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. The school uses the Japanese curriculum,[1] and is one of several Japanese schools in the UK to do so.[2] It is a Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu (私立在外教育施設) or an overseas branch of a Japanese private school.[3]
History
It was founded in 1972 and opened with 19 students at the primary level.[1] 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 Pallinghurst House, constructed in 1902 as its classrooms, dining hall, dormitories, chapel, and staff room.[1] Prior to its use as an educational institution, the property was used as a private hotel.[4]George Reindorp, the Bishop of Guildford, dedicated the school.[5]
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.[1] 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.[6] Since opening, the school has expanded considerably and now includes a concert hall, music building, martial arts ground, a nursery school, science experiment building and sports facilities.
^ abcd"INFORMATION IN ENGLISH." (Archive) Rikkyo School in England. Retrieved 8 January 2014. "Guildford Road, Rudgwick, W-Sussex RH12 3BE ENGLAND"
^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. ISBN1780939353, 9781780939353. p. 125.
^Iwasaki, Toshio. "Japanese Schools Take Root Overseas." Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry. Japan Economic Foundation (JEF, Kokusai Keizai Kōryū Zaidan), No. 5, 1991. Contributed to Google Books by the JEF. p. 24. "However, there was no senior Japanese high school outside Japan until Rikkyo School in England was founded in 1972 in the suburbs of London. It remained the only overseas Japanese senior high school for the next 14 years."
Schools with Japan system senior high school classes are marked with asterisks (*). Weekend/supplementary schools (hoshū jugyō kō) are located in a separate template
Turkey is not included in the classification of Europe by the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT). Nihonjin gakkō are day schools operated by Japanese associations and usually only include, within the Japanese system, primary and junior high school levels. Shiritsu zaigai kyōiku shisetsu are overseas branches of Japanese schools; these are boarding and day schools. MEXT categorizes Japanese sections of European international schools as hoshū jugyō kō part-time schools and not as full-time schools. See the template for part-time schools.
