Affordable International Schooling?

Graham

Graham

Registered User
This is probably going to sound like a really silly question, but is there such a thing as cheap international schooling in Hong Kong, specifically in the New Territories?

I'm British and my wife is HK Chinese. We live in Tai Po. We are not what you would call wealthy, probably on the lower end of the middle income bracket. Unfortunately I'm not on an Expat package, so no paid education for my son unfortunately.

I'd wanted to send my son to Shatin Junior School as it's the closest ESF school to us and I was relying on the fact that as my wife is a civil servant, she would be able to get an education subsidy (up to 75% I believe). Unfortunately, it looks like the Govenment may cut this benefit before my son reaches primary school age.

If my wife's benefit is cut, paying ESF school fees would be a real streach for us, as we still have 10 years of our mortgage left to pay off.

Our son is only 2yo now. We plan to send him to a local nursery/kindergarten to learn spoken Cantonese (that's not a problem). However, I really want him to study at an International Primary & Secondary School, as I've just heard too many horror stories about the local education system regarding the amount of homework and pressure on kids. I want his childhood to be fun.

Another consideration about not wanting him in a local school is that I cannot help him with Chinese homework and as my wife works shifts, she is often not at home in the evenings.

Any suggestions as to what options are open to us? Ideally, I'd like my son to study a British curriculum at a school not too far away from us, i.e. NT preferable, but Kowloon also acceptable.

Graham
 
In the New Territories the cheapest international schooling is through the ESF, i.e. Shatin Junior. There are other international schools in the New Territories, notably, Hong Lok Yuen International School and the Japanese International School but both, I believe are more expensive than Shatin Junior.
There is the Norweigan International School, but this is cheap because it is not a very good school and I would not reccomend it.
As far as Kowloon goes, I believe the cheapest international schools are the ESF ones, Beacon Hill and Kowloon Junior (but it is worth noting that the current waiting lists for ESF primary schools are ridiculously long and priority goes to children who only speak English and so can not enter the local school system, and even then there are not enough places for all the children who need one); in Kowloon you may also want to check out the American International School, Sears Rogers- but I have a feeling they are more expensive than ESF and their reputations I know nothing about.
 
Hi Graham,

My husband is a civil servant too. We never heard any news gov't wants to cut LEA (Local Education Allowance). We just only heard gov't will cut OEA (Oversea Education Allowance).

heli
 
I think Pui Kiu College best meets your criteria:

- located at Tai Wai
- monthly school fee HK$1700
- international curriculum
- primary school : english + putonghua
- secondary school : english only
- no homework pressure
 
>> I think Pui Kiu College best meets your criteria:

i doubt

>> - international curriculum

not really, many people misunderstood,
just a local school having more NET teachers

>> primary school : english + putonghua

PTH more than English

>> - secondary school : english only

English more, not only

>>- no homework pressure

?? only primary level
 
Im in your boat - my son has started P1 this year at a DSS school in kowloon. Englsih medium but with a lot of chinese lessons taught as a second language. Believe me if u want a billingual child that'll never happen in int'l school, better to have them at the type of school my son's going to to pick up chinese in their primary days. fee is cheaper than int'l fees too.
 
>> DSS school

is that you still have to pay some school fee at a DSS school ?
how much is your school ?

>> chinese lessons taught as a second language.

no, should be a lots of lessons taught as native language

>> a billingual child that'll never happen in int'l school

disagree, it is much easier, but i think it is fine.
But i agree that there is no IS teach Cantonese for your kid, and Cantonese is a local language

>> fee is cheaper

agree
but there are some DSSs' tuition as high as IS as well.

Better compared with those free of charge local schools.
 
CAIS is under transition for the next couple of years as they will be opening up a larger campus. This means they'll be hiring many teachers with little to no experience. If you want a really Christian experience, go for it... otherwise wait a few years for them to settle into their new school.
 
Some local schools but running bi-lingual curriculum:

1) PLK CKY , IB school. Not much homework or exam. And the school encourages the students to read a lot.
2) PLK TSL, English school running local curriculum. But they also offer English & French section.Very hard to get in.
3) Tsung Tsin International Junior School Section (IJSS). Small class size (around 28 students). They runs local system + IB + AP.
 
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