Is it good at ISF

mesmerising

My son studied there years ago and now back to the local stream.  All I can say is, aside from the heavier homework load, my son flares better with the local as far as whole person development is concerned.  Personally I think parents nowadays stress too much on fluency in language(which to me is just a tool) than the message and content of it(which I see as an internal part of a person which in turn is more important).

HKTHK

回復 mesmerising 的帖子

Can you explain in more detail?  Are you unhappy with the curriculum (as in difficulty of contents) or culture (as in behaviors of students)?

mesmerising

It was more of a behavioral one.  Though my son now speak weaker English and almost zero mandarin, I have my son back as his moral values stay closer to ours as a simple traditional Chinese family.  There were some unhappy incidents before with the school but years have past and both parties grow, then I am not going to mention the old story again.

HKTHK

Didn't meant to dig into your old story but just wanted to learn more where you were coming from.  Thank you for sharing.

Jane1983

有一個親戚兩個朋友的仔女讀ISF，有聽過佢地批評學校，但德育或行為就真係無聽過有問題，佢地的小朋友亦幾乖，同埋吾會好鬼。

利申：無報ISF

kafool

Aw... Thanks for sharing. I always thought ISF's morale is better than most international schools!!

mesmerising

回復 kafool 的帖子

To name just a FEW not relating to my son:Students (grade 3-4) throwing food towards each other from their trays during lunch hour. I used to be lunch mom there.
School bus drivers refusing to drive and just literally stop on the shoulder just because they were too misbehave.
Grade 1 students saying the F word with anger.  And I mean quite a number of them.
Teacher punishing a wild kid with a ruler.
These are just a few I still remember.  All not related to my son's incident, which is a shame on the school side.

But to be fair, it was just an establishing school a few years back.  As I have said, maybe it grows, for better.

mesmerising

That year, quite a number of us left the school, some to other IS, more back to local.  I still keep in touch with one of the Isf parents and asked what she decided to do with her kid regarding grade 7/form 1.  And she said,"唉！黎咗咁耐，重走得去邊呀！＂

21Ckid

The real problem of ISF, as I heard from friends, is that it is attracting the wrong type of parents, like those above, They would otherwise have chosen LS but would not like their kids to be tortured by the local system (or perhaps couldn't get into SPCC, DBS DGS etc), and seen (wrongly) ISF as an escape route, They love to have their kids to speak native english AND native mandarin, to have a happy school life, to be outgoing (whatever, you name it, those usually said to be associated with IS), but also demand their kids to sit tight, to have good discpline (by the stanadrd of LS), and above all, to be academically in line with LS.

Of course, there is give and take and you can't get everything, The problem of ISF to meet parents' expectation, it is aiming endlessly. The work load for homework is increasing rapidly. But it disappoints both parents opting for IS route but also those otherwise opting for LS (as they expect minimal homework BUT same academic acheivements!).

On paper, ISF should be my dream school, but it is the execution that matters.

HKTHK

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Is that what the above poster is unhappy about?  I thought she was unhappy about behavioral problems.

21Ckid

ISF does have a group of unhappy parents, they want their kids to sit tight, they want them to be at par with the top LS, but doesn't want the pressure of LS, or all of the above.

mesmerising

Don't mistake me, I don't believe elite LS are the only way out and i never compare.my kid is just in a 津小now studying quite happily.  He is outgoing , fearless and humorous.  I have known some IS students from my neighborhood whom behave very nicely.  We should not mistake liveliness with plain poor conduct. One can be lively, with good school work and conduct at the same time, with the effort of both attending parents and a right school.

mesmerising

回復 21Ckid 的帖子

Good morning.  And YES, I agree the real problem of Isf is its parents.  It attracts dedicating parents who believe in the school and are willing to put their effort to build their kids together.  But it ALSO attracts those who think it is an easy and miraculous school which they can left behind their kids for a month with the helper and go for wine tasting across Europe and see that as norm.  One can imagine how kids grow without the love and time from their parents around.  I don't blame the kids, I feel sorry for them.  It is the parents.

shadeslayer

原帖由 21Ckid 於 13-01-17 發表
The real problem of ISF, as I heard from friends, is that it is attracting the wrong type of parents ...

speak native english AND native mandarin

Xxxx

Does the school promise this?  It is a bold promise.  Did they say what give them the confidence to do that?

HKTHK

回復 shadeslayer 的帖子

Tell me, which school in HK promise anything?  

caa

回復 shadeslayer 的帖子

I bet the school has not promised this, no one I guess?But anyway, all teachers are either English or mandarin native speakers

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.

mesmerising

Hello Kfy, nice to meet you.  Yes I still remember the book fair and the library! I volunteered at both before as well.  First off, I want to state once again that I was a parent there years ago and I believe a school would strive for better.  

I didn't mind the noise in the canteen at all! It was just chit chat showing their enjoyment mostly.  And in LS, at least for my son's school, children got to chat and wander around groups during lunch hour as well, or even chat with the teacher. All in all, life in LS is not as robotic or strict as people think.

and yes!  If you got a difficult student in a small class, it brought tremendous effect.  It was the case for my son's incidence and my son wa NOT the only victim of it.  There were numerous others but to a lesser degree of harm.

What happened to my son was not accident.  But repeatedly inflicting multiple small
bleeding wounds (over 30)over the body.  For a period of longer than a month with us trying to communicate with the school or the difficult parents and asked for possible arrangement.  We even held meeting together(with other victim's parents) with the principal of that time.  But the school response was they cannot do anything just to protect itself from complicated administration and more from possible chaos brought about when other classes know about this.  As a result, around four or five of us left(think about the proportion out of 15)the school for this or other GENERAL CONDUCT ISSUE around the school like stealing, general bully or kids paying other kids money asking for friendship in return.

These values are not what some parents wanted their kids to learn and I much prefer spending my time doing home cooking and story reading with my kid THAN had him asking me questions like" why he brings pain to me, I am his good friend?" Or " mummy, can we buy friends?" at his age.

Regarding the curriculum , just one word, BEAUTIFUL.  I remember missing it for the first year I left the school very much.

As for native bilingual ability, I was satisfied as well. But as I said, what was said is more than how it is said. Language is just a tool but your soul and values are part of you.

Ms.M

shadeslayer 發表於 13-1-18 09:15
speak native english AND native mandarin
Does the school promise this?  It is a bold promise.  Did they say what give them the confidence to do that?

I have been an ISF parent for many years but dont think I have heard the school made this kind of promise.  Target is one thing, promise is totally another thing.  However, according to my real life interaction with many ISF students in the Primary section, I have found many students who do speak both perfect English and Mandarin.  Many of them are blonde hair blue eyes, more of them are black hair brown eyes.

Afterall, language skill is just a tool.  I dont care much honestly.  What I am looking for is thought provoking education and leadership training and I am happy with the school so far.