Please Suggest Another Good Kindergarten Similar to St. Catherine's Kindergarten

I

iqaganda

New member
Hi there. My little daughter is turning K1 this coming September 2010 and I was interested with enrolling her in St. Catherine's International Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong. I'm a teacher myself and I've been to a lot of Kindergartens here in Hong Kong and I find St. Catherine's the best, especially when it comes to the children's attitudes and manners. It's very important to me and my family.

However, when I checked online their website, it was posted that the application for the next school year is already closed. This is my first time to find a suitable Kindergarten for my little daughter and I never knew that finding a place in a good Kindergarten is this stressful.

Can you please suggest schools around Kowloon and New Territories area that are similar to St. Catherine's? By the way, we live in Tsuen Wan, and a Kindergarten closer to our place is better as well. Thanks!




Rica
 
Hi

If you really are interested to enroll, you could try to write to them to see if they would arrange an interview for your kid. The interview date has already passed but they havent announce their placements yet. Some of my friends are still waiting for the result. Make sure you state out why you didnt apply in the first place.
 
Places for 2010 Kindy is very tight this year because of the many babies born that year as arleneli said, and many schools are no longer accepting applications as its quite late in the process. You may want to try places like YMCA in TST, I can't say its like St Catherine's but its a reputable kindy and they don't have application periods,so you can still apply. Might want to check if they have a waiting list too.
 
I'm afraid most of the local KG has already completed 2010 K1 interview by December. Some KGs have good reputation as SC, e.g. HKPS, Victoria, Learning Habitat. I guess they might still have places for PM class. You might try.
 
St Catherine's offers a western approach to learning how to read and write. They endorse a learning approach that instills sound understanding of skills and processes, and confidence. These qualities are highly sought after by such schools as DGJS, CIS, and therefore St Cath's students almost always are successful in P1 interviews. The bottom line - seek out kindergartens that offer a similar curriculum (particularly reading and writing of English), communicates to parents that rote-learning, textbook-bound children are not the desired outcome, and expects and achieves high standards. PIPS, Tutortime
 
while i looked for a school that my son would be HAPPY in, that he would ENJOY going to, that would allow OUTSIDE playtime, that had CARING teachers....to me, THOSE were what are important, not how they teach a 3-4 yr old how to read. learning to read can come later (if your child is not inquisitive and doesn't want to learn earlier).
 
Cara, I totally agree! However, in the last year of kindergarten there is an expectation - in HK - that kids are reading - or close to. This is not like our western countries. It has been difficult for me as a teacher to come to terms with that - as I feel like you. But that HK education system gobbles up the desire to keep our kids' education 'relaxed'. So why not choose a kindergarten that incorporates these aspects?
 
as i've said in other threads, we've decided to go local. my son is in a local kindergarten with an eye to local primary school.

my son LOVES going to school (he's almost 5). he has outside playtime (real playground outside on the premises), he is learning chinese (reading and writing, too), his teachers are lovely... so, in all respects i'm fairly happy with it. it's not a "big name" school, rather a church-run school in sai kung.

i asked my son what his favourite thing about school was a few days ago..."doing my homework and playing" was his response.

i take over from the school, where i feel it slips slightly (phonics etc).

my only point with my previous post is that there is more to learning than "passing" an exam or interview. kids will learn to read at their own pace and in their own time (so long as parents take an active, but not pushy, role in their education).

some times, i think that the parents are more of a problem than the schools! (after tutoring privately for MANY, MANY years, i would say that the problems are 90% parents, 10% schools! at least at this age....)
 
Agree with cara! As a mother I always worry that I didnt give my daughter the very best that I can... thus always opt for the "famous" schools. The fact that I want the very best for her influences my decision making a lot. I used to get upset when she didnt get into St. Cat. But as we went through the P1 interview season together, I know now that It doesnt matter which KG she went. It is how she perform in the interview, and that doesnt always related to her academic result at school. More to how and what you (as parent) teach her in her daily life.
 
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