Dulwich College Shanghai unifies Pudong and Puxi under a new model. Learn about the dual IB/A-Level pathway from 2027, Forest School certification, and new robotics programs for families.
Tags:- Dulwich College Shanghai
- International School
- One College Two Campuses
- IB and A-Level Pathways
- Forest School Program
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READ MORE: One College, Two Campuses
This structure builds on the shared educational DNA and philosophy of both campuses, aiming to pool expertise and resources to create an even richer educational experience for every student, while maintaining the distinctive character of each campus community.
We sat down with Garry Russell, Head of College, Dulwich College Shanghai, to find out more.
As Dulwich College Shanghai is now officially One College, Two Campuses, what are you most looking forward to for parents and students as they begin this new chapter, and how is the college supporting them along the way?
It is an exciting new chapter in our history, but I think it's important to stress that both campuses have always been aligned in many ways. We share the same educational DNA, the same philosophy, vision, and common values.
By officially coming together as Dulwich College Shanghai, we're now able to fully share the expertise and the resources across both campuses, which will benefit both our students and our staff and provide even more opportunities for every member of our community.
We've already got lots of new opportunities planned for staff, for students, and for parents and families.
For example, this term we will be hosting our first-ever Robotics Festival across both campuses, where we will bring in industry leaders in robotics to showcase their latest innovations.
It's a great way for students to get hands-on with those robots and develop their understanding of robotics and its importance for the future.
So, lots of opportunities moving ahead, and I'm very much looking forward to leading that new chapter in our history as the Head of Dulwich College Shanghai.
With Year 10 to 13 growing at the College’s Pudong campus, what investments are you making in teaching staff, pastoral care, and facilities to make their large upper school an even more supportive and personalized experience?
I'd like to stress that both campuses are fantastic resources for young learners, with world-class facilities already. We're starting from an exceptional position of strength.
However, with the growth of the examination groups on our Pudong campus, we have already increased our staffing numbers in the senior school.
We also have refurbishment plans coming for our senior school library and for our IB center, which will be fully refurbished next summer.
But it's important to stress that the quality of our teachers and facilities is exceptional. By combining our teams, for example, with university counselors, we will have more expertise to support our students in their future journeys.
Rest assured, we will always have the very best facilities and resources so that students come first in everything that we do.
With growing demand for both A-Level and IB, how are you shaping a dual IB/A-Level pathway to give students more choice than ever?
That's a great question, and 'choice' is a very important word. We want our students to be able to pursue a pathway that suits their interests and passions best.
At the moment, we offer the IB diploma and achieve some of the best results nationally on both campuses.
But we do recognize that a dual pathway is something we need to offer, so we will be introducing an A-Level program from 2027 on our Pudong campus. The subjects offered will be dependent on what our students wish to pursue.
We have teachers with expertise in both A-Level and IB, so we can offer them to a very high level.
When students come to the later years, if they wish to pursue a more specialized program, they may choose A-Level.
If they want a bit more breadth and depth, perhaps they will choose the IB program.
Both will be taught to a very high level, and I have no doubt we will continue to excel with some of the very best grades both nationally and internationally.
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For students completing their IGCSE at the College’s Puxi campus in 2026 to 2027, what's in place to make sure they continue to thrive academically and feel connected to the wider upper school community at the College’s Pudong campus?
The Year 11 students who are going into that will be fully supported by those excellent staff, and I've no doubt will go on to produce world-class outcomes.
It is also important that they feel connected as part of Dulwich College Shanghai, so we have lots of plans for students across both campuses to come together on a regular basis.
That will be both academic events and events which support our holistic development program, whether in sports, music, the arts, or ed tech.
This ensures that every student feels a part of Dulwich College Shanghai, with even more and even better opportunities for every single student.
The College’s Puxi campus is investing in Forest School and other fundamental programs. Can you tell us more about this?
This is a very exciting program. Our Puxi campus has always had outstanding community partnerships—for example, the connection with the honey farm in Yunnan is really groundbreaking and a long-standing relationship.
We are now actually the first school in China to be certified as a Forest School, which is an incredible achievement.
What it means is a real commitment for our students to connect with nature.
In a large city, it can be easy to become disconnected from nature, but as a Forest School, we're committed to ensuring students have regular opportunities to get outside of the classroom, engage with and observe nature, learn some basic campcraft skills, and build that into the curriculum.
This helps them understand the importance they have within their local environment and the effect, both positive and negative, that they can have on it.
I've no doubt this will benefit all of our students across both campuses.
You are moving from leading one campus to leading two. How will your leadership style evolve to manage this increased complexity, and what will be your top three priorities in your first hundred days as Head of the unified college?
I have a fantastic college leadership team to support me, which includes five Heads of School who are outstanding and very experienced.
On a day-to-day basis, they are responsible for running the schools and do a great job.
So, my job is really to make sure they feel supported and have the resources they need, and for me to get to know the Dulwich College Shanghai community even better over the months and years ahead.
In terms of priorities, it will always be "students come first." So, ensuring that teachers have the resources they need, that students are settled and ready to work and learn, and that all students and families feel a sense of belonging within the Dulwich College Shanghai community.
We will have lots of opportunities, events, and exciting things coming up. For example, we will soon be hosting the Dulwich Olympiad, a unique event that takes place every four years.
It will involve 1,000 students from all over the world coming to Dulwich College Shanghai to compete in an Olympic-style event in sports, music, drama, arts, and robotics.
It will be a great celebration and I'm looking forward to leading that.
Will you encourage Pudong and Puxi to have distinct cultures or seek to foster more homogenous feel?
I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive. It's important that each of our campuses has its own identity, and that will continue—it's very important to me.
The campuses will keep their mascots and their Houses, because those are part of each campus's identity.
However, by becoming part of Dulwich College Shanghai as 'One College, Two Campuses,' there will be more opportunities than ever for students, staff, and parents to come together as one community and to celebrate being part of Dulwich College Shanghai.
So, we will certainly be keeping our unique identities on both campuses, but adding a layer of extra opportunities for all members of our community.
What is your plan for senior leadership and teaching talent at Dulwich College Shanghai?
I don't really need to do too much to motivate and retain our staff because we have an exceptional retention level. Our staff love working at Dulwich College Shanghai.
The Senior Leadership team, for instance, is pretty much the same team it has been for many years—they are very experienced and love working here. We also have brilliant and supportive families.
We will continue to ensure Dulwich College Shanghai is a great place to work and invest in professional learning for our staff, which we've always been known for, so that they feel they are developing professionally.
I'm sure that fantastic retention will continue to be very high.
For Puxi families who are unable to commute to Pudong for Year 10 to 13, what alternative pathway or support are you offering to retain them within the EiM system?
We will ensure that we have transportation that allows for students to attend our Pudong campus for their examination years.
We've increased our transportation for next year, so wherever they live in the city, they have access to our Pudong campus for IGCSE and IB courses.
I'm confident that retention will remain very high.
What kind of curricula or social integration activities are you planning before the 2026-2027 academic year begins to start building a single Dulwich College Shanghai community?
We already have a very good co-curricular program in place on both of our campuses, but we're already looking at opportunities where co-curricular programs can run across both campuses. In fact, they already do in some cases, for example, with our football program.
We are also planning to introduce our VEX robotics program and our STEM racing program, which currently run on our Pudong campus, across to our Puxi campus.
These are groundbreaking programs, and there will be real opportunities for students across the whole of Dulwich College Shanghai.
We will look wherever possible to ensure our co-curricular program provides as many opportunities as possible for students, regardless of which campus they go to.
Finally, what do you see as your biggest challenge for this transition period?
Inevitably, any change does involve challenges. What I'm particularly proud of is that the college leadership team and supporting staff have come together already over many months to ensure that our plans are very diligent.
We've come together many times to ensure the transition is as seamless as possible, and I'm proud that it's been very successful.
We will continue to look ahead and to ensure that we meet any challenges and put students at the center of everything we do.
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[All images courtesy of Dulwich College Shanghai]
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