For internationally mobile families, few decisions carry more weight than schooling. A posting to Tokyo can be the chance of a career, but it often comes with an unspoken worry: What happens to the children’s education, and what happens again when the next move comes? From autumn 2027, one of Britain’s most renowned schools is offering an answer in the heart of the city.
Epsom College will open a new daytime primary school campus in the Uchikanda area of Chiyoda Ward — a three-minute walk from Kanda Station — welcoming children from the ages of 3 to 11.
Teaching and school activities will be conducted entirely in English, delivering a premium British preparatory education rooted in the traditions and educational heritage of Epsom College in the United Kingdom, but one shaped deliberately for life in Japan rather than transplanted wholesale from Surrey.
Built for busy, mobile families
Unlike Epsom’s campuses in Surrey and in Malaysia, the Tokyo school will not offer boarding — classes run during the day and children go home each evening. That model, and the central location, were chosen with Tokyo’s international workforce in mind.
“Many families living and working in Tokyo are time-poor,” said Mark Lankester, an Epsomian and CEO of the Educ8 Group, board of governors, Epsom College Tokyo. He explained that the Kanda location was selected to provide easy access for parents in central Tokyo.
“We are bringing an authentic British prep school (primary) education, rooted in Epsom’s U.K. heritage, into the heart of Tokyo, with the convenience, support and accessibility that busy families need.”
The result is intended to combine the best of both worlds — the heritage and educational philosophy of a historic British independent school with the accessibility and convenience required by families living in a modern global city.
The timing is deliberate. As part of Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s drive to strengthen the capital’s standing as a global city, the metropolitan government has introduced measures to attract international companies and make Tokyo more welcoming to international families.
The school itself arrives with notable backing — it has received endorsements from Koike and the British ambassador to Japan. Epsom College is proud to be answering the call for schools that combine an international pathway with genuine academic rigor.
172 years of history
Epsom College first opened in England in 1855 to provide free education for the orphaned children of doctors. In the nearly two centuries since, it has grown into an international institution built on the belief that education should shape the whole person. Today it has campuses in Surrey, England, and near Kuala Lumpur, with the Tokyo campus joining next and further campuses planned in the Middle East by the end of the decade. The Japan school will be run in partnership between Epsom College and Educ8 Group, together with the Sano Educational Foundation, the Tokyo school corporation behind the Kanda Gaigo group.
“The core values of Epsom College are kindness, integrity and ambition, which are shared consistently across the Epsom family of schools, from the U.K. to Malaysia and now Tokyo,” Lankester said. Kindness, he explained, means children learn to care for others and to be kind to themselves; integrity means learning to be honest, responsible and reflective; and ambition means striving to become the best version of oneself, with purpose to contribute meaningfully to the world.
A network of schools
What sets Epsom apart from other international schools, the school notes, is the flexibility of its network. Once enrolled in the elementary school, students have access to established progression pathways across the Epsom family of schools. This allows students to continue on to secondary education at Epsom College Malaysia or high school at Epsom College in the U.K. should they choose to do so (subject to the relevant admissions requirements and available places). For a family that may relocate again, that continuity can be decisive.
“Families are not simply choosing a new international school in Tokyo. They are joining the Epsom family,” Lankester said. In practice, that means a clear route from the Tokyo campus into international secondary education. This includes, for those who want it, boarding life at Epsom’s Malaysia or U.K. campuses — with all the benefits of living and learning alongside a diverse student body — and ultimately to attendance at leading universities around the world or in Japan.
Japan-based U.K. education
Classes will be taught in English, but the school is emphatic that this is more than a Western lesson plan set down in Tokyo. Epsom’s goal is to provide a British curriculum designed for Tokyo, with Japanese language education, cultural understanding, local context and global perspectives woven through the learning experience. Alongside traditional subjects — science, language, mathematics and the humanities — the school also aims to build digital literacy, introducing age-appropriate artificial intelligence education from an early stage.
“Children need to understand not only how to use technology, but how to use it responsibly, critically and creatively,” Lankester said, framing it as preparation for a period of profound uncertainty in which AI, global mobility and complex international challenges will shape young lives.
For Lankester, the deeper promise is that a child need not choose between where they come from and where they are going. “International education is sometimes presented as a choice between a child’s roots and their future. I reject that entirely,” he said. “A child who is deeply grounded in their own culture, and fluent in the language and values of the wider world, is not torn between two identities. They are enriched by both.”
More information for parents
Epsom College Tokyo is hosting an introductory meeting at the Tokyo International Forum for parents considering enrolling their children ahead of the autumn 2027 opening and becoming founding families. In its first year the school will welcome younger year groups (up to year four), so the session is most useful for families considering those years, though those with younger children are welcome.
The event will introduce Epsom’s heritage and values, its curriculum and language model, the admissions process and future pathways beyond Tokyo, with opportunities for one-on-one consultations with the admissions team. For children entering in autumn 2027, an entrance assessment is also available on the day.
Information session: Sept. 5 — Doors open at 10:15 a.m. and the event begins at 11 a.m.
Venue: The Tokyo International Forum, Hall B5
For more information and registration, visit:
For inquiries, contact:
[email protected]
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