Advice required for non-English speaking children entering kindergarten in HK

H

heet

New member
My family will move to HK next month, just in time for the autumn term. My kids are almost 3 and 5 and I was hoping to use this opportunity to send them to an Intl school. The only problem is, my children are very limited with their English speaking abilities. And the more I investigate about the schools, the more I hear disclaimers that English abilities will be tested or priority will be given to native English speakers. Not to mention about waiting lists... Coming from Japan, it does not appear to give me many options.

I was hoping that someone with similar experiences may be able to provide some advice.

As a note, we are undecided on where to live although I was hoping to live in on Kowloon side (maybe around Hung Hom area) to save a little on rent.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
I can't offer any advice as English is our first language. We are having a hard time getting DD into school also though so I can sympathise. All the very best with it.
 
are you japanese? there is a japanese international school (english stream) which you might want to look into...though it is on the HK side....but being japanese and from abroad you should have priority.

as for Kowloon side....for your 3 year old you can try Tutor Time (which is in Kowloon Tong) they have am and pm classes I believe so your chances should be better in getting a spot
...for your 5 year old, you might want to try American International School (which is also in Kowloon Tong)....a good school but not one of the most popular in HK...but, get your foot in first to buy time is what I would advise...
would just get your foot into any school, and then once they are accepted and you are based in HK, you can do more research to see what kind of school system (English / American/ Australian etc) you want for your kid.
 
Thank you for the valuable information.

I myself am Japanese American but my wife is pure Japanese, thus the reason my kids are so fluent in Japanese. I blame myself for my children's inability to speak English...

My wife did some research on the Japanese International School and what she found was that the Japanese children speak English in class but mainly keep to themselves outside of class (playtime I guess) and converse in Japanese. For obvious reasons, I would like to avoid this but do keep this as an option if we have no other choice.

I completely agree with your advise. My priority will have to be to get the kids in any school so they can pick up the language.

I will contact the schools you mentioned to see if they can provide any further advice.

Thanks again!
 
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