International School in Admiralty

angelacylui

Any international school in or nearby Admiralty?

Gisele

Kindergarten or primary?

原文章由 angelacylui 於 08-3-12 12:17 發表
Any international school in or nearby Admiralty?

angelacylui

Kindergarten, thanks!

原文章由 Gisele 於 08-3-12 14:15 發表
Kindergarten or primary?

Gisele

交通方便嘅有: Starters' School (Queen's Road East, Opposite Pacific Place III)

交通唔方便嘅有: Small World Christian Kindergarten (Borrett Road)

兩間嘅口碑都好好。

Gisele

I have been consulting my friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbours on kindergardens since my boy was about 2.  Those two schools were highly recommended by those who had sent their children there.  In the end, my boy did not attend their regular class because I had decided that he should know Chinese so I did not send him to an international kindergarten.

For Small world, one mummy I know personally sent all her three kids there. I think this speaks for itself.   There are lots of international kindergarten around, why chooses the same one if it is not really good.

For Starters, I have a friend who told me that her kid spoke much better English after she attended their summer class.  So I send my boy to their afternoon sessions (twice or three times a week, depending on which class you are in) coz he had nothing to do in the afternoon anyway.  

A few weeks after my boy started their afternoon sessions, his class teacher specifically called me and told me about his learning problems, something which my boy's regular teachers never notice, or see fit to alert me.  I think this is remarkable, bearing in mind that by that time the class teacher had only been with him for a few sessions.   

I picked up my boy every time when the school finished for the day.  All children I saw had a happy face when they were lining up to leave school, so did my boy.  The school campus may be old and unattractive, but the staff were all very caring.

[ 本文章最後由 Gisele 於 08-4-2 13:51 編輯 ]

YYFUNG

原文章由 Joshua0318 於 08-4-2 00:09 發表
Your child studied at any of them? Would you share your experience?

Hello!
I have been told by my sister-in-law about this school because her daughter studied there 10 years ago and had a happy and positive development. Another significance she told me is the very high success rate in getting into ESF school.
The daughter of my sister-in-law was accepted by Beacon Hill School, and currently now studies at Grade 8 in ESF KGV secondary.
I have also paid a school visit there in February 2008.
The school was small and old indeed which is what I expected previously.
HOWEVER, I find the atmosphere is very cosy.
Ms. Winne (the main contact person) is taking care of us.
She is warm and caring as she really spent her time playing with my daughter.
She 's patient. She heartfelt likes the children.
She leaded us the tour.
We watched the class of Primary 1, upper kindy located on the 1st floor. The situation is normal, just as ususal. Space is packed and you feel that a taste of children centre. (If you were brought up in hK, it was somehow similar to the kindy we studied when small).
I observed there 're 20-25 students in every class, 2-3 adults.
The students 're very attentive.
We then went to Mrs Malton's class who is the class teacher of lower kindi.
Yes I admitted there are full of children - guessing >20-25.
BUT the students are properly behaved.
They saw my little one and they were not shy and went play with my daughter.
The students talked to Mrs Malton from time to time and they were talking politely.
Mrs Malton gave us an impression of "nice and warm person".
She has a very welcoming smile and face.
The assistant in that class looks very kind.
In this class, I feel like a family.
Back to the 1st floor again, we sat on the chair.
There's a class lining up and walking to the playground, passing by us.
The staudents behaves lovely and nicely - they said hi, they said baby.
I looked around, and I reckoned that it was just like a neighbourhood school. Very down-to-earth, not fussy.
They do not demand so much from the parnet involvement, etc.
Starters seems they focus what the children need.
I then also asked the opinion from the mama who had the child sent to Starters before in this forum.
Their comments are positive like:
- track record (high admission rate to ESF)
- convenient location (just the opposite to Pacific Place 3)
(I live in Tin Shui Wai that have direct bus go there. But most of the time my sister-in-law may bring her to school from Ho Man Tin - again two direct bus routues stopping in front of Pacific Place 3)
- very good connection with ESF
"Nearer the time of application for P1 (I think over 99% of the Starters kids had applied for ESF, only save those who are going to leave HK in my son's class), Mrs Winnie will keep the parents informed of the schedule of class assessment (kind of advantageous arrangement made by the ESF primaries to assess the kids in a familiar environment) and interviews to be conducted by individual ESF primaries and gives advice to parents on the areas of improvements and what we can do to excel our kids in the interview, such as to encourage speaking up/attend the afternoon classes.  The kids will be arranged to interview at ESF promaries in the same groups which is another advantageous arrangements to Starters kids."
I also asked those mama who has kids in Starters about the school activities.
They said,
"Yes, Mrs Winnie will be able to porvide more current info to you on this.  When my son was still going to Starters, there are two outings per school year and also two parent-teacher consultation day per school year.  There is also X'mas concert held in the classroom performed by the class.  Bradbury school also invited my son's K2 class to its Christmas production which gave my son a nice impression of the primary school he will be joining and helped prepare him for the interview.  A few ESF primary school (on the HK side) do send staff to Starters to interview the applicants prior to the interview which took place in the primary school which is a great benefit!"
I suggest your trial to call up / email Miss Winnie.
She welcomes school visits any time during the school term.
This is all I learn about Starters School.
One more thing is Starters School only provide kindergarten classes to those at the age of 2years8months - 5 years old, and P1 to 5-6 years old. They do not have nursery and playgroup, and do not accept smaller than that specific age due to the restrictions set by Education Bureau.
Lastly, Starters School are all taught in English on learning thru playing concept.
I think the other mama can give you idea on Small World Christian School.
Hope you find it helpful.
Maria (Ava mama)

hazel_mom

Don't think Starters is as good as before.   I don't want to blackmouth Starters but just try to give you another perspective.  My son studied there before.   

1.  You'll notice Mrs Winnie has two different faces later (before and after your child is admitted to this kinder)

2.  The summer school fun is not as good as you think.  My son studied there before for summer school last year too.   All the class teachers in Starters went back to their home country during summer holiday.  Therefore, the class assistants (which are not NET teachers) became the class teacher to teach the summer school class.   But the school fee for summer school fun is even more expensive than its normal school fee during the academic year.   

3.  Not all teachers or staffs are patient and caring.   Some of them even are not qualified.  For example, Mrs Ho, who is a local Chinese, she used to be the "Secretary" (i.e. same position as Mrs Winnie) of Starters in Tai Hang Branch and then became the class teacher of K1 once the Tai Hang Branch was closed two years ago!     And I heard some bad comment of Mrs. Ho too.  One of the class assistant of my friend's kid in Starters is a Japanese, she can't even write simple English (but oral is ok only)!   

4.  Starters used to have good connections with ESF before (but not now).   It's because of the ex-principal of Starters, who is a British woman.   This woman left Starters some years ago and Starters is run by a Chinese.  Many colleagues (most of them are British) of my husband also sent their kids to Starters but it was ten years ago already!     I do know some mommies that their kids failed in the ESF interview last year and this year.  If you said 99% of the students in Starters went to ESF, I would say only around 80% hit rate or less than 80%.     Over 90% hit rate is the figure given by Mrs. Winnie!!!

5.  The good point of Starters is its school fee is cheap compared with other international schools.

6.  I do receive some good comment of Small World.  The school fee of Small World is just a little bit higher than Starters.

Gisele

I cannot comment on your other comments but I don't feel Ms. Winnie is that kind of person.  My son has done their afternoon sessions for 8 months.  During that time, I sent my boy to school and picked him up.  Ms. Winnie was always helping children to tidy up their clothes or put on their jackets, to put things into their cubby-holes and was giving kisses and hugs to those who behaved well.   

原文章由 hazel_mom 於 08-4-3 01:01 發表
Don't think Starters is as good as before.   I don't want to blackmouth Starters but just try to give you another perspective.  My son studied there before.   

1.  You'll notice Mrs Winnie has two di ...

YYFUNG

原文章由 hazel_mom 於 08-4-3 01:01 發表
Don't think Starters is as good as before.   I don't want to blackmouth Starters but just try to give you another perspective.  My son studied there before.   

1.  You'll notice Mrs Winnie has two di ...

Dear hazel_mom.
I appreciate your inputs on another side of Starters.
As a parent of a 21-months-old daughter, I think the parents would know how to judge their choice of the school. Each school usaually has the pros & cons to every family, and every child.

Just as what my sister-in-law also advised me to visit more schools before really make decisions, even though she an dher daughter had very good experience in Starters Schools 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, I myself am interested in what you hear about Small World.

Thanks.
maria (Ava mama)

May2468

Well, I think I can also share with you some of my comments in Starters, as my son also studied there before. In fact, I totally agreed with the comments of hazel_mom. (Sorry to other mommies who have good feelings on Starters.) My son also studied in starters last January, but after few months, I quitted the school and changed my son back to Woodland. I also heard some good comments before putting my son there, and I also had a good impression when I visited the school as well - both Ms WinnXX and Mrs. MaltXX looks very nice and friendly. Yet after my son was admitted, they became totally different. I can say they are even not that friendly and child caring. After a month or more there, my son learnt some bad behaviors in the school which I felt it’s not very good and so I called the school and wanted to reflect to Mrs. MaltXX. I never thought that it’s so difficult to meet the teacher and Ms. Winnie said Mrs. MaltXX is very busy, asked me why and told me it’s not their practice to arrange an appointment for parents to see the teacher except teacher/parent day. In fact I was not asking a formal appointment but just wanted to talk to her after school when I pick up my son. If your children did study there before, you may notice that Mrs. MaltXX never open wide the door when you put or fetch your children before and after school, so you can never see the situation inside or talk to her as she just put out her head a little bit and most of her body still hide behind the door. Yet, Ms. WinnXX said I better talked to her and then she would help to reflect my concerns, ba ba ba….tried to block my way to talk to Mrs. MaltXX. You know it’s really incredible to me coz I always talked to my son’s teacher when he was in Woodland before. As I insisted, they finally arranged me a 5-minute meeting after school. Yes, 5-minutes! They said they don’t have much time to talk to me or they cannot take their lunches! I told Mrs. MaltXX what happened to my son and what he learnt from his other classmate (I can name which classmate, an Indian boy). But Mrs. MaltXX was not very welcome to hear that and I could sense that she felt I complained her or she could not teach the students well. The conversation with Mrs. MaltXX was useless. After that, I felt my son had a hard time in Starters and Mrs. MaltXX and her assistants started to act stricter to my son and watch him. My son started to cry to me and said mommy, I don’t want this school, etc. Every morning when we sent him to school, he felt so scared. He told us the teachers were fierce to him and not nice. I think as parents, you could sense and guess what happened on him in school. My husband and I started to regret to talk to the school. After few weeks, my son got a serious intestine problem and could not go to school. The first day I called the School applying a 1-day sick leave for him. But the next day he was hospitalized and so we were just too busy and didn’t call the school for his absence. My son was absent from school for more than 3 weeks. Could you imagine a child who was absent for almost a month due to sickness but the class teacher never called the parents asking why and what happened? You can see how child caring the teachers are. And the school impression to us before and after are totally different. The school is quite closed and it's not easy for you to know what you children do in the school. Of course you may feel worth for just spending 3 thousand dollars to learn English. But I felt a kindergarten should be more than that. So after a month, we decided to change the school. Fortunately we’ve made a good and fast decision and my son is happy to school now.

mosesdaddy

原文章由 May2468 於 08-4-7 16:03 發表
...Could you imagine a child who was absent for almost a month due to sickness but the class teacher never called the parents asking why and what happened? You can see how child caring the teachers are....

If this is something true of Starters, it's really terrible.  I feel sorry for the teachers concerned, and even more sorry for the affected families and kids.

hazel_mom

Well, I'm not surprised with your son's case.  When my son studied in Starters before, he was sick and absent from school for one week and I deliberately not to call school in order to test how the class teacher or Mrs Winnie cares about my son.
Unfortunately, no one call me regarding my son’s absence from school for a week.
You can see how the school cares about the students.

Besides, what May said was true.   Mrs Winnie tried to block all parents to contact the class teacher.   All questons or enquiries must be "screened and consulted" by her.   Even I picked up my son after school, my son said he wanted to go to washroom.  When I accompanied with my son to the toilet, Mrs Winnie blocked my way and insisted she took my son to toilet and never allowed me to go inside the school.   I didn't know why she was so nervous to let parents to go inside the school.   Does she worry that the parents would talk to the class teacher? or worry that the parent would see how dirty of its toilet?.........I think most of the parents in Starters also encounter this problem.   

hazel_mom

Here are some comments I kept in record in my computer when some parents shared the comment of Starters 1 or 2 years ago in other forum.

quoted from a parent who was a friend of a teacher in Starters school before:

Personally I am not at all surprised by the closure of Starters Tai Hang. Actually I am more surprised by all the positive comments about this school! I am not saying it is a bad school, it is just not as great as all of you imagined. I am friends with the some of the teachers and the feedback I got from them is really not good.


DO you know that Starters do not have a curriculum? And since they change the teachers so frequently, the new ones have no idea what the old ones have taught. And one thing I don't like is that they don't allow parents to sit in to observe the class, or ask for parent volunteers for field trips. The only visit you get is when you want to enrol your child. As a parent, of course you would want to know what your child is doing in class. There are a couple of good teachers there but I think recently some have also left. When you call, you might want to ask about the curriculum and the teachers. Bet they would tell you it is UK curriculum but no details.

YYFUNG

原文章由 hazel_mom 於 08-4-8 16:25 發表
Here are some comments I kept in record in my computer when some parents shared the comment of Starters 1 or 2 years ago in other forum.

quoted from a parent who was a friend of a teacher in Starters ...

While there are some bad things about Starters, any others kindergarten(s) would you like to suggest from your point of view?

My 21-monsth old daughter currently in the playgroup class of Anfield.

Thanks.

Maria (Ava mama)

May2468

hazel_mom:


How long did you put your son in Starters?


As my son was hospitalised for 10 days (and I also slept in the hospital accompanying him) , so my husband and I didn't have time to care for calling the school. Yet after that, we felt very angry and thus deliberately not calling it and wait and see when the school teacher would call us. It's very strange as there's a child absent from school for so long time but the teachers were not even aware and care. You said right, most Int'l school welcome parents particpation and field trips like my son current school but it seems Starters doesn't like much parents' involvement in school and I also don't know what my son learnt in school. You also remind me the curriculum. I never receive any notices about that.


For toilet issue, yes, Ms. Winnie also blocked me to enter the school toilet and so we used to take him to the toilet in the coffee shop downstairs before going up to the classroom. That's also what I feel very strange. Well anyway....we quited and we also lost the $3000 deposit, as Ms. Winnie said we informed her to quit less than a month and refused to refund us. Poor us.

mosesdaddy

After taking a glance at Horizon's points, I still find a missing link, and in fact can't figure out the cause and effect.     

Some parents have shared that Starters has a "closed" communication system and that some of its staff are very uncaring.  I can't see how this relates to helping the kids to develop an outgoing character with an initiative to solve their problems.

Could Horizon share more from the experience of his/her friends and brothers to illustrate the points you are trying to make?

原文章由 Horizon 於 08-4-9 16:44 發表
我看完各媽咪的意見後,想表達小小意見:

我現在,正考慮我的女兒是否入讀Starters School,其實我考慮這間學校,是因為我有幾位外國朋友及我的兄弟的小朋友,曾入讀該校,出來學會了很主動的性格,並學會表達自已意見,當然 ...