Although the construction site of the campus is still dusty, the red bricks of the gate outside the reception area announce the British style of the newest branch of Wellington College, an old British boarding school with a 154-year history.

Wellington College International Shanghai is the 22nd international school in Shanghai and is set to open its doors in August 2014.

The school, located in the Qiantan business zone of the Pudong New Area, begun enrollment in August for its first class. Recruitment of teachers will start in October, according to David Cook, founding headmaster of the new school.

“Shanghai is seen as one of the most vibrant and economically successful cities in the world. And we see Shanghai as a leading international school market in China,” Cook told Shanghai Daily in an interview at the campus.

Cook was founding master of Wellington College International Tianjin, the first branch school that Wellington College opened in China three years ago. He took the position in Shanghai, he said, partly because they wanted him to do so and partly because he looked forward to the challenge.

Wellington College came to an agreement with Shanghai authorities in February for the school, which targets the children of foreigners working in the city.

Wellington College International Shanghai is expected to benefit from being in the middle of the Qiantan business area — a new business zone to include the headquarters of multinational firms, an international community and a large public park close to the southern part of the Huangpu River and doubling the size of the Lujiazui Financial Zone.

High-growth area

With the construction of the new business zone, there is anticipation that many more foreigners are coming to Shanghai, which generates a need for more international education institutes.

“When we talk to parents, they cannot believe we are able to be positioned here with easy accesses to both Puxi and Pudong,” Cook said. “We are going where Shanghai is growing. Given this remarkable opportunity, we are something of a new standard for Shanghai and perhaps a new standard for China,” Cook said.

Like its sister school in Tianjin, Wellington College International Shanghai is a partnership between Wellington College in the United Kingdom and the Shanghai Lujiazui Group, the Qiantan business area’s real estate developer, which is financing and will lease the campus.

“The links between the two schools are extremely close and our links to the school in England also are very close indeed,” Cook said.

Designed by British architect Gerald Burbidge, Wellington College International Shanghai will include much of the distinctive architecture of Wellington College in the UK, from walls to flags.

“I think it’s very important to stress that anything they do at the Wellington College in the UK, we’ll be doing here in Shanghai. We are a partnership or, more correctly, an extension of the education that you get at the Wellington College in the UK,” Cook said. “It’s also important that we’ve already established a successful school in Tianjin. It helps when you bring a new brand to the city to have achieved success in elsewhere in China. So we come to Shanghai with a proven record, not just Wellington UK but also here in China with Wellington Tianjin.”

The Shanghai branch is smaller than the school in the UK but larger than the one in Tianjin. Located on the corner of Yaolong and Yaoti roads, the campus will cover a total floor area of 36,000 square meters, including four main buildings, three football pitches, a 400m Tartan running track, tennis and basketball courts and a 25m, six-lane swimming pool.

The school also is very close to the Oriental Sports Center, which has more sports facilities.

The school can accommodate 1,500 students from kindergarten to high school. It will recruit only foreign children between 3 and 18 years old. For the first year, it will recruit 100 to 200 students between 3 and 15. There will be a written test and an interview for children 8 and older before admission. The higher-year groups will follow in the next two years, Cook said.

He said the tuition is extremely competitive with other international schools in the city. The fees listed on the school website are around 200,000 yuan (US$32,680) a year per student.

“I would add that because we are not for profit, our fees will go exclusively for supporting the teaching staff and education program within the school, which is exactly what Wellington College in the UK does,” Cook said.

Different student body

Cook said the curriculum in Shanghai will be slightly different than Tianjin since the student body here is slightly different.

“The difference is that there is a far larger community of expats here and it is less diverse in its origins. There will be far more native English speaking students here than in Tianjin. Generally, the level of English here in Shanghai is higher than in Tianjin,” Cook said.

The junior school (ages 3-10) will follow the British curriculum while the senior school (ages 11-18) will be aimed at public examinations, which is essential to make sure the kids go to a good university. Students will be asked to study Mandarin at school to prepare them for career prospects in the 21st century, Cook said.

Most of the teachers will be recruited from the UK and from native English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The school will be subject to IB authorization in 2015, he said.

“What we will produce and create is the best school in Shanghai and probably in China,” Cook said.

“Because of the nature of the campus, the nature of the support from the Shanghai authorities, and the reputation and the partnership of Wellington, what we have is an opportunity to create a school that Shanghai and China will be proud of.”

Cook said in the future, there might be provisions for admission of Chinese nationals within schools in the Wellington College umbrella. But for now, Chinese children need a foreign passport.

Cook’s wife and his five children in Tianjin will join him in Shanghai soon. All of his children will attend the Wellington College International School in Shanghai.