ICS 唔係International School?!

boyboy_mama

係EDB網站找國際學校資料，看不到ICS,email詢問詳情，官答話佢係IPS(independent private school),唔係 international school喎

dtwy

Hereunder are the PIS in Hong Kong 希望冇錯啦。

1, DISCOVERY BAY PRIVATE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL
2, INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ACADEMY
3, INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN QUALITY MUSIC SECONDARY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL
4, INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
5, PO LEUNG KUK CHOI KAI YAU SCHOOL
6, RENAISSANCE COLLEGE
7, VICTORIA SHANGHAI ACADEMY
8, YEW CHUNG INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

jolalee

poonseelai 發表於 14-5-29 20:20
In fact it is difficult to segregate locals or non-local for HK born kids with foreign passports  ...

In regards to this, for some schools like YCIS with the entire school basically 95% ethnic Chinese, it is true that ethnicity is mainly a non-issue, and if they have too many applicants with local passports they'd balance off the passport nationality as per EDB requirement with HK kids holding an overseas passport. It was the same for ESF in the past, given initially they only looked at the info submitted on paper [Cat 1 or 2, plus the passport nationality stated] that's why there are lots of ethnic Chinese kids in ESF schools. With the new change we don't know for sure, but so far the primary school interview results are positive as long as the child is fluent in English.

However, many international schools does take ethnicity in addition to passport background into consideration as well. For example: With an estimation of 300,000 Cdn passport holders in HK, CDNIS has a massive amount of applicants who are ethnically Chinese but holds a Cdn passport. (A part of our city's history of mass immigration to Canada back in the 80-90's and their kids returning to HK now to live, work & raise families of their own) However, parents with kids in the school can tell you, ethnic Chinese only consists of 30% of the school's population. So they do care about the skin color in selecting students, although it is not out in the open for discussion. I believe this is the same with AISHK, given the observation by AISHK parents that there are far more expat kids than there are ethnic Chinese kids.

jolalee

回覆 poonseelai 的帖子

I see! So older schools such as YCIS & Concordia just have to follow / maintain the minimum 50% overseas passport rule instead of 70%. Some schools such as DBIS, JIS & Kellet naturally has close to 90% expats anyway so they are quite alright.  I am guessing that Kingston didn't need a land grant from the HK government? Perhaps that's why they can still call themselves IS while having over 60% local family? (I heard the school is founded by a wealthy family with a heart in education).

poonseelai

The ratio of non-local students of IS has been changed:

"Under the prevailing policy, international schools (with no boarding facilities) receiving government assistance in the form of vacant premises or sites are required to allocate at least 70% of the school places to target students who hold foreign passport (except the British National (Overseas) Passport) or student visas for entry into Hong Kong for studies.  The earlier requirement was at least 50%.  To better accommodate the needs of overseas families, this requirement has been raised to at least 70% since 2009."

http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/about-e ... ective20140421.html

jolalee

So, are schools like Kingston, Concordia & YCIS breaking the rule? Is that why YCIS applies to EDB as IS for primary  but PIS for secondary (if that really is the case), to dodge the restriction? If that is so wouldn't that give the school a big headache for students transitioning from primary to secondary?

It just dawned on me as well, with this less than 30% locals for IS & at least 70% locals for PIS, that ESF kindergarten interview priority only applies to the two PIS would be advantageous for locals?

poonseelai

In fact it is difficult to segregate locals or non-local for HK born kids with foreign passports

poonseelai

原帖由 shadeslayer 於 14-05-29 發表
The 30% I think applies to new IS created in the last few years, first one being Harrow.  Future IS  ...

TVB had a programme last year or so about the high % of locals in IS, and Kingston was quoted as having 60%. That programme, as I recall, did not say the limitation on locals apply to new IS only.

shadeslayer

原帖由 jolalee 於 14-05-29 發表
本帖最後由 jolalee 於 14-5-29 18:32 編輯

The 30% I think applies to new IS created in the last few years, first one being Harrow.  Future IS I bet will get this restriction but old IS don't have this. Kingston and YC have very high percentage of locals yet they are real IS in the EDB sense.  PIS like DC may have more expats than Kingston or YC.

jolalee

shadeslayer 發表於 14-5-29 13:39
YC is definitely an IS in the traditional or EDB sense.  the definition of IS is academic, not reall ...

The quality of the education each institution provides definitely depends on the school itself and not whether it is IS or PIS status. No doubt about that (and ICS is a great school, which was one of the top on my list). I'm just intrigued by whether they are technically defined by the student mix in accordance to poonseelai's findings:

"The major difference is I believe the student mix.  International school - max 30% local children whereas private independent school - at least 70% local children."

I browsed through the list and found that CAIS has 32.0% HK locals and SIS has 32.2%, which has exceeded the limit by a little, which is fine. However, KCIS has 39.8% HK locals, Concordia 42.3%, YCIS 55.5%, Kingston Int'l School has 63.7%, which all exceeded the 30% limit by a large chunk. Quite alarming, it is  (well, at least they are honest about it). How is that possible, while they are being listed as International School instead of PIS? (All these schools are listed as Int'l Schools on the EDB publication i've posted above)


[On a minor note, since i was going through the figures anyway, I also noticed that Sears Rogers has 31.3% Chinese nationals, and Norwegian Int'l School has 50.0%, but I suppose China passport are considered non-locals, right? That is definitely opening up a can of worm for HK....]

FattyDaddy

jolalee 發表於 14-5-29 06:53
I have heard within the expat circle that it is easier to get in DBIS if the child has a HKID ...

Could it be that they have mixed up Discovery Bay International School with Discovery College? DC does give priority to HK permanent residents. From their website ...

"If demand for enrolment in any year level exceeds the places available, then children with at least one parent holding Hong Kong permanent resident status will be accepted before other students with the same priority status."
http://www.discovery.edu.hk/cms/index.php/en/admissions/admissions-policy

Also, holding a HKID card is not the same as being a HK permanent resident, all foreigners engaged in legal employment in HK could (and should, according to HK government) obtain a HKID card {:1_1:}

shadeslayer

YC is definitely an IS in the traditional or EDB sense.  the definition of IS is academic, not really important to parents and students.  IS,  PIS or not, we still need to look at similar aspects of the education the schools provide.

jolalee

I just found the IS list on the EDB website:
http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment ... ional%20schools.pdf

Proves that how they name the school really doesn't make a difference:
Ie. IMS (International Montessori School) is IS while ICS (International Christian School) is not an IS.

I am quite surprised, i thought DBIS is full IS given 90% of the kids there are non-Chinese. I have heard within the expat circle that it is easier to get in DBIS if the family has permanent HK residency [in original post i mistakenly wrote "HKID"], I guess it is to balance off their expat heavy population.

Another possibility is that this list is not 100% up-to-date. The latest stats they get are from 2010, so schools like DBIS etc used to have just Primary school in the past but have added the secondary school year by year... You can see that in DBIS's stats (back in 2009 their highest class was Y8, so this year they should be graduating from Y13, making the school's status changing from just primary to sec+prim starting this year only).

jolalee

sschiu 發表於 14-5-27 16:22
在Private Independent School Scheme成立的學校，政府有資助建校費用，金額相當於興建一間能容納同樣學生 ...

I always thought Yew Chung is an international school because of it's name:
Ie. Yew Chung INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
(whereas ICS is called Int'l Christisn School instead of Christian Int'l School)

So I guess there's no governing rules to the placement/location of the word "International" within the school's name? I always thought that could help determine if the school is true IS or not.

Since you specified that YC (sec) is PIS, how about their primary section? Can a school have 1/2 the school being int'l and half being PIS?

Is there a list of PIS in HK?

HKTHK

回覆 ckwliu 的帖子

Creative Primary is listed as a PYP school on IBO's website

sschiu

在Private Independent School Scheme成立的學校，政府有資助建校費用，金額相當於興建一間能容納同樣學生數量的政府標準校舍，餘額由辦學團體補貼。PIS學校在開辦課程、收生、聘請老師等有高度自由。很多學校都是PIS，CKY、YC (Sec)、RC、DC、Creative等。有錯請指正。

王家爸爸

Roylakao 發表於 14-5-27 14:35
定係做local嘅international school 阿? 係咪IB課程?

美式課程，考SAT

Roylakao

定係做local嘅international school 阿? 係咪IB課程?