About Us

The word “studio” in English is derived from the Italian word “studio”, and its etymology comes from the Latin word “studium” — meaning “a room for studying”. This is also the intention behind the name “Studio”: a symbiotic space for study and creativity.

Read more about our story →

Philosophy

We educate students to become kindhearted and open-minded human beings of integrity, tolerance, and self-discipline who are committed to independent thinking, creative expression and a life lived for the common good. The heart and soul of Studio is a combined partnership with families and community to provide purposeful, rigorous education that balances intellectual and creative development with moral integrity. At Studio, all students sit at round tables, in small groups of eight students or fewer, where each student’s face can be seen, where each student’s voice can be heard, and where every student can think critically, inquire, discuss, imagine, solve problems, and create.

Our curriculum, born out of the classical tradition and looking to the years and centuries ahead, embraces the Socratic spirit which has inspired the greatest thinkers, from past to present, spanning several millennia — from the philosophy of the Ancient Greeks; to the Arabic numeral system of the Middle Ages; to the art and literature of the Renaissance; to the scientific method and human purpose of the Enlightenment; to the machines of the Industrial Revolution; to the physics of the Atomic Age; to the coding of the Digital Age; and in the Age of Automation to the possibility of humanity’s creative, intellectual, educational and moral fulfillment.

We strive to teach our students to learn to think logically, independently, confidently, and imaginatively. We explore the historical context of the subject matter, while at the same time, studying the implications of the actions of our predecessors and contemporaries on the human experience and on the human condition. Honorable character arises from a kind heart and an open mind; leaps of imagination and innovation are propelled by a critical understanding of the past and present, and by a new vision for the future; Studio Education embraces all three, boldly asserting an educator’s duty to focus on learning for the purpose of each student’s transformation into a purposeful, moral human being.

Seven learning areas

The subjects of Studio’s courses are arranged in seven learning areas:

• Early Years Communication and early literacy
• Primary English Reading, writing, drama
• Kids and Teens Canon and Non-Fiction Literature, writing, public speaking
• The Studio School of Speech & Drama Drama, performance, literature: Shakespeare, poetry, prose
• SALA (The Studio Academy of Liberal Arts) Science, philosophy, mathematics, literature, anthropology, history
• Studio Ready Basic English-language courses
• Global Learning Experiential, syncretic learning, onsite in England

Our teachers

Studio’s faculty consists of a range of educators, from schoolteachers through active practitioners in their field of expertise, to intellectuals, creatives, and academics. Their collegiality comes from a belief in the importance of intellectual and creative pursuits and an ability to transmit that belief to children and their families.

Our faculty is built around serious, inspiring, intelligent teachers, whose intellectual energy and ability are an inspiration to us all. Studio’s ethos of rigour and intellectual exploration, and our unremitting focus on education for education’s sake, make it possible for us to recruit excellent, diligent teachers. All are highly intelligent, disciplined, enthusiastic about what they teach, and serious about children making significant intellectual, creative and academic progress.

The Studio Table

Studio classes are in groups of eight. For reading and writing for First Grade and above, students work seated around a nine-seated table (one seat for the teacher). The Studio Table is designed to be simultaneously child-centred, in that students are seated facing one another and the teacher, and teacher-centred, in that the teacher is at the only focal point of the nine sides: we believe in discourse and we believe in the authority of an expert leading where they have already explored. For drama and speech lessons, students work in the drama rooms, with space for working on communication in the broadest sense. Early Years children learn in custom spaces – but still with tables arranged so that children can see each other and the teacher, preparing the spirit of well-informed discourse from the start of children's journeys with us.

Founder

The founder of Studio is James Jobbins, a British schoolteacher with experience of teaching in England and Shanghai. A qualified secondary-school teacher, James taught English Language & Literature and Philosophy & Ethics, served as a local-government School Improvement Advisory Teacher, and worked as Teacher Training Manager for an educational software company.

James came to Shanghai in 2008. He taught for two years at Yew Wah Arts and Language Centre, as well as preparing private students for entry to schools in the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. He also organised educational projects for Yew Chung International School and for the teaching charity, Stepping Stones. He worked for two years as Principal of Soong Ching Ling School Multicultural Division.

James is a graduate of Oxford University. He also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership from the Institute of Education, University of London (now UCL Institute of Education), as well as UK Qualified Teacher Status. In 2012–13, he served as a Mentor for the University of Sunderland on the International Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

James has lived surrounded by education his whole life, being the child of two teachers himself. He is married to Studio co-founder, Sarah, an erstwhile early years teacher at Soong Ching Ling Kindergarten.