How does it works??

[first_time]

We have a 20month old. Am shock when told we are late to register her to school!

How does school system works? Nursery then Kindergarden then Primary?

We are a bilingual family - English (Daddy) and Mandarin (Mummy) and we would like our child to have the same school environment. We live on the south side and prefer a school near us.

Are we confined to International school or are there local school that provides bilingual education?


Any suggestion on top 3 for either International school or local school?

thanks!

 

[carang]

most local schools, at least the ones that i know of are english-cantonese... not mandarin. although they all offer mandarin classes.

your best bet is to go for a walk in your neighbourhood. find schools that you think you might be interested in and then go in and ask about their admission procedure. every school will have a different procedure.

if you decide to go for a local school (we have), you can apply for the pre-primary voucher scheme. this will drastically decrease the kindergarten fees you will need to pay. for us, we pay nothing for our 2 kids to go to kindergarten. for this scheme, when your child starts school will depend on what year your child was born.

for example: my daughter was born in 2007, so she started in september 2010. if your child was born in 2008, then they'd start in sept 2011... 2009 starts in sept 2012 etc.

this scheme is ONLY available to parents who send their child to a kindergarten that teaches local curriculum and charges less than $XXXXX/year. I believe there is a list of kindergartens that take part in the scheme on the EDB website, so you could search for a kindergarten in your area and then go to check it out.

for international kindergartens, it is a completely different process.... i can't help you with that as i could never bring myself to pay the astronomical fees most of the international kindergartens charge.

 

[newbiekt]

Try Sunshine House in Tai Tam - they have a really small bilingual (english/mandarin) class which at the moment has around 8 children and 2 teachers! I am thinking of signing up my 21 month old son sometime in the next few months. Or Tutor Time also in Tai Tam. The Woodlands Beachside is the one on the Southside which is very over subscribed.