Education System in HK

O

Obiwan

Registered User
Am afraid I'm going to sound ignorant. Am a first time mom and a foreigner in Hong Kong. I don't know about the education system here.

At what age do babies/kids go to playgroup/nursery/kindergarten etc?

What is the youngest age a child can go to some form of play group, any good ones to recommend?
 
A friend told me that PIPS (Parkview International Pre-school) has playgroups from age 1. I think it's 2 or 3x a week, 2 hours each session. Fees are around HK$3-4K/month.
 
there are dozens of possibilities for your little one.

some playgroups are for 6m+. my own takes babies from 10-12m.

local kindergartens/nurseries can take kids from as young as 18m-24m. most hk kids start sometime in this period. some hk kids wait until they are 2y8m to start at nursery.

most hk children do 3 years of kindergarten before going into P1. international/ESF maybe different.

eg. my son, born in feb, would start P1 in a local school in 2011. but, if i enroll him in ESF, he would start P1 in 2010.

there is really no need to be spending $3-4k/month on playgroups. as far as i'm concerned that is daylight robbery.
 
Cara,

How come your son would start ESF one year earlier than the local system? I thought P1 was still age 5 for both? I too am struggling to understand how the local versus ESF systems work!
 
Bible Study Fellowship

My mother is currently also bringing one of my sons with her to BSF where both the adult and the child are encouraged to study the same passage from the Christian bible in an age-appropriate way every week - songs, activities, etc. The eight year program is free and participants commit just one year at a time. Currently, they take children as young as two years, but I understand that in the US, they are experimenting with accommodating babies, so hopefully, we should see related changes rolling out here very soon.
 
cyberfish88 said:
Cara,

How come your son would start ESF one year earlier than the local system? I thought P1 was still age 5 for both? I too am struggling to understand how the local versus ESF systems work!
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don't ask me! we are trying to figure it out, too!

my son was born in feb 2005. according to esf, he would start in 2010, so he would be 5.5 yrs old. but for the local school, he wouldn't start until 2011 at 6.5.

we've actually decided, after A LOT of deliberation to try out a local school here in sai kung, for P1. we went on a tour of the school and were less discouraged than we intially were. they only had 39 students in P1 and they were split into 2 classes. we were informed that roughly 1/3 of all P1 students this year were mixed kids. we were a little concerned putting our shy son into a local school where he's be the ONLY child that was different.

we have decided that if we truly want our kids to be completely bi-lingual, then the ONLY option we have is a local school, at least to start with. there is no way that any tutor would be able to teach enough to make a child bi-lingual when the second language is cantonese.

if homework becomes a problem (he currently LOVES doing his kindergarten homework) then we will approach ESF later.

all of this has actually helped me to decide that i need to do more work on my own chinese skills. i plan on enrolling at Chinese University for Cantontese classes. here's hoping that i'll be near-fluent in a couple of years time!
 
"Originally Posted by cyberfish88
Cara,

How come your son would start ESF one year earlier than the local system? I thought P1 was still age 5 for both? I too am struggling to understand how the local versus ESF systems work!-----"
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It all depends on each schools "cut off dates". Some you have to be 5 by end August some you have to be 5 by December 31. My daughter being born in November is the youngest in her class. (CDNIS has a Dec. 31 cut off date) Not too sure when ESF date is. It is strange how all schools have different cut off dates though! My youngest is February so will actually start a whole year later than my first!
 
cyberfish88 said:
Cara,

How come your son would start ESF one year earlier than the local system? I thought P1 was still age 5 for both? I too am struggling to understand how the local versus ESF systems work!
Click to expand...

when comparing it to schools in the US, P1 is equal to first grade, which most kids start at 6 years old. ESF starts with Kindergarten, when kids are usually 5 years old. In the local system, K3 is equal to kindergarten in the US.

So, if you wanted your kids to go in the local system until primary school, you would only send them to k1 and k2, and then switch to esf for kindergarten and on.

At least, that's how I've come to understand it.
 
In the ESF system the children start at age 5 and the local system they start at age 6. Currently the children in ESF finish school and go to university (or work) a year earlier than the local children do.

This will be changing in the future as the local system is changing. So the children will do one year less at school but an extra year at university. I do not know what the ESF is planning but I hope it will stay compatible with the UK as, for me; this is one of its advantages.

Most schools in Hong Kong use December as a cut off date. So if your child is in born between September and December he/she will be in the year above compared to England. This is one reason I asked that my daughter (born in November) be placed in the year below.

I have friends who have changed from the local system to the international system. Some let their children finish P6 in the local system - so that they don't miss that year. While others have changed after P5 - so the children continue in their correct age group.
 
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