Harrow Shenzhen: a Qianhai campus built for the Greater Bay Area

Shenzhen and Haikou joined the AISL Harrow family in 2020, extending a network that had already established itself in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Harrow Shenzhen Qianhai opened at No. 39 Ke Chuang Liu Lu in Nanshan District, inside the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Cooperation Zone. The school opened in October 2020 and the site is designed for a capacity of over 800 students on a campus of about 14,700 m².

Origins and operator

Harrow International School Shenzhen Qianhai aims to provide an authentic and personalised British international education for foreigners and residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan aged between 2 and 18 years old. As a member of the AISL Harrow Schools family, HIS Shenzhen maintains close ties with Harrow UK and shares the vast resources of AISL Harrow education.

Acting as the representative of Harrow UK, Harrow International Schools Limited (HISL), a wholly-owned non-charitable subsidiary trading company of the Royal Charter Corporation comprising Harrow School and The John Lyon School, oversees and provides advisory services to all AISL Harrow Schools. Governors from London visit each school twice every year to conduct quality assurance inspections in collaboration with senior AISL Harrow educational specialists.

Founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I, Harrow School in the UK has a well-deserved reputation for academic excellence, the House System and outstanding holistic education. Drawing on the 450 years of extraordinary legacy and academic excellence of Harrow School in the UK, AISL Harrow Schools have been providing world-class education in Asia since the 1990s.

Campus

Harrow International School Shenzhen is located in the Qianhai Cooperation Zone in Nanshan District and serves pupils aged 2 to 18; the Early Years Centre, Pre-Prep, Prep, Senior School and Sixth Form are all on the Qianhai campus. The campus provides a holistic approach to education, with sports and leisure areas, library and break-out spaces, and canteens and lecture halls, allowing students to flow easily between the various teaching and activities areas. Facilities include a 6-lane Olympic pool, FIFA-certified sports fields, and specialised labs. The school offers regular and flexi boarding alongside a programme of co-curricular activities including arts, languages and outdoor awards.

Curriculum and identity

English is the language of instruction and the school follows the UK National Curriculum with Early Years Foundation Stage, IGCSE and A-Level pathways. The school runs Harrow's House System, embedding the four core values of Courage, Honour, Humility and Fellowship throughout school life.

Harrow Shenzhen holds membership of HMC, the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an association of leading UK independent schools. It is also a member of FOBISIA, the Federation of British International Schools in Asia. Harrow International School Shenzhen is a member of COBIS, the Council of British International Schools. In 2026, the school successfully passed the British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection and was awarded official certification. Only a small number of schools in China, and indeed worldwide, hold BSO status.

In 2021, Forbes China ranked Harrow Shenzhen No. 21 in China and 2nd in Shenzhen in its international schools listing. The school was also included in the Forbes China International School Top 100 in 2025.

A second Harrow campus in Qianhai

On 14 July 2023, Harrow Hong Kong Children School Shenzhen Qianhai, a separate addition to the AISL Group, was granted its school licence by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Qianhai Administration Bureau. The establishment of Harrow Hong Kong Children School Shenzhen Qianhai in September 2023 was, as AISL described it, the fourth Harrow-branded school within the Greater Bay Area region established by Asia International School Limited. At that school, students from Early Years to Year 9 are taught the Hong Kong curriculum; for Years 10 to 12, students can opt for the DSE or IB pathway. The two campuses are distinct institutions serving different pupil cohorts under the same Qianhai roof.

Present day

Harrow International School Shenzhen currently enrols around 900 students. The Class of 2026 received more than 200 offers from universities around the world, averaging seven offers per student, with total scholarship awards exceeding RMB 4 million. Harrow Shenzhen's A-Level inaugural cohort recorded a 61% A*/A rate, placing it within the competitive bracket of AISL's China campuses. A ninth Harrow International School is set to open in Guangzhou in September 2026, further expanding the network of which Shenzhen Qianhai was a founding part.

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