Gyosei International School UK

Gyosei International School UK (英国暁星国際学園, Eikoku Gyōsei Kokusai Gakuen) was a Japanese international school in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.[1] The school, a Catholic institution,[2] was one of several Japanese private schools in the UK with a Japanese curriculum.[3] This school was an overseas branch of a Japanese private school, or a Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu (私立在外教育施設).[4]

Gyosei International School UK
英国暁星国際学園
Address
Japonica Lane, Willen Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK15

Milton Keynes

United Kingdom
Coordinates52.055°N 0.731°W / 52.055; -0.731
Information
TypePrivate high school

The former Gyosei campus is located at Willen Park. It included a baseball diamond, dormitories, and sports facilities.[5] The facility was a boarding school.[6]

History

The school opened in Milton Keynes in 1987.[7] Father Shigeru Tagawa (田川 茂 Tagawa Shigeru),[8] the principal of the Gyosei International School,[9] was the founding principal of this school. He opened the school to serve Japanese children in the European Community (EC) who were members of diplomatic families and families on business.[2] The construction company Higgs and Hill won the contract to design and build the school in association with the Mitsui Construction Company.[10] Mitsui Construction was the main contracting company,[11] while Higgs and Hill designed the school. The design and construct programme had a cost of £8 million.[12]

In 1991 the school was Europe's largest Japanese school, with 1,000 students.[13]

As of 1995 the school had 700 students from elementary through after junior high school.[2] In 1998 the school had 9.8 points in its GCSE rankings.[14]

Around 1998 there was an incident where a group of students placed barricades in their dormitory area and loudly made statements against teachers; Lesley Downer The Independent stated that reports cited the students not being permitted to participate in the local football culture nor visiting the McDonald's in town.[15]

The secondary school's peak number of students was 400. In January 2002 it had 30 students, and that month the school announced it would close in March of that year, stating that the economic crisis in Japan was responsible for its closing. By 2002 fewer Japanese executives were being sent abroad and fewer Japanese families sent their children abroad to study. Shiro Suematsu was the school's final chief administrator.[5] The school closed on 8 May 2002.[16]

In 2004 a developer planned to demolish the school campus and replace it with a housing development.[17] The site is now a retirement village.

See also

British international schools in Japan:

References
  1. Gabbitas Educational Consultants. The Independent Schools Guide 2008–2009 (book cover on Google Books says 2006–2007) (Kogan Page Series). Kogan Page Publishers, 2006. ISBN 074944567X, 9780749445676. p. 85. "GYOSEI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL UK Japonica Lane, Willen Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK15"
  2. Derek Walker Associates. Derek Walker Associates: the view from Great Linford (Architectural Monographs (London, England), No. 43, Volume 43 of Architectural monographs). Academy Editions, 1995. ISBN 1854902822, 9781854902825. "GYOSEI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL Milton Keynes, 1984 The Gyosei School is a private Catholic boarding school based on the philosophy of the Kisagaru School in Tokyo. In 1984 the founding principal. Father Tagawa, decided to open a new school at Milton Keynes to provide education for the children of the business and diplomatic community in the EC. The co-educational school has 700 pupils, ranging from elementary to junior high and[...]"
  3. Morris, Jonathan, Max Munday, and Barry Wilkinson. Working for the Japanese: The Economic and Social Consequences of Japanese Investment in Wales. A&C Black, 17 December 2013. ISBN 1780939353, 9781780939353. p. 125.
  4. "過去に指定・認定していた在外教育施設 Archived 2015-01-14 at WebCite" (Archive). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  5. "Sayonara!." (Archive) Milton Keynes Citizen. 17 January 2002. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  6. Milton Keynes Development Corporation. The Milton Keynes planning manual'. Chesterton Consulting on behalf of Milton Keynes Development Corporation, 1992. p. 105. "There is also the Gyosei School in Willen Park, a boarding school for Japanese children."
  7. Japan Society Proceedings, Issues 115–122. Japan Society, 1990 (March 1990, No. 115 on cover). p. 60. "Following the success of this and other schools in Japan a Gyosei International School was opened in Milton Keynes, England, in 1987. In the same year Mr Takashi Nozu, a businessman and former President of the Japan Junior Chamber of[...]"
  8. "Plus Haut ! (より高く) を目指して." (Archive) Gyosei International School. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  9. "History of Witan Hall." (Archive). Witan Hall (Gyosei International School in the UK). 2 December 2002. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  10. Civil Engineering. Morgan-Grampian, 1985. p. 12. "Higgs and Hill in association with The Mitsui Construction Company of Tokyo, have been awarded a design and build contract to construct a boarding school for the Gyosei International School at Milton Keynes in the UK. Phase I of the project[...]approximately[????]provide some 130 000m2 of accommodations and facilities for a co-educational boarding school which will eventually provide a maximum intake for 960 pupils."
  11. Far Eastern Economic Review. 1987. p. 291. "But whereas Tokyo has one of the densest ggulations [sic] in the world, more than 15, per kmz, Milton Keynes has only 50.[...]is unlucky) and the same was true for the Gyosei International School with Mitsui Construction as the main contractors."
  12. The Architects' Journal, Volume 185. Architectural Press, 1987. p. 11. "The design team of Higgs & Hill provided the full architectural services for this £8 million design and construct programme for the first phase of the Gyosei International School UK in Milton Keynes. The recently opened building was constructed[...]"
  13. "Britain: Japanese Spoken Here." The Economist. 14 September 1991. Volume 320, Issue 7724, p. 67. ISSN 0013-0613. CODEN ECSTA3. Accession number 00541106, 00898348. Available on ProQuest, Document ID 224204538. "One, the Gyosei International School in Milton Keynes, takes 1,000 pupils and is the biggest Japanese school in Europe."
  14. "Education How they fared." (Archive) BBC. Wednesday 2 December 1998. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  15. Downer, Lesley (20 May 1998). "More McDonalds than Mitsubishi: Students at Japanese schools in Britain can find themselves painfully torn between two cultures". The Independent. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  16. "Establishment: Gyosei International School Uk." (Archive) EduBase2, Department for Education. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  17. "Gyosei school homes plan runs into trouble." (Archive) Milton Keynes Citizen. 6 April 2004. Retrieved 9 January 2014.

Further reading
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