Download the Beijingkids 2019-2020 School Choice Guide

Picking a school is like picking out the perfect pair of socks. Actually, I take that back. It’s nothing like picking out a pair of socks. You don’t need to endure years of financial planning, research, and understanding of what goes into the making of a good pair of socks in order to pull the trigger and make a purchase. At most, you’ll need a keen sense of style, and at least just something that covers a majority of the foot. After all, who cares if a couple toes poke out from the bottom?

Schools are also not “one size fits all”. Many parents spend a lot of time and money on making sure their child attends an “elite” school, when this might not actually be the best option for the child. So, it’s important to know what kind of learner your child is, and which curriculum that will ultimately benefit this type of student. Neglecting these characteristics could be setting your child up for disaster.

With every School Choice Guide that beijingkids produces, we hope to bring families closer together through this task of picking the right school. It’s not just about the difficult choices that are ahead of you, it’s also a chance to get to know your child, and what his or her interests are academically and socially. While superb academics always remain at the forefront of this journey, schools are much more than this, and in many ways can be your child’s main window on life and the community at large here in the capital.

We hope to help make this journey of school choice a little bit less daunting. We know that this issue is limited, in that there is no perfect formula for finding the right school for your child… yet. (We are working on it.) Until that comes along, here is the most comprehensive guide to school choice that Beijing has to offer.

Photos: Yifei Fang
Infographics: Michelle Zhang and Andy Penafuerte