International Schools in Shanghai

Shanghai has the deepest international school sector in mainland China. ESG profiles 26 schools in the city, 20 with complete profiles and 23 publishing fee information, and between them they cover the IB, the English National Curriculum through IGCSE and A Level, the American curriculum with Advanced Placement, and full French, German, Japanese, Korean and Singaporean national programmes, alongside a bilingual sector serving Chinese-national families and a cluster of international kindergartens taking children from age two. Two structural facts shape every Shanghai school search and neither appears on a prospectus: the regulatory split between foreign-passport schools and bilingual schools, which determines whether your child is even eligible; and the Huangpu River, which divides the city into Pudong and Puxi and quietly decides how long your child spends on a bus each morning. This guide covers both, along with the curriculum landscape, the fee bands, Mandarin provision and how to narrow 26 schools to five.

Shanghai American School, an international school in Shanghai

Quick answer

Compare Shanghai's international schools — IB, British, American and national curricula, fee bands, Pudong versus Puxi, Mandarin provision and the foreign-passport rule.

At a glance

The eligibility question that comes before everything else

Check before you shortlist

In most expatriate cities, the first question is which school is best. In Shanghai it is which schools your children are allowed to attend.

Mainland China licenses schools in two distinct categories. Schools for children of foreign nationals may teach a foreign curriculum in English and are restricted to children holding a foreign passport, or a Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan permit. Shanghai American School, Concordia, Dulwich College Shanghai, Harrow, Britannica, the Lycée Français, Deutsche Schule Shanghai and the Japanese and Korean schools sit in this group. Private bilingual schools, by contrast, may enrol Chinese nationals, and must teach the Chinese national curriculum alongside whatever international programme they offer. YK Pao School, Nord Anglia Chinese International School Shanghai and Shanghai United International School sit here.

The consequence is immediate for mixed-nationality families. A child on a Chinese passport cannot be enrolled at a foreign-passport school regardless of how long the family has lived abroad, and a family with one child on each passport may find its two children must attend different schools. Resolve passports and permits before you build a shortlist, not after, and confirm the position in writing with the admissions office rather than relying on a general statement on a website.

Curriculum: what Shanghai actually offers

The IB is the most widely available programme in the city. Shanghai American School, Shanghai Community International School, Dulwich Pudong and Puxi, Yew Chung, Wellington, Nord Anglia, Shanghai United, Western International School of Shanghai, YK Pao and Shanghai Singapore International School all build around it in whole or in part, and Deutsche Schule Shanghai offers the Diploma alongside the German Abitur route. For a family that does not yet know its next country, that breadth is the strongest argument for Shanghai over almost any other Chinese city.

The British route is unusually strong here. Dulwich College Shanghai operates two campuses, Harrow International School Shanghai and Wellington College International Shanghai bring two more established English names, and Britannica International School Shanghai and British International School Shanghai serve the same curriculum at different scales. Between them they cover the English National Curriculum from the early years through IGCSE and, in most cases, on to A Level or the IB Diploma.

The American route runs through Shanghai American School, the city's largest and oldest international school, Concordia International School Shanghai in Jinqiao, SCIS and Living Word Shanghai. AP provision and a US-format transcript matter most to families returning to North America or applying to US universities directly from Shanghai.

The national schools serve families who know exactly where they are going back to: the Lycée Français de Shanghai for the French system, Deutsche Schule Shanghai for the German, the Shanghai Japanese School and Shanghai Korean School for their respective national curricula, and Shanghai Singapore International School for the Singaporean model, which appeals to families moving on to Singapore or valuing its mathematics sequence.

Pudong or Puxi: the decision the map makes for you

The Huangpu River splits Shanghai into Pudong to the east and Puxi to the west, and while tunnels and metro lines cross it constantly, doing so twice a day in rush hour is the single most common regret of families who chose housing before school.

Pudong's international cluster sits around Jinqiao and Century Park: Concordia, Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong, Nord Anglia Shanghai Pudong, Living Word and Shanghai American School's eastern presence. Jinqiao in particular is built around this cluster, with low-rise compound housing, short bus routes and a settled expatriate community. It suits families whose working parent is in Pudong's financial district or in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical corridors further east.

Puxi holds a wider spread: Dulwich Puxi and Britannica, Yew Chung, SCIS Xuhui, Western International School of Shanghai out towards Minhang, the Lycée Français, Deutsche Schule Shanghai and the Korean school. Gubei and Hongqiao are the traditional family districts, well served by school buses; Xuhui and the former French Concession suit families who want city life and are prepared to accept a longer or less direct school run.

The practical method is simple. Fix the working parent's office first, then the school, then the apartment — in that order. Ask each shortlisted school for its current bus route map before you view any housing, and treat those routes as the boundary of the search. A forty-minute door-to-door journey is normal in Shanghai; an hour and a quarter each way, which is what a cross-river commute often becomes, is not sustainable for a six-year-old.

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Fees and the charges that sit above them

Shanghai's published fee ranges span roughly RMB 60,000 to RMB 320,000 a year. At the lower end sit the Japanese, Korean and French schools, which are community or state-supported institutions rather than commercial ones, and the bilingual kindergartens. In the lower middle are Shanghai Singapore International School, Deutsche Schule Shanghai, Shanghai United and the smaller bilingual settings. The mainstream international band — Yew Chung, Britannica, Nord Anglia, Western International School of Shanghai, SCIS, Concordia and Living Word — occupies the middle. At the top sit Shanghai American School, Harrow, Dulwich College Shanghai and Wellington.

A handful of schools, including YK Pao School, British International School Shanghai and Nord Anglia Shanghai Pudong, publish no figure and ask families to enquire directly. That is common for schools that price by year group and revise annually, and it is not a warning sign, but it does mean a shortlist containing them needs a direct enquiry before you can compare like with like.

Above tuition, expect an application fee, in many cases a one-off capital or enrolment levy on first entry, a compulsory bus charge that varies with distance, lunch, uniform, devices and examination entry in the senior years. Employer packages in Shanghai commonly cover tuition and bus but exclude the capital levy, so establish which line items your package actually reimburses before you accept a place. Our Shanghai fees guide breaks the bands down school by school.

Mandarin: the reason many families come, and the thing they under-plan

Every international school in Shanghai teaches Mandarin, and the city takes it more seriously than most expatriate destinations. What differs is depth, and the difference is large enough to shape what a child takes away from the posting.

At the shallow end, Mandarin is a subject taught a few periods a week, streamed loosely, and a child arriving with no Chinese leaves with useful conversational ability and little written fluency. That is an entirely reasonable outcome for a two-year posting.

In the middle sit schools with genuine ability streaming from the first year, separate native-speaker and beginner tracks, and enough weekly contact time for a child who starts in primary to reach real working competence. Yew Chung's co-teaching model, where a Chinese and a Western teacher share a classroom, is the best-known example in the city.

At the deep end are the bilingual schools — YK Pao School, Nord Anglia Chinese International School Shanghai, Shanghai United — where Mandarin is a language of instruction rather than a subject, and children leave academically literate in Chinese. These are only open to families whose eligibility allows them, and they demand more of a child arriving without the language.

Ask each shortlisted school three questions: how many periods a week in your child's year group, whether streaming is by measured ability rather than nationality, and what a child joining with no Mandarin realistically reaches by the end of primary.

Concordia International School Shanghai — an international school in Shanghai
Concordia International School Shanghai, Shanghai

Admissions, timing and the documents that actually delay families

Shanghai's international schools assess for placement rather than selecting competitively at most year groups. Expect recent school reports, an English-language assessment, an interview or classroom visit and a reference from the current school. Senior entry into IB Diploma or A Level years is more selective, because subject prerequisites and cohort sizes are fixed.

Timing is more forgiving than in Tokyo or London. Shanghai's expatriate population turns over faster, places open through the year as families repatriate, and mid-year entry is routine rather than exceptional. Twelve months ahead is comfortable; six is entirely normal; three is workable if you are flexible about which school.

What delays families is documentation, not capacity. Schools need passports and visa status confirmed, previous reports — often translated and in some cases notarised — immunisation records, and in some cases residence-permit evidence for the family. Start assembling that pack the moment the posting is confirmed, because it takes longer from outside China than anyone expects, and a place can be lost while paperwork catches up.

Narrowing 26 schools to five

Start with eligibility, because it is binary. Confirm each child's passport position and split the list into foreign-passport schools and bilingual schools accordingly. That step alone often halves the shortlist.

Then apply age range. Most of Shanghai's main schools run right through from the early years to eighteen, which makes life simple for families with a wide sibling gap. The exceptions matter: SCIS Xuhui runs to age eleven, the Japanese school to fifteen, Shanghai United from age six, and Fortune, Magnolia and Victoria are kindergartens serving ages two to six. Families arriving with a toddler and a teenager should check that one school genuinely covers both, or accept two school runs.

Then apply curriculum, guided by where you expect to go next rather than by reputation. Then apply geography, using the Pudong and Puxi split and the actual bus routes rather than a map. Then apply budget honestly, including the capital levy and bus.

What should remain is four or five schools. Visit all of them, ask each to introduce you to a family who arrived from your country in the last two years, and test the morning commute at the hour your child would actually travel. In Shanghai, more than in most cities, the practical logistics of the school run predict how happy a family is at the end of year one.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many international schools are there in Shanghai?

ESG profiles 26 schools in Shanghai, of which 20 have complete profiles and 23 carry published fee information. They range from the very large established campuses — Shanghai American School, Concordia, Dulwich College Shanghai and Harrow — through national-system schools serving the French, German, Japanese, Korean and Singaporean communities, to bilingual kindergartens taking children from age two. It is the deepest international sector in mainland China.

Can Chinese nationals attend international schools in Shanghai?

Not the foreign-passport schools. Mainland China draws a hard regulatory line: schools licensed to teach the international curriculum to foreign passport holders may only enrol children who hold a foreign passport or a Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan permit. Chinese-national families use the private bilingual sector instead, which teaches the Chinese national curriculum alongside international programmes. In Shanghai that distinction separates schools like Shanghai American School and Dulwich from schools like YK Pao School and Nord Anglia Chinese International School, and it is the first question a mixed-nationality family should resolve.

Is Pudong or Puxi better for international schools?

Both work, and the choice is usually made by where the working parent's office sits. Pudong holds Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong, Concordia, Shanghai American School's Pudong campus, Nord Anglia Shanghai Pudong and Living Word, clustered around Jinqiao and Century Park. Puxi holds Dulwich Puxi, Britannica, Yew Chung, SCIS Xuhui, Western International School of Shanghai, the Lycée Français and the German school, spread across Xuhui, Changning, Gubei and Minhang. Crossing the Huangpu twice a day in traffic is the thing to avoid.

Which curricula are available in Shanghai?

The IB is the most widely offered, at Shanghai American School, SCIS, Dulwich, Yew Chung, Wellington, Nord Anglia, Shanghai United, Western International School of Shanghai, YK Pao and Shanghai Singapore International School. The British curriculum runs at Dulwich, Harrow, Britannica, British International School Shanghai, Wellington and Nord Anglia. The American curriculum runs at Shanghai American School, Concordia, Living Word and SCIS. National systems cover French, German, Japanese, Korean and Singaporean provision.

How much do international schools in Shanghai cost?

ESG records published ranges spanning roughly US$8,000 to US$40,000 a year, or about RMB 60,000 to RMB 320,000. The Japanese, Korean and French schools sit at the bottom of that range, the bilingual kindergartens and Shanghai Singapore International School in the lower middle, the mainstream British and IB schools in the RMB 150,000–250,000 area, and Shanghai American School, Harrow and Dulwich at the top. Capital levies, buses and lunch are charged separately.

Are there through-schools in Shanghai, or do children change at secondary?

Most of the main schools run right through. Shanghai American School, Dulwich Pudong, Dulwich Puxi, Concordia, Yew Chung, Wellington, Nord Anglia, Britannica, Harrow, British International School Shanghai and Shanghai Singapore International School all take children from the early years to eighteen. The phase-limited options are SCIS Xuhui (ages 3–11), 3e-style bilingual kindergartens such as Fortune, Magnolia and Victoria (ages 2–6), Shanghai United (from age 6) and the Japanese school (ages 6–15).

Do international schools in Shanghai teach Mandarin?

Every one of them does, and Shanghai takes it more seriously than most expatriate cities. The established schools stream Mandarin by prior ability from the first year, typically with separate native-speaker and beginner tracks, and the bilingual schools such as YK Pao and Nord Anglia Chinese International School use Mandarin as a language of instruction rather than a subject. Ask each shortlisted school how many periods a week your child would get and whether streaming is genuine.

How far ahead should we apply to a Shanghai school?

Twelve months is comfortable, six months is normal, and shorter timelines are workable because Shanghai's expatriate population turns over faster than Tokyo's or London's. Places open through the year as families repatriate. The binding constraint is usually documents rather than seats: passports, visa status, previous school reports and immunisation records all need to be in order before a school can confirm.

Should we choose a foreign-passport school or a bilingual school?

If your children hold foreign passports and you expect to leave China within a few years, the foreign-passport schools give curriculum continuity and a transcript that travels. If your family is staying long term, one parent is a Chinese national, or you want genuine academic Mandarin, the bilingual sector — YK Pao School, Nord Anglia Chinese International School, Shanghai United — is worth serious consideration. The two sectors are not competitors so much as answers to different questions.

International schools in Pudong: Jinqiao, Century Park and the eastern districts

International schools in Puxi: Xuhui, Changning, Gubei and Minhang

International schools in The large IB and British campuses

International schools in National-system, bilingual and early-years schools

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