Preschool/Kindergartens recommendations for Tin Shui Wai/Yuen Long

[hkdad99]

I live in Tin Shui Wai and have a 7 month old son. I would appreciate suggestions for playgroup/preschool/kindergartens in the Tin Shui Wai/Yuen Long area. There a few threads, but they are a few years old. Here is a list of schools I have come across so far? I can't seem to find much information about them.

- Gigaminds: Tin Shui Wai
- Zenith: Tin Shui Wai/Yuen Long
- St Lorraine: Yuen Long/Palm Springs

I called up the two St. Lorraine schools this morning and enquired if I could visit the Palm Springs center. The school told me a visit would not be possible, which made me quite suspicious?why would I enroll my child at an institution if I haven't seen the premises or spoken to the teaching staff and discussed their qualifications, experience and teaching pedagogy? Is this standard practice for Hong Kong kindergartens?

Any info would be much appreciated

 

[prettynvain]

Gigamind is not an international school.. They do have english classes but their medium of instruction is cantonese..


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[thanka2]

My experience with nursery schools and kindergartens is this:

1. You apply
2. If they have space they have you book an interview appointment
3. You come in for your interview--they interview the parents but they also interview the child
4. They show you the school briefly and talk about their programs
5. You find out if you've been accepted or not. If you have, you pay the fees and deposits.

Some nursery schools do offer tours if you set up an appointment. I was able to tour the Palm Spring's St. Loraine's when my son was little but that was nearly 6 years ago. Could be concerns about safety. Could be concerns about disrupting their schedule. Could be something to do with staffing (no one available just to give tours). Or they could have had a mishap with an over-curious or zealous "tourist" in the past. Could also have to do with the perpetual fear of germs. Who knows. One thing I do know is that HK nursery schools and kindergartens aren't really desperate for people to come apply at their schools--they have the upper hand in the situation because they don't really "need you" but you "need them" if that makes sense. People are lining up to get their kids into schools and programs and children (even young children) have to "compete" for places. So, schools can kind of do whatever they want.

As far as nursery schools in the TSW and YL area go. My son attended a nursery school at Chung Fu (stop on the light rail) called the Christian and Missionary Alliance Tin Chung Nursery School. It's a local Cantonese Medium of Instruction (CMI) nursery school. We looked and compared a lot of places including Zenith and Gigamind and felt the most comfortable with this one. Had a lovely experience. However, they only take children that are 2-years-old and up.