Lizzie, the vice principal of NLCS Kobe. Welcome.
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (00:06) Thank you.
ISTimes Global: (00:06) And welcome to Osaka.
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (00:08) Thank you. I really appreciate the welcome. It’s lovely to be here.
ISTimes Global: (00:11) Well, you’ve been quite busy all day, so I’m glad that I’ve got a chance to finally talk to you and finding more about uh your um uh school and uh um what happens there. So I uh so the school is in Kobe. Um what can what can you tell me about the school that maybe someone just passing by wouldn’t know?
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (00:35) The school is absolutely exceptional. Um it is rooted in a tradition that links it to a fabulous school in the UK called North London Collegiate School. It has a history and heritage of over 175 years. Um and we are very, very um committed to academic endeavor and achievement. So, we are lucky to have a family of schools, a successful international model. We’ve opened schools in Dubai, in Singapore and in Jju in South Korea. And all of our schools offer the International Baccalaureate program and our students are managing to attain the best results in those nations. So, we’re lucky that we have a model and a partnership that is incredibly successful. So our legacy is at the moment international and very, very successful.
ISTimes Global: (01:27) Uh thank you for actually bringing that up because um parents often chase after schools that have the IB label but um don’t often understand that it is quite a journey and it uh sounds like your uh your school has the history to uh prepare kids for. Um Now, you did mention that it is uh the school itself is based on a school in the uh UK. Now, so can can you tell me what makes the school in Kobe similar to the UK school, but also what also makes it unique being here in um Kobe, Japan?
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (02:07) Thank you. That’s a great question. So, yes, we are very, very grounded and connected to our school in the UK. It is our mother school. We have a partnership of sister schools and we have the same educational ethos, academic excellence, but we believe that is only possible because of our commitment to pastoral care, the wellbeing and development of individual children. And of course, the development of extracurricular activities goes along with that. We want our kids to be dynamic in the classroom, but also beyond the classroom. What makes us exceptional here in Kobe, there are many wonderful schools that offer IB and internationalism, but we really want our curriculum to be exceptional. The learning experience will be exceptional. It will be international in its outlook, very, very challenging and delivered in a North London collegiate school way that always means excelling and exciting. But we want our curriculum to also have Japanese elements in which we embrace Japanese values, culture, tradition, language. And we want our curriculum to be very accessible to Japanese children so they see its relevance. We want Japanese children to be world ready and recognize the fantastic skills and experience and heritage that they have to bring them forward onto a global stage. We’re also super excited about our Rocco Mountain development that will open in 2028. Construction and planning is underway and we know that that that site will be absolutely unique in having the most fantastic facilities. We’ll have outside experiential learning, a curriculum that’s linked to sustainability. And our children will be having the most intellectual challenge, but in an environment that promotes wellbeing and their health because we’ll be in nature. So we are we are going to be absolutely unique and I am so excited.
ISTimes Global: (04:07) Can I say that you seem very excited about that and I actually did not know that you will be opening this new um facility. that does sound um a lot of fun and I’m just trying to put myself in the kids’ shoes. Um now, I like the fact that you talked about the experience outside of the classroom. Um is there any particular sports or activities? You did mention obviously this um going back to nature, but is there any sports or things that the the school is particularly strong at or tries to emphasize?
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (04:39) Particularly strong at. All of our schools are very, very distinct and we want our children to really determine the extracurricular program as well. Of course, we can provide all kinds of opportunities, the clubs, the teachers, the expertise, but what’s key is that our children choose and we especially our senior students start to develop their own interests. And if they want to do something exceptional or something unusual, they have the confidence and the resourcefulness to say, hey, we want to start this. How do we go about it? And they develop their own extracurricular program too. We facilitate, we provide, we make sure the quality is there, but we want flexibility so that each child has that opportunity to decide what they want to do.
ISTimes Global: (05:28) That’s excellent. You know, and I hate to throw you a uh surprise question, but I was thinking about what if I stopped one of your uh kids uh I don’t know, maybe uh 10 or 12 uh year old uh and I just said, oh, tell me um tell me a bit about your school and why you uh like it so much. What do you think they might say?
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (05:49) I would hope they would say they love learning. They love learning. They love coming to school and learning. We are a school that hopes when our children leave us that they are developing a lifelong love of learning. School is not just those few years when you are obliged to to go every day and attend. We want a lifelong relationship with learning and anybody who comes to our school will have that opportunity to always think about what enriches them academically, what they want to find out more about. So it’s it’s the fun of learning that’s the most important thing.
ISTimes Global: (06:32) You make me want to uh attend your school, but I suppose I’m a bit older. Uh but um I uh welcome uh parents to um visit um NCLS and uh thank you thank you so much and uh um good luck on the growth of your school and the opening to your new facilities. Thank you.
NLCS Kobe (Lizzie): (06:53) That’s so, so kind. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
About North London Collegiate School Kobe
- Part of prestigious NLCS group with 5 global campuses
- New Kobe campus launching August 2025
- Selective admissions with an interview process
- IB curriculum (currently in candidacy phase)
- Three educational pillars: academic excellence, pastoral care, and extracurriculars
- Strong focus on the Japanese language and cultural immersion
- Plans for cultural trips to Kyoto and other historic sites
- Prepares students for top global universities and careers
- International perspective with deep local connections
- State-of-the-art facilities in Kobe
- Commitment to developing confident global citizens
