Shanghai Nanny for International-School Families

Typical compensation band: total expat package equivalent to USD 250,000 – 600,000 per year including school tuition and housing. The relocation package usually covers:

• Housing allowance: USD 4,500 – 12,000 / month (covers Jing'an / Pudong serviced apartments or Minhang villas)
• Two children's tuition: roughly USD 60,000 – 90,000 / year per child at schools like Shanghai American School (SAS), Concordia International School, Dulwich College Shanghai, British International School Shanghai-Puxi (BISS-Puxi), Yew Chung International School (YCIS), or Shanghai Community International School (SCIS)
• Annual home leave: usually two business-class round-trip tickets per family member
• Some package of medical insurance, settling-in allowance, language training
• Nanny costs are almost never explicitly itemised in the package, but the expectation is built into the housing-and-allowance scope

Neighborhoods cluster around the school choice. Pudong's Jinqiao expat enclave (greenfield housing compounds with international-school-bus stops at the gate) is the standard. Minhang's Hongqiao-corridor villa compounds (Forest Manor, Westwood Green) cluster around the British and German schools. Jing'an apartments cluster around the city-center international-school commute.

School day typically runs 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with carpool windows that constrain the entire family schedule. After-school activities run 3:30–5:30 p.m. on two or three days. Homework windows 5:30–7:00 p.m. Bedtime routines 7:30–9:00 p.m. depending on age.

The single biggest schedule constraint is the morning and afternoon carpool window. Pudong international schools running buses out of Jinqiao have pickup windows of 7:30–7:55 a.m. and dropoff windows of 3:45–4:15 p.m. Missing the bus is a real cost — taxi from Jinqiao to SAS-Pudong is about ¥ 80 – 120.

A typical nanny weekday looks like:

• 6:30 a.m. arrival (live-out) or wake (live-in)
• 6:30–7:00 a.m. breakfast prep, lunchbox prep for two children
• 7:00–7:55 a.m. wake children, dress, breakfast, school-bus departure
• 8:00–11:30 a.m. light housekeeping window, errands, grocery shopping
• 11:30–1:30 p.m. lunch + own meal
• 1:30–3:30 p.m. activity prep, snack prep, afternoon errands
• 3:30–4:00 p.m. school-bus return + greeting
• 4:00–5:30 p.m. snack, activity supervision, structured play
• 5:30–7:00 p.m. homework supervision, dinner prep
• 7:00–8:00 p.m. dinner, bath
• 8:00–9:00 p.m. story, bedtime routine for younger child
• 9:00 p.m. parents take over (live-out departs) or evening on call (live-in)

School holiday weeks (October, Chinese New Year, Easter, summer break in late June through August) shift the schedule to full-day at home — typically 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. continuous coverage. The summer break is the longest single block.

Two-child international-school families typically spend ¥ 9,000 – 15,000 / month on a full-time live-in or live-out ayi. The range reflects whether the placement is bilingual (premium of 30–50%), live-in versus live-out (live-in cheaper for full coverage), and the neighborhood premium.

A representative cost worksheet for a two-child SAS-Pudong family living in Jinqiao:

• Live-out ayi, full-time, functional English: ¥ 9,500 / month base
• 13th-month bonus prorated monthly: ¥ 790 / month
• Chinese New Year red envelope (红包, hóng bāo) accrual: ¥ 800 / month
• WeChat-paid taxi / errand reimbursements: ¥ 200 / month
• Annual gift / birthday: ¥ 80 / month accrual
• Effective monthly cost: ~`¥ 11,400`
• Annual: ~`¥ 137,000 (USD 19,000`)

This sits inside the housing-and-allowance scope of most international-school-family packages without explicit line-item negotiation. The exception is bilingual placements at ¥ 14,000+ / month base — those often require explicit budget conversation.

International-school families split into two camps on this question:

Mandarin-immersion families explicitly want home-environment Mandarin to balance the English-medium school environment. The nanny is Mandarin-only or Mandarin-primary. The child achieves real bilingual fluency by age 8 if started under age 4. This is the dominant pattern at SAS, Concordia, and SCIS where the school's Mandarin program is supplementary rather than immersive.

English-continuity families want home-environment English to match the school environment, often because one parent has zero Mandarin and the daily-handoff friction would be too high otherwise. The nanny is bilingual or English-primary. Mandarin exposure happens through the school's Mandarin program and weekend tutors.

Families at YCIS (genuinely bilingual program from year 1) often go Mandarin-only at home — the school covers the English consistency, the home covers the Mandarin reinforcement.

Families at Dulwich and BISS-Puxi (English-medium with Mandarin as a subject) more often go bilingual at home.

Full-time live-out ayi is the modal placement for this family profile — about 60% of our international-school-family placements. Live-in is about 25%. Part-time after-school ayi is about 15%.

Live-out wins when the family has reliable backup coverage (working-from-home parent who can flex on sick days), the apartment is in a Pudong compound with good ayi-commute access, and evenings/weekends are valued as private family time.

Live-in wins when there are two or more children under 8, the family travels frequently, the apartment has a dedicated ayi room, or Mandarin immersion is a strong goal.

Part-time after-school ayi wins when one parent is fully home during school hours, the children are 8+, and the household only needs 3:30–7:00 p.m. coverage Monday-Friday.

Three pitfalls we see repeatedly:

1. Underbudgeting for school holidays. A part-time ayi at 25 hours per week works during term time, but the 10–11 week summer break needs continuous coverage if both parents work. Plan the summer-coverage structure at hiring, not in May.
2. Hiring bilingual when functional English suffices. Paying ¥ 14,000+ / month for a fully bilingual nanny when a ¥ 9,500 / month functional-English ayi plus a 2-hour-per-week English-language coordinator would deliver the same outcome.
3. Underestimating the carpool window's tyranny. The 7:30–7:55 a.m. window is non-negotiable. Live-out ayi who commute from outer Pudong can be 10 minutes late on a metro-disrupted day; live-in is the durable solution if the school bus is the binding constraint.

Send us a note via the inquiry form with: school name, ages of children, target start date, neighborhood, live-in versus live-out preference, and the rough Mandarin-immersion-versus-English-continuity philosophy. We can usually scope a placement to a shortlist of three candidates within 10–14 days. Initial 20-minute call is no-fee.