ESF - must find you a place??

S

starbucks2

Registered User
Hi

I heard a rumour that if you are a non-Chinese speaker then you must be offered a place in the ESF system (since you have no option to go to a local Chinese speaking school). Is that correct??

Our catchment school is Bradbury which is very full.

1) What happens if you cannot get your child into the catchment school? Are you offered a place in another ESF school?

2) What happens if your child is not offered a place after the interview? What are the other options if you can't get into the catchment ESF school?

I find the HK education system very stressful with interviews for 4 year olds! We have a bit of time as my son has only just turned 3 but have heard nightmare stories of people not getting into their catchment ESF school for P1 or being turned down following an interview with no explanations given.

I am happy to email ESF directly but am not sure of the policy before I start asking them to explain the procedure to me.

Thanks in advance
 
no, AFAIK not true. oze_kid had her kids on a waiting list for 2 (?) years. her older daughter did a K3 at a kindergarten until she could get into P2. there are lots of non-chinese speaking parents in the same boat. if there's no space, there's no space.

it would be good if someone could confirm this, though.
 
You get an interview if your child goes to an ESF kindergarten. This really helps as chances are very good at getting in if you are an English speaking family. Otherwise interviews are given out randomly, a bit of a lottery, with priority to kids who have a sibling already at ESF (highly likely to get in) then native English speakers priority over locals. If you don't get in you go on a wait list....assuming you were lucky enough to get an interview first time around...or you have to wait it out as carang said.

No you will not be offered a place at another catchment ESF school

If not ESF then you have to look around, CIS, HKIS, Canadian , Australian.....best to apply for at least one other besides ESF as a back up.

Hope that helps. Horribly stressful.
 
Depends on the school, the number of kids, people moving or not accepting places, etc.
You MAY be offered a place at another ESF school. I know of a few people who interviewed at Glenealy, were placed on the long waiting list but then offered places at The Peak school. Similarly have met the same where Bradbury catchment kids ended up offered places as Quarry Bay School. This was in previous years however, not this year.
The problem this year is that all the Hong Kong island ESF schools are severely oversubscribed. I don't know of a school that interviewed into category 2 applicants. My daughter's school alone almost half those interviewed were siblings before even starting on the category 1 children!
ESF seem to try to place kids who passed the interview and are on waiting lists, but I don't think they can guarantee anything.

I agree that schooling here is very stressful. The whole idea of interviews for children so young seems crazy.
 
carang said:
or consider a local school for non-chinese speaking children.
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we live in kennedy town - i have looked at the edb website but seems like our only local school choice for our non-chinese speaking kiddo would be sun island kindergarten. any other "local" suggestions?
 
Almost certain that just because your child only speaks English this in no way guarantees your child a place in ESF or any other international or EMI school. (Unless your child has another "in"--such as went to an ESF kindergarten or his/her siblings are currently enrolled at ESF--but even then nothing is 100% guaranteed). Currently this is a very pressing issue for a lot of teachers who were recruited by the government to work with the NET scheme in local schools--even they are not guaranteed a place for their children and the government does little to assist them in finding English education.

Yes, arranging schooling for children in Hong Kong is probably one of the most stressful things for almost all parents--both local and expats.
 
It is most definitely stressful, even for parents from ESF kindergartens and whose kids are native speakers. The thing is, it's not going to get better!

However, currently, I don't know of any ESF kindergarten child in Cat. 1 who did not get an offer at either the ESF primary school based on catchment area or one of the PIS schools under the ESF umbrella. In fact, many Cat. 2 kids received more than one offer - one at a PIS and ESF. Some even had 3 offers!

I have a second child and while we thought about not placing her in an ESF kindergarten, because her brother has a place at a PIS (we turned down the ESF offer), we know that when the time come and we are still here, we will have to apply for the ESF kindergarten despite having a sibling within the system as there were kids who did not get first round offers despite having a sibling and going to an ESF kindergarten (but they eventually did).

Being in the ESF system though (from kindergarten), you do get more opportunities if you fail to get in through the first round. No guarantees but more opportunities and a higher chance of success.
 
Thanks everyone. Has added more to my stress but better to be informed rather than have false hope. We are in DB and would be more than happy with an ESF kindy but I don't want my little boy having to travel 40 mins each way on a bus to Tsing Yi kindy so that he gets the "privilege" of an interview for an ESF school. It would be different if it was a guaranteed place. He is going to attend a kindy in DB which does K1, K2 and K3 (similar to P1) so have 3 years to find a place in another school. Problem is, it sounds like the problem isn't getting any better.

So Cara, your friend's child just ended up getting 2 years behind waiting to get in or did they put her in year 3 once she finally got in? I'd be really interested to know what happens to kids who can't afford international schools but don't get into ESF - homeschooling???! I didn't realise there were local schools for non-Chinese speakers or do you mean going to a local school and having them learn Chinese?
 
Definitely not true. I still know so many non-Cantonese speakers on the waiting list. ESF does not give priority over native English vs. non-native-English speakers, they give priority to non-Cantonese speakers. We are not native English speakers but my kids are all at ESF, my oldest in Y2 and the twins just got accepted in Y1. However, mine have US passport and their first language is English. Close to half the interviews at our school were offered to siblings, however. They're definitely used to be an overflow issue from some schools to others, but the overflow from Bradbury to QBS this year is highly unlikely. I still know many many Cat 1 children on the QBS waiting list. I am not even sure how the Corporate Surety Scheme works this year. A lot of people seem to settle with extended preschool / Year 1 programs at preschools which is obviously the new business, however, all these kids would still need a place by Year 2. Of course, some have moved on before that point but it's partly delaying the problem, hoping you're high enough on the list to get an interview if somebody leaves. Also, at this point it is still completely unclear who is leaving at the end of the year, and who isn't.

The ESF Kindy route is becoming extremely popular but is only useful when you're in Cat 1. Cat 2 doesn't have a chance these days. I know many parents who are actively moving their children into ESF Kindy or are on waitinglists there now in order to get a priority for interview. However, you need to have at least a couple of terms (in K1 and K2) in order to get priority. So at the latest you should be moving to ESF Kindy in April of the K1 year (Term 3) or it won't make a difference either.

Another problem for people on waiting list is that ESF is not a school who rejects very easily, they take kids will all abilities as long as their English is more than sufficient and they have "normal" social skills. They're not known for being super picky, so the rejection rate is low ... leaving more on the waiting list.

Being a sibling, going to ESF Kindy all gives you priority, though no guarantee whatsoever.

It's stressful, but I think we're very lucky. When my oldest applied it wasn't a problem and her Kindy (non-ESF) has a very good relationship with the local ESF school, and therefore the twins had no problem getting in. At their Kindy, only siblings and an ESF Kindy child were offered an interview, all the others didn't have a chance (yet), and they're all category 1.
 
Starbucks2, the other kindies at DB has a very high acceptance rate into Bradbury, no statistics to back this up - just word of mouth from other parents.

The situation with ESF acceptance is very much also dependent on where you live and popularity of schools. Where there is a higher English speaking population, it's tougher. I stand by what I say, not being an Island resident, every single kid we know from our son's ESF kindie even in Cat. 2, got an offer. Several received 3 has the PIS has preference for parents with PR. When we made our choice for ESF, we moved into a neighbourhood to ensure that the odds for our child is the highest. We identified 2 ESF schools that would have been a shoe-in (even for Cat. 2 students) and decided on a neighbourhood that falls into the catchment area.

Megan2008, if you are like us, paying for our children's education out of our own pocket and seeking an IB/English based education, ESF offers the cheapest monthly fee option. It's not necessarily better or worse (though some would argue) but it reflects what a good comprehensive public school in the UK/Australia would offer.

I must say though, that the education you get at an ESF kindie is no grand thing. It's typical playschool not really adapted for the HK context. So in comparison to the other kindies, it's quite mediocre really especially when it came to the stressful periods during the interview rounds. It was the concerted effort of parents, who know how tough and competitive admissions can be, more than teachers who prepared for the kids. The only advantage I saw as a parent with a child in the kindie was the grouping during the interviews - kids from the same class were grouped together and so on the day of the interviews, it was more like a fieldtrip than anything else so the kids didn't seem to have the jitters. Overall, we have nothing to complain about as we knew what we were in for and the school delivered (as far as what we had expected of them). I am expecting more from the primary section though.
 
I've heard the same thing about ESF Kindies. And I agree, some preschools do have higher acceptance rates than others. Sunshine seems to do better than Woodlands from what I personally noticed. We are also paying out of our own pocket. I just can justify paying double or almost triple for another international school, I don't believe I am getting 2 or 3 times better education, plus we have 3 children ...

I must say I am very happy with our ESF primary school, the level is good, many many great teachers, but I do notice there are differences too and they're certainly not all exactly the same. I consider myself quite lucky with our school.

On the island, you definitely need to be Cat 1 in order to have a chance to get a spot, Cat 2 won't be sufficient. Too many Cat 1 still on waiting lists. Same goes for CWB, I think. It may be different, with more Cat 2, at SJS, KJS, BHS, but no personal experience.
 
Thanks. I had to look up the ESF school site to see what Cat 1 and Cat 2 means. So, Cat 1 is first or alternative language English but do not speak Cantonese?

Maybe I am banging on a bit but if (1) we don't get into the ESF school in our catchment, or (2) we get an interview but don't get a place, what happens? I assume for (1) you go on the waitlist for the ESF for your catchment or maybe get offered another ESF school (based on someone above talking about overflow from Bradbury to Quarry Bay. For (2) do you get a chance to do the interview again the next year or does it depend on the reason for "failing" the interview?

PS I also heard that being a permanent resident helps?
 
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starbucks2 said:
So Cara, your friend's child just ended up getting 2 years behind waiting to get in or did they put her in year 3 once she finally got in? I'd be really interested to know what happens to kids who can't afford international schools but don't get into ESF - homeschooling???! I didn't realise there were local schools for non-Chinese speakers or do you mean going to a local school and having them learn Chinese?
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1) no, her child was not behind at all. she went to K3 instead of P1. they are equivalent. by the time she was accepted to ESF, she had finished K3 and went straight into P2.

2) if you check out the thread about being rejected by KJS you will see that i listed a bunch of schools in the tung chung area that are for non-chinese speaking students. these schools DO teach chinese, but are geared towards students who do not already speak it. for the school that my children will go to, parents have a choice for chinese language (cantonese or mandaring), mathematics (cantonese or english) and all other subjects are taught in english.

3) bear in mind that children attending local schools start P1 a year later than those attending ESF. this is in line with the age that children start primary school in canada.
 
Thanks Cara - the thread on KJS does raise some of the same concerns so I have read through it and it is useful.

Quasimother - do you mind me asking what school your child is at?

And can anyone clarify the below:

starbucks2 said:
Thanks. I had to look up the ESF school site to see what Cat 1 and Cat 2 means. So, Cat 1 is first or alternative language English but do not speak Cantonese?

Maybe I am banging on a bit but if (1) we don't get into the ESF school in our catchment, or (2) we get an interview but don't get a place, what happens? I assume for (1) you go on the waitlist for the ESF for your catchment or maybe get offered another ESF school (based on someone above talking about overflow from Bradbury to Quarry Bay. For (2) do you get a chance to do the interview again the next year or does it depend on the reason for "failing" the interview?

PS I also heard that being a permanent resident helps?
Click to expand...
 
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starbucks2 said:
Thanks. I had to look up the ESF school site to see what Cat 1 and Cat 2 means. So, Cat 1 is first or alternative language English but do not speak Cantonese?

Maybe I am banging on a bit but if (1) we don't get into the ESF school in our catchment, or (2) we get an interview but don't get a place, what happens? I assume for (1) you go on the waitlist for the ESF for your catchment or maybe get offered another ESF school (based on someone above talking about overflow from Bradbury to Quarry Bay. For (2) do you get a chance to do the interview again the next year or does it depend on the reason for "failing" the interview?

PS I also heard that being a permanent resident helps?
Click to expand...

From what I know being a PR does not offer any benefits and/or priorities. With regards to interviews. You get or you don't get an interview. If you get one you either pass or fail (the majority does pass). If you fail it's quite unlikely you'll get a spot, unless it's related to age deferral or possibly language. Once you get an interview you have about 80-90% chance (my personal experience) to get offered a spot. Once you apply again, you would have to interview for the following year (Y2), and then they'll test a few more things like reading, writing, basic math, etc.

As the overflow goes, there is hardly any this year, especially on the island. QBS has plenty of applicants to get through themselves so it's highly unlikely they'll be taking from other schools. Assume it's similar for most schools.
 
Starbucks2, the PIS schools under the ESF umbrella do prioritise parents who have residencies at full capacity and as I understood it, they are at capacity. ESF schools doesn't.
 
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