Between 2025 and 2026 I led the integration of a bilingual K-12 school into Taylor's Education Group, working through British University Vietnam. The case for the deal was a pathway from school to university under one group. The integration ran for twelve months across eleven workstreams, with a joint steering committee and monthly board reporting. It was harder than the plan suggested, and most of what I learned wasn't in the plan.

Every acquisition is different. The deal, the seller, the school's stage of life and the buyer's own experience all change what matters. What follows are the questions I would ask next time.

Separate governance from management

Integration plans tend to treat leadership as a first-month task. In a school, much of the other work stays provisional until governance is clearly separated from management and an empowered head of school is using their authority. Policies get written but nobody owns them. Budgets get drafted but nobody defends them. Staff wait to see who they really report to.

The title alone doesn't settle this. In many founder-led schools the licensed head works alongside owners who take the main decisions, and that arrangement usually changes after a sale. The head needs decision rights the group will honour, a reporting line staff can see, and the right fit for the role as it now is.

That means forming your own view of the school's culture before you appoint anyone. Former owners know the school better than anyone; add your own view to theirs. Sit in lessons, read the staff turnover figures, and talk to teachers and parents without the leadership in the room. By the end I saw a clear line between the board and an empowered head as the point the whole integration was working towards, rather than one workstream among eleven.

Know what you have bought

A bilingual school in Vietnam is a Vietnamese school with international elements built in. It is licensed, inspected and staffed under Vietnamese law, and it runs in a Vietnamese way. I have written about this in more detail in How Vietnam's bilingual schools actually work. A buyer who arrives with international school assumptions will misread the finance function, the safety regime and how decisions get made. The first job is to see the school as it is.

Decide what "business as usual" covers

Our deal closed in the middle of an academic year, with exams, re-enrolment and staff contracts all under way. Promising that nothing would change until the summer was right for most of the school. Children and parents didn't choose the acquisition and shouldn't feel it in the classroom.

Some things can't wait: financial controls, safeguarding, statutory compliance and anything that exposes the group legally. If those have to change mid-year, say so and manage the disruption. Structural changes to leadership, curriculum and staffing usually work better timed to the academic calendar. Write down which is which and agree it with the school's leaders, so both sides know what was promised.

Build financial governance early

In a founder-led school, decisions often rest with the owners, so budgets, approval limits and reporting schedules tend to live with people rather than on paper. Expect to build an approval matrix, a reporting calendar and a bottom-up budget, and treat pre-close due diligence as a starting point. In K-12, enrolment by cohort, programme viability, maintenance plans, and how discounts and statutory contributions are accounted for are the areas most worth rebuilding from the ground up. Modelling each cohort from the bottom up proved more reliable than top-down growth targets. The old practices suited the school as it was, and the finance team needs support to get where the group needs it.

Audit safety against two standards

Fire safety, food hygiene, medical care, transport and safeguarding in a bilingual school follow Vietnamese regulation. It is enforced, but it can fall short of what an accreditor, an insurer or an expatriate family expects. The gap is usually between two frameworks rather than a sign of neglect. Audit against both early, because one incident can undo a year's work. Then set local compliance as the floor and group or accreditation standards as the target, with dates, so nobody is judged against a standard they never agreed to. In our case, the audit became a facilities programme and a compliance calendar with named owners, which is how a list of findings turns into a way of operating.

Make the case for governance in person

A founder-led school runs on relationships. To a founder, decision rights, an approval matrix and a registered school council can look like bureaucracy. They are also how the school carries on after the founder steps back. That case has to be made in person, to the founder and to staff, as well as written into the plan.

 
Give the steering committee an end date

A joint steering committee exists to integrate the school, and it shouldn't become a second board. Ours worked best when it was small, separate from the school's own board, run on pre-reads and decisions, and given an end date. Watch for it turning into a monthly update meeting with nothing decided.

Be clear about the integration role

Some integration directors have line authority over the acquired school; others sit alongside it. If you are employed by the buyer and don't manage the school's staff, the job is to find issues, put them to the right decision-maker and follow them until a decision is made. Agree the mandate at the start and make sure both sides understand it.

I was fortunate to have Professor Ray Gordon, Vice Chancellor and President of British University Vietnam, backing the work throughout, and colleagues across BUV whose expertise in finance, HR, IT, facilities, operations, procurement and academic quality sat behind every workstream.

Plan announcements around approvals

In Vietnam, the buyer's name can't appear in communications to parents or the press until regulatory approvals and press clearance are complete, yet staff and parents notice change from the first day. We ran a town hall, a student assembly, parent sessions, a staff FAQ and a website update in a short window. Plan the communication calendar around the approval timeline.

Keep the record

Keep dated snapshots, an escalation trail, a named owner for every open item and a risk register current until handover. Integrations are judged in hindsight, and the record shows what was known, when, and who decided. My handover file may end up mattering more than anything I said in a meeting.

What changed in the first year

• A registered school council, with a board handbook, committee terms of reference and a financial approval matrix
• A new organisational structure, with governance separated from management and an empowered head of school
• Investment in marketing and admissions, with a new team and structure
• Facilities upgraded through a planned programme
• A policy framework introduced and now part of how the school works
• An upgraded school information system
• Compliance run as a routine part of operations
• Links into the wider group through professional development, student pathways and shared services
• A reinvigorated school, and a community excited about a new chapter

Leave when the job is done

Once permanent leadership is in place and the governance runs without you, staying on blurs accountability.

By the end of the first year the school had a registered council, a head of school with real authority and a governance model both sides could work with, and the group had a clear picture of what it owned.