18 years after the first campus of The British School in Tokyo (hereinafter referred to as BST) was founded in 1988 in Shibuya, the school entered into an agreement with Showa Women’s University, which has a large, leafy campus with excellent facilities at Sangenjaya, 10 minutes west of Shibuya, and opened a second school in newly renovated accommodation on their campus in 2006. Both schools continued to grow, with parents being attracted by the growing reputation for academic excellence, care for individual student needs and a happy, international environment in which to learn and play. Over the next 4 years, the School moved the upper Primary Years to the Showa campus at Sangenjaya, in order to allow expansion to 4 classes in each year for the younger years at Shibuya, and opened new years at the top of the school in order to take children up to age 16. In 2010 the decision was taken to expand the school to age 18 and in 2012 the first students graduated directly to university.
BST has now over 1000 students of over 65 nationalities, 300 from ages 3 to 7 on the Shibuya campus and 700 from ages 8 to 18 on the Showa campus. BST is also to open a new Primary School campus within the prestigious Toranamon – Azabudai mixed-use urban development. The new campus with its outstanding facilities is scheduled to open in September 2023 with an initial 700 children from Nursery to Year 6 and will replace the current facilities for Primary children at Shibuya and Showa.

BST ensures that the learning from primary into Secondary School is complementary and seamless using the attributes embedded in the Learner Profile across the transition. It is founded on British National Curriculum fundamentals and designed ultimately to provide students with both a rigour in their academic studies plus the freedom to explore ideas across subject areas, and delivered through a dynamic and challenging curriculum with an emphasis on enquiry and creative problem-solving through authentic tasks. This results in students who are not afraid to take risks and are prepared to fail in order to learn.

Years 10 and 11 sees the beginning of the students’ GCSE journey where they use a combination of GCSE and (I)GCSEs to ensure that learning is bespoke to their British and international student body.

Years 12 and 13 are the final part of their students’ learning journey where they follow the UK ‘A Level’ system. The A-Level pathway is an enormously well-respected gateway to any of the top universities in the world. Even though examination challenge and rigour becomes increasingly visible at this time, it doesn’t mean that it replaces fun and exploration.

Students are guided and supported by their highly knowledgeable and expert teachers who care passionately about the continual academic and personal progress of your children. The school aims to provide an all-round educational experience so that students become confident, productive and caring members of the local, national and global community. Every student leaves the Secondary School equipped with the tools that will enable them to be productive and happy so that they can move onto the next stage of their lives with confidence, conviction and a mindset that enables them to continue to seek growth, fulfilment and excellence.

BST looks to nurture each student’s unique potential and strives to help them create a strong sense of self, built around purpose and passion.
In every classroom they provide a stimulating environment that actively engages students and makes learning enjoyable and memorable. Teachers and teaching assistants take part in professional development and training throughout the year to be able to bring out the best in every student, and help them approach life with confidence, curiosity and consideration for others.
The BST community is supportive and friendly and is committed to the pursuit of excellence. They also have a long-established reputation for success that is based on collaboration and high standards.
The students and staff come from all over the world. Internationalism permeates every aspect of BST and underpins discussions, actions and views enabling the school community to interact with and learn from each other.They pride themselves on instilling a sense of integrity, and value their collective responsibility to positively impact the wider world.