Google “Beijing international schools” and you won’t be short of hits. The lengthy list of schools returned is hardly surprising, given the location. Beijing is both the capital of China and the sixth-largest city in the world, with a population of around 21m, according to the UN.
Yet foreign residents should be wary. The moniker “international” is applied somewhat freely to schools, warns the Beijing Expat website.
Still, alongside the established names, the past decade or so has seen the arrival of several pedigree schools — expensive private schools, mainly from the UK — hoping to fill their classrooms with the growing number of middle-class Chinese children as well as their international counterparts.
Many have invested in new campuses and facilities, such as black-box theatres, which have unadorned walls, allowing for innovative staging, 25m swimming pools and science labs.
International baccalaureate
Learn The IB has been offered at the International School of Beijing since 1991. The all-through school has more than 1,600 pupils from more than 50 nations and is based on a large campus in Shunyi, a north-eastern district close to the airport favoured by expats. The school follows an in-house curriculum until the final two years, when students can elect to take the IB diploma. In 2017, pupils averaged 36/45 in the diploma, compared with 30 worldwide. The majority went on to US colleges, including Brown University, Berkeley and Harvard.
Pay Rmb245,300 ($37,000)
Live An American-style house with four bedrooms and use of a communal pool, tennis court and gym is around 10 minutes’ drive from the school.
Available to rent through Century Realty, $9,500 per month.
British (national curriculum of England)
Learn The coeducational Harrow Beijing offers an all-through British education, for two to 18-year olds, who can be day pupils or boarders. The school opened in 2005 and, like its famous London counterpart, is academically selective. In 2013, the school moved to a new, purpose-built campus with space for 1,200 students, though the current headcount is 900. Pupils take IGCSEs and must achieve at least a B in the subjects they wish to study at A-level. Staff focus on getting leavers into good British and North American universities.
Pay The school does not disclose fees, but according to The Beijinger, parents can expect to pay Rmb283,000 ($42,800).
Live Offered unfurnished, it takes 20 minutes to drive to the school from this four-bedroom, four reception room house.
Available to rent through Savills, Rmb40,000 ($6,000) per month.
Lycée Français
Learn Founded in 1965 to educate the children of French diplomats, Lycée Français International Charles de Gaulle de Pékin moved to its current campus in Chaoyang District in 2016. Now its 800 students, from nursery to high-school age, represent 50 nations, of which 75 per cent are European. Pupils follow the French national curriculum, and can opt for some teaching in English or Chinese. Scholarships are available via the French consulate in Beijing. Leavers go on to further education worldwide, including in France, Canada, Switzerland and the UK.
Pay €17,500* (less for French nationals)
Live Twenty minutes’ drive from the school is this detached, three-bedroom house with a pretty garden.
Available to rent through Savills, Rmb40,000 ($6,000) per month.
Something different Children’s House Montessori, a nursery and pre-school for children aged one to six, has seven Beijing campuses. More than 15 nationalities are currently represented by its pupils and the school motto is: “Do not harm yourself, do not harm others and do not harm the environment.” A year’s tuition costs Rmb78,000 ($11,800).
*Fees typically increase as the child moves up the school. The figure given is the cost of annual tuition for final year students, and does not include additional payments such as registration fees.
Photographs: bingdian/Getty Images/iStockphoto; blue jean images/Getty Images
