ISF FY & G1

joeydesu

Seems not many discussions on this school....... Anyone applied for FY & G1 for Y2014-15? I just applied for FY for my daughter (born in Oct) though she is studying at K3 now. I know some parents had applied both for their kids. After interviews, what are your comments?

elock

This is not an international school.  It is an independent and private school.  The minority is Caucasian.  Finally, it is an academic school, so  be aware if you think the school will provide sufficient non academic opportunity to the students.  Since it is an academic school, it will be beneficial to your kid if there is someone at home to assist the homework.

joeydesu

Agreed. This is not IS, but somehow people considerate it as IS, even on EK, this thread has been moved to here ............

I know a lot of people with sounded educational background sending their kids to this school. Is this really a happy learning school?

elock

回覆 joeydesu 的帖子

It is not a bad school at all.  Many people are striving to get in.
Please keep in mind a good school does not mean it suits you.
But the parents have to sort out what you want for your kid.
If you are keen on academic, then this school is definitely a good choice.
If you are keen on Chinese language under non-local scheme, then this school is again a good choice.
If you want the school to provide good exposure of arts, music and sports to the kids, this school IS NOT a good choice.
If parents have flexible working hours, this school suits you.  If your working hours are fixed, there is bound to be a lot of tensions between the parents and the kid when it comes to dealing with homework and study.  Yes, you can hire tutors to do the job, which a lot of parents in this school do.  Then, you go back and ask yourself.  How come you are doing what parents with kids in local schoosl do?  What is your point of putting the kid in such high tuition school?  There seems to be a conflict, right?  You want less tension with homeworks and less tension between the kid and yourself, but yet you are getting them.  Yes, you may hear parents with kids in this school saying "I did not manage the kids' homework at all and they are doing fine".  This may be true because they hire tutors, and secondly, the workload of present FY and G1 are more than before.  Therefore parents who give you such comment probably have kids in higher grades already.
I realize many parents who choose this school has one reason only: good Chinese training in an "international school".  
As you mentioned, this is NOT an international school.  Just treat it as a school in-between local and international.
Do not be scared by my comments.  I just do not want you to choose a wrong school for your kid.  Nowadays, switching school is easy at all.
My kid is also in ISF.  I have to admit I choose my kid a wrong school from the point that I want my kid to be in a well rounded school with focuses not purely on academics.
Good luck.

HKTHK

回覆 joeydesu 的帖子

It is not an IS but it offers IB MYP and DP which is similar with other PIS like CKY and VSA and other IS like CIS, SIS, …..
The IS and PIS definition doesn't really matter as it is just the classification under which EDB gave the school its license to operate.  If I were you, I would focus on the student make-up, curriculum, faculty profile, ….

HKTHK

回覆 joeydesu 的帖子

For old discussion on workload, look here
http://www.edu-kingdom.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2667717&page=1#pid37212012

HKTHK

回覆 elock 的帖子

I am with you that the non-academic activities are not there yet.  Drama and art are decent to quite good.  Music and sports are just not there except for maybe the swimming team.  Not sure how closely you follow the school but the sports program is being revamped and is a priority this year.  Doubt there will be substantial improvements until the school scales up its secondary division though.  The ECA program probably need to be revamped as well since the quality is uneven to say the least.

From previous discussion, seems like your kid is in G1.  I am familiar with the workload of FY and G1.  If you are getting stressed out about the workload of G1, then I think you will have issues later on in primary as well.  As I am sure you are aware that the workload does not decrease over time.  This is an IS style school that teaches Chinese and I think many local parents don't quite get the "IS style" part.  "IS style" is not just about "happy learning" and "less stress".  It is also about not having two exams, not having grades, not having rankings, not expecting parents to review or correct homework, …..  Unless a child can't catch up, why bother getting a tutor?  We have no tutors at all and we have no after-school academic enrichment programs.  After homework is done, which usually takes 15 to 1 hr, we have time to read, play, ride the bicycle, …

elock

Hi, I forgot whether you are a working parent or not.
It is really amazing that your kid has so much playing time.  No wonder you are so positive about this school.
As for IS and PIS, there is a difference in terms of students background diversity.  PIS has mainly local students while IS has mainly foreign passport holders.

HKTHK

回覆 elock 的帖子

Don't get me wrong, there are things that the school need to work on like the music and sports program.  There are some admin issues that are clearly not working either.  But I think one special thing about the school is it has such a broad range of parents that it is really what one makes of it!

cecilau

回覆 elock 的帖子

如果你覺得辛苦, 我提議你去搵一間合適你小朋友的學校, 每一年都有不少學生離開, 因為再高年級, 學術會再多.
當年第一屆的fy有8班, 去到grade 4時, 只剩下7班. 如果你想要international school, isf 一定唔係.
但isf 又真的比local school 舒服好多.

HKTHK

回覆 cecilau 的帖子

How do you find the workload?  Do you take a hands-on or hands-off approach?

musicien

原帖由 joeydesu 於 13-12-03 發表
Seems not many discussions on this school....... Anyone applied for FY & G1 for Y2014-15? I just app ...

My son applied both fy and g 1 this year. To be honest I like this school a lot but I'm really concerned abt the lack of a music environment which to me is v essential to my son. My son is a dec kid. He got g1 sec in and just finished fy first in. Really cannot decide if he sis go for fy if accepted as he has p1 offer at creative which is also an ib school

cecilau

我仔仔grade 5 我唔再理他的功課，只有不明白他會問。但他都有english tutor 和中文老師教寫作。 如果家中不是英文為first language,英文老師expect 有tutor . 所以讀isf 的負擔都好重的。

musicien

原帖由 cecilau 於 13-12-04 發表
我仔仔grade 5 我唔再理他的功課，只有不明白他會問。但他都有english tutor 和中文老師教寫作。 如果家中 ...

Need to hv Pth tutor too?

cecilau

For my case , no. My son learns pth at school. But some kids may also have.

cecilau

What do you expect for the music? They have choir, orchestra starting from grade 3.

For sports, they also have different sports team. But the parents pay the cost.

HKTHK

回覆 musicien 的帖子

If I were you, I would go for FY.  Much better to integrate into the class and school.  Also get a better foundation for PTH and English.  As for music, I think you are more or less on your own.  There are music lessons but what do you really expect from a school on the music front?  I am not familiar with Creative so can't comment.

musicien

原帖由 HKTHK 於 13-12-04 發表
回覆 musicien 的帖子

If I were you, I would go for FY.  Much better to integrate into the class and ...

A decent orchestra and choir.  Music in gps.  Need a better environment. Anyway 收先算。

LeeMama328

I have to admit I choose my kid a wrong school from the point that I want my kid to be in a well rounded school with focuses not purely on academics.

如果係學校變左，你可以怨學校或轉校。 但如果是自己了解不足就報讀，只好怨自己了。
ISF 從來都沒有標榜 it offers well rounded curriculum and activities.  However, most of its students I know are multi-talented instead of 書蟲。

Also, tutor or not depends on your kids' talent, not the school.  There are many students in double A never have any tutor,  Similarly, many students in double B have tutors in all subject since primary one.  

Musician
我看你最好了解多很多很多才決定， ISF並不是好多呢樹的人講的。 特別是those who are not ISF parents.
In short, ISF 有很多 ”好“， 但也有很多 ”不好“ 的地方。 對我 ”好“ 不等於對你也是 ”好“，請記住。

musicien

原帖由 LeeMama328 於 13-12-04 發表
I have to admit I choose my kid a wrong school from the point that I want my kid to be in a well rou ...

Thx! I hv been to isf many times and asked ard. I think I know what the school is abt. There is nothing bad for being academic. I like the way kids acquire knowledge and its focus on Chinese. Only concern is music I must say. Every school has it's strength and weakness just need to weigh it with own values. I do like this school a lot.