Is it good at ISF

kfy

回復 CorinneCook 的帖子

Hi CorinneCook

My daughter is in Foundation Year now. She is very happy and I am satisfied with her academic development. We are purely Cantonese speaking family. She can now speak comfortably in English and PTH too.
Their language curriculum in Foundation Year is rigorous. She learned PTH pinyin and English phonics at the same time and mastered both pretty well now. Of course I have to help her at home e.g. read to her & read with her both Chinese and English storybooks. But she does not need extra tutorials.

My daughter's classmates are from all kinds of kindergartens, to name a few : Victoria, Tutortime, St. Catherine, KCS, Woodland, Yew Chung etc. But I would suggest you choose a bilingual  school. Learning to recognize Chinese words and write some certainly would help your kid in ISF.

Hope it helps.

kfy

Hi Birkin
Congratulations!
Yes, in FY to Grade 3 they only have 30% curriculum in English, including English Language (mainly Phonics in FY), English Math and English Guided Discovery.
For my daughter's case, she has big improvement in English because she was from a local kindergarten with minimal English and she did not learn phonics before. Now she can speak English fluently and starts reading simple books by herself and writing some English sentences. She speaks mostly English (a little bit PTH) during playtime.
I heard about other classmates from international kindergarten. They commented that their kids' English level improved in a slower pace then before.
Hence, in terms of English, ISF should be weaker than international schools but stronger than local schools in general.
I think it is very important to develop the reading habit. The English teacher requested parents to read with kids at home, at least one book a day. Usually I read chapter book (e.g. Magic School Bus) to my daughter and let her read a graded reader to me everyday. Furthermore, the school library provided online resources, we have account to access USA elibrary and my daughter read ebooks (with read-aloud function) almost everyday.

kfy

Hi Birkin
The school hour is 8am - 210pm for FY and 8am - 330pm for other grades. There are bus services for most areas including Kowloon. The service is provided by Koon Chung. The school will provide you with the info on the registration date. I drive my daughter to school everyday and the arrangement is quite smooth.

kfy

Hi elock

Well, it may be hard for some busy parents but I consider that reading with kids is a very good habit for all families. I am a working mum myself though I enjoy high flexibility in my work. My friends with kids in ESF also read with their kids and they have parent workshop on how to read with children. If the parents are too busy or cannot read Chinese, I think hiring tutor may be an alternative.

I do not know how to answer your 2nd question, as I cannot comment much about mirror image of local school.

ISF is offering IB curriculum instead of local curriculum. As such, the students may not memorize a lot of hard knowledge but they are supposed to be "inquirers" and need to have creativity and research ability - hence reading plus good analytical skills are important to survive in IB curriculum.

Say, I was quite impressed when my daughter told me casually (I never ask the question "what did you learn in school?") about the planets in solar system or about characteristics of dinosaurs. She was keen to search on the internet for more information (of course with my help). I was happy because she was interested. I don't expect her to remember those facts forever ... you can look up the information again anytime if you like. I think going to school nowadays the major objective is learning how to learn and how to solve problems.

On the other hand, I do not say that local schools are inferior. The local curriculum also has very good initiatives and lots of teachers are good and with heart. The only issue is resource problem. If all local schools can have more teachers such that each teacher can have more spare time slots for lesson planning, I am sure that the situation will be much better.

kfy

Dear elock

Yes, actually I quit my job since my daughter was born and eventually changed to this new position. Sometimes I think that it's a matter of priority. And being a mom is an excellent training for self-discipline ... You have to take care of her even if you are extremely tired. You make her sleep before you dare go to bed ... Bittersweet, right?

Regarding reading to kids, I consider it's irrelevant to which school she is attending. I have a friend from Norway who is teaching in university. You know the kids in Norway do not receive formal education before 7. However, the daddy every night spends at least 2 hours read with his daughter. And he said it's the norm in Norway. That's one of the reasons they got such a high mark in PISA.

kfy

Hi elock

Good morning! Let me continue.

My daughter is only in Foundation Year. Up to now, I perceive that the school encourages student participation and active learning. The school is quite strict in discipline. Definitely, they train the students to raise their hands before speaking out. However I never heard anyone being discouraged or punished due to asking too much questions.

The teacher plays the major role in classroom management and as a learning facilitator. A good teacher will somehow control the dynamics and guide the students to ask or answer question that will direct to the expected learning outcomes.

kfy

Dear Spantan
Thanks for your advice.
As a parent in ISF I certainly hope that my daughter will be happy in school.

Sometimes I talked with other ISF parents of higher grades.  Some have elder kids in other IS (e.g. HKIS) while putting the younger one in ISF. Hearing they sharing their rationale of choosing a school let me learn more.

I read your post about choosing school and I feel that you are a very thoughtful parent. While you may not want to share what exactly happened to your friend, maybe you can share with us your view about the weaknesses of ISF.

kfy

Dear Spantan

ISF have the first graduating class this year. Hence the first university placement is not yet available. However, the school is rather transparent to the parents that they sent out in early March via circular an update about the university offers the students got.

I remember that the graduating class has around 20+ students and I can see around 60 offers already there. The info says that some universities will announce result in end March or Apr hence there may be more offers later.
Having said that it's a list of offers but not final placement. So both  eye-catching and less attractive offers were all listed out.

I read from the list, there is no Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Yale ... if that's the reason of your friends "not impressive" comment, I can see your friends should dislike the school. To be honest, if I find my kid having the quality and potential to attend Cambridge or Harvard, I would certainly send her to LPC United World College for IB DP class, if not go overseas earlier.

On the other hand, I find LSE, Kings College, St. Andrews, UBC, SCAD, HKU/CU/HKUST, etc. which, to my own standard, is not unimpressive.

I have my response here because I believe that the graduating students and the school are working very hard and I do not wish they are discouraged by comments based on incomplete information.

kfy

Yes, and I hope that the graduating class students and parents know that most parents in ISF are supportive and positive to their hard work and achievements. Keep up with the effort and wish them good luck in IB exam.

kfy

Dear poonseelai and Ving

The capital notes is very expensive maybe because of limited supply and growing demand. Anyway, the majority of new students here (including my daughter) are not holders of capital notes. There are 180 students in G1 which make the school a big school now.

The tuition fee is among the top (I remember should be top 3 or 4 with HKIS, CIS, YC ...). It's due to small class size and high teacher ratio. If you compare with ESF of class size 30 while ISF has class size of 18 in G1, it's nearly double in teaching staff cost. Furthermore, the school has dedicated staff for curriculum head etc.  

I heard other ISF parents commenting that after almost 10 years, the primary school is on track and doing well now; while for the secondary school we need to let them go through the similar development stage. I think it's a fair comment. I really have not much understanding about secondary section though from the students I meet everyday in the campus, they are polite and humble from my perception.

kfy

Dear Spantan

Thanks for your comment. Your judgement is sensible.

Well, as I am also working in education related field. I always think that there is no perfect school for all kids or families but only the most suitable one. Same as there is no perfect teaching method or lesson plan for all teachers but only the one that fit the teacher's character, philosophy and style.

If the parents or the students find that the school cannot meet their expectation, it's most sensible to look for a more suitable one. Similar to students may switch from Maryknoll to DGS, this is really a matter of choice.

For my own choice, I send my daughter to ISF NOT because I want her to go to Oxbridge (I have friends who send kids to international schools also do not have such aim...). I never believe that if I send her to local school she will only attend HKU or if I am willing to pay the extra money for private school she will attend Oxbridge. There are simply far too many factors.

Why go to ISF? I want to let her have a free and happy learning environment, plus good enough Chinese and not too bad English. Furthermore, it's close to my home.

Just wish to share you my personal story. I was always a "distinction" student since primary and got academic scholarship and award up to my Master degree. My reflections are (1) So what? (2) Happiness probably can come from wisdom but not from intelligence/academic achievement/career achievement (3) Passion, curiosity and self-discipline are the major factors for success in any aspect.

Maybe because of my personal background, I do not have too high expectation on any school. And I am not worried much about my daughter's academic development. I know whether she is "on track". Instead, I would focus my effort to help her develop passion, curiosity and self-discipline.

I believe ISF will never be a perfect school. I cannot ask for problem free but try to learn with my daughter how to tackle any problem. If one day there is a better one more suitable to my daughter, I may switch too. Changing school is not problematic at all if there are reasons.

PS1. The university offer list sent to parents did not include the degree program details hence I cannot comment about it.
PS2. There is no public exam result available because they are just taking the 1st IBDP exam this year. I wish them good luck and all the bests. NOT because it's important to school reputation BUT because it's important to the students themselves.
PS3. I am an ISF parent and I am not rich.

kfy

Dear funnymommy

Do not need to worry too much about Mandarin speaking or listening. Your son will pick up very soon. He does not need to be a very fluent speaker during interview.

If possible, try to develop Chinese book reading habit with him now. Buy books from 小樹苗 with mandarin pinyin or even 基礎漢字 500. Read (or ask your son's tutor to read) a small storybook or just several pages everyday.

For FY student, the expected homework per school day is 40minutes inclusive of read along and a little bit of writing (journal / book reports etc.). I found that 40 minutes should be more than sufficient.

http://www.isf.edu.hk/en/academics/assessment/

kfy

Dear Smileocc

Yes some of the offers are unconditional and some are conditional. I am not too sure about the process as my daughter is still so young ...

kfy

回復 mesmerising 的帖子

My kid is in ISF junior primary. I regularly visit the school as lunch mom, reading mom, book fair volunteer etc. What I observe is that the students' discipline is not bad, though really can't match with local schools. For example, in canteen during lunch hour it's at least as noisy as a Chinese teahouse. Library is also not a quiet place too. Injuries due to accidents happen occasionally. In a way, it's because the students are less restricted, they can talk while eating,  read aloud in the library or run in the play area. So far I did not come across real fighting or very bad behavior.

Yes, I agree that quality of students and parents matters. In small class of only 18 students, if there are some "difficult" students the situation will be worse than case of bigger class.

Students with siblings are very common in ISF. In my kid's class, there are 5 of out 18 students with elder siblings in ISF. I know some parents with several kids in the school. Their elder kids are working pretty well in secondary section,  winning academic awards or participating in different sports teams. I think those families do match well with the school.

kfy

21Ckid 發表於 13-1-17 22:09
The real problem of ISF, as I heard from friends, is that it is attracting the wrong type of parents ...

I think the home assignment workload of ISF is higher than other IS mostly due to the workload in Chinese and Chinese Math - they are comparable with local curriculum, using local textbooks plus learning resources prepared in-house.
For English and Discovery subjects, the workload should be no different from, if not less than, other IS.  
Chinese (not just Mandarin speaking!) is so much emphasized in this school. Learning Chinese is a bit different from English. Say knowing pinyin can't help your character writing. You still need to practice them. Reading comprehension is also difficult. So you must read more Chinese books to enhance your reading skill. Hence, comparing with other IS, ISF workload in home reading is "doubled" because you are supposed to read both Chinese and English books at home.
To be honest, if the parents do not wish to spend so much effort in Chinese language/culture learning, they should consider not sending their kids there.
Comparing to local schools, the workload is still much lower. At least, there is no exercise / dictation / exam of 常識科 in the school.

kfy

mesmerising 發表於 13-1-18 13:03
Hello Kfy, nice to meet you.  Yes I still remember the book fair and the library! I volunteered at b ...

Hi mesmerising ! Though I can guess from your previous post, when I read your incident in details, I still feel very sorry for your son. School administration is always the most accused in this school. But the current primary school principal, who is a lady from Beijing, is very nice and gentle. The kids and parents like her very much.
My kid is just lucky that so far most classmates we met are pretty well in conduct, maybe some have a bit 公主病 or some are a bit too bossy. The teachers do care about the students' conduct too. Of course, I wish the luck will continue. But you can never tell. Kids are blank sheets of paper and much affected by families, peers and school. And family situation can change dramatically...

In a way, when there are more applicants to the school, the school can be a bit more selective. I believe that's why the situation may be improving over the years.