GSIS and ESF

[sharonwong]

does anyone have experience with the german swiss school-international stream? my family and i are moving back to hk and now must think of schools! since there is a waiting list i will also apply for one of the ESF schools. either kennedy or bradbury for the hk side, or kowloon junior or beacon hill in kowloon tong.

i have not visited any of the schools in hk. my son understands german -english is his mother tongue. he doesn't know chinese. GSIS i thought may be a good choice because he can learn german as well as mandarin without saturday school or turtoring. if he gets into one of the ESF schools then i will need german classes for him on the weekend if available.

the thing is we will live near where schools will be applied so it's critical that we know soon.

also ....living in the states we're used to arranging "playdates". i know it's not part of the hong kong culture for locals but for expats??

one more...do you find that children have enough exposure to outdoor play and inside gymnastics in hong kong?? what is your general thought on the activities available for kids around 4-6????

 

[loupou]

GSIS is really expensive!

Living near it would be expensive too, but if you want the German langueage education, there's not much choice.

From what I understand, usually you cannot apply to an ESF school until you have an address, because the schools operate on a chachement level (e.g. I live in Sai Kung, so my kids would have to go to Clear Water Bay School and not Shatin Junion, even if I *wanted* them to go to Shatin junior.

Playdates - did a bit when the kids were babies - go together w/ other friends who had kids the same age. It was more a "play date" for me

But once the kids got to be about 3 or so, they mostly played w/ neighbor kids (who live in the same housing estate and meet up in the play area). Now my oldest child is almost 8 and sometimes some of her friends among the neighbors ring the bell and ask her out to play, or shout up to the window.

I have a friend who lives in a village in the Shatin district who's kids go out to play w/ other kids in the village from the time they were about 3 and 5. She mainly does "play dates" when she wants to get together w/ *her* friends (who also have kids).

A lot of kids from the age of 4 or 5 take enrichment lessons on the weekend (ballet, music, drawing, etc) which means less time for play. So, that may reduce the time available for playdates. But, I live Kowloon-side & send my kids to "local" schools (for the time being), so I am not so sure about the Expats of Hong Kong Island (a mysterious breed).

 

[sharonwong]

thanks loupou. that was helpful. i have some time til sept when the ESF schools will even accept applications for 2005 so i will look around in hk when i visit in june. i am still undecided on where to live but my husbands friends are all on pok ful lum so i may just apply to the kennedy school ...

i will probably have some sort of enrichment class for my son as well as daughter (later on).

i have some friends who have kids and there we will have playdates. i guess my amah will have to hook up with the amahs at the school bus and see if they can get kids to play. ESF school mothers are more laid back so i think i may have a better chance of meeting friends myself. with the private schools i'm not so sure. like my friend said the mothers of private schools maybe expats of big companies and may also belong to the "american club" etc... so it may be hard to click for me...

thoughts