Beijing National Day School International Department, Beijing

Beijing parents and students describe the parent school as elite within the Chinese system. One 2021 commenter listed BNDS alongside SDSZ and RDFZ as the best AP-offering options in the city, citing a rock-climbing wall on a building as a sign of investment.
One r/China commenter pointed to BNDS as the canary in the coal mine for which schools the children of high-ranking party officials attend.
Teacher reviews of the international department are mixed. A current teacher in 2025 described it as "good pay and stable".
Two 2023 posts from teachers told colleagues to avoid the school and called it "sketch", though without detail.
A 2024 commenter on IB schools in China argued that BNDS sits in the small group of public-school international tracks where high-performing Chinese students genuinely do well, as distinct from bilingual schools selling an IB seal.
The international department is large, established in 2004, and runs IB, AP and A-Level alongside the public Chinese stream; foreign teachers report this means competing internal cultures.