Cities / Beijing / Yew Chung International School of Beijing
Yew Chung International School of Beijing
YCIS Beijing has been running in Honglingjin Park in Chaoyang since 1995, part of the Hong Kong rooted Yew Chung network and built around a co teaching model that pairs a Western and a Chinese teacher in early years and primary classrooms.
In brief
YCIS Beijing has been running in Honglingjin Park in Chaoyang since 1995, part of the Hong Kong-rooted Yew Chung network and built around a co-teaching model that pairs a Western and a Chinese teacher in early years and primary classrooms. Around 800 students from over 45 nationalities, IB Diploma at the top end with Cambridge IGCSE before that.
The bilingual identity is the differentiator. Families pick YCIS when they want their child to come out genuinely bilingual rather than with token Mandarin, and the published student-teacher ratio of around 7:1 reflects how staff-heavy the model has to be to deliver it.
Teaching strength is widely praised, the Chinese-immersion outcomes are real, and the Chaoyang location works for centrally based families. The repeated criticism across the broader Yew Chung group is management and administrative friction, with a sense that operational decisions can frustrate experienced staff. Families committed to bilingual outcomes usually accept this, but it shapes the day-to-day experience.
Fees
Annual fees
| Year level | Age | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| K2 Half Day (age 2) | 2 | CN¥137,000 |
| K2 Full Day (age 2) | 2 | CN¥221,000 |
| K3-K4 Full Day (ages 3-4) | 3 | CN¥239,000 |
| Years 1-2 Primary (ages 6-7) | 6 | CN¥287,000 |
| Years 3-6 Primary (ages 8-11) | 8 | CN¥295,000 |
| Years 7-9 Lower Secondary (ages 12-14) | 12 | CN¥316,000 |
| Years 10-13 Upper Secondary (ages 15-18) | 15 | CN¥334,000 |
One-time fees
| Item | Age | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Application Fee (non-refundable) | CN¥2,500 | |
| Deposit (refundable) | CN¥20,000 |
Reviews
YCIS Beijing's identity sits on the bilingual co-teaching model: a Chinese teacher and an international teacher in the same early-years and primary classroom, then a path through IGCSE into the IB Diploma where most graduates leave with the bilingual diploma. That outcome is the headline. The other half of the picture is administrative: the YCYW foundation runs the school centrally, and some of that centralism shows up in staff and parent commentary about management feel.
Positives
- Bilingual outcomes. Chinese is genuinely embedded, not bolted on. A Chinese and an international teacher share the early-years and primary classroom and plan together. By IB, roughly seven in ten graduates take the bilingual diploma, well above the global rate, and the 2025 cohort had a 100% pass rate with a mean of 34. CAL and CFL streams let non-native learners enter without being left behind.
- Western-and-Chinese co-leadership. Each section runs with paired Western and Chinese principals. Parents describe the structure as a real cultural balance rather than a marketing line, and it shapes how the school talks about identity and language.
- Campus and location. Single site inside Honglingjin Park in Chaoyang, close to the CBD. Real-time AQI monitoring across campus is standard, gate security is staffed, and the park setting gives it more green than most Beijing campuses of its age.
Considerations
- Expat-only community. Foreign-passport admissions only, with around 850 students across 40-plus nationalities. The community is broadly international rather than dominated by one or two passports, but the school sits outside Beijing's bilingual-with-locals scene by design.
- Foundation-led management. Staff feedback recurringly flags a heavy hand from the central foundation and unrealistic directives reaching campus level. Day-to-day teaching is usually praised; the management layer above it less so, and that gap shows up across years.
- Staff turnover. Turnover ran high through the China COVID period and has not fully settled. Long-serving teachers exist alongside a more transient cohort, and continuity in some year groups can be patchier than at the more stable Beijing peers.
- Fees and extras. Tuition runs RMB 251,000 in lower primary to RMB 298,000 in upper secondary for 2024-25, with sibling discounts of up to 25% and bus fees on top. Priced with the established Beijing internationals rather than below them.
Accreditations
- Council of International Schools 01
Academic results
- IB Average (2025) 34
- IB Pass Rate (2025) 100%
- Bilingual IB Diplomas (2025) 71.4%
- IB Pass Rate (Consecutive Years) 19