Any Primary 1 place anywhere?

B

bighead_cat

Registered User
I know we are very late for primary 1 application. We only found out that we are going to be relocated to HK a couple of month ago. I started to look for a school place for my 5 years old. I can't find any. Apparantly people started to apply in Sept 2009. Does anybody have similar experience? Do you know of any international school that still have P1 place for this Aug/Sept? My son doesn't speak a word of Chinese ... otherwise I would try local schools.

I've heard the international school places are very limited in HK, but I didn't know it was so bad. Most schools came back to me saying that they have 80 - 200 on their waiting lists. It's almost not worth putting his name down. Does this wiating list number mean anything. Or do people put their children name down many schools? Any advice?

Thanks in advance!
 
Always put your name down if you like the school. It really depends on where you live. And during the summer a lot of people leave, people always tend to keep spaces for the last minute, since nobody never seems to know here! My daughter is 5, was born in 2004, so is already in Year 1 in ESF, and will be going to Year 2 in August (assume your child is born in 2005, if not you should start looking at ESF Year 2, not that that makes it a lot easier, but could be).

Do you know where you will be living. Do you have any nationality that could give you a priority in certain schools (e.g. being German, French, etc. can give you a priority in certain streams of certain schools). Also Woodlands has some P1 and P2 classes at certain location (e.g. Aberdeen) which may be easier to get into.
 
esf differs from many intn'l schools with starting age. example: my son, born feb 2005, would start esf P1 in sept 2010. while many int'l schools he wouldn't start P1 until sept 2011 (same with the local system). (if i remember correctly... in the end we decided to go for a local primary, at least to start with...)
 
You can try a Woodland school, they do primary and it can be a solution before to find something more specific. It's international and they'll make their best to get you a place.
 
You could also look at K3 programs at kindy's such as Sunshine House, DMK (in Discovery Bay) and so on. Many run them as a stop gab for kids that should be in Primary 1 but can not get into school.

We have done this while waiting for a Primary 1 place. It means we have another year (which is now running out!) to find a school.

Also call the education department. They have some kind of system that tells them if a school has places (yes, international schools too), and can make suggestions on the schools to approach. Phone, 2832 7700.
 
We originally planned to live in Discovery Bay, but the two schools are extremely full. There is no chance to get in.
Now we are looking at Clear Water Bay area. But ultimately we have to see where we can find a school place first.

My son was born in Feb 2005. He is due to start P1 in UK. I can see that different schools have different system in HK. I don't mind whether it's P1 or K3.

I contacted Woodland in Sai Kung. They might open a P1 equivalent class in Aug/Sept depending on the demand.
But I am still worried about the next year ... is it easier to get in P2 next year?

it's good to hear that lots of people leave in summer. We won't be in HK until June, hope it's not too late.
 
if you are looking for a school in sai kung, i can HIGHLY recommend SAI KUNG LOK YUK KINDERGARTEN. it is a local school, the medium of instruction is cantonese, BUT there are LOTS of expat kids that go there. my son is a mixed kid, in his class there are at least 4-5 western kids, 3-4 mixed kids and the rest are chinese. they have K3, too!

once you have hkid cards, you can apply for the gov't voucher for pre-primary education. if you do this, then a 1/2 day is only about $60/month!!! YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

we put our son into full day (he can go between 8-8:45 adn we pick him up between 4-5:30), including lunch we pay $999/month.

it's a great school and all of the kids that i know that go there LOVE it!
 
Thanks for your reply 0ze_kid! I think you also replied my other post about schools in discovery bay. Hope your daughter will find a school place soon.

We got a reply from Discovery College (the less popular one among the two), they have over 150 children born in 2005 on their waiting list!

We gave up on Discovery Bay :(
 
Thanks Carang,

It's a great tip! $999/month is certainly different to $7200/month woodland would charge. And they are both in Sai kung.

My son is a mixed kid as well. I am Chinese, my husband is English. Unfortunately I don't speak to them (a son and a daughter) in Chinese at home .. my fault.

I am very keen for him to learn Chinese, but i didn't want to put him in a local school immediately, as moving house, moving country is big enough change for a little 5-year old.

Where are you going to send your son to primary school? Presummable you also live in Sai Kung area.
 
we have decided to send our kids to a local primary school in sai kung, at least for the first few years.

i'm canadian, hubby is local.

it could be a bit of a shock to your little one, but really, he would not be the ONLY one in the class that doesn't speak chinese.

i cannot say enough good things about the school.

i think this is their website: http://www.skly.edu.hk

if it doesn't work, let me know and i'll try to find the right one.

we live in sai kung country park, out in the boonies. we used to live in DB (and are good friends with oze_kid!) but we just couldn't afford it any more. now, we have a 2100' place. the kids have a playroom and a huge bedroom, for less than $20k/month!

honestly, i think you should consider Lok Yuk. if you arrive in june/july, drop me a line. we can get together with some other kids that go to the school (one american, one british) and then your son would have friends before he even goes.
my son is 5, too! (feb 12,2005)
 
Thanks for the link. I am on their website, it's loading slowly.

My son was born on 26th Feb 2005! It will be great if we could meet up before he starts school. I also have a daughter who is nearly 3.

I am also looking at places in Sai Kung/CWB area for the space and price. Where did you find yours? It's a very very good price for the space. Did you look on the internet or go directly to the local agents?

My husband's work is in Central, mine is in TST. I believe that the commute from CWB is not too bad (under an hour) but Sai Kung might add another 20 mins to the journey. Is that right?
 
my daughter just turned 3, too! (feb 6, 2007).

yes, sai kung would add another 20-ish minutes, but i have lived in both places, and i prefer sai kung. there are shops, playgroups, playgrounds, a public pool (kids LOVE IT!) restaurants, a gym, a library etc. CWB doesn't have anything. it is closer to the MTR, but that is it.

if you are going to have a helper, then sai kung would be better, it would be much easier for your helper to pick up drop off kids, take them out and about than if they were in CWB. (she would have to take 2 buses/minibuses to get to sai kung.)

the price of our place is so good because we live REALLY far out... (20 minutes on the other side of sai kung from CWB).

sai kung is well connected with public transport (except mtr). there are minibuses that go to various mtr stations, double deckers to sha tin, and other mtr stations. lots of taxis....most houses come with a car park...
 
You can also look at ESF's Corporate Surety System. CWB is also a very oversubscribed ESF school. Interviews for Year 1 were all done the beginning of this year already, but with the System (look it up on their website) you may have another chance.
 
There are other international schools in KT too. Not as popular. Costs a fortune but would usually have spaces - Yew Chung International is one of them. Never known them to be overly subscribed as there's always a kid leaving for a better international school.

In Tai Po - Hong Lok Yuen International, Japanese International (English section - very popular though) and Norwegian International.

There are also local English medium schools you can look into. PLK Camoes is one of them (in Kowloon). Fees aren't that bad at such a school.
 
we looked at norwegian... already a waiting list.

as i stated, local schools start P1 a year later than ESF.
 
Hong Lok Yuen International school replied saying that they have a waiting list for P1. When I asked how long, I got an ambigious answer: "over 15" ... it could any number. But I am going to try my luck and apply anyway.

I checked PLK Camoes, it looks pretty good, presumable their P1 starts next year, we might have a chance.
 
We got an offer of P1 place from Hong Lok Yuen International school starting Sept this year! I am so pleased! Does anybody have experience with the school?
 
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