Southbank International School

Southbank International School was founded on 12 September 1979 as the American International School. It opened in September 1980 in a disused primary school on the south bank of the River Thames near Waterloo station with 80 upper school students. In line with its founding principles, the school's name was changed to Southbank American International School, following staff and pupil suggestions.

In 1982 the school moved to Eccleston Square near Victoria Station and by 1985 a secondary section was added, and the IB Diploma Programme was eventually adopted. In 1987 the School's name changed again to Southbank International School.

In January 1989 the School moved to the present Kensington campus, and with a growing demand for places the Hampstead campus opened in September 1996. In June 1996 MYP authorisation was achieved and this was followed in June 2000 by PYP authorisation.

The Westminster campus opened in September 2003. In December 2006 the Milton Keynes based private company Cognita became the major shareholders and Southbank International School became the first in Cognita's international division. Cognita has run into serious criticism of its management of Southbank International School with a parent group claiming it has "no serious interest in maximising the educational experience of ... children if it impacts on their bottom line".[2][3] The group were not satisfied with claims that profits were in line with others in the sector.[4] "Brutal reforms" were eventually put on place which by 2017 saw the replacement of 30 headteachers across the organisation.[5]

Cognita provided funding to open an IB Diploma Programme Centre on Conway Street for Grades 11 and 12 and this operates as an annexe to the main campus on Portland Place. The Conway Street building opened in August 2007 and students from the Middle School in Hampstead (grades 6, 7 and 8) joined the Westminster campus. Hampstead then became a two class entry Primary School for 3 to 11 year olds.

Robert Booth of The Guardian wrote that in 2009 the school "was undergoing a period of turmoil" as several parents criticized the operation of the school, leading to a parental group criticizing Cognita that was established in 2011.[6]

In August 2012 Cognita acquired the Charteris Sports Centre in London as a facility for Southbank International School which is let out to the community in non-school time.[7]

In 2013, students from the school performed at the United States Academic Decathlon. Southbank's Grade 10-11 team came in ninth with a national Silver in Interview and two scholarships for academic excellence, whilst the Grade 6-9 team came in fifth and were awarded with ten national medals.[8] In the same year, the school launched an IB Diploma Scholarship[9] that covers 100% of tuition fees over two years.[10]

The 2018 Diploma Class achieved the highest results in the history of the school. IB Results: 3[11] students scored the maximum 45 out of 45 points (reached by only approximately 0.39%[12] of the 2018 Diploma candidates); The average diploma score was 37.7; The world average is just over 29.8; 37% of students scored 40 points or higher (reached by only approximately 4.54% of candidates awarded the Diploma worldwide); 35% of students achieved a Bi-lingual diploma; The pass rate for the Diploma was 100% (Worldwide the pass rate in May 2018 was 78.2%). More recent IB Diploma results from the school can be found on here: [13]

In March 2014, William Vahey, a teacher who had worked at the school for several years, was found dead.[14][15] He had been jailed for child sex offences in California in 1969 and it is thought he had abused over 50 students at the school.[16][17]

Southbank International School has since been praised by regulatory and statutory bodies for the transformation of safeguarding practices and processes in the school which were deemed as "comprehensive and robust".[18]

In 2017, the school announced further expansion plans of their Westminster campus on Cleveland Street. The new campus opened in September 2018 and offers five floors of relatively open plan space. [1]

As of 2020 it had in total over 800 students in all of its campuses.[19] As of 2020 it had over 470 students from 70 countries taking classes at the Westminster campus.[20]

Its students come from families that are generally very wealthy. Robert Booth of The Guardian wrote that a parent told him that the school "gave you a different understanding of wealth" and that a lawyer's family would be considered poor there; students included those from families of foreign affairs officials, hedge fund managers, managers of oil companies, and a manager of a football club.[6]

• International Baccalaureate Organization
• IB Primary Years Programme
• IB Middle Years Programme
• IB Diploma Programme

• Official website
• International Baccalaureate Organization's website:
  • The Primary Years Programme
  • The Middle Years Programme
  • The Diploma Programme
• BBC: Southbank International School's performance between 2003 and 2006