有無加拿大國際的家長？

jolalee

Last year my son started at Reception. He has the most loving teacher and he loves school everyday. This year in Prep he happens to have one of the most academically demanding teacher, who is somewhat new this year (but have taught in CDNIS several years ago and just came back to HK). My son feared going school for a week or so, but have over come it and even say good things about her now. Moreover, he begin to love writing. He'd come home, grab a piece of paper and starts to make name lists & 'number city' etc. He's beginning to read as well although i didn't give him much tuition outside of the school. [New note: we just experienced a super long weekend, and since everyone is the house was sick, we didn't do much. My son told me he miss school a lot and asked me if he can go tomorrow. I'm glad he came around to liking his new, very strict teacher.]

As long as the child does not have too much trouble in school, it's basically through-train all the way to high school graduation. I do hear that at grade 7, many IS students including those at CDNIS would play 'musical chair'. However, if you are planning to leave by then it's not an issue you need to worry about. I hope the above addressed your questions.

jolalee

random_dad 發表於 15-9-25 08:53
Not trying to be fear mongering, but with the issues of CDNIS this past year between parents, teache ...

I was one of the parents who was shocked with the issues when it first broke out, but as I dug deeper and deeper I realized it is nothing but politics (two groups of governors / ex-governors fighting for the toy that is CDNIS). The media and social media was dragged into it by one group and made the problems sound much bigger than it really was. Anyhow most of the group unhappy with the situation has left, so hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

As to the level of education, the existing governing body does notice it is academically not as strong as the super top schools and wants to push for a more balanced program. Personally I do not mind as it saves me from the need to give my child additional tuitions after school in the long run. They do claim though that they will not change the existing culture of the school. Whether that is true or not, and whether the teachers will stay for their next contracts or not are all speculations at this point.

Our family had the choice to leave for another school after the politics broke out (due to my son's month of birth, HKIS gave us the interview and the offer a year later than CDNIS). However, after careful analysis I still find CDNIS to be our prime choice, just that we'd keep an eye out in case the school does turn for the worse. So far this year we are quite happy with our experiences.

jolalee

Congee_Noodle 發表於 15-9-30 17:13
I am a new parent at CDNIS. Before I decided to accept the offer from CDNIS, I had the same concern ...

To be honest I find the school culture has swung to the more serious side this year (in comparison with the first year we were there), which in a way is actually better. Last year I had a feeling the school was too 'loose', some teachers came to play, not to teach.

From what I gathered, this situation has been simmering under the rug for years under the previous administration, and the new one is there to perform 'house cleaning'. The resistance used the media to put a bad name to the school in hopes of stopping it from happening. In the end the school had to deal a strong hand to the core group to prevent matters from getting worse.

I think the teachers are a bit up tight at the beginning of this year. The students still have lots of fun though, and the learning environment is better. In due time I hope the atmosphere will return to a more balanced state. In many organizations I've experienced, the team spirit and the work spirit often has such similar clashes. The pendulum is swinging to the other side now, and it is my hope that the school will find the right balance in due time.

jolalee

oneonemama 發表於 15-9-25 23:21
Thanks! 但我真係有考慮比仔仔返加拿大讀私校的

如果打算回加拿大讀私校的話，CDNIS的確可以選擇。多年前我做research時看到CDNIS的成績跟所有加拿大學校比較是top的，受歡迎程度不俗。當然新情況要過幾年才知。

另外要清楚mass intake現在改早了。以前CDNIS pre-reception (k1) 收40人, 然後 reception (k2) 加收80人, preparatory (k3) 加收5人，所以reception考進去最易入。現在 pre-reception收多兩班，而 reception 總人數冇變，即 PR 同R 的收生數目大致對換，所以如果PR入唔到，R入相繼較難入了。有加藉䕶照幫助未必最大，最緊要看 interview 表現。

jolalee

Anfield playgroup should be fine.

My son was in a playgroup and then K1 equivalent in the same school, surrounded by mostly Caucasian classmates (his school was in Discovery Bay). We spoke to him mainly in English before age 3. However, I know some families who do speak to their kids in Cantonese and they are in as well (whether they have some other priorities or not, i do not know), but yeah, everyone went to a different school beforehand: Kingston, Woodlands, TT, PIPS, Montessori, Starter, KCIS etc etc. I'm sure there are kids from Anfield as well.

jolalee

回覆 oneonemama 的帖子

An hour! Wow, that'd be too far. We used to live in Tung Chung (with an expat community already), but we like the unique school that happens to be in Dbay. By bus it was about 30 minutes door-to-door, just the max amount of traveling for kindergarten aged kids.

Anfield is good though, so just ensure he has sufficient native English exposure. At this age it's all parallel play anyway.

jolalee

回覆 HKTHK 的帖子

Yup, the media reports were basically one sided, and many parents including myself were notified of the 'problem' from that side as well. Only those who were willing to talk to everyone and kept asking questions realize that, the facts were subject to interpretations.

As with most conflicts, neither side was wholly 'right'. Politics.

Unfortunately, teachers & parents were dragged into it.

jolalee

回覆 Congee_Noodle 的帖子

The teachers have always been passionate in our school. It's just more balanced this year ;)