Western Academy of Beijing

Founded in 1994 by parents and teachers to serve Beijing's fast-growing international population, WAB has become one of the capital's flagship not-for-profit international schools. It is governed by an all-volunteer Board of Trustees with a deliberate nationality balance (no single nationality may hold more than 50% of voting seats), reflecting its identity as a genuinely international, community-owned institution rather than a for-profit operator.

Academically, WAB is a full-continuum IB World School: the Primary Years Programme from Junior Grade 1 through Grade 5, the Middle Years Programme across Grades 6–10, and the Diploma Programme in Grades 11–12, with the full IB Diploma open to all students. English is the language of instruction with EAL support at every level, while Chinese runs as a tiered curricular subject from beginner to home-language fluency — valuable for globally mobile families who want their children to leave Beijing with real Mandarin.

The campus is a major draw: roughly 99,000 m² with three libraries, three theatres, three full-size gyms, an indoor pool, a FIFA-approved pitch, climbing wall and dance studios. The student body is around 1,320 from 58 nationalities, taught by staff drawn from 27 countries — a deep, diverse community that is hard to replicate.

The key gating factor is eligibility. As a 外籍人员子女学校 (school for children of foreign nationals), WAB explicitly cannot admit Chinese nationals permanently resident in mainland China; entry requires a qualifying foreign passport, a HK/Macau/Taiwan permit, or foreign permanent residency, and Beijing Municipal Education Commission approval may be required. Tuition is premium (RMB 148,000 for half-day early years up to RMB 380,500 for Grades 11–12 in 2026–27). China has no graded national inspectorate, so the tier reflects accreditation + curriculum depth — capped at A.