School Heritage

Welcome to Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong!

Our school is located within the leafy, vibrant Jinqiao area of Shanghai, Pudong with a thriving and diverse international community. The first school in the Dulwich College International family of schools, we opened in 2003 with just 23 students. The College now educates over 1600 students from age 2 to age 18, with over forty different nationalities represented in our diverse student body.

Whilst have built a strong reputation for academic excellence, with our students achieving IB results well above the global average year on year, this is not at the expense of student wellbeing. Our school has a pastoral support team for students at all levels, and all of them follow a Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) course appropriate to their age and coordinated across the year groups. The positive relationships they form with their peers and with their teachers are critical for their education and for creating a safe learning environment for their growth. 

We believe in holistic education that develops the whole child. We offer a wide range of Co-curricular Activities (CCAs), at all levels, across sport, music, drama, debate and many more. We encourage students across the College to involve themselves in the wider College community and offer support to one another. Our Student Council is made up of students from each year group, who learn to listen and work with one another while voicing the views of their peers. Our most senior students are encouraged to take on additional responsibilities and to act as ambassadors for the College. Each year, our Head Boy and Head Girl are selected from our most senior students and a select number of students are nominated to take on the role of prefects. Our student leadership team set a strong example to younger students and act as a point of contact for students throughout the College.

Our House system is an integral part of the College pastoral care structure. Many international school students experience a great deal of change in their lives. As their parents move from country to country, they make new friends and adapt to different cultures and school systems. We ensure that children are welcomed into the Dulwich community, that we know them well and that they are supported during their time at the College.

The House system builds a sense of community and school pride within the student body and helps to develop students’ leadership skills. Our House Captains are responsible for helping to organise House activities, which normally take the form of friendly competitions.

Our Houses

On arriving at our school, students and staff are allocated to one of four Houses, where they will remain during their time with us. Our Houses are named after inspirational and accomplished people: Wangari Maathai, Marie Curie, Ernest Shackleton, and Yung Wing.

Let's learn more about these inspiring figures below.

Maathai

Named after Wangari Maathai (1940-2011). Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan politician and environmental activist who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace, becoming the first black African woman to do so. Her work was often considered both unwelcome and subversive in her own country, where her outspokenness constituted stepping far outside traditional gender roles.

Curie

Named after Marie Curie (1867-1934). Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, in Physics, and with her later win, in Chemistry, she became the first person to claim Nobel honors twice. Her efforts with her husband Pierre led to the discovery of polonium and radium, and she championed the development of X-rays. Curie made many breakthroughs in her lifetime and is remembered as a leading figure in science and a role model for women. She has further received numerous posthumous honors. 

Shackleton

Named after Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922). Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was born in Ireland, graduated from Dulwich College and is hailed as one of the greatest explorers of the 20th century. Known for his great leadership and perseverance, Shackleton led a Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1915 that met disaster when his ship, the Endurance, became trapped in the polar ice. Shackleton led his men to shelter and then sailed out in a small open boat (now on display at Dulwich College London) to seek help. He returned and rescued his crew, all of whom survived the ordeal.

Wing

Named after Yung Wing (1828 – 1912). When Yung Wing, also known as Rong Hong (容闳), graduated from Yale University in 1854, he became the first Chinese student ever to graduate from an American university.  Born in Zhuhai, Yung Wing is commonly known as the "forefather of the modernisation of China", and his greatest achievement was to persuade the imperial Qing Court to permit the "Chinese Educational Mission".

Our links to Dulwich College, founded in 1619, are strong, and we collaborate closely with the other schools in the network to encourage an international outlook and create an extended community where academic ability is fostered, creativity is valued, and diversity is celebrated.

We are proud to share a common heritage with all the schools in the DCI network, and equally value the traditions, unique to our school, that we have created since we opened. Students from Nursery to Year 12 wear the school uniform. School uniform isn't about conformity, but reflects a long-standing tradition from the founding school and is a badge of pride and school identity.

In 2016, we welcomed our second campus Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi in the Minhang District of Puxi.