Any Kingston international parents?

TTIS

My daughter is studying in KIS in P1.  She loves the school very very much.  The teachers are nice and caring.  
To me, my requirement in choosing a school is very simple, so I don't have much problem.  I only require an IS in Kowloon Tong, preferably have Chinese (PTH) lessons every day, not much homework, or at least, I don't have to bother about her homework.  I would care more about the discipline, as I can't stand my kid become some spoiled brats.   Their practice of informing parents about the kids' performance by end of every week is really good.  I can know what she did in the week, and also any naughty things she did in school so I can help rectify.  I appreciate it that the teachers can really tell the truth, not something untrue to please the parents or kids.
Some parents may think the campus is too small that doesn't worth that much.  I would say that you may have to balance it.  I would highly recommend it if your requirement is simply like mine.

TTIS

Not any.  Only buy some stationery to bring back to school for share use at the beginning.  Of course, if there is any field trip, you have to pay for the transportation fee.

原帖由 pslau 於 09-2-18 23:00 發表
Thank you for your prompt reply, TTIS! Your comment is really an encouraging one.

My son just had an interview and we're waiting for the result.  The staff and the teacher and the principa ...

AmieMaMa

Hi Parent,

Could you please tell us more....any dealine on admission?  How many class in each grade?  Is it difficult to get in?  My daughter is Dec 04, according to the age chart, she must go to 4 years old class.  She is now studying K2 BoxHill but I would like her to continue in a International school with Primary section.  But I just afraid I will be very late if I now apply.

Everytime when I pass by this school, I find it seems OK.  Please.....tell me more.
Thanks in advance.

Amiee Ma Ma

buu0605

hi, is its English and Chinese good and balanced?  Some IS only offer 1 hour PTH lesson per week so I'm afraid the Chinese of the children will be poor.

原帖由 TTIS 於 09-2-18 00:05 發表
My daughter is studying in KIS in P1.  She loves the school very very much.  The teachers are nice and caring.  
To me, my requirement in choosing a school is very simple, so I don't have much problem ...

TTIS

As far as I know, there is no deadline for application.
In 2008/2009, there are 3 classes in Primary One.
For my daughter’s interview, they merely asked her some simple questions in English and Putonghua to test her ability in these 2 languages, as these languages are their medium of instruction.
If your kid has no problem in English (I think lesser command of PTH is OK), it will be fine for him/her.


As regards the standard of English, I’ve noticed that a lot of parents are very concerned about this while looking for an IS.
While rating a school’s or their kids’ English standard, they even consider the English standard is high if kids can speak “native” English.
I always have such a question - why do we need to speak like a native English speaker? No matter how your accent sound like an English or an American, you are still a Chinese.
This is the fact.
I haven’t met with any European, Indian or other peoples that are so eager to speak like native English speakers, or feel inferior because they cannot speak like native English speakers.
It seems that it’s very typical for the Chinese themselves, or especially the Hongkongers, that look down upon our own people, or feel superior over others if one can speak native English.

I think as long as you can speak fluently or communicate well with other people in a language, that will be suffice.
For the reading and written skills, it will depend largely on how much effort you, as the parents, and your kids will expend daily after school cos there is no free lunch.
If you want to have a good command of English, you may need to push your kid to read and write more every day.
But at the end, there may not be much difference from going to a local school.
You may have to strike the balance.

My reasons of sending my kids to an IS are mainly due to the messy education system in HK, which has caused huge workload to both parents and children, in particular their homework is mostly required to be done by their parents.
However, after a lengthy torture, I don’t see the graduates are that brilliant.
So while choosing an IS, I would mainly focus on the location, Chinese standard (in PTH and traditional Chinese), workload and discipline.
For the English standard, I conceive students from most of IS wouldn’t have much “communication” problem in English.
So far, I don’t see my daughter has any problem in communicating in English or watching English TV programmes.

Indeed, I am really satisfied with the school as she hasn’t got much homework (just takes about 15 minutes per day) and it meets my requirements.
Also, I’ve seen significant progress in her Chinese and PTH just in a few months, as she was reluctant to learn and write any Chinese while she was in kindy.
More importantly, my daughter really enjoys going to school every day and the teachers are nice and caring.

Good luck.

Xerox

Hello Kingston parents,

My son is going to start P1 this Sept too. I feel positive about the school when we went there for the interview. But we sure want to hear more about it from parents who have kids studying there. Is there anything you don't like about the school? I heard that some international school always ask parents to give donation for this and that (e.g. school facilities, equipment, etc.). Does it happen in Kingston? Honestly, we are just ordinary middle class parents, can't afford paying a lot more than tuition.

da_da

Hi TTIS,

Do you need to buy debentures? Thanks

Xerox

No debentures required.  but you have to put 30K deposit.  

原帖由 da_da 於 09-5-6 23:56 發表
Hi TTIS,

Do you need to buy debentures? Thanks

da_da

Xerox,

Thanks so much for your reply.

原帖由 Xerox 於 09-5-7 11:07 發表
No debentures required.  but you have to put 30K deposit.  

joyceccw

Kingston kids are very fluent in both languages and they all look very happy. They love their school very much. the place's small yet feels like a BIG family.

I heard that most of the students may go to Renasance in ST or Creative Sec Sch or some will go to CIS for their secondary. Hope this helps!

[ 本帖最後由 joyceccw 於 09-5-14 09:54 編輯 ]

jor_mankiu

I just went to pay school fee at the primary school campus and found out that they have 3 Y1 classes, but they only have one Y6 class. Seems like a lot of students transfer to other schools. Do you know the reason why and which schools do they usually go to?

Mamakate

How much is their school fee per month?

jor_mankiu

I was just paying for the playgroup school fee for my boy. Don't know about the school fee for primary section.

原帖由 Mamakate 於 09-5-22 00:55 發表
How much is their school fee per month?

Xerox

I have the same doubt, but perhaps they only opened 1 Y1 class six years back. It is a pretty new school, so I guess they are increasing their students over time.

原帖由 jor_mankiu 於 09-5-21 22:10 發表
I just went to pay school fee at the primary school campus and found out that they have 3 Y1 classes, but they only have one Y6 class. Seems like a lot of students transfer to other schools. Do you kn ...

Xerox

Primary 1 is 9K per month.

原帖由 Mamakate 於 09-5-22 00:55 發表
How much is their school fee per month?