by LYIS
Last week, Leading Your International School had the privilege and honour of being invited to The British School in Tokyo by the school’s Principal Ian Clayton.
The school’s Primary campus opened in 2014 in Azabudai Hills and was designed by Heatherwick Studio. A testament to Japanese culture and quality, the school is as detail-oriented and well-thought-out as we have seen.Ian spoke openly about how the role of the international school principal has become incredibly professionalised over the last ten to fifteen years. This we discussed has been brought on by schools raising their game, good governance, competition, growth and demand for places and, great people doing their best to make a difference.
Ian’s key leadership ingredient – trust. Both with staff and with the Board. Being vulnerable to not have all the answers and to believe in the skills and attitudes of the collective capacities in the school. It is clearly working.We talked about Brand Britain and its ‘soft’ power overseas. Something that we both hope the UK can continue to see the value in – especially when it comes to education.
With 65 different nationalities of children, Ian tells me that in his experience, “Happy children are successful children”.We left having made a great friend in Ian and will be exploring opportunities in the near future to bring some events to Tokyo.A huge thank you to Ian for letting our André Double and Amy Zhang share his Friday afternoon with him. We cannot wait to come back!
To read previous LYIS school visits, click here.
