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Rikkyo School in England

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Address
  
Horsham RH12 3BE, UK

Founded
  
1972

Similar
  
Christ's Hospital, Farlington School, Millais School, Cranleigh School, Seaford College

Rikkyo School in England (立教英国学院, Rikkyō Eikoku Gakuin) is a Japanese boarding primary and secondary school in Rudgwick, Horsham District, West Sussex, in proximity to London. The school uses the Japanese curriculum, and is one of several fee-paying Japanese private schools in the UK to have such a curriculum. It is a Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu (私立在外教育施設) or an overseas branch of a Japanese private school.

History

It was founded in 1972, opening with 19 students at the primary level. The school's website stated that it is "perhaps the oldest Japanese boarding school in Europe.". The school is an affiliated educational institution of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (the Anglican Church in Japan) and shares its name with Rikkyo University, Tokyo.

Initially the school used the Pallinghurst House, a building constructed in 1902, as its classrooms, dining hall, dormitories, chapel, and staff room. In 1973 the school's middle school opened. In 1975 the Ministry of Education of Japan approved Rikkyo School as an overseas school. Afterwards the school opened its high school division. At that time the school educated students in ages 10 through 18. Toshio Iwasaki of the Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry wrote that this school was the first Japanese high school outside Japan to open. It was the only Japanese high school outside Japan until the 1986 opening of the Lycée Seijo in France.

References

Rikkyo School in England Wikipedia