Boxhill MOS & ESF WKS 讀邊間好?

yuenru

My daughter and my son are in MOS boxhill now.  Before WKS school was founded, it's almost 100% in-take from box hill to RC.  However, with WKS as well as the increasing number of applicants this year, the rate has dropped to 70%.  Mrs. King said that it's hard to predict as of this point.

I attended the RC parents session and I remember they said that RC will not have preference over ESF as this is a private individual school.      

I also have friends who are in WKS but also didn't get into any ESF Primary school.    My point is that there is no guarantee or relatively higher chances for RC these days.

I would suggest you to think about the contingency in case your kid doesn't get into international school. The key reason why we decided to stay in Boxhill is that it does offer Chinese language and K3.   In case we didn't get into RC, we have a backup. (which is what happening right now)

yuenru

PiyoC ,
BH is teaching Chinese traditional Chinese.  BH has both Madarin and Cantonese lesson rotates each ady.  toward K3, they are more focus on Cantonese rather Mandarin. If you are aiming for RC, they are also teaching traditonal Chinese.   so writing wise it's not an issue. Speaking wise, you may want to put more emphasis on Mandarin.

ivvywong

If you are not really aiming for international schoo, then I personally don't recommend you for BH because
1. Although the chinese is getting more difficult, but when you compare with famous local chinese kinder, it's still behind.
2. BH is a happy school which less strict on discipline and less homework, if you do aim for local school in Primary,  then your kid or you might find it difficult to adjust.   
3. In term of information sharing on applying local schools, BH isn't that proactive as well as informative. I have spoken to Mrs. King (MOS BH principal) how to improve it.   But don't think it will happen for a while.

yuenru

As a BH parent, I disagreed that BH is not targetting for international school. in the recent K2, we got almost more than half of them applied internation schools (RC, ESF, Anfield etc).   In the past two years, there are about 3 classes of K2 and only down to 1 class of K3 by the time they reach to K3.   This year, RC specifically, there was about 30+ applicants from BH applying for RC, around 26 get into RC. The percentrage is around 70%.  Of course, when you compare with the previous year, the number does get dropped.   But when you compare the numbers of applicants vs WKS kinders, of course the total numbers of applicants is relatively smaller.

Having said that, instead of looking to the higher chance to get into RC or what other int'l school you want to, the debate I had is
a) How much Chinese language you want your kids have.
b) What IF my kid don't get into ESF or anyone of the internatinoal school, what other options that I have.  I had the same struggle as most of you before. the only thing I cannot give up is the Chinese language which I want them to study.   

Just my 2cents.  

yuenru

misskwokwok ,

Honestly, please do not forget that the baby boom has started since last year. both WFS and BH both have a big drop in term of successful rate. I think it's simply because of the sudden increase of applicant.  According to Mrs. King in BH, the no. of applicants in RC back in 2011 was only 300, but this year, they got up to 800 applicants. RC has said that this is the record high for them.   
Honestly, the competition is keen.   All I can say is that face the reality and prepare the best of your kid.

yuenru

PiyoC ,

Honestly, BH is not expensive relatively to other private schools. dont' forget that this charges involve books , snacks. My friends in local schools are paying less like 35xx but it costs them alot on charges like books, birthday parties and even school bus fees.   

My view is that we all spending close to 6000 -8000 dollars on each kinder garten these days given that we all want to build up their portfolio somewhat.   what it means is that one could spend 5xxx on BH but take lesss English classes compare with local school kid spend 3xxx on school tuition but expensive english lesson.  When i speak to my friends, I realize that we all somehow spending around the same in total amount. It just a matter how you want to distribute the money.

yuenru

PiyoC ,
if your concern is having too much holidays, I think there is a solution to it. since BH holiday schedule align with many other IS schools, there are summer camp/spring camp which you can sign them up during long break. For example, I signed them up for ICS summer course for the July whole month and then there is YMCA wellness camp in WKS in Aug.   then it only left them 1 week before school start again.


While we got accepted by Anfield, we also got CAIS as well. After much consideration, we'll put her in CAIS.  Happy to talk more about my thoughts on this.

yuenru

and by the way, RC has more holidays than BH too. so it jsut the begining.

yuenru

PiyoC ,
my daughter is in K2 BH right now. She is going to CAIS this Aug and will not stay in BH.   

In term of curriculumns, it really depends what is your future education plan.   There is no good nor bad in between the curriculumns.I talked to many people regarding UK vs Canda curriculumns, they are both good. It's more depends on whether you want your kids to study in UK related school (Austuralia/UK) or you are closed to North America system.

In term of schools Anfield vs. CAIS, there are the comparions
(A vs C)
1. Cost: 12K HKD per month(include other fees), no debenture vs 8500 HKD per month until 2015. Once the new campus read, 250K HKD for debenture.   it's really a matter of cash flow. at the end of the day, they are very closed in term of cost.
2. other:school fees in Anfield include extra activities vs. C treat is as additional cost.
3. UK vs Canda cirruclum
4. Track record: One is up to primary and one has track record up to high school.
5. Reglion: Catholic vs Christian.
6. class size: small (20) vs medium
7. campus: brand new campus in Tai Wai vs. crappy campus in Lai Yui and then super nice campus in Cheung Sha Wan.

by the way, is your son in Dinosaur class now?

yuenru

PiyoC ,

you are not the only one who has this thought. Given that your son is Nursery in Sep, the competition is even more fierece than what I'm having now.   I think it's good that you start your research now.  But at the end of the day, there are many uncontrollable factors.     Enjoy the time with yoru kids. When the time of applying schools come, just follow the schedule and apply.   Honestly, it's very hard to know what schools you can get in and what not now.    According to the overall school application schedule, it never hurt to try out the international route first as it start from K2 Sep.  If the IS pan doesn't go well, you can then follow the LS stream from K2 Jun time and K3 onward.   

Don't worry too much. Enjoy the moment with your kid.  They grow up fast and happy moment is the time you dont' want to be missed.

yuenru

Max1130 ,
Elephant B.

yuenru

Max1130 ,
Oh, I remember who you are!  For CAIS, I called up the school bus company, given that they just being told about moving to the new campus, they are at the middle of re-designing the bus route at the moment.   Give them a call and see if they have any update.
Not all elephant B got accepted, besides myself and 2 more on wait list. what about Elephant A?

anyway, your case is a tough call.  repeating 1 year is good but also mean that the competition is getting even worse.