Studio Education was founded in Shanghai in 2013, by James Jobbins, an Oxford-educated British school teacher. Studio is both a means to an end and an end in itself. It serves to support and prepare students in their efforts to pursue a wide-ranging exploratory education; and it provides – and hails – education for its own sake. Studio courses nurture the skills and attributes necessary for success in admission to and for thriving at the world’s best universities – but they go so much further than that, reveling in inspiring great thinking and creativity in intellectual pursuits.

The name ‘Studio’ reflects a symbiosis of study and creativity – learning at Studio is infused with, and inseparable from, the creative temperament of conceiving, exploring, trying, and applying new ideas. Studio’s programs then go beyond incorportating memorisation, understanding, and the application of functional skills; they develop the higher order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis – the essential elements of a flourishing intellect and of creativity.

We have two centers in Shanghai now. One is in Hongqiao. Another is in Century Park. More new centers will open in China and throughout the world soon.

Learning Consultant Hours: 9am-6pm, Monday - Friday
Hongqiao Centre: Friday: 1pm-9pm; Saturday & Sunday: 8am-5pm
Century Park Centre: Friday: 1pm-9pm; Saturday & Sunday: 8am-5pm

Sure. You and your family are welcome to visit our centers during the hours of operation. However, student assessments and interviews are conducted by appointment only.

Different centers vary. Please contact customer service for details.

You are welcome to register at anytime. Making a Registration is the first step in joining the Studio Education Learning Community. Once you have Registered you will receive contact from our Shanghai based Admissions Advisors to help you.

There are a number of convenient ways to Register with Studio Education. 

You can make a registration from this link: (https://studio.education/en/admissions/registration-form)registration form. Alternatively you can find this Registration on our Website as well as through our official wechat account(Studio上海).  

Alternatively you can call 400-092-9688. Our Admissions Advisor team will be very glad to help you register and discuss your needs over the phone if this is more convenient.

After registering you will receive contact from one of our Admissions Advisors within 1 – 3 days. The Admissions Advisor team will help you arrange an assessment for your child with our Education Specialist and a personalized Learning Consultant who will become your contact person throughout your child’s journey with Studio Education. Finally, we will recommend the appropriate class according to your child’s Academic and English level and we will complete the enrollment procedures with you.

We have four types of programs:

• Weekend and Holiday Schools
• Private Client Services
• Global Learning
• Online@Studio

SALA
Teachers lecture on subject content, such as history and science. The courses include: questions and discussions; close reading as a group - including class discussions; teachers lecture on some aspects of essay writing, where teachers give feedback to the group on common problems and clarify misunderstandings in previous writing; writing in class while teachers deliver feedback as students write; and oral presentations - preparation and practice.

Kids Canon and Teens Canon
Kids Canon and Teens Canon are literature and writing courses that include: reading out loud as a group and class discussions of themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and some – but not all – unfamiliar vocabulary words. Teachers lecture on some aspects of story writing. Essay writing in class – under timed conditions – while teachers deliver guidance and feedback as children write. Correcting of vocabulary homework. Lastly, children share their essays and stories in class during oral presentations.

Literature and Drama
Students read literary texts and study meaning and sound in detail. Teachers lecture on specific aspects of language and literature in relation to dramatic performances. Students practice solo work (mime, storytelling, poetry recitals) one by one, and they watch each other in order to observe in detail various aspects of the performance so as to apply it in their own work. Students write group-devised play scripts and literary appreciation essays (focusing on aural features of selections from literature texts). Students rehearse and perform plays, sometimes in whole groups and sometimes in small groups, which are usually directed by teachers. Finally, students perform plays for parents and friends.

Primary English
Primary English is a literature, writing, and drama course, which is divided in to one third reading, one third writing, and one third drama.
During the reading segment, students read out loud around the class as a group. Teachers and students ask questions and discuss as a group. Teachers explain some – but not all – unfamiliar words. Students write vocabulary words on flashcards. Students and teachers discuss as a group the points arising from the novels that relate to their writing such as: literary elements, plots, themes, and characterisation.

During writing, students write essays in class under timed conditions. A first draft is written one week and a second draft the following week. The teachers will also lecture on some aspect(s) of story writing and assign story-writing homework.

In drama, students will practice and perform poetry recitals, storytelling, mime, and group dramatisations of scenes from the novel being read.

Early Years
What do you do during the three hours?

• A read-aloud of a picture book, including questions and discussion
• Learn new vocabulary from or thematically linked to the book
• Phonics and sight reading, a blend of whole class instruction and individual support for advanced and struggling readers
• One-on-One reading time of a self-selected text from the leveled reading library
• Writing practice, from first marks to full sentences and tracing to telling stories
• Re-reading, reviewing, and retelling texts from previous lessons; building a fund of literary knowledge
• Meaningful, age-appropriate arts and crafts activities
• An introduction to literary devices
• The opportunity to create their own stories and picture books, and share these with the class
• Drama activities based on the book: dramatic play
• Songs and poetry
• The option to participate in the Trinity Young Performers program

Private Client Services provides personalised educational planning for families and students seeking a managed service. Private Client services provides school application preparation consulting and tutoring. We offer various private tutoring options, including one-to-one, one-to-two, one-to-three, and one-to-four.

Global Learning provides an unbounded cognitive habitat. By this we mean that the possibilities for learning are infinite and the traditional mode of learning becomes remixed. Global learning is unbounded in the sense that any interaction, any visceral experience, any defamiliarizing moment can transform itself into something meaningful. The possibilities for learning are endless. Global Learning is rooted in cognitive development, where the acquisition of knowledge is not a transaction, but a shared encounter. These encounters reach into the depths of our knowledge bases and forge connections that emphasize the continual nature of learning and that this learning is not isolated to the classroom.

Global Learning transforms the element of setting in a way that only imagination could before. The white walls of the classroom come down, and Ely Cathedral rises in front of you, the world’s most active volcanos sit amongst you. Students are present in these places being encouraged and guided to explore, reflect, inquire, and create. Learning happens like never before.

Studio Education delivers blended learning courses, fully-online courses, and in person lessons.
Studio Global Learning is ‘online to on site’, providing seven to twelve months of reading, writing and webinars online, before culminating in a two or three week study tour.
Kids Canon (including Teens Canon) and SALA are available as full-online courses, wherever you are in the world - time difference permitting - and also as in person courses taught at our weekend centers.

Studio’s ethos of rigour and intellectual exploration along with our unremitting focus on education make it possible for us to attract and retain the best teachers in the world. All of our teachers are: highly intelligent; disciplined; enthusiastic about what they teach; and serious about children making intellectual, creative, and academic progress. Their backgrounds are as varied as you would expect from a proud international school: some are mid-career teachers, heads of department or supervisors in a mainstream school; most are qualified teachers in their home countries – and those that aren’t bring some level of experience and/or subject expertise that justifies their inclusion in our exclusive faculty; all love teaching and enjoy successful careers – they certainly do not choose to work with Studio out of necessity and we work hard to provide them with a serious, satisfying, purposeful, and intellectually ambitious culture that brings out the best in their attention to your child’s progress and brings out the best in your child’s performance.

If you feel the above statement in any way exaggerates your experience of working with your child’s teacher then you should contact the Principal immediately – we live or die on the quality, caliber and performance of our faculty and are proud to say so.

Our teachers are from Mexico, Suriname, England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the USA, and France.

Around half of the courses taught at the weekend and in the holidays are taught by full-time teachers and the other half by part-time teachers. The best balance is where we can maintain a strong group of full-time Studio teachers complimented by specialist part-time teachers drawn from other employment. Our Global Learning teachers are typically mid-career school teachers and/or practising experts in their field.

Our Global Learning teachers and our UK and US based tutors, available through Studio Education | Private Client Services, teach or have taught in British and/or American private and/or government schools, including some of the most prestigious schools in those countries. Our part-time weekend and holiday school teachers based in Shanghai teach at a wide-range of bilingual and international schools.

Yes, absolutely: teacher-parent communication is a critical part of the essential quadrangle of cooperation between institution-parent-teacher-child. Teachers communicate on specific problems and exceptional achievements. Teachers may be contacted by email.

Some of our teachers (around 20%) speak excellent Chinese and others speak European languages. But if your teacher does not speak your mother tongue, then to speak to your child’s teacher at the end of the lesson, please ask our Front Desk colleagues to help you. They will be very pleased to help; everyone at Studio wants excellent direct communication between teachers and parents. But please do not ask our Front Desk colleagues to transmit messages for you: please send written email messages in your mother tongue directly to your child’s teacher. All our teachers can translate your messages with the help both of technology and of our administrative colleagues and then will either reply to you in English (if you are happy to use an electronic translation) or they will send you a translation provided by a bilingual colleague.
Crucially, do not let language get in the way of having a direct relationship with your child’s teacher.

Studio Education has four Senior Partners: David Symington, Miguel Diaz, Sarah Jobbins and James Jobbins. All four are very active in the development of Studio’s educational program and all four remain active teachers. Mr Symington teaches on Studio Global Learning’s The Ancient World and Comparative Societies and Cultures; he acts as a counselor and as an occasional Latin and philosophy tutor for Studio Education | Private Client Services; he also runs SALA’s Research Society and The Studio School of Speech and Drama’s Edinburgh Society. Mr Diaz acts as a counselor for Studio Education | Private Client Services and runs Kids Canon’s Writers Society. Mrs Jobbins acts as a counsler and teaches on The Story of England. Mr Jobbins acts as an occasional tutor in literature for Studio Education | Private Client Services, and as a teacher of history and literature on Studio Global Learning’s The Story of England.

Studio Education’s students attend a wide range of schools from British, North American, and Australasian private and government schools to western-style international schools in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore to bilingual Chinese-English schools in Shanghai. We are not exclusive based on children’s Monday to Friday schools.

With our roots in Shanghai, and at the time of writing barely four years old, the current members of Studio’s learning community are mostly from English-speaking families of Chinese extraction – some from Shanghai, some from other parts of mainland China, some from areas of the Chinese diaspora and some with barely any connection with China at all, barring some ancient ancestry. We also teach a number of families whose heritage is from outside China, including from Mexico, Argentina, India, the Philippines, Italy, the UK, the USA, Canada, and beyond. Studio is not a place for parochialism or for a narrow focus; our students and parents flourish both in the dynamism of internationalism and in the rootedness that comes from conscious exploration of identity.

In 2.5hr lessons nothing is left out, rather the coverage of all components are shortened by one-sixth. This is simply an anomaly – it is less than ideal – caused by the timetable requirements of Fridays – and it does usually require a little extra discipline on the part of students to be conscientious with homework to make sure they keep up with the course. The tuition fee for the semester is also reduced proportionally.

No, there are no two classes which are identical. We work hard to provide a group experience over the course of two semesters which is purposeful, focused, and conducive to the cumulative benefits of high attendance and cohesive participation. It is neither desirable (nor practically possible) for students to attend other teachers’ sessions. Classes do not operate in isolation from each other and excellence requires stability. Flexibility only helps in the short-term and does not help anyone in the long-term.

Every student is credited with a Re-enrolment Rebate to the value of one session at the point of paying their tuition fees for the following semester. There are no credits or refunds for missing more than one class in a semester. Sometimes that can seem inflexible to parents – but in fact high attendance is essential and one session missed per semester is a reasonable average over any significant period of time attending weekend classes. If your child will miss more than one session on a regular basis, then Studio’s weekend classes are not necessarily appropriate.

There are no trial classes. However, for new families, tuition fees do not fall due until after students try their first class. Therefore, the first class can serve as a trial class. In the exceptional cases where for any reason parents choose not to enroll after their child has attended the first class then there is no tuition fee to pay. However, the first class is not free; students who enroll pay for the whole semester (or remaining part of the semester) including the child’s first class. We are very careful to check parents’ and students’ understanding of the course that they are applying to join; our assessments and interviews are very successful at placing children in classes that will suit their parents’ goals and aspirations and the child’s level and potential; therefore the number of cases where a child tries a class and does not go on to enroll is exceptionally low.

No. This is critically important that parents understand and respect that teachers and students develop their own relationship based on educational ambition and effort and that relationship is invariably skewed by the presence of parents in the classroom. There is no degree whatsoever of secrecy; it is 100% a focus on what Estelle Morris, the former UK Education Secretary, described as the three most important aspects of education: Relationships, Relationships, Relationships. In fact, many of our classrooms by design are constructed with glass walls to provide a degree of openness about Studio’s lessons. Teachers are proud of their work and are excited to provide in some classes chances for parents to make up an audience for performances and presentations.

Yes. All classes have homework and the amount varies according to age. In all classes, parents should expect their child to need to read and/or write substantially outside of class.

How many hours is “substantially” is of course entirely a matter of the focus / ambition / speed of the child and the support provided at home. There are no classes where less than an hour a week’s homework is required and most classes would benefit from up to three hours a week (spread across seven days).

In general, we abjure textbooks. They are a direct result of the industrialisation of education which has seen since two things: starting in the late nineteenth century the numbers of students began to increase far faster than the numbers of highly educated schoolteachers; and standardised public examinations have become a priority at schools. The result is textbooks: digested content organised for a non-expert, non-enthusiast “teacher” to teach children according to the content of a specific exam set by a remote examinations board.

So, in general, there are no textbooks. However, there are study guides for Kids Canon, which provide a healthy commonality to vocabulary exercises and to the teaching of literary devices; and occasionally one significant, usually seminal text will be used as a kind of “reader” or “primer” for a particular course, but this is the exception rather than the rule.
In general reading passages are pre-selected from non-fiction academic texts, texts written “for the general reader” (meaning an educated but non-specialist adult audience), and classic literature, whether for children or for adults, written as literature distinct from entertainment.

It is surprisingly complicated to sell books – partly to do with stocking the right numbers for our courses and for our libraries – and we need to direct parents to Amazon and local equivalents.

At the weekends, our SALA classes and drama classes have a maximum of nine students. All other Weekend and Holiday School courses have a maximum of eight students per class.
For Global Learning study tours, classroom work is at a ratio of twelve-to-one.

At the weekends, students taking two or more classes on the same day have lunch provided. In holiday schools, students taking whole day program also have lunch provided. Global Learning study tours are all full board.

There are no formal written tests in any conventional sense, but there is a kind of punctuation to the learning in the form of oral presentations and dramatic performances. The assessment by parents of students’ progress in writing and thinking is made straightforward through the compilation of a portfolio (“the red folder”), which is collated once per semester.

To be fully satisfied with our work, parents do need to be able to assess their child’s progress from self-evident markers: are they animated and enthused by their class? Do they demonstrate their learning in their conversations at home? Do they show progress in their writing in their regular school work? Do they show commitment to their homework? Does their red folder show excellent writing? Does your child’s end of semester presentation / performance show progress since last time? Is your child reading steadily (over a period of time) more challenging books? Is your child starting to develop enthusiasm for the subject they are studying at Studio (be it mathematics, science, anthropology, philosophy, drama or something else)? For almost all children, you will not be able to answer yes to all of the questions above, but for almost all of Studio’s students you will slowly – but steadily – be able to answer yes to more and more.
At the same time, it is important to recognise that particularly while children are still at primary school they are not always mature enough to express their own learning. Asking a child, “What did you learn today?” is as likely to get a good assessment of their learning that day as if you ask a bear cub, “What did you eat today?” It’s not that the child didn’t learn; it’s that the child does not have the vocabulary to answer you. Instead, have a look at their work together with your child and talk about the lesson in terms of how exciting and fun the learning is; your child’s enjoyment for learning comes directly from your enthusiasm. It doesn’t matter if you speak English or not, talk to your child in your mother tongue about the class and about what they are reading. Don’t quiz them; enjoy their learning with them. And even if your child does not communicate particularly well with you, remember that that is not necessarily indicative of a lack of engagement; children are often (cruelly!) least communicative with their own parents. If this is the case, still encourage them to do their homework to the best of their ability and then enjoy their writing / performance / presentation.

Every child who wants to join Studio Education must have an assessment. This is not a formality, it is a significant investment of time on our part and on yours to make sure that we have the best possible chance of putting your child in a class, which will make sure they do their very best. After students have joined, it is uncommon but sometimes necessary to have a periodic reassessment.

The assessment is a reading and writing assessment, no matter which class your child is applying for; so there are no maths tests for maths, no drama auditions for drama; and so on. But the assessment is also not a pure “English” test; the assessment tests a suitability for a certain kind of learning where exploratory thought, intellectual discussion, and creative expression are critically important to the process of learning whether the content happens to be coding, science, ancient history, literature or creative writing.

If your child is gifted in some way, we are usually pretty quick to spot it and to develop your child’s talents. If your child is not gifted, but is hardworking, it will be rewarded in kind from the dedication of the teacher. If your child is weak in reading and writing, but has ambition and dedication to improve, your child will not necessarily be denied a place in a particular class, but there will be an element of discussion with parents to make sure we do not irresponsibly place any child in a class that is a waste of time through a child’s current limited academic ability.

Are mathematics and drama special cases? Are naturally brilliant mathematicians and gifted actors allowed to skip the reading and writing assessment? It’s not always impossible but it’s rarely desirable. All of our classes require a good reading level and a good writing level; students without basic competence in reading and writing, but who are seeking training in a particular skill or art, should seek out a school less well integrated intellectually and creatively than Studio.

There is ongoing communication with teachers throughout the semester, but there is no summative written report at the end of each semester.

This is not an easy question to answer and it comes down to reasonableness on both sides. Teachers are not there to teach outside of lesson times, yet they are absolutely there to give you feedback on your child. They can clarify homework if your child is not clear; but this should quickly become the exception rather than the rule. Teachers will report on your child’s performance in a number of areas: writing, reading, thinking, content mastery, and behaviour (both appropriate behaviour for learning and respectful behaviour for common courtesy).

There are no scores except in the case where a department makes available an external examination as an extra opportunity for children (for example, Trinity College London examinations made available from The Studio School of Speech and Drama). Even in these cases, the exam and its score is not the point of the activities; the point is the child’s learning and development. The exam is just a way to benchmark performance, and all external exams are strictly optional.

We always do our best to make sure no one has to wait too long to join a class. But we are constrained by our own insistence on only employing excellent teachers. We are also constrained by the physical constraints of how many classrooms we have available at any given time. But do get in touch with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to ask about opening new classes.

The tuition varies according to programs. For more details, please contact family services.

There are several ways of paying for the tuition, including:

• Cash
• POS
• Bank Transfer
• WeChat Pay
• Ali Pay

For UK- and USA-based services, a UK invoice will be issued from Studio Education Ltd., a registered UK company. For services inside China, a fapiao can be issued for consulting services. A fapiao will be issued for payments made in the form of cash, POS, and bank transfers. A fapiao will not be provided if you choose to pay by WeChat Pay or Ali Pay.

We don’t offer discounts now, but of course, introductions to friends is the very best way to keep Studio a healthy and vibrant learning community serving its members for the good of the education of everyone. Studio is grateful and proud that so many of our students’ parents have seen fit to introduce their friends and every day we work harder and harder to show our gratitude.

Studio Education’s weekend classes are paid for one or two semesters up front, for the number of sessions remaining that semester. There are no reductions for missed classes but the value of one session is rebated at the point of re-enrolment for the following semester.

There are no refunds. Your child’s suitability for our courses and your own understanding of what we do will be checked and re-checked in the initial conversation with our service staff, at the assessment and interview, and then at the first class. Only at that point are tuition fees due. If there is a significant problem with a class, after the payment of tuition fees, please contact the Principal.