Education in Hong Kong - Frequently asked Questions

shri

shri

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Staff member
Folks,

Over the last couple of days, I have contacted the ESF, the Education department and the Hong Kong Universities. They have all appointed representatives who will help us answer questions.

Can you please start asking your questions -- related to education in Hong Kong, here?

Post all your questions and I'll consolidate and broker then to the various reps.

Regards,
Shri
 
Hi Shri,

Thanks for the taking the initiative. I've got a few basic questions:

Are there certain play groups a child has to take part into be admitted into the different pre-schools (ESF, Peak, HKIS, German Swiss, etc.,) and then are there certain pre-schools that are tracked for middle/upper schools.

I am not in a rush to send my kid to school and would be willing to wait until he's 4 to matriculate, but are there any disadvantages/penalties to doing this?

What are the costs involved.

How early do you have to sign up on a waiting list.

I did call Woodland Montessori and found them rather unhelpful. Have you any info/feedback about them?

Thanks much!
 
<offtopic>Kevin, you had to go and depress me ... didn't you?</offtopic>
 
Depressing. I wonder if they are even delivering quality education. Anyway, thanks for the great website.
 
Some interesting discussions on this issue at Mr Tall and Mr Balding site - http://www.batgung.com/articles/hkschools.htm and http://www.batgung.com/articles/goodschools.htm

So, would you send your kids to a free local school or send them to an international school costing 40k+ per year?

Kids in local schools are made to work a lot harder in a very old fashioned rote system and will have at least 2 hours of homework every night from P1 onwards. But they will be fluent in Cantonese and maybe mandarine.

International schools are more modern and free thinking but cost a fortune. the education level may not be any higher than local schools but the kids are taught to think for them selves and be more independant.

I am still debating this issue. Some friends of mine recommend sending your kids to a local school for P1-P6 so they can learn Chinese (and allow you more time to save up for secondary school) and then get them into an International school. Not sure how easy this will be.
 
Lets get this thread back on track and pose a few questions:

If I want to send my child to an International school for F1-onwards, do I need them to go to an International school for P1-6?

What are the criteria for entering International secondary schools?

Are International schools grouped into areas the same as local schools? ie if you go to a local school in a cetain area you cannot qualify for an International school in a differetn area?
 
I want to send my kids to an international school that has excellent academic achievements as well as encouraging extracurricular activites such as sports.

I would like to see each school publish accurate results from GSCE, IB, HSC etc.. In Australia, the HSC results are published in detail including which schools have the most students in the top aggregate etc. It would be nice to know but of course it is hard here because each school has a different system.

Also, should I send my children to Reception or wait until Primary 1. Is it harder to enter P1 than Reception?
 
I can recommend a good international school in Fanling. Abundant Life Christian School uses the American School of Tomorrow curriculum, which encourages self-learning It has strong Christian principles and the curriculum is highly successful in the American context. However, as yet there is no Chinese language teaching, although they do plan to introduce it at a later time, so you'll have to make your own arrangements if you want your kids to learn Chinese. Phone Mr Dale Durant on 2673 7454 for more information.
 
I know that if you are in a P6 in a school such as LFIS, you have almost automatic entry into the secondary (providing you meet their minimum education standards). Not sure about ESF schools.

Speaking to locals, they say that it is very difficult for the students to move between the local and international systems, primarily due to the completely different methods of teaching.
 
If you go to an ESF primary school, then you should have a place at an ESF secondary school.

Different international schools have different criteria though if your international school teaches in the English medium, for example, then your child should most definitely have proficiency in English. Best to contact each school directly about it's admissions policy. It is true that some children who have had most of their primary schooling in a local school may find it difficult to adjust to an international school learning environment in the latter primary years.

I think if you intend to send your child to an international school, it would be best to put their name down sooner rather than later as most of these schools have long waiting lists.
 
Zoning

Does anyone know if International Schools follow the zoning policy of the local schools?

I live in Sai Ying Pun and there are no International Schools here.
 
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rani:

I hope it's not too late for you to ask this question.

What do they think about non-Chinese speaker enrolling in a local school? Are they prepared to help them, or they'd rather discourage them form being there?

Thanks so much.
 
svasbt good question.

We've been looking at schools for D as well. As we're here for the long haul we're considering local schools. We went to have a look at one of the bi-lingual kindergartens in the area.

A couple of things that caught our attention -

1. None of the notices on the boards were in English.

2. The woman that gave us the tour was struggling to speak in English. We asked if there was a liaison in the school for non-Chinese parents. Unfortunately there isn't, so communicating with the teachers may be a challenge.

On a positive note, D is definitely going to pick up Cantonese/Mandarin in that environment.

Another friend of ours has her son in a local kindergarten and they make an effort to send circulars in English and Cantonese. However, grammatical mistakes and misused phrases have led them to send their son to school on holidays.
 
On the matter of local schools...

My children attend a local school in the Shatin area. I refer to it as writing school! When they start primary 1 they will need to be able to read and speak cantonese. My daughter spoke quite a bit and had only 1 year of writing chinese characters behind her. She is still behind her classmates in Primary 2. She can't read all of the characters in her assignments or tests, which means she can't understand the questions.

Another thing to consider is the way the children are disiplined in the local schools. Humiliation is a common technique!:barf:
 
GSIS & Canadian International

Is GSIS really as good as all the hype about it suggests ("top International school"...) or is it overrated?

Also, do any parents have comments about Canadian International (in Aberdeen)? The brochures show only photos of Chinese kids.
 
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