China's First British School, Opened in Pudong in 2002

In 2002, Patricia Hewitt, then the UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, cut the ribbon on a campus in Pudong New District that would become a landmark in British education overseas. The school she opened, originally called the British International School of Shanghai, Pudong, was simultaneously the first British school in China and the first international school of any kind in Pudong, a district that was itself still being built into the financial engine it is today.

Origins

The school opened under the Nord Anglia Education group, a British operator noted by the Pudong district government as running the British International School Shanghai, Puxi as its first Shanghai campus, with the Pudong site as its second. Nord Anglia Education had been founded in 1972 by Kevin McNeany to teach English as a foreign language, before pivoting to international school operation and expanding steadily into Asia. Arriving in Pudong in 2002, when the district's development was still accelerating, gave the group an early-mover advantage that would prove durable.

Name Change and Growth

The school operated as the British International School of Shanghai, Pudong for over a decade. In 2015, it was renamed Nord Anglia International School Shanghai, Pudong to align its branding with the wider Nord Anglia Education network. By that point the group had grown into a global operator with schools across more than 30 countries, and standardising the name signalled the school's place within that larger enterprise rather than any change to its curriculum or character. The address on Junmin Road in the Kangqiao area of Pudong, close to the Disney resort, remained the same.

Curriculum and Accreditation

From its earliest years the school delivered the English National Curriculum, later augmented by the International Primary Curriculum at primary level. The academic pathway runs from the Early Years Foundation Stage for children from age two, through Key Stages 1 to 3, into IGCSE at Years 10 and 11, and concludes with the IB Diploma in Years 12 and 13. Mandarin is taught from Foundation Stage onwards, reflecting both the school's Shanghai location and its commitment to bilingualism.

Accreditation sits across several bodies. The school is a recognised IBO World School, an accredited centre for Cambridge International Examinations and Edexcel, a member of the Council of British International Schools, and a member of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, which it joined in 2013. Those memberships collectively give the school external inspection and quality-assurance frameworks beyond Chinese regulatory requirements.

A distinctive feature of the Nord Anglia model at Pudong is its formal partnership programme. Collaborations with MIT produce a dedicated Maker Space on campus and student visits to MIT itself. The Juilliard School sends alumni to the campus and shapes the performing arts offering. UNICEF informs the school's humanitarian and social-impact work, and IMG Academy extends the sports programme. The school lists over 140 co-curricular activities in total.

Campus and Facilities

The campus on Junmin Road is equipped with a 25-metre swimming pool, two large indoor gymnasia, a performing arts centre, a theatre that has recently been renovated, science laboratories, and both natural grass and artificial-turf football pitches. The natural grass pitch is one of very few in Pudong. A dedicated IB Academy supports Sixth Form students preparing for the Diploma.

Present Day

NAIS Pudong currently enrols around 700 students drawn from over 40 nationalities, served by a day-school model with a dedicated bilingual bus fleet. The school is led by Principal Diane Vaughan. IB Diploma results average 37 points, with a top score of 43, both well above the global average. As the longest-running British international school in China, the school has accumulated alumni now working across a range of industries and institutions worldwide.

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