The British School in Tokyo

Established in 1989, The British School in Tokyo (BST) is the largest British international school in Japan, providing a broad and balanced curriculum for international students aged 3 to 18. Throughout the school’s history, families have been attracted to BST by its outstanding reputation for academic excellence, strong support for students, high-quality teaching and learning and, of course, its central city location.

Through the truly holistic education BST provides, students learn in and beyond the classroom. Music, sports, art and drama are significant areas of strength. In addition, all students from Year 1 onward take part in overnight residential trips, visiting various places across Japan. Students benefit from being active, discovering new ways of learning and gaining a greater understanding of themselves through various individual and collaborative activities.

In 2025, BST was selected as one of the world’s top 100 private schools in the Spear’s Schools Index 2025.

In 2023, 34% of our Year 13 graduates entered Top 50 universities as listed in the QS World University Rankings, such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics and Political Science. About 59% entered Top 100 universities and 79% entered Top 200 universities.

While the U.K. is the most popular destination for our graduates, 37% of the students joined non-U.K. universities.

The school is offering International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) for Years 12 and 13 from August 2025. The curriculum for other year groups remains unchanged, with (I)GCSEs continuing in Year 11.

As set out in our vision statement, we look to nurture each student’s unique potential and strive to help them create a strong sense of self, built around purpose and passion. This means the focus is on the individual children themselves. Based on the English National Curriculum, BST provides students with a balance between structure within lessons and opportunities for students to follow their interests within the subjects.

Furthermore, teachers design engaging, creative and active tasks, ensuring students can learn in ways that they find exciting and inspirational. The learning activities ensure individuals are being taught rather than the class as a whole. The lessons, targets that students set for themselves and activities focus on ensuring each individual is making progress at their level. We aim for students to leave the school confident in themselves and confident with their own interests and abilities.