The King's School Shenzhen International

A new British curriculum school in Nanshan operated as the first overseas branch of The King's School, Canterbury, growing from a 2019 pre-prep into a full Prep and Senior School on Yuefeng Road.

The Pre-Prep opened on Yuefeng Road in Nanshan in September 2019 and Prep and Senior School followed from 2022, with the campus growing from around 100 to over 230 students in the first phase. The school follows the English National Curriculum with Cambridge IGCSE, A Level, Pearson Edexcel and Oxford AQA pathways, plus a bilingual stream, and is operated under licence from The King's School, Canterbury, with shared staffing and training. John Wright is Head. Fees run from around 205,000 to 310,000 RMB.

It is a small, traditional British school with a direct line to one of England's oldest independents, in a Shenzhen market increasingly dominated by Harrow, Merchiston and other UK brand campuses. Open questions include how Senior School outcomes settle in the first A Level cohorts, and whether the bilingual stream stays distinct from the international stream as numbers grow.

• Independent signal is heavily concentrated on staff experience and is overwhelmingly negative. Teachers rate senior management at 1.5 and culture and values at 1.6; ratings are higher only on compensation.
• One former teacher said: the school fires its best teachers on a semesterly basis, posts 20-25 openings at any time, and that workload made every two weeks different. They called in-house cover an automatic red flag and described the workload as insane.
• Teachers describe being terminated mid-contract without explanation, families relocated across the world having contracts ended, replacements with no subject background being put into lead roles, and a 7:50am start with inability to leave before 5pm.
• Some short-term reviews from teachers mention friendly colleagues, free lunches, money and benefits, suggesting the picture is not uniform but that pay buys around volatility.
• Parent commentary is sparse. One review on the school's own materials says the quality of education and dedication of staff exceeded expectations; that signal cannot be cross-checked because parent and directory volume is thin.
• The campus sits in Qianhai, Nanshan, the same district as Harrow and Whittle, which means teachers and parents often compare directly to those nearby options.