Short answer
Start with eligibility, not with the map. The international schools here mostly take only children with a foreign passport, and the Science Park's bilingual school takes only children who fit a national list of categories. Public schools are open to children with a residence permit, but the busiest Zhubei schools are full of families registered in their district. Shortlist two or three schools your child can apply to, ask each one about places, and then look for a home that works for the one that says yes.
- School types Public (國立, 市立, 縣立), private (私立), bilingual programs, experimental education (實驗教育) and foreign-national or international schools (外僑學校).
- School year Starts in late August or early September. Public elementary is grades 1 to 6, junior high grades 7 to 9.
- Two authorities Hsinchu City schools answer to the city's Education Department; Zhubei and the rest of the county answer to Hsinchu County's. They run separate school districts, admissions and preschool lotteries.
- No seat is guaranteed Living next to a school does not mean a place there, at public or private schools.
From Jason's years in Zhubei, these are the questions we'd want answered before moving here with children. The two places most families compare are Hsinchu City's East District (東區), near the Science Park and the universities, and Zhubei (竹北) in Hsinchu County, around the HSR station and the county hall. If you are still choosing between them, where to live in Hsinchu sets out the tradeoffs, and our Zhubei neighborhood guide covers the area the busiest schools serve.
Public schools: school districts and household registration
Taiwan's public elementary and junior high schools are free, taught in Mandarin, and assigned by school district (學區). For a Taiwanese family, the district is decided by household registration (戶籍): the address where the child and a parent are registered. Each year the education departments publish which neighborhoods (里 and 鄰) belong to which school. Hsinchu City posts its district tables on its education site (search 學區劃分表); for Zhubei and the rest of the county, ask the Hsinchu County Government's Education Department (教育處) or the school itself.
Zhubei's crowded schools. Several Zhubei schools are under enrolment caps (總量管制), because more children live in their district than they have classrooms for. For the 2025-26 school year Hsinchu County capped 13 elementary and 8 junior high schools. In Zhubei that included Dongxing (東興), Liujia (六家), Shixing (十興), Anxing (安興), Xinglong (興隆), Guangming (光明), Zhongzheng (中正), Jiafeng (嘉豐) and Wenxing (文興) elementary schools, and Chenggong, Ren'ai, Dongxing, Shengli, Wenxing and Bo'ai junior highs, plus the junior high section of Liujia High School. The list changes every year. At a capped school, children are ranked, and the date the family registered at the address matters. Renting families have been asked for a court-notarized lease plus water and electricity bills, and the county has limited each street address to one new pupil a year, with exceptions such as siblings. Registration happens in March for the following school year.
Watch out: if a particular Zhubei public school is the reason you are choosing a flat, call the school before you sign. Ask whether it is capped this year, whether your address is in its district, and how it ranks a child who moves in now.
What a foreign child needs
Children with foreign nationality don't have household registration, so the national rules work differently. Under the Ministry of Education's regulations for foreign students, a foreign child who already holds a legal residence permit (an ARC) applies directly to the school, with an application form, a copy of the residence permit and previous school records (not needed for a child starting grade 1 in the first semester). The school can test the child and place them in a suitable grade. If the school has no place, the family can ask the education authority to place the child in a school with vacancies. In practice, start with the public school for your address and ask how it treats an ARC address, especially at a capped school.
Lessons are in Mandarin, with English as a subject. Many foreign families choose a public school deliberately for the language. If your child arrives with no Mandarin, ask the school what support it offers. Hsinchu City also runs a bilingual education class at Jiangong Elementary School (建功國小) in East District, set up under a Ministry of Education plan for the children of recruited overseas professionals, with priority by residence and the parent's work status. Places are few and the rules change; ask the school for the current year's plan.
Private and bilingual schools
Private schools (私立) follow the Taiwan curriculum but set their own fees and admissions, usually with an entrance assessment, and they are generally open to Taiwanese and foreign children alike. The best known with a big English program in Hsinchu City is Kang Chiao's Hsinchu campus (康橋 新竹校區), at Chaiqiao Road in East District, open since August 2016. It covers kindergarten to junior high, teaches in Chinese and English side by side, and runs elementary and secondary bilingual classes and a study-abroad track. Admissions are on Kang Chiao's admissions page for the Hsinchu campus. Note that this is a Taiwanese private school, not a foreign school: a child here is in the Taiwan system, with Chinese as a core language.
The Science Park's bilingual school
The National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park (國立新竹科學園區實驗高級中等學校), at No. 300 Jieshou Road in Hsinchu City, is a public K-12 school beside the main Science Park. Its kindergarten, elementary, junior and senior high divisions follow the Taiwan system. Its Bilingual Department (雙語部), which calls itself the International Bilingual School at Hsinchu Science Park (IBSH), runs grades 1 to 12 in English and Mandarin, balancing Taiwanese and American practice.
Admission to the Bilingual Department is set by a national regulation for the science parks' bilingual schools (科學園區高級中等以下學校雙語部或雙語學校學生入學辦法, last amended July 2022), not by the school alone. The categories, in priority order, include:
- children of foreign (non-ROC) employees of organizations based in the park;
- children of Taiwanese park employees recruited back from abroad, or posted abroad, who lived overseas with the parent for two years or more and have been back less than two years (the parent must hold a doctorate, or a master's plus five years' work abroad);
- children placed by the Ministry of Education under the rules for children of government staff returning from overseas posts;
- some children of staff at universities, research institutes and high-tech firms in Hsinchu, and of foreign professionals recruited under the Foreign Talent Act;
- younger siblings of current students who have lived in Taiwan less than five years.
Only if places remain does the regulation open the door wider, including to foreign children whose residence is in Hsinchu. The school can require a language test, and when there are more applicants than places, it ranks by category and then by lottery. Admission rounds, tests and fees are announced on the IBSH admission site. A job in Hsinchu does not by itself make your child eligible: check the category with your employer's HR and the school before you count on it.
Experimental education
Taiwan's experimental education laws (實驗教育) let some schools and institutions teach outside the national curriculum guidelines. There are three kinds: public or private experimental schools, public schools run under contract, and "non-school" programs run by individuals, groups or registered institutions. Hsinchu County has several. It counted nine experimental schools and three non-school institutions in 2023, when Hsinchu International Academy (康乃薾國際實驗教育機構, HIA) opened: a six-year program for grades 7 to 12 with an international curriculum that draws on the US one. For August 2026 the county also planned the first intake of Zhubei Experimental High School (竹北實驗高中), a public senior high taking 80 first-year students from junior high graduates across Hsinchu and Miaoli. Experimental programs are mostly in Chinese and mostly for local families; ask each one how it treats a foreign child and what credential it gives at the end.
International and foreign-national schools
These are the schools most relocating families look at first. They are licensed as schools for foreign nationals (外僑學校), so they generally require a foreign passport. A Taiwanese child usually needs a second, foreign nationality. All teach in English. None publishes how many places are open, so treat every one as "apply and ask".
| School | Grades | Where | Who can apply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hsinchu International School (HIS, 新竹荷蘭國際學校) | Pre-K to 12 | Hsinchu City, 290 Niupu East Road | Children of foreign nationals; ask the school about passports |
| Hsinchu American School (HAS, 新竹美國學校) | 1 to 12 | Xiangshan District, Hsinchu City | Foreign nationality required |
| Pacific American School (PAS, 亞太美國學校) | 1 to 12 | Zhubei, 307 Xinglong Road Section 1 | Priority for US or second-passport holders |
| Hsinchu County American School (HCAS, 新竹縣康乃薾美國學校) | Pre-K to 12 | Zhubei, 189 Gaotie 2nd Road, near the HSR station | Passport copy required; a Taiwanese child needs a second passport |
- Hsinchu International School was founded in 1981 and is the area's oldest. Despite the Dutch in its Chinese name, it teaches a Western program in English and has full WASC accreditation. Its website has the application form and fees.
- Hsinchu American School runs a US college-preparatory program with AP courses, is registered with the Ministry of Education as a foreign school and is WASC accredited. Its FAQ states that students must hold foreign nationality.
- Pacific American School is in central Zhubei and takes grades 1 to 12 through an online application, an interview, the ERB test for grades 3 to 10 and an English assessment; ESL support costs extra. Its how to apply page says a complete application does not guarantee a place.
- Hsinchu County American School is the one within reach of the HSR station. Kindergarten 1 and 2 enrol on a rolling basis; later grades have preferred deadlines and are considered against re-enrolment and space. See its admissions page.
Good to know: there is no full-time Japanese school in Hsinchu; Taiwan's Japanese schools are in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. A Japanese-language supplementary school (新竹日本語補習授業校, usually a Saturday school) is on the Japanese government's list of overseas supplementary schools under the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association's Taipei office. We couldn't find a public website for it, so ask the Exchange Association.
Preschool and childcare
Kindergartens (幼兒園) in Taiwan take children from age 2 until they start elementary school. Classes go by age: a 2-year-old class (幼幼班), then the 3, 4 and 5-year-old years (小班, 中班, 大班), sometimes mixed. Below age 2, care is in licensed nurseries (托嬰中心) or with a registered childminder, a separate system run by social affairs departments. There are three kinds of kindergarten:
- Public kindergartens (公立幼兒園), many attached to an elementary school. The cheapest option; places go by lottery.
- Non-profit kindergartens (非營利幼兒園), run by non-profits on public premises, with set fees and longer days.
- Private kindergartens (私立幼兒園). Some have signed up as "quasi-public" kindergartens (準公共幼兒園), which cap what parents pay in return for government subsidy; others set their own fees. Many private kindergartens advertise English programs; visit and ask how much of the day is really in English.
Public and non-profit places are allocated once a year by lottery, in May, for the school year starting in August:
- Hsinchu City: from the 2026-27 year, registration is citywide rather than tied to the elementary school district. You choose up to two kindergartens, one public and one non-profit. In 2026 priority children registered on May 18 and 19, everyone else May 22 to 25, and waiting-list places June 1 to 3. The city's admission notice includes children of non-ROC nationality living in the city. Details are on the Hsinchu City preschool site.
- Hsinchu County (Zhubei and the towns): 96 public and non-profit kindergartens took part for 2026-27. Vacancies went online from May 8 through the county's online service platform, with priority registration and a lottery in mid-May and general registration and a lottery a week later. Each child can register for one public and one non-profit kindergarten.
Dates move every year: watch for the spring announcement, and have your child's residence permit and your address documents ready in April.
After school: 安親班 and cram schools
Elementary school often finishes at midday or mid-afternoon, so most working parents need something after it. You'll hear two words:
- 安親班 (an qin ban): after-school care. Staff collect children from school, give them a snack, supervise homework and keep them until a parent picks up, often with extra lessons added. Many public schools also run their own after-school care classes (課後照顧班), usually cheaper; ask at the school office.
- 補習班 (buxiban, cram school): paid classes in a subject, English, maths, science, coding or exam preparation, from elementary school right up to senior high. Many children in Hsinchu go to several a week.
Cram schools must be registered with the city or county. You can check a name on the Ministry of Education's register of short-term cram schools (已立案補習班查詢) before you pay. Visit, ask who picks up from which school, and ask what happens on typhoon days.
School holidays and camps
Taiwan's long breaks are summer (July and August) and winter (around Lunar New Year), and that is when working parents need camps. Camps.Asia keeps a verified list of kids' camps in Hsinchu, from STEAM and coding to university sports camps, each checked against the organizer's own page, with ages, language and registration dates. Most local camps run in Chinese. For an English one, look at SEA Science Lab's English STEAM camp, which in summer 2026 ran weekly themes in Hsinchu and Zhubei for ages 7 to 14, with English in the mornings.
For weekends and days off, Hsinchu and Zhubei with kids has the parks, the zoo and the indoor days.
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Sources: the Ministry of Justice laws database for the Regulations Regarding International Students Undertaking Studies in Taiwan (外國學生來臺就學辦法, Article 20) and the science park bilingual school admission regulation (科學園區高級中等以下學校雙語部或雙語學校學生入學辦法); Hsinchu City Education Department (hc.edu.tw) and preschool site (kids.hc.edu.tw); Commercial Times (ctee.com.tw) on Hsinchu County's 2025-26 capped schools and 2026-27 preschool admissions; Liberty Times on the county's enrolment rules and Zhubei Experimental High School; United Daily News on Hsinchu City's 2026 preschool admissions; CNA on Hsinchu International Academy; the schools' own sites: nehs.hc.edu.tw, ibsh.nehs.hc.edu.tw and the IBSH admission site, kcis.hc.edu.tw, hdis.hc.edu.tw, has.hc.edu.tw, pacificamerican.org, hcas.tw; Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs list of supplementary schools; Camps.Asia. Checked November 2026.