New beginning for old hand

Head Teacher Stuart McLay keeps himself busy in the classroom at St. George's International School; one of the new intake learns all about numbers; teaching assistants are on hand to give students their special attention.

The jump from agrochemical industry to the more philanthropic world of education was hardly sudden, however. It all began back in 1989 whilst his children were still at Bangkok Patana School. That year, Kennett was appointed Chairman of Governors at a point when the institution was going through some radical changes.

“At the time, we were thinking about moving the school away from the polluted centre of Bangkok,” recalls Kennett. “We were also in discussions as to whether we should set up a high school. The feeling amongst the parent body was that we all wanted a high school but the feasibility study we had commissioned showed we shouldn’t do it!”

In the end, the Board of Governors chose to ignore the findings – a decision that seems today to have been provident. “When we moved out to the new site,” says Kennett, “the school expanded in numbers so fast we soon realised that there was no alternative – we definitely had to have a high school.”

There was, however, another motive behind the decision. “Education was only an interest to me because I had children and I thought it was important for them, although they didn’t realise it at the time!” he laughs. “When my children reached high school age, the thinking amongst most farang parents was that you sent your children away to boarding schools after the age of 11 or 12.

“I wanted to know if it would be feasible to have a high school at Patana, so that I could keep my children here with me. I didn’t want them to go to boarding school. I did explore that route and sent them to check out boarding schools in the UK but they were absolutely devastated by this and didn’t like it. So I actually fought to get Patana to build the high school and, being Chairman of the Board, I did have a bit of clout!”

Although Kennett’s influence was substantial, his position at the school was nonetheless a voluntary one carried out in his spare time. By the time his children were on the verge of graduating from the new Patana High school in 1996, it looked like his day job as marketing manager for agrochemical giant Schering might change – the company was in the midst of a merger and there was talk of a transfer to Europe.

“I’d been in Asia most of my life, so I didn’t want to do it,” he says. “In the end, I made the decision to take early retirement and stayed here. For a while I worked in a private agrochemical company but I didn’t like that as my heart was already set on other things.”

After a stint in marketing, it seemed that his passion for education was now top of his list. “One of the feasibility studies we’d done at Patana was to see whether we should continue to develop the Kindergarten section of the school or whether we should outsource it,” he says. “I had the idea that we should have kindergartens feeding in to Patana but they wanted their own, although they were quite happy to have other kindergartens providing children for the main school. So I decided to set up a kindergarten in Soi 107 which was the beginning of St. Andrews.”

Whilst planning the school, he received a request by the Green Valley company to set up another campus in Rayong. Today, there are no less than five campuses in the St Andrews family, all springing from the success of Kennett’s very first venture. In the early days, however, things didn’t look quite so rosy, especially around the eastern seaboard.

“I didn’t know it at the time but if I could have read the signs in October ‘96, it was clear we were heading for the currency meltdown, which occurred the next year,” says Kennett. “We had a great deal of difficulty because instead of having the student base in the eastern seaboard which we expected to have, companies started re-trenching and moving out expensive expatriates, replacing them either with locals or shutting down their operations altogether. As a result, the potential number of students in the eastern seaboard fell drastically. In ‘97 and ‘98 we had a pretty tough time keeping the school going but we did it and it’s now successful.”

After six years piloting the St. Andrew’s project, Kennett decided it was time to take things easy for a while. But his feet soon began to twitch and, before long, Kennett found himself drawing up plans for a brand new school.

St. George’s International School, which opened its doors to a small number of students last month, stands on 7 rai of land just off Pattanakarn Road towards the southeastern corner of the city. Spacious classrooms and other modern facilities are housed in well-designed buildings, surrounded by greenery.

For Bob Kennett, choosing an appropriate site was the first major challenge. “I decided that I would do my own project on a relatively small scale but it took a long time to find a site that was affordable,” he says. “The reason I chose this site is because it’s quiet and it’s clean and we are not far from a main road. The other reason is the fact that the main international airport is moving to Nong Ngu Ho and is due to open in September next year.

“This area is going to be of interest to the people who are working for the companies associated with the airport. I’ve already seen how many new housing estates are being built in this area which it is not well served by quality international schools. Hopefully, the people who move into them will have children of school age.”

Setting up an international school from scratch, however, is no easy task. For those without much experience, the venture is likely to plunge into disaster. But even for someone with Kennett’s extensive background, there are always new challenges and obstacles to overcome.

Over the last ten years, the government has become increasingly strict about quality control, largely thanks to a flurry of schools whose owners had more interest in profit than in hearts and minds. On top of that, membership of the International Schools Association of Thailand (ISAT), the independent body that regulates standards amongst other things, has become more difficult to attain.

Despite the extra effort involved, Kennett welcomes greater rigour within the international school sector. “The license you now have to apply for is ten times more difficult to get hold of than it was a few years ago,” he notes. “One of the things you have to do for exercise, which you didn’t have to do before, is an air quality survey.

“It’s also far more difficult with regard to implementing the curriculum and other policies. For instance, you now need to have a five-year financial plan. I have nothing against this because it’s going to limit the number of international schools that come in the future. That means those who do come will be bone fide international schools with a high standard. They will not be those that are in for a short term gain in profit.”

Whilst some brand new international schools ambitiously try to fill their campuses from day one, Kennett has a much more patient approach to growth. Some of the more successful schools, he argues, started small and then built up gradually, giving staff and students enough breathing space to develop without being rushed.

As far as St. George’s school is concerned, Kennett has clear plans about where he wants to go. At the moment, in the first phase of development, the school can accommodate students across the primary age range. There are currently enough classrooms for around 200 kids, although Kennett, somewhat realistically, is not expecting to hit these numbers until the school’s reputation is firmly established. Eventually, if demand is big enough, a lower high school may be built with the option to extend this if appropriate.

Of course the buildings, whilst important, are not what makes a school. There are plenty of other things that have to be in place at the outset including well-qualified staff and a suitable curriculum.

“We have decided to follow the national curriculum of England and Wales,” explains Kennett, “because it’s what I know and it’s a proven successful curriculum. But we are quite flexible and we have added some international and local elements to make it more relevant to the students.”

Overseeing the implementation of the curriculum as well as other academic policies is Head of School, Stuart McLay. “When I was appointed to the role in April, my initial job was to put in a structure in terms of administration,” he says. “I’ve also been involved in some of the marketing and indeed some of the design work of the school, which is all very fascinating. At the moment we have a small teaching staff, so it’s very much a hands-on role, far more so than perhaps it might be in a bigger school at this stage. ”

Having been a head teacher for a number of years in India, McLay is well aware of the kind of administrative structures required to support a fledging international school. But at St. George’s he has started with a blank slate. “It’s a question of adapting my experience from the past to the ideas and philosophy of this school and effectively putting a structure in place,” he says, “and that goes from something as basic as having a staff handbook to working through policies and lots of paperwork.

“We want to offer a broad and balanced curriculum,” he adds, “so we’re trying to ally the British national curriculum with Thai traditions and cultures whilst aiming for high standards. We like to think that the children’s experience will incorporate all those things they do outside the curriculum like after-school activities. It really is an enriching experience sitting in classrooms and working with children from different parts of the world with different cultures and traditions. I also think that children take an awful lot away from being in classes that have all those ingredients.”

Bob Kennett, international school entrepreneur and Managing Director of St. George's International School.

Besides recruiting high quality academic staff, Bob Kennett believes that having the right office staff is also a big priority. “The size of the office and the people you have in it are very important,” he says. “The school and the office are two very different operations. The teachers are working all day and they haven’t got time to do admin and all the other things you need to make the operation run smoothly, so the office has to do that. The office exists to support the school. It’s very important that both sides work together as a team and have very good communications. The bigger the school, the more difficult that becomes.”

Kennett also places an emphasis on creating the right ethos. “You’ve got to make sure that everyone understands it otherwise it’s very difficult to develop a friendly, caring atmosphere. When parents walk in to the office for the first time, my view is that they should feel it – if they are ignored or greeted in a curt manner, it’s already wrong. The atmosphere you work hard to create is not easy to maintain because individuals can destroy it in one day but the ethos is something I cherish and will work at.”

Looking towards the future, Bob Kennett is confident St. Georges will be a success. He is, however, keeping his ambitions in check. “We want to cap our student numbers between 350 or 400,” he notes. “This is an ideal because you can manage the school well and still keep a homely feel whereby teachers know all the children’s names. When a school becomes too big, it all gets a bit impersonal and you find little children are overawed by these giant 18 year-old kids who are usually bigger than the teachers!”

Kennett is the first to admit that it’s already been hard work getting this far. “If you start out expecting that there won’t be any problems, then you’re in for a rude awakening,” he asserts. “It’s a tough job, it’s very difficult and stressful at times. But absolutely, it’s all worth it.”

For more information on St. George’s International School, log on to www.st-georges-bangkok.com or phone +66(0) 2722 2571-5