Shanghai · History
Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi: a purpose-built campus turns ten
Opened in August 2016 on a purpose-built site in Minhang, Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi became the ninth school in the Dulwich College International network and now enrolls around 1,400 students aged 2 to 18.
Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi opened in August 2016, the ninth school to join the Dulwich College International (DCI) family and the second Dulwich campus in Shanghai. The rationale was straightforward: families living on the western side of the city had no convenient access to the Pudong campus, which had been operating since 2003. A purpose-built site at 2000 Qian Pu Jing Road, in the Maqiao area of Minhang district, gave them one.
Origins and the DCI network
The school draws its lineage from Dulwich College London, founded in 1619 by the actor-manager Edward Alleyn. The London school also gave rise to the DCI network, operated by Education in Motion (EiM) under a licence agreement with Dulwich College. The Pudong campus, which opened in 2003 with 23 students, was the first DCI school anywhere; Puxi followed thirteen years later as demand for British international schooling expanded westward across Shanghai.
David Ingram was appointed founding Head of College and led the school from its opening. He brought more than two decades of leadership experience at international schools across Asia. Ingram remained at the helm until 2025, when he moved to lead Dulwich College Singapore. Dr Mark Hardeman took over as Interim Head of College for the 2025-26 school year, the college's tenth on campus.
Campus and facilities
The Minhang site sits on 40,000 square metres of landscaped grounds, a significant footprint for a school inside one of Asia's most densely developed cities. Facilities include a heated Olympic-size swimming pool, natural grass and artificial-turf pitches, a Broadway-style performing arts theatre (named the Alleyn Theatre, after the college's founder), and high-specification science laboratories. The campus was designed from the outset to accommodate the full age range, from DUCKS, the Dulwich early-years kindergarten programme, through to the Senior School's Year 13.
Curriculum and identity
The college follows the English National Curriculum from Early Years through Junior School, transitions to IGCSE at Years 10 and 11, and offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in Years 12 and 13. A strong Mandarin strand runs throughout: the DUCKS years operate as a full dual-language programme in English and Mandarin, and Mandarin continues as a core subject into the senior years.
The school joined FOBISIA, the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, in 2019. Accreditation from the Council of International Schools (CIS) followed after a rigorous evaluation process involving lesson observations and interviews with students, staff and parents. The school subsequently completed the joint CIS and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation process and received formal confirmation from both bodies, as reported on the school's own site. It also became the first school in China to pursue accreditation as a Curiosity Approach setting, a framework applied to its Early Years programme.
Four houses, named Song, Moussa, Yung and Shackleton, structure pastoral life and competition. New students are inducted through an annual House Sorting Ceremony held on the Alleyn Theatre stage, a tradition carried over from the founding London school. Every four years, students from all DCI campuses compete at the Dulwich Olympiad, a network-wide competition in sport, athletics and music hosted by Dulwich College London.
Ownership change
In 2024 the wider DCI network changed hands. Hillhouse Investment, the Asia-based asset manager founded by Zhang Lei, struck a deal to acquire Dulwich College International's schools in China, South Korea and Singapore from Education in Motion for approximately $600 million, according to Reuters. EiM had operated the schools under a licence from Dulwich College London; the transaction brought in new financial backing while the DCI operating model and brand licence remained in place.
Present day
The college enters its tenth academic year in 2025-26 with a roll of around 1,400 students and Dr Mark Hardeman serving as Interim Head of College. It holds CIS and WASC accreditation, is an IB World School, and is a member of FOBISIA. Instruction is in English throughout, with the dual-language Mandarin programme in the early years distinguishing it from many comparable British schools in the city. The college advertises over 50 bus routes covering Shanghai's main expatriate residential zones, a practical marker of the catchment it serves across Puxi.