Enjoy this short video snippet about Brighton College Singapore from our 2025 Tokyo Expo.
Transcript
We spoke with Nick Davies (Head of College).
ISTimes Global: (00:00) Hi, I’m here with Nick from Brighton College Singapore at the Education Expo. Welcome, Nick.
Brighton College Singapore (Nick): (00:06) Hi Bobby, thanks for coming over to say hello. Looking forward to chatting further.
School History
ISTimes Global: (00:10) Can you tell us a bit about your school’s background and history?
Brighton College Singapore (Nick): (00:15) Sure. Uh so Brighton College Singapore is a school that’s now into its fifth year of operation. We opened in 2020 with 36 pupils. Uh today we are nearly at 500 pupils. So we’ve uh had some pretty pretty extraordinary growth, which we’ve been delighted with. Uh the school was originally set up as a prep school or a primary school, catering for children up to 11 years old. But given the increasing uhly encouraging growth, the school decision was taken a couple of years ago to expand the school from a prep school into an all-through school, what’s known as a K-12 school in Singapore. Uh and so we opened our senior school for the first time in August 2024, which was a very exciting moment to see our first cohort of year seven, year eight and year nine pupils coming into the school. And we’re going to continue to grow the school one year group at a time uh for the next few years so that in three or four years time we’ll be open for children from 18 months old to 18 years old.
Academic Life
ISTimes Global: (01:14) Awesome, sounds great. Can you tell us a little more about learning at your school? What are academics like?
Brighton College Singapore (Nick): (01:19) Sure. Okay. So we’re part of the Brighton College Network of schools. Brighton College in the UK uh has been in existence since uh 1845. Uh it today it’s one of the most successful co-educational schools in Britain. Uh its pupils are always amongst the very best achievers in terms of its GCSE results and its A-level results, the the examination systems that are taken in in British schools. Uh this year some 43 of its uh graduating uh pupils have been offered place at either Oxford or Cambridge University, uh which is an extraordinarily successful rate. So it’s fair to say that the Brighton College Network of schools has a very uh the key emphasis on academic success and supporting its the children that come through its doors to doing incredibly well. So although we don’t have any examination results yet because we’re a new school and our first examinations won’t come for a couple of years, we absolutely want to emulate the same sort of success. And so, yeah, we make sure that we provide uh fantastic teaching, small class sizes, uh you know, a bespoke personalized curriculum to help every single one of our pupils make the most successful possible. And I’m really confident that when our first uh cohort takes their IGCSE exams in a couple of years time, they’re going to do really, really well.
Extracurricular Activities
ISTimes Global: (02:41) We wish them all the best. Could you tell us a little about how your students get involved with the community outside of class?
Brighton College Singapore (Nick): (02:47) Okay, yeah, certainly. So we are um although we have a a key emphasis on the academic success of our pupils. We always say that’s only 50% of the work that a good school does. So the other 50% is how we develop some of those really important uh qualities uh and and probably the ones that we focus on the most at Brighton are the Brighton College values of curiosity, confidence, and kindness. And we look for many, many opportunities to help our children develop these uh qualities and understand the power of them so that, you know, they they not only are happier, more successful whilst they’re with us at school, but also they’re better prepared uh for the world beyond our gates when they graduate. Um we have some 120 co-curricular activities that run uh throughout every week. Uh so that includes everything from lots of sports, cricket, rugby, football, uh swimming, water polo, tennis, all of those sorts of opportunities exist. Uh but we also have uh more sort of classroom-based activities like chess club, coding club, uh designing club, art club, all of those sorts of things. And our children really enjoy participating in a wide variety of those sorts of activities. Uh we like as well to provide children with lots of opportunities to to um to travel, to to to meet new people, see new places, uh and uh learn from from visiting very different parts of the world. Uh last term, uh back in March, our senior school pupils uh visit made the trip to Bangkok for the inaugural Brighton College games. So there are seven Brighton College schools across the world. All of them sent children to the Brighton College games in Bangkok, including our pupils, and they had a fabulous time, athletics, swimming, polo, lots of cultural uh learning as well in in around Bangkok. So these sorts of opportunities are really important for and we we look to provide as many different opportunities for our children to help develop those values that I talked about earlier.
Lasting Memories at Brighton College Singapore
ISTimes Global: (04:43) That sounds great. Um for the children who graduate from your school, can you tell us about some of the memories you hope that they make as they leave your school?
Brighton College Singapore (Nick): (04:52) Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we want, what do we want for our children? We want them to be both happy and successful. Uh and, you know, obviously, you can’t have that 100% of the time. There are challenges in everyone’s lives. But we work really hard and we have a really key committed team that we place around every child to try and make sure that that school is a place of fun, a place of happiness, a place where they are uh loving the learning that they’re doing. Um and so I think what I would uh like to imagine is that when our pupils do graduate and look back upon their time with us, they are happy members uh where they felt that they had a fabulous network of friends. They had some really committed teachers who who worked uh very hard to make sure that the learning was as engaging and as fulfilling as possible. Uh I’m sure that they will remember going on some of these trips that I’ve made reference to, whether it’s the the Brighton College games or the the trip that our some of our people are doing to Borneo in a few weeks time. Um and yeah, I mean, you know, when I speak to parents about what it is that brought them to our school, it’s often the community spirit and that feeling of because, you know, we are by by deliberate design, a smaller school than some of the other school international schools in Singapore. And I think that sort of rich sense of community is uh a key key aspect of Brighton College Singapore. And I really hope that the pupils uh recognize that and remember that really positively when when they look back upon their time with us in the future.
ISTimes Global: (06:19) All right. Thank you very much, Nick.
Brighton College Singapore (Nick): (06:22) Thank you very much indeed. Really enjoyed chatting to Bobby. I hope you guys have a great day too.
About Brighton College Singapore
- British International School in Singapore, founded in 2020 with 36 pupils
- Currently, nearly 500 pupils, expanding to a full K-12 school
- Part of the Brighton College UK network (founded 1845)
- Strong academic focus – UK school sends 43+ pupils to Oxbridge annually
- Core values: curiosity, confidence, and kindness
- 120 co-curricular activities, including sports, arts, and coding
- Member of the global Brighton College network (7 schools worldwide)
- The first senior school cohort started in August 2024
- Community-focused, smaller than other international schools in Singapore
- Preparing the first graduating class for top global universities
