Shanghai French School

The Lycée Français de Shanghai (LFS) operates two Eurocampus sites: Qingpu (350 Gaoguang Road, Qingpu District) and Yangpu (788 Jiangwancheng Road, Yangpu District). Both campuses are in Shanghai but in different districts—Qingpu is on the city's western edge while Yangpu is closer to central/northeastern Shanghai; each campus has its own reception and contact numbers. The school and the German School of Shanghai share Eurocampus facilities at both sites.

LFS educates children from maternelle (early years) through terminale (final year of lycée), roughly ages 2 to 18, covering preschool, primary, collège and lycée. The curricula are homologated to the French national education system and the school is a member of the AEFE (Agency for French Education Abroad).

The school is a co-educational, non-profit international school run by a parents' association; it follows the French national curriculum leading to the French Baccalauréat. The two campuses operate under the same school governance and share some facilities with the partner German school.

LFS provides structured support for learners with additional needs, including personalized plans (PPRE, PAP, PAI, PPS), a team of psychologists and an enseignante spécialisée, and a dedicated French-as-instruction program (FLSco) for non‑French speakers with intensive and complementary tracks. The FLSco hours and the school's accompaniment measures are described on the school site; families are involved in setting up and monitoring interventions.

The school is affiliated with France through the AEFE network (Agence pour l'Enseignement Français à l'Etranger) and delivers an education conforming to the French national programmes.

LFS is an international secular school following the French national curriculum; it does not have a religious affiliation listed as part of its institutional identity.

Typical school routines start in the morning (around 8:00) and dismissal times vary by level: some morning-only sessions or midday endings exist alongside full-day schedules with typical afternoon finishes around 15:00 and later departures for secondary students (some return/after‑school slots until around 17:00 or later for activities). The school also schedules 72 hours per year of 'accompagnement personnalisé' (about 2 hours per week) as part of students' timetables. Exact daily start/finish times and year-group timetables are published by the school and on bus timetables.

LFS runs a large paid school-bus service (operated in partnership with a government-licensed carrier, Pei Xing Bus Company) that serves both Qingpu and Yangpu campuses with many lines across the city; the fleet includes seat belts and boosters and is staffed with a driver and an accompanying attendant. The service is managed per campus (bus managers) and publishes route maps, regular schedules and rules; parents register for specific lines and the system is not door-to-door in all cases. The school uses a bus‑tracking app and maintains a parent transport commission; contact details for bus managers and downloadable bus documents are available on the school site.

Shanghai French School (Lycée Français de Shanghai) delivers the French national curriculum from maternelle through lycée, homologated by the French Ministry and organised into French cycles with a strong plurilingual emphasis. Maternelle (Cycle 1, TPS–PS–MS–GS, ~2–5 years) emphasises language development, motor and sensory activities and five learning domains. Primary (Cycles 2–3, CP–CE1–CE2–CM1–CM2, ~6–10 years) follows the socle commun with core teaching in French plus mandatory English and Chinese, and regular maths, arts, sport, sciences and technology classes. Collège (6e–5e–4e–3e, ~11–14 years) is taught by subject specialists and culminates in the national Diplôme National du Brevet (DNB) at the end of 3e. Lycée (2nde, 1ère, Terminale, ~15–17 years) follows the reformed Baccalauréat pathway with chosen specialty courses, continuous assessment and final exams (including the grand oral); the school is a Baccalauréat exam centre and also organises language and external certifications across levels (HSK/YCT for Chinese, Cambridge/IGCSE for English, DELF for French, DELE/Goethe for Spanish/German and SAT sessions for 1ère/Terminale).

1. Learn the basic timelines and where to apply. The school posts annual opening dates for the next school year (for example, applications for 2026–2027 opened on Monday 3 November 2025); new applications may also be accepted during the school year but places depend on availability. Parents should decide which campus they are applying to (Qingpu or Yangpu — some year groups are campus-specific) before they start the application. See the LFS online admissions page and use the Eduka portal to begin the request.

2. Prepare the required documents before you start the online form. The LFS requires copies of the child's passport and visa (or a promise to provide the visa once obtained if the family is not yet in China), birth certificate, vaccination record, recent school certificate and two years' school reports for most ages; for very young children (TPS/PS) some documents are not required and for MS/GS/CP (K2–Grade 1) the school asks for end-of-kindergarten reports or a school recommendation. If both parents are foreign passport-holders you will also need copies of both parents' passports and visas, plus an employment attestation and employer business licence for the parent working in Shanghai. Make sure medical / special-needs information that affects schooling is included in the application.

3. Submit the online application via Eduka and pay the non‑refundable application fee. Parents must complete the application form on the LFS Eduka platform and attach the supporting documents listed on the site; the administrative (frais de dossier) fee is 3,600 CNY and must be provided as part of the file. The school's admissions team and pedagogical staff then review the dossier for academic fit, language needs and place availability. If your child is non‑Francophone you should indicate interest in the FLSco programme (French for schooling) during application so the admissions team can plan assessment and support.

4. Assessment, verification and formal approval. After dossier submission the admissions office and teaching teams verify documents, review school reports and may arrange an interview or language assessment (as applicable to age and language profile). For candidates requiring special permissions (for example, children whose parents do not meet the usual residency conditions) the school notes that a SHMEC (Shanghai Municipal Education Commission) derogation may be needed — allow extra time for that administrative step. Final approval is given by the school leadership (the head/principal) once eligibility and place availability are confirmed.

5. Secure the place with payment of registration and construction fees. Once the admission is approved, parents secure the place by paying the registration (droits d'inscription) and construction (frais de construction) fees; the site lists the registration fee for 2025–2026 as 23,700 CNY (and shows the registration fee budgeted at 24,500 CNY for 2026–2027) and construction fees of 30,000 CNY per child for families (75,000 CNY where the employer pays). Tuition billing is annual but the site shows a payment schedule (deposit and then term instalments) and level‑by‑level annual tuition figures (for example, general‑section maternelle/elementary ~122,100 CNY; collège ~159,300 CNY; lycée ~182,600 CNY — higher rates apply in language sections). Parents should read the financial information carefully for the exact amounts that apply to their child's year and section and note that annual fees are voted and can change.

6. Complete visa/immigration requirements and arrival steps before first day. The LFS requires up‑to‑date copies of passports and visas for parents and child on the online file before the child's first day; without those documents the child cannot start school. If you plan to secure a place but are not yet in China, communicate clearly with admissions about arrival timing and provide the visa documents as soon as they are available. On arrival the school will confirm class placement and any language support (FLSco) that had been agreed during the admission process.

The school's financial information page states that there is a “Bourse scolaire” process and that requests must be completed and submitted each year; for details the page refers families to the French Embassy in China (the site links to the embassy's scholarship page). The LFS page does not list the detailed eligibility rules or the internal selection steps on its website — it directs families to consult the French Embassy link for more information and to contact the LFS finance department for questions. If you are interested in financial aid, start the process early: download the school's financial regulation and tuition documents from the LFS site, contact the LFS finance office (phone and finance email are given on the financial page) and check the French Embassy / AEFE scholarship guidance linked from the LFS page.

The LFS website does not publish a separate, formal “waitlist” or pool policy. Instead, the admissions page explains that applications are accepted year‑round but that admissions are always subject to place availability and that some year groups may be closed once capacity is reached. In practice this means: submit a completed Eduka application and required documents as early as possible; if a place is not immediately available the admissions office is the contact point to ask whether your child can be considered should a place open. For families with urgent timing or questions about capacity at a given grade/campus, the site directs enquiries to the admissions department (email and phone contacts are listed on the site).