Victoria Kindergarten vs Small World Christian Kindergarten

G

geoduck

Registered User
With much luck, our child got accepted for K1 at Victoria Kindergarten and Small World Christian Kindergarten.

Can anyone share your points of view which kindergarten is better in terms of
i) teaching quality, academic competence,
ii) English/Putonghua learning environment,
iii) teacher to student ratio and
iv) the chance to get in International schools?

Thx a lot!
 
I wish to know too and it is hard to choose between the two.

Heard that the Chinese learning is not that much in SWCK but it is a caring school. Victoria provides good bilingual language environment.
 
Victoria Kindergarten and Small World Christian Kindergarten are both great kindergartens. Victoria is a bit more commercial but teaches much more Chinese compared with SWCK. I personally haven't visited SWCK but have only heard great things about it from close friends to edu forums; SWCK having caring wonderful teachers and all.

Beside the kindergarten itself, you may also want to consider the future primary / secondary schools they are affiliated to:
Victoria -> VSA (Victoria Shanghai Academy)
SWCK -> ICA (Island Christian Academy)
VSA is more established all the way up to secondary graduation. You may want to look up their IB results as well. ICA is relatively new, again, only hear great response from parents. Sounds like a promising school.

Here's what you were asking for (only comparing the kindie section in accordance to your question):
i) teaching quality, academic competence
- probably Victoria, since kids also graduates to local schools which has higher academic requirements (not necessarily a good thing, depending on one's view on what early education should emphasize )
- SWCK has more caring loving teachers
ii) English/Putonghua learning environment,
- Victoria is trilingual at entry level (for the local canto kids), then slowly streamline into English/PTH
- Again, Victoria should have better Chinese
iii) teacher to student ratio
- Not sure, but i am sure you can find out from the school (either their website or call 'em up, don't be lazy now!)
iv) the chance to get in International schools?
- SWCK, unless you are considering the local Internationals like ISF... oops, ISF is technically not an IS.
- please specify which type, best if you can list some target schools. Victoria has a list of where their kids graduates to (at least the time time i look onto their web 1-2 years ago), you can also do the same for SWCK - just ask the school, they probably has the most accurate answer.

Hope this helps :)
 
Thanks a lot, Jomama.

We aim at international schools like ESF, Kellett, etc. We like Small World and Starters but the Mandarin exposure is not great. We just got Victoria Causeway Bay bilingual class (English/Mandarin) offer and this campus follows IB curriculum. We are thinking of taking it.
 
My kid had a great time at small world and is now studying at Glenealy School. I found it to be a very caring and nurturing environment, with perhaps more emphasis on creativity, social skills and fun than academics. I can't say there was much emphasis on Chinese, which we would have liked, but instead we decided to send our child to private lessons. We also liked the high level of interaction with parents, with things like Dad's night and a lot of communication with teachers over email and phone.
 
Sorry for not checking in often enough. For entry into ESF or Kellett, mandarin learning is not necessary, and you can always supplement it elsewhere.

For Kellet have you applied from birth? If not, the chance is much lower as they do not even have priority for UK passport holders. ESF as we all know it is a big lottery. It really depends on the number they randomly assign to you. Which kindergarten they go to does not make a difference nowadays after they cut ESF kindie priority (unless you're going for DC & RC). The interview should be easy enough as long as the child is a native English speaker and holds a foreign passport.

Apparently, for the schools where their students graduates to on the Victoria website, it only lists their K3 graduates, hence it did not show the kids that jumped ship into International schools, which usually accepting kids at Reception (around K2). From what i heard there are quite a few that went to CDNIS, AISHK, HKIS, GSIS etc. I am sure Kellett is in there somewhere as well.
 
I'm inclining to go for SWCK.

Think it will better prepare our son for International stream.

How about yourself?
 
Jomama said:
Victoria Kindergarten and Small World Christian Kindergarten are both great kindergartens. Victoria is a bit more commercial but teaches much more Chinese compared with SWCK. I personally haven't visited SWCK but have only heard great things about it from close friends to edu forums; SWCK having caring wonderful teachers and all.

Beside the kindergarten itself, you may also want to consider the future primary / secondary schools they are affiliated to:
Victoria -> VSA (Victoria Shanghai Academy)
SWCK -> ICA (Island Christian Academy)
VSA is more established all the way up to secondary graduation. You may want to look up their IB results as well. ICA is relatively new, again, only hear great response from parents. Sounds like a promising school.

Here's what you were asking for (only comparing the kindie section in accordance to your question):
i) teaching quality, academic competence
- probably Victoria, since kids also graduates to local schools which has higher academic requirements (not necessarily a good thing, depending on one's view on what early education should emphasize )
- SWCK has more caring loving teachers
ii) English/Putonghua learning environment,
- Victoria is trilingual at entry level (for the local canto kids), then slowly streamline into English/PTH
- Again, Victoria should have better Chinese
iii) teacher to student ratio
- Not sure, but i am sure you can find out from the school (either their website or call 'em up, don't be lazy now!)
iv) the chance to get in International schools?
- SWCK, unless you are considering the local Internationals like ISF... oops, ISF is technically not an IS.
- please specify which type, best if you can list some target schools. Victoria has a list of where their kids graduates to (at least the time time i look onto their web 1-2 years ago), you can also do the same for SWCK - just ask the school, they probably has the most accurate answer.

Hope this helps :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Have checked Victoria's primary school allocation. Mostly local schools with only a few International schools.
 
Mom mom said:
Thanks a lot, Jomama.

We aim at international schools like ESF, Kellett, etc. We like Small World and Starters but the Mandarin exposure is not great. We just got Victoria Causeway Bay bilingual class (English/Mandarin) offer and this campus follows IB curriculum. We are thinking of taking it.
Click to expand...

Hi mom mom: it's a tough choice. While we also value Mandarin exposure, we are concerned about the English level at Victoria as most students are from local. You might also consider sending your kid to Mandarin classes, that's what we plan to do.
 
Hoz the play session / interview like? How long it takes after the play session before they will release the result? I
 
Is Victoria good for getting kids into ESF or other International Primary schools like Canadian International? I have a few friends who sent their kids to Victoria and didn't get good feedback, but some comments here seem to say otherwise. Any advice?
 
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