International schools in Shanghai: who gets in

Short answer: if your kids hold Australian passports and you're working legally in Shanghai, the whole list of international schools is open to you. Budget for fees well above anything in Australia, apply early, and plan the move home from day one.

The short version

Shanghai has an official list of schools for children of foreign nationals, plus international divisions of local schools. None is an Australian-curriculum school [3].
Foreign-passport kids can apply directly if a parent has a Shanghai work permit and residence permit [2].
Fees are steep: Shanghai American School charges RMB 246,000 to 311,000 a year in tuition for 2026–27, before entry and enrolment fees [5].
Kids with Chinese passports face different rules, which matters for some Chinese-Australian families [2][4].
The school year runs from about August or September to June, so the move back to Australia's January start needs planning.

The three kinds of school

The Shanghai government describes three routes for foreign children [1]. They are not interchangeable, and the label "international" gets used loosely in marketing.

Type	Who it's for	Curriculum	Typical Aussie fit
Schools for children of foreign nationals ("international schools")	Foreign-passport kids of parents working legally in Shanghai [2]	Set by the school: American, British, IB, German, French, Japanese, Korean and others	The default for most Australian families
International divisions of local schools	Same entry rules as international schools [1]	Often the school's own programme, usually with heavy Mandarin	Families who want more Chinese and lower fees
Local public and private schools	Allocated by district (public) or by lottery (private) [1]	Chinese national curriculum, taught in Mandarin	Younger kids, long stays, fluent families

Bilingual schools are a different thing

Shanghai also has many private bilingual schools. Most are Chinese private schools teaching the national curriculum with extra English, and they serve mainly Chinese-passport families. If a school isn't on the official list for foreign nationals, ask directly whether it can enrol a foreign-passport child and what curriculum your child would follow [1][3].

Who can enrol, and the Chinese-passport catch

Eligibility hangs on passports and parents' paperwork [2]:

Foreign-passport child, parent working in Shanghai: apply directly to the school. A parent needs a valid Foreigner's Work Permit and a residence permit from legal employment in Shanghai [2].
Child born overseas with a Chinese passport, parents living and working in Shanghai: can also apply directly [2].
Chinese-passport child whose whole family has foreign permanent residency: needs a certificate from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission first. The child must have attended school in that country for at least the past two consecutive years [2][4].

China doesn't recognise dual nationality. If your child was born in China, or has a Chinese parent and holds Chinese travel documents, check their status before you sign a lease near a school. The Commission certificate is lodged in person on Wednesday mornings at the International Education Association Shanghai, 245 Jiangning Road in Jing'an, and usually takes about five working days when the file is complete [4].

The documents schools ask for

For the Commission route, the list includes your employment certificate, the employer's business licence and Shanghai income tax certificate, passports and residence documents for the whole family, entry and exit records, proof of address in Shanghai, proof of parent-child relationship and school records from the country you came from [2]. International schools usually want a similar core set: passports, residence permits, the last two years of school reports, immunisation records and a teacher reference. Get Australian reports and immunisation history (the Australian Immunisation Register statement from Medicare is handy) before you leave.

What it costs in 2026

Fees are the shock for most Australian families. To give you a real benchmark rather than guesses, here's one school's official schedule.

Shanghai American School, 2026–27	RMB
Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 tuition, per year	246,000
Kindergarten to Grade 4 tuition, per year	285,800
Grade 5 tuition, per year	290,300
Grades 6 to 8 tuition, per year	301,600
Grades 9 to 12 tuition, per year	311,000
Application fee (non-refundable)	2,800
Enrolment fee, every student, every year (non-refundable)	32,000
Entry fee, new students only	28,000 to 33,000
School bus, per semester (optional)	12,150

Source: [5]. Tuition is paid in two instalments, due 1 June and 1 November, with refunds shrinking the later you withdraw [5].

Other schools on the official list set their own fees. The big British and American schools sit in a similar band. Some international divisions of local schools and smaller schools cost noticeably less, but check each school's published schedule rather than relying on lists online. Add uniforms, lunches, excursions, exam fees and any learning support.

Who pays

In Shanghai, school fees are still often part of an expat package. Negotiate this before you sign. A two-child family at a top school can face fees above RMB 600,000 a year in tuition alone [5], which can wipe out the gain from a bigger salary. Ask whether the employer pays directly (which can matter for tax) and what happens if you leave mid-year. Our guide to income tax in China for Australians covers how allowances are treated.

Choosing a school and getting a place

The official list includes Shanghai American School (Pudong and Minhang), Yew Chung International School (Changning and Pudong), Dulwich College Shanghai (Pudong and Minhang), Harrow and Wellington (Pudong), Western International School of Shanghai (Qingpu), Concordia (Pudong), Shanghai Singapore International School (Minhang), Shanghai Community International School (Changning and Pudong), British International School Puxi and Nord Anglia Pudong, plus German, French, Japanese and Korean schools [3].

The British schools generally teach a version of the English National Curriculum leading to IGCSE, then the IB Diploma or A levels. The American schools run an American programme with AP courses or the IB Diploma. Confirm the exact pathway with each school, especially for Years 10 to 12.

Steps that work

Choose your side of the river first. Puxi (Minhang, Changning, Qingpu) and Pudong are a long way apart in traffic. Most families pick the school, then rent nearby. See renting in Shanghai.
Shortlist three schools with the curriculum you want for your child's last two years.
Apply as soon as the job is confirmed. Popular year groups fill and run waitlists. Many schools take applications for August entry from the previous autumn.
Book assessments and interviews. Schools often test English and maths, and may ask for a video call if you're still in Australia.
Pay to hold the place. Enrolment and entry fees are usually non-refundable, so read the terms [5].
Line up the paperwork for the visa. Your child's residence permit as a dependant follows yours, so keep copies of everything.

Jing'an district has run free information sessions on school admission for foreign families as part of its service programme for international residents, so watch for these through official city channels [6].

Moving back to an Australian school

Most Aussie families in Shanghai go home eventually. Plan for it early.

Issue	What to know
School year	Shanghai runs roughly August/September to June. Australia starts in late January or February. Expect a half-year mismatch.
Year level	Australian schools place by age and state cut-off dates. Kids from northern-hemisphere systems sometimes repeat or skip half a year.
Senior years	The IB Diploma is widely accepted by Australian universities, which publish IB-to-ATAR conversions. IGCSE or AP then a mid-course switch to the HSC, VCE or QCE is harder.
Records	Keep every report, a curriculum summary and any learning support plans.
Language	Kids who did a lot of Mandarin may want to keep going. Many Australian schools offer Chinese.

The hardest move is in Years 11 and 12. If you might return before the end of school, talk to the receiving school and your state education department before you choose an IB or British pathway in Shanghai. Our living-abroad guide to schooling Australian kids abroad and coming home covers enrolment by state.

Want a parent's view on a waitlist or a bus route? Ask in Cooee China, our Facebook group for Australians in China (join here). Someone will have a kid in that year group.

International schools in Shanghai: foreign-passport schools, fees and getting back into Aussie classrooms