Bangkok’s soon-to-be largest international school is green and ‘future-focused’

VERSO International School will be opening in Bangkok in August 2020, where it is set to become Bangkok metropolitan area’s largest international school.

Having received an investment of US$162 million by U City Plc, an affiliate of one of Thailand’s largest infrastructure developers BTS Group Holdings Plc, the school will offer students a “personalised educational experience designed with students’ interests and passions at its core,” according to its press release.

Cameron Fox, the Founding Head of VERSO International School, said that the driving force behind the process was to design a one-of-a-kind international school that will truly prepare students for a world that is changing rapidly – faster than any other time in human history.

Schools around the world are already taking steps to prepare students for this uncertain future with 21st-century learning methods, so how is this school any different?

One aspect is that VERSO was designed by global design firm IDEO, to help create a vision of what a school of the future could and should be would look like.

Fox said, “VERSO is the first international school in the world to engage IDEO to create a visionary blueprint for its conceptual and physical design.

“Working closely with IDEO’s San Francisco studio, a highly talented team used a human-centred design approach to create VERSO’s dynamic and compelling vision for the future.

“The opportunity to design and build a school of this magnitude from scratch represents a unique opportunity for the VERSO team to positively impact the future of school designs on a global scale.”

Progressive new curriculum

SEAC FYI Center is now buzzing with VERSO-connect – Learning Design Team members engaging with families interested in what VERSO has to offer. VERSO is a new international school with a compelling vision for the future. It is a place of wonder, evolution, & growth. #versoconnect pic.twitter.com/F9RPXpA225

— VERSO International School (@versoschool) November 2, 2019

Another offering by the school is that instead of following the IB or O-level curriculum that most international schools follow, they have formed their own ‘Future-Ready’ curriculum that was re-engineered from a comprehensive set of American educational standards.

Fox said that they intend to make VERSO’s education experience a unique one for students that’s also personally inspiring and relevant for every student that attends.

He explained, “At VERSO, learning will be interdisciplinary, project-based, and skills-focused. Students will be immersed in a stimulating and highly collaborative learning environment where they will frequently work in multi-age groups with a dedicated team of highly skilled teachers to guide and support them.”

“Through their experiences at VERSO, students will learn how to discover their passions, showcase their talents and build a set of future-ready skills that will empower them to confidently lead their own journey.”

State-of-the-art facilities and flexible school design

Sneak peek on the first parents visit at VERSO International School @versoschool #VERSOinternationalschool #VERSOschool#InspiringFutureVisionaries #internationalschoolbangna pic.twitter.com/5zMEko1xZa

— U City (@UCityPLC) December 1, 2019

The new international school is built with research on learning-space design and its impact on student achievement, behavior and wellbeing, taken into account.

There will also be a variety of collaborative learning spaces for teaching instruction, group work, mentorship, and sharing. Sixty percent of the total area will be green space.

The facilities include Thailand’s only 50-metre climate-controlled indoor Olympic-standard swimming pool, an all-weather multi-purpose training pitch, multimedia production and recording studios, a 1,000-seater athletic stadium, maker labs and fabrication studios, a large gymnasium and fitness center, a full-size soccer pitch and a specially commissioned co-working space for teachers.

Tuition fees (not including other fees such as application and enrolment) for the school ranges from approximately US$19,883 per year (Pre-K) to US$31,812 (Grades 5-8). Tuition fees are not yet available for Grades 9-12.

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