When it opens in January 2027, SPGS International School (Singapore) will welcome girls and boys from 18 months to eight years. The school’s Founding Head, WILLIAM FORSE, came to Singapore in July to oversee preparations; he shares how things are shaping up and their upcoming open house day.
What made you decide to take on the role of Founding Head of School?
There aren’t many opportunities in education to build a school from the beginning, and fewer still where you can do so with the heritage and educational ambition of St Paul’s Girls’ School (SPGS) London behind you.
What excited me was the opportunity to ask the question, “If we were creating an exceptional education for children today, what would we want it to be?”
For me, the answer is academically ambitious but also joyful, broad and deeply human. We have the opportunity to preserve what’s so special about the school in London – its intellectual ambition, independence of thought and extraordinary breadth – while shaping it specifically for the international community in Singapore.
What aspect of being a Head gives you the greatest sense of purpose?
Seeing somebody discover they can do something they thought they couldn’t. It could be finally understanding a difficult mathematical idea, standing on a stage, discovering a subject they love or finding the confidence to express an original thought. There’s something wonderful about that moment when “I can’t do this” becomes “I can’t do this yet”, and eventually, “I can.”
The privilege of leading a school is creating the culture in which those moments can happen, and then watching brilliant teachers make them happen every day.
What will make SPGS International School (Singapore) distinctive?
I hope it will be the combination of rigour, breadth and joy. We will have high expectations, but I don’t think high expectations require a culture of pressure. Part of the joy of learning comes from wrestling with something difficult and eventually mastering it. Our role isn’t to remove every obstacle for children, but to give them the knowledge, confidence and support to overcome them.
Relationships are crucial to that. Children are more willing to challenge themselves when they know their teachers believe in them. There’s also something powerful about being surrounded by other young people who are interested and ambitious, but who want one another to succeed. Students can raise one another’s sights.
Lastly, we want to broaden horizons. Children can only discover passions they have first had the opportunity to encounter. So, part of a great school’s responsibility is to put things in their path that they might never have found for themselves. Our Academic Electives, and eventually our lecture programme and School-Directed Courses, are all part of that.
What do you most want to preserve from St Paul’s Girls’ School in London?
Its sense of intellectual adventure. There’s something wonderfully unapologetic about a school where ideas matter and where being interested in things is celebrated. Students should encounter subjects that fascinate them, teachers who inspire them and ideas that make them see the world differently. That requires knowledge. Curiosity doesn’t develop in a vacuum: the more children know, the more connections they can make, the better questions they can ask and the more creatively they can think.
I also want to preserve SPGS’s extraordinary breadth. Science and mathematics matter enormously, but so do literature, languages, music, drama, art, design and philosophy. Education should open up the world rather than progressively narrow it.
What do you hope students will gain beyond academic achievement?
I hope they leave us curious, confident and generous – able to think for themselves but also interested in the people and world around them.
Qualifications matter, but they aren’t the entirety of an education. I want our students to have deep knowledge and broad interests, to build strong relationships, to make good decisions and to have the confidence to tackle things they cannot yet do.
The world they enter as adults will be very different from the one we know today. We cannot prepare them for that simply by predicting which particular skills they might need. We can give them something more enduring: the ability to think critically, to adapt, to keep learning and to approach the unfamiliar with confidence.
Above all, I hope they retain that sense of intellectual adventure: the feeling that there will always be another idea to encounter, another perspective to understand and something new worth learning.
How have you approached settling into Singapore as a family?
Having moved here from Bangkok, we were already accustomed to the weather. With three young children, you experience a new country rather differently! We’ve tried to treat the move as an adventure together. We live on Sentosa, so there has been lots of cycling in search of wildlife. Singapore Zoo is already a firm family favourite, too.
About the School
SPGS International School (Singapore) will initially welcome children from Playgroup* to Year 4. From August 2027, the Junior School will expand to include Years 5 and 6, while the Senior School will welcome its first cohort of students.
Students will receive an education that embraces the languages, perspectives and cultural diversity of Singapore, underpinned by the core values and rich intellectual tradition of SPGS. Students will benefit from staff with a deep commitment to knowing every child, pastoral care, modern facilities and a rich co-curricular programme spanning the arts, music, sport and community service.
Learn more at an upcoming Open Morning; register your interest at spgssingapore.edu.sg.
* Subject to ECDA licensing approval
About the Founding Head of School
William has more than 15 years of experience in education, beginning as a Mathematics teacher in the UK. He has since held leadership positions in London and Bangkok. Before moving to Singapore, he was Headmaster of King’s College International School Bangkok. With him in Singapore are his wife Lucy and children Ottilie (4), Jasper (3) and Cosima (1)
SPGS International School (Singapore)
20 Harbour Drive
6721 8000 | [email protected] spgssingapore.edu.sg
This article on SPGS International School (Singapore) first appeared in the November 2026 issue of Expat Living magazine. You can buy the latest issue or an annual subscription, or read the digital version for free now.
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