Choosing an International School for Your Child in Shanghai

The latest apple computers, beautiful grassy sports fields, well qualified foreign teaching staff and a pathway to the best universities in the world. These are some of the things that parents have come to expect from the International schools. Therefore, the new parent has a quite a difficult job choosing among these schools, as they all offer so much and promise even more.

What to consider

The educational quality of the school should obviously be the first priority. Parents need to do some research into the style of lessons and they should consider the requirements certain schools have e.g. uniforms, religious study, homework etc.

These schools are all very expensive, so it's worth having a close look, to select the best school for your child. Debra Lane, the Principal of Shanghai American School (Elementary Campus) gave her insight. She considers a child's previous grades, behavior and English ability, all important factors in deciding a new school for you child. It is also very important to consider the special needs of certain children as not all schools have the capabilities to accommodate particular needs.

Most international schools will have a mixture of Chinese staff (mostly administration) and some have good Chinese language programs. Most employ Chinese teachers as teaching assistants. The main teaching staff at most schools are very well qualified teachers from countries such as the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and other English speaking countries.

Therefore it is in the schools best interest to have certain requirements when accepting new students. Your child will firstly be assessed on their basic English ability, motor-skills and behavior. As classes are fast paced and require a lot of energy.

Debra added that for non-native speakers, it's even more difficult to enter SAS and other International schools unless they are very young (4-6) as they will be competing with children who are already fluent in English. Debra also emphasized Health and made it clear that vaccinations were school policy for all new students.

Classes sizes will be low, depending on the year and subject, the limit being approximately 20 and is usually lower than fifteen in most cases.

So how much will you need to pay? What differences do the schools have? Where are they located? And more importantly what academic styles and programs are available?
Covering the schools, Yew Chung International School YCIS, Shanghai American School SAS, Concordia International School CISS, Livingston American School LAS and Shanghai High School International Division SHSID in further detail, many of these questions are answered.