有無 St. Mary's 家長？

chishun

現在是 St. Mary's 低年級家長可否告知小朋友學校生活愉快嗎？功課量多嗎？壓力大不大？對此學校有何comments？有無後悔/慶幸俾女女入讀此校？

如不想公開談論的話可否PM我？ Thank you !   

j-ma-ma

Chishun,
My daughter is in P2 now.
School life - happy
Homework - not too much, 1to 2 hour is sufficient.
Pressure - not quite because test marks are not count in the report. Exam is not that tough either because most of the areas had been covered in the test. No dict and Sci exam (use average marks).  

Negative comments:
- English is too simple and teaching too slow. I am worried about their Eng standard especially seeing a lot of comments in BK parents saying that the secondary school is for bright students only.  You will be smart or learn nothing.
- Children are very very happy during the activate weeks because there is little homework, no dict but to do activity sheets only.  However, the following weeks are tough, teaching very fast, lots of homework and dict.

Any more you want to know?

bau

Any extra activities arranged for the students? Are all the textbooks except English are in Chinese? How about the teachers are they nice?
Heard that the English standard of St Mary is dropped, do you agree? Don’t you think they should have more English books for the students?

j-ma-ma

Bau,
Yes, lots of activities (swimming, drawing, gym, music instrument, etc) are arranged (after school or on Sat), but the problem is you have to arrange your own transportation.  In my case, as I cannot afford, I tends to particpate activates near my home.

Like other primary schools, most text books are in Chinese (Chinese Math).  English books are 1 year in advance (P1 use P2 English books, etc) and have Sci in English as well.  But I still think English is too simple because the teacher will only select a few chapters to teach and the pace is slow.

In my opinion, English standard in HK drops a lot (except for some a few elite school like DGJS).  I would of course recommend more English books (especially English Math).  Anyway, the minimum is to teach more Chapters instead of select a few.

Teachers - I didn't heard bad comments from my daughter.  Her headmistress is very good but I don't know all.

bau

St Mary is one of the schools that I want to try for my girl but as heard that the English standard there is dropped and teachings are not as active as the DSS schools, I wonder whether selecting DSS school will be better than ST Mary. (of course get a seat in St Mary is not easy too). One of my friend willing to give up a seat in Wah Yan and choose a DSS school (as he got enough marks for his kid and sure can get a seat), he claimed that the kid will be more flexible under the new teaching method by the new creative school.

Would you please let me know how you got the place in St mary (via the 1st round or via lucky draw? )

BTW, will the school use English to teach maths in higher form and will they have any plan to strengthen the students’ English?

chishun

j-ma-ma,

Thanks for your reply.  Do you know any cases that the girl got a seat in the 3rd round?  Is it very difficult to knock the door and apply for a seat in the 3rd round?

Thanks.

j-ma-ma

Bau,
I am an old girl and we are catholic.  We get in the first round with 25 marks.
They push kids to read a lot of books (I hope that helps).  In P4, they have Geography (in Eng).  Frankly, speaking their English should be above average school but how is it when compare with DSS school, I couldn't comment.  At this moment, I am still satisfied with the school given, the amount of work, pressure, their standard and result of my daughter (within the top 10).  Of course, I know there are some better schools (like DGJS), the amount of time required from me (as a working mother) will be a lot more.

I don't know anybody getting a place in 3rd round and I do believe it is extremely difficult.  Getting a place in P2 or above is equally difficult.  There is only 1 new student in P2 last year and that girl is very smart.

chishun

Thanks j-ma-ma,

Glad to know that you're old girl.  I have questions about their secondary school too.  Heard that the standard and workload of St Mary's secondary are very high and tough, even graduates from her feeder schools cannot cope with the workload and standard well.  Do you agree?  What's your comment?  Thanks again!

bau

Since you are the old girl, when comparing your girl's book with the olden days, do you agree that their english std dropped? you said they push the students to read a lot of books, I believe it really help and it really depends on their atmosphere of reading.

How about the girls there? are most of them quiet as commented by other BK moms? If the one termed as active, do you think she can study happy there?

mrsphcheung

I also graduated from a similar school like St Mary's.  It is unfair to say that the English standard of St Mary's has dropped.  Actually, whether the standard is high or low depends on the academic ability and the determination of the students.  No pain, no gain.  English proficiency depends on daily exposure (reading, listening, writing and speaking).  It is not solely the responsibility of the school to create English learning atmosphere for the children, family support is also important.  It is a long journey to educate our children to have high language proficiency and independent thinking.   

bau

So far I think people thinking that their English standard dropped are due to their using chinese as the teaching media.

I just want to know are their textbooks are more easy than those of olden days, for example using chinese maths instead of eng.

j-ma-ma

Bau,
Books use nowadays cannot be compared with those used in olden days.  They are now full of colourful pictures but little words.  Yes, we have English Maths in the past.

Teaching method has changed a lot also.  They have lots of role play, discussion and activites.  That's why they learned happily but little.

A lot of people may not agree but I think good grammar can only be learnt with memorization of rules and lots of practise.  I agree with no pain, no gain.

My daughter is really a quiet girl and is willing to learn.  Yet, I believe over 70% of girls can accept such atmosphere.  No comment on active boys.

I am graduated in St. Mary's Primary School but cannot get a seat in the secondary section.  Then I join Holy Family which is our sister school.  When compared with most classmates who are from HF primary, my English is outstanding.  So you can tell the difference.   

judy

I am graduated in St. Mary's Primary School but cannot get a seat in the secondary section. Then I join Holy Family which is our sister school. When compared with most classmates who are from HF primary, my English is outstanding. So you can tell the difference.

j-ma-ma

聽說，HF primary 的 top 學生都到 St. Mary 升學，留在Holy Family 的學生和你一樣，是水軍鬥水軍，所以不能以此例子証明 St. Mary Primary 的英文比 HF primary 的好。

j-ma-ma

Judy,

May be.  Then I become top of 水軍.

judy

HF primary 的水軍都好勁。 Top of  HF primary 的水軍更加不得了。

bau

I also agree that today people using active teaching saying that the kids will be more creative, but as you said, no pain no gain, in the olden days, we didn’t have too much extra activities but concentrate on the books and I really quite enjoy learning and I still can remember the books that I learned (One tin soldier, poetry by Walter de la Mare, the roman empire) and at that time, all my books were in English, poetry, history, arithmetic, religious studies, science hygiene. Now I read the books of my nephew, I find that the English is so simple even he is in P4. Quite worry that how he can manage to use English when he enter the secondary schools.

j-ma-ma

Bau,

Totally agreed.  One more subject to add - Music. I enjoy singing all those English songs and can still remember them now.

I think this is the objective of HKSAR government and Mr Li Kwok Cheung.  They intentionally simpify the English syllabus and pull down the English standard so that people in China can come to HK to study.  Teaching in mother tongue is the first move, 3-3-4 is the second move.  I heard of a rumous that they will promote to use Putogue to teach later.

So if you can afford, I suggest you to go to international schools.

chishun

Hi Bau,

I also agree with j-ma-ma that international school is a good solution to fulfill your requirements.

WYmom

chishun 寫道:
Hi Bau,

I also agree with j-ma-ma that international school is a good solution to fulfill your requirements.

I also find that the English level in primary schools now is lower than in that in the old days, so thinking of switching my kids to international school.  However, there is not much Chinese to learn in international school.  Really want to find a school with a balance in both Chinese and English, as both languages are equally important now.  Anyone knows if any school can achieve this?      

bau

J-ma-ma

I were not studying in famous school only in Delia but all subjects there were english and I was switched from a Chinese school in P4. It was quite hard to catch up as all subjects were in English. I remembered I got 0 marks in the religious studies test as the teacher suddenly announced to have it in the class.

But around half year’s time, I caught up and quite enjoyed there as the teachers there used different games to motivate us to learn. She divided us into several teams and had quiz and when those who knew the answer, we ran to the whiteboard and put the answer on it.

I think teachers should have the enthusiasm to try to find ways to motivate the students to learn not just sitting there and duck feeding to the kids. Even we are not famous school, many of our schoolmates were in very good English and all wrote English letters when we were at primary stage. But today kids don’t like writing, once they finish their homework, they will play the gameboy or watch the TV.

Had you learn a song “give said the little stream”? I taught my girl to sing and she likes the song very much.

For the international school, I really can’t afford to pay for it and also I have to admit that Chinese is very important in nowadays. If we can find one school with balance of Chinese and English, it is perfect. Do you have any idea of such schools? How about Maryknoll? I learn from their website that they still use English textbook but use PTW to teach Chinese, or Good Hope, is it a  good choice? TSL Camoes emphasis using English too and St Francis also.

Really difficult to find one school that match our needs.