Start-Up

OUR

Experience

Royal Grammar School Guildford, Doha, Qatar

Alistair Downs led the school’s development which included the design, construction and staffing of the Royal Grammar School Guildford in Qatar (RGSGQ), alongside the enrolment of pupils in accordance with the expectations of the home school, the local partner, and the Board of Governors.

Alistair provided the direction, inspiration and guidance required to develop and grow the RGSGQ, transferring and instilling the ethos and values of the RGSG and raising the profile of the school within Qatar and the region. Within four years the School grew from Early Years through to Senior School and was established as a leader in a competitive market.

The success of the RGSGQ was recognised at the Qatar British Business Forum Awards in December 2016 when the school was awarded ‘Best New Business in Qatar.’ In subsequent years Alistair led the school to Qatar National Schools Accreditation (QNSA) and British Schools Overseas (BSO) Accreditation, as well as establishing the school as a member of CIS, COBIS, BSME, EDT and IAPS.

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Makuhari International School, Chiba, Japan

Nicholas Gunn led the founding team at Makuhari International School (MIS), Japan’s first government approved bilingual school. During the twelve-month pre-operational phase Nicholas oversaw the development of the greenfield site, from design through to building regulation compliance.

Nicholas was responsible for creating Japans first bilingual curriculum at MIS. He worked closely with The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to ensure the MIS curriculum met MEXT requirements and blended the National Curriculum for Japan and England. Following the success of the curriculum Nicholas subsequently became an advisor to Article 1 schools in Japan.

Once MIS was operational Nicholas chaired the Council of International Schools (CIS) Accreditation Team which achieved a highly successful CIS accreditation.

Kings College, Doha, Qatar

Nicholas Gunn led both the pre-operational phase and opening of Kings College Doha (KCD) and was responsible for developing all aspects of the school.

As the first Kings College school outside the UK it was essential that KCD met the outstanding standards of its UK counterpart. Nicholas worked closely with senior leaders at Kings UK to transfer the ethos and values to Doha, whilst ensuring the education offered was tailored to its diverse pupil population and location in Qatar.

During his time at KCD Nicholas led the school to the fastest QNSA (Qatar National Schools Accreditation) on record and grew pupil numbers far above expectation.

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Kings College, Riyadh, KSA

Following the success of Kings College Doha (KCD) Nicholas Gunn opened Kings College Riyadh (KCR) in 2021. KCR was the first UK branded independent school to open in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was invited to be the flagship school for the Royal Commission for Riyadh City.

After leading the initial pre-operational phase Nicholas successfully launched KCR during the Covid-19 pandemic and grew pupil numbers above expectations.

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St. Andrews International School Bangkok, Thailand

Alistair Downs joined St. Andrews during the planning stage for the school, working with the architects on the initial designs. He was responsible for formulating the business plan, overseeing construction during the pre-operational phase, and then leading the school through an ongoing period of development and growth.

During Alistair’s time at St. Andrews the school completed two successful International School Quality Mark (ISQM) Accreditation's by the Education Development Trust. He also worked with the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) and Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) within Thailand to ensure all standards were met.

Jinseki International School, Hiroshima, Japan

Nicholas Gunn completed twelve months of pre-operations at the 50,000 square meter Jinseki International School (JIS) before opening the school as Founding Headmaster.

As Japan’s First Full-Boarding Primary School, an Article 1 international school, and the most expensive school in the country, JIS was a very high-profile project. Nicholas worked with the designers, contractors and local authorities to create a truly unique school in the picturesque Chugoku Mountains region.

Nicholas developed the dual language curriculum at JIS which integrated the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) with Japanese curriculum guidelines. Using his knowledge of boarding Nicholas ensured learning was incorporated into every aspect of life, including food education on the school’s own farm and a wealth of extra-curricular activities such as skiing, mountain biking and horse riding.

FSB International School Bangkok, Thailand

Alistair Downs led on all aspects of pre-operations for FSB including the design and build, branding, marketing, recruitment and curriculum development.

The position also involved overseeing the redevelopment and expansion of an associated Pre-School. Existing teaching and learning spaces were redesigned and new classrooms and a multipurpose sports hall were constructed. The school’s security system and associated protocols were overhauled and new procedures for admissions, staff recruitment, safeguarding and health and safety were also established.