In the current wave of globalization, the boundaries of education are continually being expanded. International education, in particular, serves as a window through which children can gaze upon the vastness of the world; it is also like a bridge, constructing a passage for the exchange and mutual learning among different cultures.
Over the past four decades, international schools with diverse systems and philosophies have added a splendid chapter to Shenzhen's internationalization. As the first international school in Shenzhen to offer authentic British education and a boarding management system, Shenzhen Merchiston International School has now completed seven years of its journey.
This year, the international school has officially launched a Three-year Action Plan for quality improvement, striving towards the first decade of high-quality development. Recently, the "Exploring Schools" series by South Plus visited Shenzhen Merchiston Longhua Campus, engaging in dialogues with several leaders from Shenzhen Lighthouse International Education Group and Shenzhen Merchiston International School to gain a deeper understanding of the school's internal driving force for development.
On January 30th (the second day of the Chinese New Year), the University of Cambridge officially emailed out admission offers. In the afternoon, one of our MIS Shenzhen students officially received an offer of admission from Cambridge, making MIS Shenzhen the first British international school in the Greater Bay Area to secure a Cambridge offer. This significant and joyous news not only serves as a positive affirmation of the academic achievements of MIS students but also perfectly exemplifies how the school's holistic education approach brings out outstanding academic outcomes.
In addition to the Cambridge admission, as of now, in the 2025 application season, with fewer than 30 graduates, MIS Shenzhen , leveraging its small-class teaching model, has secured a total of 68 offers from top universities in the UK, the USA, Australia, and Hong Kong. Among them are prestigious universities such as Imperial College London, University College London, The University of Edinburgh, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
These impressive enrollment figures naturally prompt the question: What makes this international school so exceptional? How has it consistently maintained the highest admission rate to the UK's G5 universities and top 50 global universities among international schools in the Greater Bay Area, becoming a model for British international education?
Upon deeper exploration, the answers to these questions become clear. As the first international school in Shenzhen to offer authentic British education and British boarding management system, the remarkable achievements of MIS Shenzhen students are attributed to the school's unwavering commitment to the educational philosophy of "Academic excellence with warmth” The school has always prioritized academic quality and outstanding academic outcomes, supported by scientific educational methods such as individualized teaching and differentiated teaching.
Here, the international curriculum is diverse, ranging from A-Level to AP, providing students with multiple pathways to world-renowned universities. The teaching methods are unique, encouraging independent inquiry and group collaboration, allowing each child's personality and potential to flourish.
Mark Bridgeman
Acting Head of MIS Shenzhen
Wu Songhua
Head of lower senior
Interview Transcript:
Two Powerful Guarantees:
Authentic British Atmosphere and Personalized University Guidance
South Plus: With international schools sprouting up everywhere nowadays, what are some of the highly competitive advantages of Shenzhen Merchiston International School (MIS Shenzhen) beyond its mature curriculum system?
Mark Bridgeman, Acting Head of MIS Shenzhen: One of the highlights and advantages of British boarding schools is that children study and live on campus all day. They have a 24-hour schedule that includes 8 hours of rest and 2 hours of sports as mandatory, along with a very detailed combination of academic learning, extracurricular activities, English language enhancement, and social practice projects. These are all implemented at MIS Shenzhen as well.
At the same time, MIS Shenzhen adopts a "tutorial system", assigning a dedicated tutor to each child. Through regular online communication, tutors gain insight into the inner world of the children. Last year, we reached a cooperation intention with Oxford’s New College, one of the oldest colleges at the University of Oxford. In the future, under the guidance of New College, MIS Shenzhen teachers will use the one-on-one and one-on-two tutorial system of Oxford to guide MIS students, establishing closer teacher-student and home-school relationships to better empower MIS students.
Lyu Jianjun, Founder of MIS Shenzhen and David, Dean of New College, Oxford
The tutorial system, as the most important educational system at Oxford and Cambridge universities, is hailed as the brightest jewel among all systems in British higher education. Each undergraduate at Oxford is assigned a tutor, with each tutor teaching only 1-2 students. Tutors meet with students at least once a week for at least an hour, comprehensively following up on students' academic and personal situations. Tutors do not directly teach academic content but guide students to think actively, research materials, develop critical thinking, and stimulate creativity through questions, interactions, assignments, and various other forms, helping students achieve comprehensive development.
The teaching language at the school is English, so we provide comprehensive language support. Recently, we have been implementing the Lighthouse Teaching Program to assist students in lower years who are not yet proficient in English. Currently, we have a teaching staff comprising about 70% British teachers. When children return to their dormitories after school, it's like coming back to a British family, with their daily interactions primarily in English, and the dining hall offers a combination of Chinese and Western cuisine. In other words, at MIS Shenzhen, from school uniform, diet, language, to the overall environment and curriculum, students are immersed in a completely British environment. This advantage means when they go abroad for further studies in the future, they will settle down right away.
Our small class size enables us to take care of every student. For example, we encourage senior students to do boarding, so the distance between students and teachers is shortened. In this way, teachers can get closer to student, get to know them well, and maximise their personalised development.
In the high school department of MIS Shenzhen, we have a professional university guidance team that selects suitable universities and majors from around the world based on their academic performance, interests, and future career goals for students to choose. They also develop personalized university application plans for students and provide comprehensive services such as guidance on personal statement writing and interview skills training. In addition, the school organizes academic quality discussion meetings every month, systematizing and digitizing subject teaching, remedial and advanced training and competition activities, and other aspects to fully support students' academic development.
Three Enhancements Supporting Education
Tailored Teaching, Interdisciplinary Learning, and Fostering Growth
South Plus: International schools often have students from diverse cultural backgrounds. What elements does MIS Shenzhen pay more attention to when it comes to teaching them, and what are the specific measures taken?
Wu Songhua, Head of lower senior in MIS: Currently, in response to the common weakness in the Junior senior of international schools, we have proposed three enhancements at MIS: solidifying the foundation of subjects, enhancing interdisciplinary learning, and strengthening home-school communication.
Solidifying the knowledge foundation of subjects is the first enhancement, which can be seen as laying solid groundwork and teaching students according to their abilities. We have three measures for this.
Firstly, "Tiered Teaching". Tiered teaching is aimed at effective instruction, not labeling. Among all subjects, math and English are the most fundamental ones. Our school's tiered teaching primarily focuses on these two subjects. Given that each child has different talents, some excel in language while others in math, we teach students according to their abilities to fully showcase their potentials. For example, in English, we not only offer native English language instruction (same as the English courses offered in British schools) but also provide less challenging English courses, and math as well. China has an advantage in math education. For students who are already proficient in math, in addition to meeting the requirements of the UK National Curriculum, we appropriately teach them higher level math, and encourage them to participate in math competitions such as the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC).
Secondly, "Enhanced Reading". Reading is crucial for improving language skills, fostering critical thinking, and cultivating values. Therefore, strengthening our English and Chinese reading programs is one of our measures to solidify the foundation of subjects. In both English and Chinese classes, we emphasize reading guidance, provide required reading lists, and instruct students to read and complete reading notes. We encourage children to read and share more, and allow them to present their book recommendations during student assemblies.
Meanwhile, “Increasing Subject Competitions and Academic Support". We will increase the number of subject competitions, including the World Scholar's Cup, math, science, English, computer science, simulated business competitions, essay contests, and international school alliance sports events. Each child has their own strengths, and we encourage them to actively participate and fully showcase their talents, allowing them to invest more passion and build confidence. At the same time, the school will provide academic interventions and support. Especially for students who are weaker in English and math, the school will implement effective measures to support them. For example, there are two fixed times each week for corresponding math and English teachers to provide homework assistance or answer questions. During evening self-study sessions, math and English teachers are available for tutoring and Q&A. In addition, for students with weak English skills, the school has special support measures in place.
The second enhancement is "Interdisciplinary Learning", which aims to break down boundaries and promote integrated exploration.
Our interdisciplinary learning is not a simple activity, but a series of events centered around hiking, interdisciplinary learning, and skill challenges. In November of last year, lower senior students stepped out of the classroom and went to Wanlv Lake in Heyuan City. The trip includes survival skill challenges, such as kayaking training on Wanlv Lake, and daily hikes of about 10 kilometers while enable children to embrace the wonders of nature. This interdisciplinary learning involved subjects such as Chinese, design, and geography. Students visited the Nongfu Spring production base to understand the principles of water purification, product design, and instill a green mindset. They walked through the Nanyuan Ancient Village to experience the historical and cultural changes of Hakka culture. Although the interdisciplinary hiking exploration activity lasted for 4 days, it actually spanned an entire semester, from activity planning and research, teacher involvement in interdisciplinary teaching design, student interdisciplinary exploration, to post-activity exhibitions and exchanges based on their observations and experiences, thereby achieving subject integration and life integration.
Home-school communication is the third enhancement of our school, focusing on building bridges between parents and school, and jointly fostering growth.
As we all know, most international schools for children of expatriates prefer to communicate via email. While email communication has its advantages, it is insufficient for effective home-school collaboration. Therefore, we have expanded our home-school communication methods, including tripartite meetings (teacher-parent-student) and "Principal's Afternoon Tea".
Lower senior · teacher-parent-student meeting
We open "Principal's Afternoon Tea" appointments at fixed times every week, allowing the principal to communicate face-to-face with parents, enabling them to focus more on their children. Parents have provided valuable suggestions, ranging from overall advice to individualized needs, and the school listens and addresses them carefully. This home-school communication approach helps parents and the school align on educational philosophy and methods, thereby better supporting student growth.
