RGS International

Bob Ukiah, RGS Chief Operating Officer

This September, RGS opened its first school in Nanjing as part of a long-term partnership with Gemdale Corporation of China. RGS Guildford Nanjing’s first cohort numbered just over 100 Chinese pupils at junior and senior levels, with most of the senior pupils boarding. This was a considerable achievement given the student recruitment difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

RGS Guildford Dubai RGS Guildford Nanjing

RGS Guildford Qatar

Matt Ford, the founding Principal, said: “I’m excited and honoured to have the opportunity to establish the first RGS in China and to bring our values and ethos to our new school community.”

Our agreement with Gemdale is to open up to six schools in China over the coming years with the second school planned to open in 2022. The standard of facilities and resources provided for the school in Nanjing is exceptionally high and bodes very well for the future.

Our overseas adventure started in 2016 when we opened RGS Guildford Qatar with just 30 pupils. The school in Qatar has gone from strength to strength and now educates 740 boys and girls. The school intake reflects its environment and so is a mixture of Qataris and other Arabic nationalities together with expat children from the UK, mainland Europe, Australia and South Africa. Most teachers are English and the school follows an English curriculum leading to GCSEs and A levels. Most importantly, the school feels like an RGS with the same values and learning habits.

We have partnered with UK based schools group Cognita to open RGS Guildford Dubai in September 2021. Building work is on track and our first staff have been hired. We are very pleased that Clare Turnbull, formerly Head of Lanesborough, has relocated to head the Dubai prep school. The design of the school is state of the art and the aim is to create an RGS school that blends the best of RGS with the best of Cognita within an Emirati context.

Through this expansion we have remained true to our original aims, which were partnership; engagement in global cultures; enhanced reputation for the School; and an income which can be used to support our school in Guildford to the benefit of our boys.

We are developing the collaboration between Guildford and overseas. The aim is to establish links that could lead to a variety of activities ranging from student exchanges to pen-pals (or should that be e-pals?) to international online RGS chess tournaments.

In the past two years our international schools have raised over £360,000 for RGS Guildford, an amount that should grow as our family of schools and our student numbers increase. This additional income is being used solely for the benefit of the boys in Guildford and will contribute significantly to the School’s vision to become needs blind within a generation.