A reply from Anne Murphy an Education Consultant at ITS
These are completely different types of schools which offer two completely different programs. I have outlined my view below on both schools; hopefully it will help you make your choice.
If your top choices are ISF, CIS and CDNIS, personally I would suggest Discovery Montessori School (DMS). The school offers a bi-lingual (English & Mandarin) immersion curriculum which would prepare your child well for bilingual schools such as ISF and CIS – and by all accounts the children speak both.
The Montessori programme is not suitable for all children but if you think your child would benefit from a programme which would give him independence, self-discipline and order then Montessori is a good option. I have a lot of experience with Montessori children– and one characteristic I have witnessed is that they are extremely proud of their work and take learning quite seriously. It is common for them to respond. “This is my work”. Montessori children are very determined to finish an activity they are completing and they do not like being interrupted. You can spot a Montessori child straight off the bat in a traditional classroom because when they are asked to drop what they are doing and join a group, they say: “I want to finish this”. “Please let me finish this first”. We witness this quite often during our interview preparation classes. So the exposure to Montessori may go against your child in the interview…..only maybe.
During the interview, teachers’ check on a child’s attentiveness and discipline in following instructions and participating in a group. My advice would be to work on this at home with your child or closer to his interview make sure he participates in an activity that is traditional-style teaching.
DMS has a very good reputation amongst both local and expat families living on Lantau. I was very impressed with the organisation and layout of the school and the passionate teachers. And it is located in a safe and quiet area.
To finish on the above, it is important to know about the transition to Primary. When a Montessori child starts Primary school, he/she often asks their new teacher. “But why do I have to ask each time I need to use the toilet?”, or “Why do I have to stop my work right now?” The important thing to remember is that children are different. Whatever you might’ve heard or may hear ….there is nothing inherent in Montessori that causes children to have a hard time when they progress on to primary school. Some may say they are bored! Others may not understand why everyone in the class has to do the same thing at the same time! But overall children always adapt to their new setting quickly.
Now on to ESF Ting Yi…..this as I said is completely different to DMS. The curriculum is play-based and you will definitely not experience order in the classroom. ESF no longer provides interview opportunities and to be honest not many children leaving ESF Ting Yi attend ISF, HKIS, CDNIS or CIS. There's actually a lot of time spent on learning (through play). Other areas, I think are important to outline are that if your child is a native English speaker, be prepared for him to come home speaking in broken sentences and dropping certain grammar structures – and don’t expect your child to be very knowledgeable in numbers, letters and phonics; it is not a school that focuses on academics. The Mandarin program is not very strong so your child would find ISF very difficult due to the lack of exposure at pre-school years.
I also think you should read this post on Geo Schools:
http://hongkong.geoschools.com/forum/15/thread4126.html