What's the best age to start nursery?
- Thread starter val23
- Start date
Playgroups in nursery start at 2 years old, whereas K1 starts at 2 yrs 8 months, which is the lowest age requirement according to the HK govt. Kindergartens start their 1st term in August and 2nd term in Feb. Your son will be 2 yrs 6 month in August, which means he won't be qualified for K1 then. He may enrol in a playgroup. My cousin's son is in a similar situation and he is going to nursery instead of K1. As for interviews, they're aren't that difficult if you don't choose the really hot kindies, certainly not for nursery.
Just as Valencia has mentioned, my son was 2 years 5 months last august and I enrolled him in nursery. The "interview" was nothing but a chat between me and the principal while she just watched my son. My son didn't speak a word of english then as I was only talking with him in mother tongue. The principal said that's not a problem, she just wants to make sure the child has no obvious learning disabilities. As long as mother and child seem to be communicating and understanding each other they will be offered a place in the school.
If you think your child is not ready for school yet, you can wait one more year and send him directly to K1 next year. Many people feel 2 and 1/2 is too young for a child to be going to school. But from personal experience school was the best thing to happen to my son. He took 3 weeks to settle down and cried every time I left sure..but after that he just blossomed. I can't believe the child he is now. He used to be so clingy and afraid of everyone. 2 months in school and he became so friendly and talkative and social ! Every child is different though so you can decide what's best for your son. For me other than the fact that my son was so clingy I really needed some "me" time as well. Being a housewife and having no helper part-time or otherwise putting my son in school was good for both of us. I suppose if it had turned out to be a bad decision for him I would have pulled him out of school and waited another year.
Sorry for the looong post, hope it helped !
If you think your child is not ready for school yet, you can wait one more year and send him directly to K1 next year. Many people feel 2 and 1/2 is too young for a child to be going to school. But from personal experience school was the best thing to happen to my son. He took 3 weeks to settle down and cried every time I left sure..but after that he just blossomed. I can't believe the child he is now. He used to be so clingy and afraid of everyone. 2 months in school and he became so friendly and talkative and social ! Every child is different though so you can decide what's best for your son. For me other than the fact that my son was so clingy I really needed some "me" time as well. Being a housewife and having no helper part-time or otherwise putting my son in school was good for both of us. I suppose if it had turned out to be a bad decision for him I would have pulled him out of school and waited another year.
Sorry for the looong post, hope it helped !
thanks
thanks valencia and scr.
Btw scr, which nursery did you send your son to?
The problem with my son is that he speaks less than 100 english words and doesn't know a word of cantonese. I'm actually thinking of a nursery that perhaps offers 3 days a week class or something but then the one I know of has mostly local students only and I don't know whether my son can communicate with them or not. But then I also want my son to learn Mandarin and at least some Cantonese so as to have the option of sending him to a local school later on.
thanks valencia and scr.
Btw scr, which nursery did you send your son to?
The problem with my son is that he speaks less than 100 english words and doesn't know a word of cantonese. I'm actually thinking of a nursery that perhaps offers 3 days a week class or something but then the one I know of has mostly local students only and I don't know whether my son can communicate with them or not. But then I also want my son to learn Mandarin and at least some Cantonese so as to have the option of sending him to a local school later on.
Hi Val23,
My son attends the "Think international kindergarten and nursery" which is located in Laguna city, kowloon. They have the local curriculum and offer "international" section where they conduct classes only in english (canadian curriculum). So at this point he is exposed to no cantonese and no mandarin. Since I don't ever plan to send my son to a local school i opted for english only. He will be learning mandarin in primary school later on and maybe I can supplement those with extra classes. Being an expat, I'm more worried about what to do if we have to leave HK than him learning to speak in cantonese.
Regarding your son being able to communicate with other kids..they learn so quickly at this young age. I could bet you that if you do decide to put him in a local school he will be speaking cantonese within no time!
my son started school and could not speak english. Within a few months he was speaking so much english. And now it's a struggle to get him to speak in his mother tongue !
My son attends the "Think international kindergarten and nursery" which is located in Laguna city, kowloon. They have the local curriculum and offer "international" section where they conduct classes only in english (canadian curriculum). So at this point he is exposed to no cantonese and no mandarin. Since I don't ever plan to send my son to a local school i opted for english only. He will be learning mandarin in primary school later on and maybe I can supplement those with extra classes. Being an expat, I'm more worried about what to do if we have to leave HK than him learning to speak in cantonese.
Regarding your son being able to communicate with other kids..they learn so quickly at this young age. I could bet you that if you do decide to put him in a local school he will be speaking cantonese within no time!
my son started school and could not speak english. Within a few months he was speaking so much english. And now it's a struggle to get him to speak in his mother tongue !
Initially, I only wanted to send by daughter to 3 days a week to a pre-nursery (that didn't require mothers to be there). She loved going to playgroups but I knew that she would be bored if she waited for another year before going to pre-school. She was only 2 years and 3 months when she first started. The nursery was very accomodating about my request for 3 days even though it was a 5 day nursery. My daughter loved it and she went 5 days straight away. It's predominatly Cantonese with some imput of English and Mandarin. We're overseas chinese and worried that she may become English speaking only as my husband and I don't speak enough to her in Cantonese. Not only does my daughter enjoy going to her nursery, I can see vast improvements in her Cantonese too and its great to see that she has blossomed in all aspects. I used to be rather critical of parents here who push their children to nursery, especially having been brought up overseas, you would not send your child to nursery so young but I do see the benefits. Of course, it really does depend on your individual child and had my daughter been miserable, I would have taken her out straight away.
thanks scr and joyce
I think I'll try nursery for my boy this coming Sept. I know if I don't send him off now, next year might be too late relatively speaking compared to other kids here. Although I really think 2 and a half years old is too young to start institutional schooling. Got to go with the norm, I guess.
I think I'll try nursery for my boy this coming Sept. I know if I don't send him off now, next year might be too late relatively speaking compared to other kids here. Although I really think 2 and a half years old is too young to start institutional schooling. Got to go with the norm, I guess.
sharonwong
Registered User
hi joyce
wondering where your child goes to nursery. can you please recommmend some schools?
i'm sourcing a nursery and kindergarten that will be more mandarin or cantonese driven. like you i am an overseas chinese. my children both speak only english and some german (husband is german). so moving back to hk would really mean for me to push them to be trilingual. why not, right?
i don't mind schools that taught english but should have some instructions in either mandarin or cantonese. solely mandarin is fine as long as we are in the group that is friendly.
if anyone has good recommendations ....we will live in pokfulam or near by
any comments on the woodland schools? any mandarin there?
wondering where your child goes to nursery. can you please recommmend some schools?
i'm sourcing a nursery and kindergarten that will be more mandarin or cantonese driven. like you i am an overseas chinese. my children both speak only english and some german (husband is german). so moving back to hk would really mean for me to push them to be trilingual. why not, right?
i don't mind schools that taught english but should have some instructions in either mandarin or cantonese. solely mandarin is fine as long as we are in the group that is friendly.
if anyone has good recommendations ....we will live in pokfulam or near by
any comments on the woodland schools? any mandarin there?
A kindie with a trilingual programme : English, mandarin and Cantonese , a native English teacher and Mandarin teacher, and a predominantly Cantonese speaking student population may suit you, since only through student interaction will your child learn Cantonese. Since I live in Kowloon, sorry, have little idea of kindies and schools on HK island. We're a local family, and my child is attending a local school, so it's the English part I'm worried about. I can foresee as your child grows older, you'll have more struggle in strengthening his language skills and choosing between local and international schools, plus other moral and cultural issues. I want my child to be bilingual in order to survive in HK, and I won't sacrifice her Chinese in order to better her English, or vice versa. If she can be trilingual or quadrilingual, it will be all the better for her. 
Hi,
Am interested in reading about the age to start nursery. My son is now 1 year and 8 months. I am a working mum and i leave the house at 7 and i return just before 7. I have been lucky enough to have my mother take care of my son with my helper. However as she had to go back to her native place, my son will now be with the helper and i can see that he is finding it quite difficult to adjust with her.
I too am thinking of sending him to nursery when he is around 2 years and 2 months...to some it may be shocking but in the HK context i guess it doesn't. It's a very personal and agonising decision but i had to look into my situation and i feel that him going to nursery at that age, he would be better of rather than crying at home waiting for his mummy to come home and be miserable the whole day. He can interact with other kids his age and engage in activities...
ANyone else send their kids that young to nursery?
And SCR, am interested to learn more about think international in Laguna city....as i live nearby and am looking into that as one of my options.
thanks
Am interested in reading about the age to start nursery. My son is now 1 year and 8 months. I am a working mum and i leave the house at 7 and i return just before 7. I have been lucky enough to have my mother take care of my son with my helper. However as she had to go back to her native place, my son will now be with the helper and i can see that he is finding it quite difficult to adjust with her.
I too am thinking of sending him to nursery when he is around 2 years and 2 months...to some it may be shocking but in the HK context i guess it doesn't. It's a very personal and agonising decision but i had to look into my situation and i feel that him going to nursery at that age, he would be better of rather than crying at home waiting for his mummy to come home and be miserable the whole day. He can interact with other kids his age and engage in activities...
ANyone else send their kids that young to nursery?
And SCR, am interested to learn more about think international in Laguna city....as i live nearby and am looking into that as one of my options.
thanks
Sharon,
You may be interested in St. Clare Primary School. It has a French stream starting P.1. http://scps.school.hk. It has a kindergarten starting Sept 06. However, application for 06 has closed. It's a prestigious bilingual school, a pushy one.
You may be interested in St. Clare Primary School. It has a French stream starting P.1. http://scps.school.hk. It has a kindergarten starting Sept 06. However, application for 06 has closed. It's a prestigious bilingual school, a pushy one.