International Kindergartens - Tai Po

[peekaboo]

Hi mommies and daddies

I am trying to find an int'l school for my girl n absolutely need your help. Would be grateful if anybody could give me any comments about the listed schools:

Norweigan International School
Hong Lok Yuen
International Christian School

Thanks in advance.

 

[e-mum]

Heard both Hong Lok Yuen and Int' Christian School have a v. gd. reputation.

HLY, is based on a British curriculum and the students are mainly expats and overseas Chinese. I think ICS, is attended mainly by local students.

 

[fee]

My son is in K3 at the Norwegian and I can't speak highly enough of the school. It may not be a polished as the other two but the class sizes are very small (by HK standards) and there is a real caring family feel about the school, due in large part to the fact the there are only 70 students in the whole school. As for reputation - I don't know what Norwegians reputation is and I am not really worried. The fact that he is loving learning means more to me!

Because I live in Tai Po I have visited the other two and saw them as real options for my son. The only thing I did not like about ICS is that they would not teach phonics till age 4 and no mandarin until 5. They have their valid reasons for this but my son had been in pre-school in New Zealand and loved doing phonics...

Hope this helps a little.

 

[peekaboo]

hi! e-mum & fee, thanks a million!!! it was very helpful and informative. :bighug

anybody wants to share any comments about HLY or the other two?

have a nice day!!

 

[bbc mom]

I would be equally happy with either HLY or Norwegian.

As it is, we have just been offered a place at HLY and will most likely accept, since my son attends their Tots Club and is already familiar with the kindergarten environment and teachers. At nursery level (K1) it's loosely structured, meaning there's is free play, circle time, mandarin songs/words, and they are encouraged to do one piece of arts/crafts each day.
It's still comparatively a small school so there is still a friendly community feel about it. The only one hesitation I have, is that reception class (K2) is full day after autumn half term so I do feel that it's a bit long for a 4yr old.

On the other hand, Norwegian is half day for K1 & K2, but they also have a K3 year before primary level.
Also as I understand it, Norwegian will not start interviews for K1 until March so if you didn't get an offer it might be too late to find another place elsewhere, and I don't think I can put my HLY offer on hold for that long.

I didn't consider ICS since it's a bit further away, also it follows the US curriculum and we are British, and according to the SCMP Good Schools Guide it's "academically rigorous" whatever that means!

Anyway good luck.

 

[peekaboo]

many thanks for the useful information too! bbc mom. AGAIN...big thanks to all mommies who hv spent their precious time to share life-useful experience/infos....:bighug