Shanghai Shangde Experimental School

A large Pudong K-12 boarding school running mostly the Chinese national curriculum, with a small IB continuum integrated department for families targeting overseas universities.

SSES opened in 2003 in Kangqiao, Pudong, on a campus of around 216 acres, serving roughly 7,000 students from kindergarten to senior high. Most of the school follows the Chinese national curriculum. The Integrated Department runs a full IB continuum, PYP, MYP and DP, with IB DP authorised in 2010, and is one of very few Shanghai schools with all three IB programmes in place.

Boarding is the default model from the upper grades. Chinese academic rigour combines with an English-medium IB exit at a price point well below the dedicated international schools. Parent voice is generally positive on academic gains and personal growth, with critics flagging traditional teaching methods and tight classroom discipline. Chinese-passport families wanting an overseas-university pathway are well served here. Foreign-passport families looking for an embassy-circuit international school will find SAS, SCIS or NAIS Pudong a closer match.