OUR STORY SO FAR
Here is an archive that documents some key milestones and events in the school’s journey thus far. We hope you will join us as we write our next chapters!
September 2024
Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh is awarded Provisional School status by accreditation body COBIS (Council of British International Schools). This award marks the successful end of an eight month journey and points the way ahead for full accreditation with COBIS, one of the most established and respected international school accreditation bodies.
Our first swimming lessons took place in the heated, indoor pool in the second week of term. Very exciting!
Our new primary school opens on time!
Our new campus opened on 2nd September 2024.
New teachers arrive for the 2024-25 academic year
Here we see Dean Bryant our new PE Teacher, Siling Lin our new Mandarin teacher, Heather Sampson, our new Year 3 teacher and Nic Edwards, our new Year 1 teacher.
June 2024
As the interior fit of our new primary school nears completion, our first Founding Day took place on June 1st. The event was attended by. H.E. Dr. Hangchuon Naron and H.E. Dominic Williams who both spoke about the significance of a new Shrewsbury school campus in city and the educational landscape in Cambodia. The event was also used to start a number of traditions such as prize-giving. The Principal presented the new Salopian Virtues Awards to six pupils as well as Certificates of Recognition to every child. An art display and a charity fund-raising initiative also sowed the seeds of future annual art exhibitions and commitment to service.
April 2024
Main building (windows and new boundary fence in place)
Main entrance
Bridge between buildings
Swimming Pool
Roof of Dance Studio
Auditorium
Drama Studio
Early Years play area
Our primary school site continues to make rapid progress.
These drone shots show off the riverside location and building formation at the start of April 2024.
March 2024
Progress at the new primary site
Construction of our new primary campus has been rapid since December 2023 and we held a Topping Out ceremony in March 2024 to celebrate the completion of the roof. Exciting times!
Mr. Mark Tharye, Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy in Cambodia.
Mr. Ding, Chair of the Morgan Group, developers of our new school.
The swimming pool takes shape.
Our Founding Principal and guest from Shrewsbury School, UK.
VIPs at the Topping Out ceremony placed the last concrete into the roof area with gold spades!
February 2024
Appointment of Head of Primary
We were delighted to appoint an excellent Head of Primary for the new academic year. Mrs. Alina Manda is an experienced and talented school leader who has worked in the UK, Malaysia, Romania and Nigeria where she has established a successful British international primary school.
January 2024
Building of the new primary school begins and progress is rapid! The new building will have two floors and a roof for sport and play facilities. Some additional facilities will be located in the adjacent condominium building, giving us access to the green open space of Morgan EnMaison.
Building of new Primary school
Our children started to enjoy the riverside location already!
August 2023
Refit and Renovation
Climbing walls for our Early Years and Year 1 children !
Year 1 teaching base
Our new pupil dining room
Refit and renovation at our Flatiron Campus! We don’t stand still at Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh. In July and August the School invested resources into the redesign of some of the Flatiron campus to accommodate Year 1 class. A new Gym, complete with climbing wall was installed and our administration office moved downstairs.
New Marketing and admissions suite
At the Morghan EnMaison condominium complex a dedicated marketing and admissions suite was created to provide a larger space to showcase the new primary school site and its immediate environment. We held our first event there as soon as the carpets were laid on August 19th!
A dedicated play area for children.
New staff arrival
The arrival of three new faculty member from the UK (Early Years, Year 1 and PE & Swimming teachers) and a new Khmer Language teacher reflected the commitment to maintaining a quality teaching body that can deliver the ambitious curriculum from two year old children to pre-university level.
Our new teachers who joined in August 2023.
July 2023
UK Founding Families Trip
The school ran its first ‘Founding Families UK Trip’ at the beginning of July. We value the trust placed in the school by our pioneering staff members, parents and children. Our investor partners sponsored this trip to show their appreciation to the founding members. The trip was a wonderful occasion to celebrate together and learn more about Shrewsbury School (we were luck to be invited for Speech Day) and Oxford University. There were also opportunities to visit Warwick Castle, Stonehenge and other iconic or interesting heritage sites.
Visitors were happy to see Darwin’s statue!
Speech Day at Shrewsbury School. We had sun & rain !
Founding Families were treated to a view of the House ‘Bumps’ which are rowing races.
A special viewing of rare books in the impressive Shrewsbury School library.
A picnic at Warwick Castle was a fantastic experience.
Oxford University was a highlight
May 2023
May 2023 was a busy month at the school!
Scholarship Audition and Assessment Day
On May 6th we held a very popular Scholarship Audition and Assessment Day. Applicants were received for three categories of scholarship (Academic, Sports & Swimming and Performing Arts). We were supported by the British Ambassador to Cambodia, Mr. Dominic Williams, Mrs. Adda Angel and Ms. Jane Wilding of Britcham.
Open Houses
May 13th and May 27th saw out Open Days at the Flatiron campus which also proved popular. Our teachers and teaching assistants ensured there were plenty of activities at both the STEAM and Performing Arts themed days to help our guests understand what makes a Shrewsbury education so special and powerful.
Experiments into building, light and shadow and colours were all popular at our STEAM Open House
Beijing marketing trip
The school took its first concrete steps to engage with the mainland China market. CEO Charles Wong and Principal Toby Waterson both presented at the 2023 International School Expo – School Admission. Families in China will find the reputation and quality of Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh an attractive proposition.
April 2023
Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh is in the news again! The School further committed to a broader scholarship programme (LINK); this news was covered by local EAC and PNN news channels and parents of existing pupils were supportive in sharing their own experiences seeing how their own children had benefited from a Shrewsbury education via a scholarship programme.
PNN and EAC news
Khmer New Year
At the school we held another fantastic celebratory event organised by our wonderful local staff and supported by parents. It was a great moment to take stock of all that has been achieved at Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh over the previous twelve months.
Celebrations were organised by our teaching assistant team and children!
A colourful and delicious occasion!
March 2023
Inaugural Founding Families Social Event
In March 2023 we held our first ‘Founding Families Social Event’ for all parents in the growing community. The event was hosted at The Elephant Bar at Raffles Le Royal Hotel and was a formal ‘black tie’ affair; a fitting venue and occasion for our school to begin a tradition of celebration!
The Elephant Bar and ‘black tie’ gave a great sense of occasion.
February 2023
Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh makes the news in Japan! The school’s appeal lies beyond the borders of Cambodia and in February the school was profiled in influential media in Japan (such as an editorial in the CLASSY magazine). The quality of the education and modernity of the building and facilities featured prominently in the appeal to this audience.
Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh: making waves in Japan
January 2023
This website is launched!
November 2022 – Making the News
Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh continues to make waves in the news, not least because of the School Admissions Day at Raffles at which more generous scholarship opportunities were revealed. Also, media coverage explored the importance of Early Years education and how and why Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh approaches this key stage of education.
eg. https://www.khmerload.com/article/192163
The media also reported on the scholarship opportunities.
November 2022 – School Admissions Day
This event at Raffles was supported by some familliar faces and well attended by prospective families.
A full-house for the School Admissions Day event at Raffles
September 2022 – Opening Day of School !
Our first promotional videos go live on the website
A school is born!
August 2022 – Scholarship Award Ceremony
In late August we held the first Scholarship Awards Ceremony which was generously supported by H.E. Dr. Sann Vathana, Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and singer Mrs. Adda Angel.
Mr. Keith Chan (General Manager), Mr. Charles Wong, CEO & Co-Founder, H.E. Dr. Sann Vathana, Mrs. Adda Angel, Mr. Toby Waterson.
August 2022 – Arrival of International Staff
As well as our new local team members, international colleagues joined the school in August for induction and training. Faculty staff joined us from the UK and China. Then they set about final preparations for the arrival of children for the first day of school to ensure a welcoming start.
Welcoming, enabling spaces.
April 2022 – Main Campus Site Exploration
In the first half of 2022, a number of potential sites and developer partners were explored in the Phnom Penh area.
Hot work: visiting empty sites in April!
March 2022 – July 2022 – Construction of the Early Years Site
During this period rapid site development took place at the Flatiron site to establish our Early Years school. Procurement of resources was a priority and the work continued throughout the summer to ensure that the final touches of decoration were completed. Given the unusual footprint of the Early Years space and our exacting standards, there were many challenges! Nonetheless, the facility was up and running on time.
Classroom & Reception spaces under construction and fit-out.
March 2022 – Core team in place in Flatiron
The pioneering team took up residence in the Flatiron building where an initial office space provided the ‘operational HQ’ until the Early Years site opened in the same building, in the summer of 2022.
The Initial ‘core’ team.
December 2021 – Collaboration agreement in place
A collaboration agreement between Shrewsbury School (UK) & Tutor Impact UK, is signed at Shrewsbury School toward the end of 2021.
https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/international/shrewsbury-phnom-penh
Here we see Dr. Maghin Tamilarasan, International Development Director for the Shrewsbury family of schools, signing the collaboration agreement with CEO and Co-founder, Mr. Charles Wong. The school is born!
Some months later, in March 2022 the key appointments of Founding Principal and Deputy Principal Early Years are announced.
September 2021 – Exploratory visit
Tutor Impact team visit Shrewsbury School in Shropshire, UK.
