Graduating in 2025 webinar - SIGN UP

Secure your spot for the Graduating in 2025 webinar

🔴 Available Now • Online
A 2025 CV starter pack, exclusive to international students
Practical guide to scoring interviews
Discover scholarships for master's programmes worth up to US$25,000

    Tanglin Trust School
    Source: Tanglin Trust School

    In many parts of Asia, classrooms are filled with some of the world’s brightest students. Their achievements are remarkable, but sometimes, so too is the stress they endure to reach them. Hours of revision, unyielding expectations, and the fear of failure create an environment where learning is more about survival in a highly competitive system. 

    Yet, times are changing. Success today is just as much about grades as it is about who can think critically, collaborate effectively, face challenges with resilience and find fulfilment along the way. Recognising this, the top schools across Asia are moving toward holistic models, focusing less on memorisation and more on helping students grow into well-rounded, capable individuals. Here are four schools at the forefront of this transformation: 

    Tanglin Trust School

    Tanglin nurtures the whole child, valuing academic achievement alongside well-being and co-curricular engagement. Source: Tanglin Trust School

    Tanglin Trust School

    What does a holistic education achieve? In Singapore, one school may have a head start in answering this question. Founded in 1925, Tanglin Trust School is a place where tradition meets innovation. A learning environment that nurtures both academic rigour and personal growth. 

    At the heart of this approach is it’s diverse and expansive Co-Curricular Programme, which across the school year sees 2652 students from Infants right through to Sixth Form participating in 383 activities   “spanning the musical, artistic, social and sporting domains,” described by researchers as “valuable life experiences” that “develop positive tangible outcomes which could benefit them in later life.” 

    Holistic education at Tanglin is supported by several other exciting initiatives. These include the introduction of the Centenary Music Scholarship Programme, the establishment of the Year 9 Highlands Programme — a five-week experiential learning experience at Tanglin Gippsland in Australia — and the opening of the new Junior Arts Centre. From the debut of dance in the Junior curriculum to state-of-the-art spaces for art, drama, and music, the centre brings fresh possibilities for creativity and growth.

    Sophie Hawkins, Tanglin’s new Deputy Head of Co Curriculum explains, ‘Holistic education’ is a common term but when it is delivered meaningfully, as I believe it is here at Tanglin, it creates the optimum conditions for a truly world-class education. It is the blend of different learning experiences – whether in a traditional classroom, through a club, or on a trip – that enables children to flourish, shaping who they are and helping them discover their passions.

    Kolej Tuanku Jaafar

    KTJ’s CCAs are supported by modern facilities, including an indoor climbing wall, the Tunku Ja’afar Auditorium, music studios, and design technology classrooms. Source: Kolej Tuanku Jaafar

    Kolej Tuanku Jaafar

    If a British-style boarding school in Malaysia is what you’re after, Kolej Tuanku Jaafar, one of the region’s premier international schools, is the place to be. For more than 30 years, KTJ has educated students aged 3 to 19, blending global standards with Malaysian and Southeast Asian traditions.

    The journey begins with a varied and engaging academic curriculum. In KTJ Primary, students follow the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), which builds critical thinking, global citizenship, and international mindedness. From Years 3 to 6, residential trips turn these lessons into real-world experiences, learning independence along the way.

    At KTJ Secondary, students continue with a bespoke syllabus based on the English National Curriculum before preparing for IGCSE exams. Grades aside, the school emphasises character, encouraging students to embrace the KTJ Learner Attributes, qualities that cultivate leadership and a strong sense of self.

    But KTJ believes that learning should be linked to the community and wider world too. As such, it offers over 60 co-curricular activities for students to explore their passions, develop new skills, and embrace new challenges. “We believe that while learning is important, the entire experience is what builds a child’s development and social skills positively,” says Valeria, a parent. “We have since enrolled our younger son, and we have never looked back.”

    Bangkok Patana School

    With over 500 Extra-Curricular Activities for every interest, Bangkok Patana gives students the chance to try new things, connect across year groups, and have fun along the way. Source: Bangkok Patana School

    Bangkok Patana School

    Bangkok Patana School may be Thailand’s original British international school but it is arguably also its most forward-thinking. From ages 2 to 18, every child grows in an environment where well-being, learning, and global citizenship are at the heart of everything, including its over 500 Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs).

    For well-being, students can join fitness and recreational sports or dance. Those who want to specialise can train year-round in five academies: Dance, Football, Gymnastics, Swimming, and Tennis. For learning, there’s plenty to explore in creative arts, performing arts, world languages, and music. And for global citizenship, opportunities include community service, Model United Nations, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.

    Beyond its ECAs, Bangkok Patana pairs a rigorous curriculum with real-world experiences that build leadership skills. The Outdoor Classroom, for example, is a project where Secondary Biology students explore flora and fauna to find creatures they’d like to study. In Junior Enterprise, students experience the full business journey: identifying market opportunities, designing products, launching them, and selling at Market Days.

    Learning continues through drama, modern foreign language, history trips, arts and music festivals, as well as Residential Visits outside of Bangkok as well. These experiences help students step outside their comfort zones, shaping them into confident, well-rounded graduates ready to succeed in higher education and beyond.

    Australian International School, Vietnam

    Through the Global Exchange Programme, AIS students can discover new cultures, practise new languages, and do so much more at Inspired schools worldwide. Source: Australian International School, Vietnam

    Australian International School Saigon

    Since 2006, families have trusted the Australian International School Saigon (AIS) in Ho Chi Minh City for a world-class education. Welcoming students from 18 months to 18 years across its Thu Thiem and Thao Dien campuses, AIS is where students can achieve their full potential.

    Day and boarding students learn together in a multicultural environment and take part in well-being classes that build resilience, mindfulness, and social skills, plus everyday habits like organisation and study strategies. The goal is to become thoughtful, creative, and adaptable learners who are ready to succeed in every stage of life.

    But what makes AIS truly unique is its Australian values: openness, confidence, support, and innovation. Paired with a close-knit community, they create a school where students are encouraged to explore who they are. And nowhere is this spirit more evident than in AIS’s extracurricular activities.

    AIS Titans teams shine in swimming, football, and basketball, representing the school nationally and internationally. Meanwhile, AIS’s visual and performing arts programmes nurture talents that go on to earn prestigious scholarships, including one to the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in the US. “Education here is inspiring, culturally rich, aspirational, and life-enhancing,” says Executive Principal Jon Standen, Executive Principal. “We have a lot of fun along the way, too.”

     *Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International