Help needed for my 5 year old daughter

W

wxusipp

Registered User
We just arrived a couple days ago for school hunting, and although we applied pretty early (December last year) to GSIS, HKIS, CDNIS, and CIS for the fall, 2008 now everyone is telling us that she's been placed on waiting lists. With time approaching summer, I really don't know what chances they are for her to get spots from any of these schools. Should we put her on waiting lists for any kintergardens or preschools with 5 yr old age groups? What are some of good kintergardens? Is it too late to apply to ESF schools? We are so desperately needing help/suggestions and would appreciate any inputs!
 
This senario is the norm for Hong Kong. Waitlists are vast and in some cases a few years long. I suspect your child will be too old for a Kindy so doubtful you will be sucessful, however worth a try. To increase your chances, do put your child on the waitlist for ESF but again the chances of you getting your required ESF school will be slim as the waitlist for P1 are very long and in most cases longer than that of HKIS, Canadian etc but definately worth a try as if your child is a native English speaker they will be given priority which is not the case in the other schools. Good luck with it all.
 
You may try Delia school of Canada at TaiKoo Shing, their elementary section offers K1 and K2, and the entry age for K2 is 5 yrs old, and they have their own primary school, you may contact the school to arrange for visit. Other options are SWCK which offers K3 class, and woodland pre-school at Wan Chai which offers primary classes P1 and P2. The latter options may act as stepping stones before you get offers from the other schools you applied.

HTH
 
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try small world christian kindergarten. Your daughter will be in K3. Contact Gail (the principal) or Becky (receptionist) and they might have a morning or afternoon session available. Many of the children then go onto the primary section of the schools that you have your daughter on the waiting list.
 
wxusipp,

May I know which area are you living in? I would encourage you to check with ESF. Sometimes they have spaces come up at the last minute.

I agree with Honeybee. Also check with Woodland Wanchai. They also offer primary classes.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
 
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First of all, contact the education department and ask them for a list of all English speaking independent schools in HK - that way you have a resource to work from.
Get your child on every list you can - it is quite common for kids to be on a half a dozen waiting lists - so when one space gets used, 5 other names go off lists, if you know what I mean.
Consider Hong Kong Academy, the new Harbour school, Kellett School, French International. There are also schools out in the New Territories - they're a treck, but better than nothing!
If you are in a position for your company (or husband's company) to purchase a debenture, this will help.
 
Thanks everyone

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I apologize for not replying earlier. We'll be living in the Manhattan in Tai Tam, and we did apply to quarry bay ESF school that we belong. We were told that the waitlist for her age was around 20 people, and we applied anyway. As I just saw all the replies today, I called Woodland Wanchai, and was told that they still have 2 spots for this age group. And I"m going to apply right away. The commute is going to be a bit far, but better than nothing. Again, thanks so much for all the replies, and now I'm just hoping she at least has somewhere to go next year.
 
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