With an increasing number of students from China going to study overseas at a younger age, Kieran McLaughlin, headmaster of a boarding school in the United Kingdom, has two suggestions to offer: Learn English, and apply to schools that have a history of accepting Chinese students.

McLaughlin had been teaching in and heading several schools before being appointed as the headmaster of Durham School last year, a private school in Durham, northeast England, that dates back 600 years.

"If you know a school that has a history of taking Chinese pupils, look at it because it will be prepared and have experience, while other schools don't have a track record," he said.