Join Parents Q&A Session for Dulwich Shanghai Campuses (Part 1)

May 28, 2020

Q: If my child was originally in a local school, will he be able to fit in the international school curriculum?

At Dulwich, we are academically selective, therefore we evaluate students against our admissions criteria, which look at academic performance. However, there are further important aspects which are considered with every application. Does the student fit within our values? Will they aim high and work hard? Will they be kind and respectful? Will they make a difference? Will they be positive and active contributors to College life, and the community?

Finally, students wishing to enrol in the College must comply with the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission requirements. Families who are unsure about their eligibility to attend an international school should contact our Admissions team and request a copy of the Admissions Policy, released by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (SMEC).

Students applying for Year 1 and above do need to complete entrance assessments and interviews with our admissions and academic teams prior to being offered a place.

Q: Could you please share more about the English and Mandarin language curriculum in Dulwich?

Whilst Dulwich is a British international school where students from ages, 2-18 are taught to communicate at a very high level in English, we place a strong focus on Mandarin proficiency as a local and global language. Students with multilingual capability is a requirement of the IBDP and Dulwich students are greatly advantaged in their studies of the Dulwich Mandarin programme, which follows IDBP requirements closely. On a practical, day to day level, Mandarin and English language lessons are taught daily for all students. From our popular dual-language approach in the kindergarten, to streamed lessons for native, second language, and beginner levels in Junior and Senior Schools.

Q: Does the school offer any overseas exchange opportunity?

One of the BIGGEST BENEFITS of joining Dulwich is our global network of 11 colleges and campuses. We are a family of schools which means across an academic year, Junior and Senior students at Dulwich have multiple opportunities across to connect and work with, or compete against, students from our other Colleges. This highlights two advantages for our students; firstly, a sense of belonging to a big family where big things happen, and a first hand, global view of working with people from around the world. Here is an example of some of our global events which students can travel to enjoy;

The Shakespeare Festival (Drama and Performing Arts)
The Junior School Sports Games
MADD (Music, Art, Drama and Dance Festival)
Olympiad (held every 4 years, all Colleges come together in London or China to compete in sports, music and arts)
Service trips (our senior students travel overseas to complete their IDBP subject requirements)

Q: Are there any shared facilities or resources between the two campuses?

Dulwich campuses are located on the East (Pudong) and West (Puxi) side of Shanghai. No matter which area you live in, you can go to either Dulwich. The curriculum is shared, professional development is shared, some sports, arts and musical events are shared during the year.

Q: Can you give examples of the university acceptances for this year?

Stanford University
New York University
University of California - Los Angeles
Imperial College London
King's College London
The University of Hong Kong
New York University Abu Dhabi
Savannah College of Art and Design
Royal College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music

Q: Could you share some CCA programs the school offer? Any Dulwich specialties?

Both campuses offer an extensive range of sports, music, drama, art and other activities which provide enrichment opportunities from Years 1 through to Y10. Activities include football, basketball, rugby, cricket, badminton, volleyball, karate, kayaking, swimming, synchronised swimming, golf, taekwondo, coding, drama, choir, orchestra, dance, ballet, blue planet, origami, survivor club, fencing, aviation, mad science, mindfulness, art attack, kung fu and a number of other opportunities as well as student led activities. Just to name a few!!

Q: Can you give a good example of student leadership?

Sure! At Dulwich College Puxi for example, we have a deputy and head student as well as four house captains who lead their house and assist the house heads in leading the many house activities we have throughout the year. We also have a junior and senior student council, and run a number of student led CCAs. The opportunity for students to lead at Dulwich is well promoted and extended throughout the College. Our student council is very active. They were responsible for removing thousands of single use plastics from our campus waste stream, in the form of coffee cups and lids, straws and yoghurt pots. They also created our College animal policy.

In our Pudong campus, over the course of e-learning, the global citizenship teams from Junior School and Senior School were eager to find a way to help Dulwich community reconnect, whilst doing their best to contribute to the recovery of Wuhan. This initiative led to the organization of ‘Walk for Wuhan’ — a simple, yet powerful way to find positivity and strength in remembering that we are one big Shanghai family.

We always welcome parents who are interested in applying for Dulwich to visit our campuses and see our classes in session. Our Puxi campus is running virtual tours for families to meet teachers and see classes in action. Parents are welcome to send questions to our Admissions teams in Pudong or Puxi, who will happily help answer your questions.

Email Dulwich Puxi at: [email protected]

Email Dulwich Pudong at: [email protected]