YingHua International School

Ying Hua has been more than we expected. We were interested in the school for the bilingual exposure — specifically to Mandarin, which is supposed to be good for brain development not to mention likely of great use in the future. We wanted our 2-year-old to have language exposure right from the start when it's easiest to learn, especially since we don't speak Mandarin at home. But what we discovered was a wonderful International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum which is all about teaching the kids HOW to learn (exactly what we think school should be!) They teach the kids based on inquiry (but not in the free-form "let them explore any interest they want" way that I imagine Montessori to be (I'm sure that's unfair to Montessori, but that's my image of it). All the subjects are related around Units of Inquiry throughout the year, so they're learning a subject from many angles. The teachers are completely dedicated to the kids and communicate well with the parents any needs or concerns. The most delightful surprise here was the community of parents — an incredibly engaged and diverse group! We can't say enough great stuff about the school and look forward to having both our kids there for many years through 8th grade!

My daughter has been at this school for a year and has just gone into kindergarten. She is so happy there and I`ve really seen her grow both as a person and academically. As the icing on the cake she`s also very comfortable with Chinese as a second language. The environment is wonderfully multinational with students from all over the world, and the IB curriculum is giving her a great foundation as she continues her education. The staff genuinely care about each student and always make time for any questions or concerns. As a not for profit private school the fees are reasonable, and we have made the decision to keep her at the school even though we live in the amazing Princeton school catchment area. I cannot recommend this school highly enough.

My daughter went to YingHua for seven years and I cannot recommend it enough. Joy is a compassionate, inspired, and responsive head of the school. The academics are challenging, but the students love learning because the teachers have the students take the lead. It is truly a combination IB, STEAM, project-based learning curriculum.

This school is amazing. There are so many beautiful things about it it is hard to know where to begin. Children who attend develop full fluency in Chinese and are completely bilingual if not trilingual or speaking 4 languages. The school utilizes the ERB testing model rather than PARCC MODEL. ERB is the test used around the world whereas PARCC IS a test used only in the U.S. The school's use of the ERB model allows parents and others to compare the school on the World Stage and many parents who move internationally use the school for this reason as do parents who want their children to have an international experience in the U.S. The school is not overly focused on testing and yet when they do test they test using and international test, the ERB, so all can see how the school does internationally as we prepare children to be globally competitive and to contribute globally. The school is by far the kindest, most diverse school in the area. The public schools in the U.S. struggle with the diversity question and are less diverse than The school offers free summer camp wherein many of the local public schools - including charters - offer summer camp that is touted as public but is in fact very expensive and only for a few. The school offers the best after-care and full day school program and offers the longest, most-rigorous school year of any school in the area if parents and students take advantage of the free camp program that extends the school year three weeks. PUBLIC school and other schools in the area are not long enough and do not offer a quality full-day of education. Yinghua offers music, lego, martial arts, tennis, chess, mind craft, soccer, art and yoga-mediation as well as classical violin and piano instruction during the day and more modern music with ukelele and during the school day and until 630 p.m. every day. The school is open 730 to 630 and attracts many professional, well-educated parents with global work experience- working people who want the best for their children and understand what is needed for children to be competitive in the workforce globally. The school is k-8 and supports the k-8 model and is a kind place where children are encouraged to mentor each other and there is not an overuse of the lecture method. The school does not over -use technology in the early grades and is not in any unethical relationships with Google or other big tech companies like the West Windsor public schools. It is truly an independent school that puts children and their parents first. and does not cater to the Google lobby. Yinghua really focuses on the basics of reading and math early and with very positive results. The teachers have tons of experience and are not there for the benefits or salary. THey earn less than local public school teachers but are more engaged and you can just see and feel how much they love their jobs - how the job is not just about money or security for them.

My daughter has been part of the Chinese afterschool program at YingHua for the last four years and she is been learning Chinese in a safe and academically excellent environment. I believe her knowledge of Chinese will be key to her future and YingHua's afterschool Chinese program is the right place to learn it.

The IB curriculum, the opportunity for our child to learn and speak Chinese, the highly skilled and attentive teachers and the responsiveness of the school administration have combined to make us very happy YHIS parents. We highly recommend this school.

I have been a YHIS parent since 2008 with three children attending. We have been very pleased with the school's curriculum (IB inquiry based combined with dual language immmersion), strong, attentive teachers and manageable class sizes.