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PPal Buddhist School

Our Story

A school born from a Khmer child's journey

  1. 1971

    Panha Pal is born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

  2. Age 4

    His childhood is marked by the Khmer civil war and the Pol Pot regime.

  3. Age 10

    He arrives in Australia as a refugee with his family, with little formal schooling.

  4. Next 20 years

    Through diligence and discipline he excels: Maths Olympiad, top of the state in Year 12, a degree in Computer Engineering, a career as an engineer and entrepreneur.

  5. Mid-30s

    A personal crisis leads him to search for the deeper meaning and purpose of life.

  6. 2011

    He discovers the Dhamma, which he describes as a "user manual for human beings".

  7. 2013

    He founds Pal Buddhist School to give children an education for both the heart and the mind.

  8. 2014

    PBS is registered on CRICOS to welcome international students.

  9. [year]

    Pal International School opens in Siem Reap, Cambodia, PBS's brother school.

  10. 2019–2026

    First in NAPLAN in the local area (2019); HSC top 100 (2022); 26th in NSW for NAPLAN (2023); top-ranked affordable private school in NSW/ACT (2026).

Protected for the future

The Buddhist community that founded PBS, Dhamma Training Ground, now serves as its Guardian. It cannot run the school, but its consent is needed for any change to the school's Buddhist identity, its land or its existence. Families can trust that the PBS they choose today will remain a Buddhist school tomorrow.

Looking ahead

The Leppington campus will give PBS room to grow, with the facilities a K–12 school needs. The concept design was created by 1:2:4 Designs of Sri Lanka. [confirm current timeline]

Mr Pal knows what it means for a Cambodian family to send a child across the world in search of a better future. PBS was built so that children do not have to choose between academic success and good character.

Watch the founder's story