Kingston 好唔好?

wongviv1

PROS

It's truly a bilingual school. If you look at their yearbook or join one of their upper primary open day, you'll find yourself quite amazed by their students' both English and Chinese writing skills. I know students moving into high ranking local school and also to different international school ie. CIS/ ICHK. I think this is a sign showing that their students are really proficient in both languages.

I personally like its small class size, I think it's a very important plus factor for young children. Low student to teacher ratio would ensure that each of the kids gets enough attention from the teachers. When teachers can afford the time to answer questions from each students, it would not only help them with their academic development, but as well as their confidence. Nobody gets left behind, even if your kid is more of an introvert type.

ICHK promises to accept ALL students graduating from Kingston. ICHK is a good school which doesn't ask the under performing students to leave their school at grade 11 (some IS do). I guess that is one of the reason why their IB score wasn't and probably will never be at the high end. It's a school with heart but not with the best facility of course. (Personally I think if you are making a Kindie level decision, all you need to know is that you have a backup, making decision 100% based on high school performance is too early at this stage, after all, it's a 10 years later issue that we are talking about. Lots of things can happen in 10 years.)

CONS

Its not as ethnically diverse comparing to some other IS. Some might see it as a shortcoming. However, as HK doesn't have much expat anymore, esp on the Kowloon side, as you research further, you might find that it's a common scenario in lots of other IS today.

If you are looking for a school with big campus with lots of facilities, then it's not a school for you.

Hope it helps, It's just my personal opinion. Everyone has different priorities so it's hard to say which school is better. All I can say is that it's a school that worth to be taken into consideration as I think they do care about education.

wongviv1

Not ICHK but Kingston and I went to ichk' open day last year, have spoken to their principal. It's a guy really dedicated to education.

wongviv1

Checking my schedule history, Last year ichk host their's on Oct. 8th and Kingston's one was on November 14th. Most International schools host their open day in late September / October/ November, I think you better give their website frequent visits starting September or maybe just give them a call when school year begins, they will probably have the schedule out by then. Hope it helps :)