教育王國

標題: 2012 讀 year 8 [打印本頁]

作者: venice121 時間: 11-6-12 18:44 標題: 2012 讀 year 8

現正計劃小兒明年到英國讀YEAR 8，有以下幾個疑問，請各位賜教。

1) 唔知邊區會比較純樸和學習環境好些?

2) 小兒喜歡打網球和游泳，有無好的boarding school可以介紹呢?

3) 有sixth form 的boarding school 是否會好些?

多謝賜教!

作者: primary2007 時間: 11-6-19 23:32

請問你會找agent定自己直接報名?

作者: keikwan1995 時間: 11-7-23 02:03

一般寄宿學校都會有網球場和泳池，而且學校也會有運動隊和clubs讓學生參加。

我認為有sixth form我學校比較好，因為你兒子已適應舊校的生活，若要轉校，不但要重新適應新校的一切rules和學習模式，也要應付sixth form的課業，會很辛苦。另外，舊校的老師已了解你兒子的weakness，便可以針對那些weakness來幫助你兒子，但新校的老師卻需要一段時間來了解你兒子。我個人就是這麼覺得:)

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-7-23 15:03 標題: 回復 3# venice121 的帖子

(1 & 2) My opinion is that the higher ranking of the boarding school is, the better academic environment and discipline of the students are. You may browse the following link to select your targeted school:

http://rankings.ft.com/secondary-schools/secondary-schools-2011

My foolish opinion is that you may try to avoid boarding schools with agencies in HK since these schools might have a very high percentage of Asian students in the boarding house. I know one famous UK boarding Boys school has 50 Asian students in its 50 place boarding house though this school has nearly 1,100 students.

(3) For sixth form school, some boarding schools have strength in science subjects while some boarding schools have strength in arts subjects. The choice of sixth form boarding schools depends on your kid’s academic performance in Grade 11.

[ 本帖最後由 CPU1995 於 11-7-23 15:05 編輯 ]

作者: ksenia 時間: 11-8-1 17:08

I agree with CPU1995. A famous co-ed college in UK has prestigious academics, however, it's basically an international school, like those in Hong Kong. There are a lot of Chinese, mainlanders in particular.

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-8-2 18:05 標題: 回復 1# ksenia 的帖子

Another consideration for choosing school is the location of school.

Personally, I will not choose boarding schools in Wales or more northern part of UK unless my kid is not studying junior forms such as Grade 11. It is because your kid may learn and speak Welsh accent in future.

The argument is that some UK person may have prejudice against Welsh accent which is not the traditional English accent.

作者: venice121 時間: 11-9-22 21:22

Thank you so much for those members.

Now I chose Da Di as my agent and they suggest me the St Peter York, Ipswich and New Hall School to me. I know all of these schools are high ranking but I want to get the information from the parent who sent their child to the said schools.

作者: peter_pan 時間: 11-9-22 22:02

None of these 3 are particularly high ranking.
St Peter's York is OK at around 150 & Ipswich School is around 200, but New Hall is well outside the top 300.
Don't just take the agent's word for it - better check things out yourself.

原帖由 venice121 於 11-9-22 21:22 發表
Thank you so much for those members.

Now I chose Da Di as my agent and they suggest me the St Peter York, Ipswich and New Hall School to me. I know all of these schools are high ranking but I want to ...

作者: venice121 時間: 11-9-22 23:54

Thanks.

Which ranking is reliable? Is ranking important to the parent to choose a school?

How about the Kingswood, Oundle, Shrewbury & Tonbridge. Any parent chose these schools for your child?

[ 本帖最後由 venice121 於 11-9-23 00:30 編輯 ]

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-9-23 06:51

According to my friend’s experience, all those kids studying high ranking boarding schools have excellent GCE results and most of them either go to London U, Cambridge or come back to HK to study HKU.

In addition, the high ranking boarding schools have quite demanding academic requirements, stricter discipline and the kids spare no time to do the prep works when they are embarking for GCE. For my Tonbridge friend, the kid is studying HKU now. For Shrewsbury friend, the kid has already graduated from Cambridge. They all have excellent comments on these two schools.

Last year, though I declined the offer by Oundle for my son, I think that it is also a very good boarding school and my son’s classmate who studies Oundle has very good comments on this school. Every year there are over 20 Oundle students going to Oxbridge. The Asian students ratio for Grade 10 is about 6 to 200.

While for those I know who studies in medium ranking boarding schools, their kids usually go to some good but not the high ranking Universities such as U of Hull, Cardiff etc.

原帖由 venice121 於 11-9-22 23:54 發表
Thanks.

Which ranking is reliable? Is ranking important to the parent to choose a school?

How about the Kingswood, Oundle, Shrewbury & Tonbridge. Any parent chose these schools for your child?

作者: peter_pan 時間: 11-9-23 09:37

Out of these 4, Tonbridge & Oundle are streets ahead of the other 2.
Shrewsbury has a big reputation, mainly because of its famous old boy Charles Darwin, and its beautiful campus. Unfortunately, ranking-wise it has fallen to around 200 for quite a few years.
I don't mean to say that ranking means everything, but if we are comparing the top 50 schools & those outside the top 200, there is a big difference in terms of academic achievement.
Every school has good & bad students - even middle ranking schools can have a few students getting into Oxbridge. Rankings, based on academic results, can give a better overall picture to the academic standard of fellow students.

原帖由 venice121 於 11-9-22 23:54 發表
Thanks.

Which ranking is reliable? Is ranking important to the parent to choose a school?

How about the Kingswood, Oundle, Shrewbury & Tonbridge. Any parent chose these schools for your child?

作者: Tigger_jumpjump 時間: 11-9-23 15:07 標題: 回覆 3# venice121 的文章

Regarding the ranking, most of my friends refer to the Times ranking as it's more reliable. Those 4 schools you mentioned above, Oundle and Tonbridge is much better by comparing the other 2. Oundle ranks around 55 while Tonbridge ranks around 25. But have you send through your child school reports to those schools? I've got quite a lot of friends who have already sent their kids to the UK Boarding schools in the past years. They told me that they have sent the reports to the schools for general assessment first and then their kid will need to sit for the entrance exam. One of my friend is looking for a boarding school for their son for next year, and their son has already invited for interview and test with those schools.

作者: venice121 時間: 11-9-23 22:06

I have sent the school report to the agent already. I was advised to try the high ranking school in the first round but I found that the schools are high ranking, the school fees also high. I prefer under 8,000 pounds per term & the ranking of the schools are not out of 100. Grateful any parent would give me the suggestion. Thanks a lot.

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-9-24 06:34

You may consider Warwick with 66th ranking and school fee gbp10,245 school fee + gbp11,748 boarding fee per annum.

But please note that there are only 50 boarding places in Warwick and Warwick has strong connection with local agency in HK.

Generally speaking, those high ranking schools' workload is higher than the famous secondary schools in HK which require your kid play hard but work very high.

Not every kid is situable for studying in the top notch boarding schools if they are used to procastinate in HK. My friends' kids said that they have no spare time to go to toilet when they are struggling to complete over 10 assignments during prep time everyday.

原帖由 venice121 於 11-9-23 22:06 發表
I have sent the school report to the agent already. I was advised to try the high ranking school in the first round but I found that the schools are high ranking, the school fees also high. I prefer u ...

作者: venice121 時間: 11-9-25 21:26

Thank you for your information.

It is too expensive to me. I prefer around 8,000 pounds or under per term. My son has band 2B level. If I choose the school which is high ranking, I'm afraid he can't to cope with the heavy homework.

作者: 4eyesDad 時間: 11-9-26 09:59 標題: 回覆 9# venice121 的文章

You mentioned Oundle, Shrewsbury and Tonbridge and I assume they are within your affordability level. They are all good. You can't go wrong with either one of them.

Your son's performance in HK is not an accurate or reliable guide to his future performance in the UK. If he can get in any good school (instead of "school shops"), he should learn from his peers. You must try to apply. Don't be put off by any agent who advised you not to try.

Sell your stock, borrow, mortgage your home or rob (if you dare), but don't send your son to a "cheap"/commercial school.

It's false economy. You will regret it.

作者: peter_pan 時間: 11-9-27 08:02

Actually, Tonbridge & Shrewsbury are not suitable for your son as neither of them has Year 8 - both schools start at Year 9.
You wouldn't want to go to Tonbridge anyway as it is the most expensive school in the UK, even more expensive than Eton!!

作者: tongyimtong 時間: 11-9-27 20:18

Ranking within 100 with school fee GBP8000/term. I think there are only state schools can fulfill your need. For the three schools mentioned by CPU1995, they are all good schools. Yet, they are also very expensive schools which were so-called the "noble schools" in UK as well as Eton.

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-9-27 21:23 標題: 回復 1# tongyimtong 的帖子

Warwick is just gbp7,241 per term with the 66th ranking. Why not consider it?

作者: peter_pan 時間: 11-9-28 11:03

I concur with CPU1995 - Warwick is definitely worth considering.

作者: tongyimtong 時間: 11-9-28 20:42

http://www.warwickschool.org/page_viewer.asp?page=Boarding&pid=106

It provides only 50 boarding places from year 9

作者: venice121 時間: 11-10-1 22:29

Thank you so much for all valuable opinions.

I think I can get the best school to my son according to your information.

Now, I put St Peter, Warwick & Ipswich to my first priorty. If my son fail to the first round, I will choose the schools which around top 200.

Thank you once again.

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-10-2 06:21 標題: 回復 1# venice121 的帖子

Personally I don’t favour choosing school with a small size of boarding house but has strong connection with local agencies.

You can imagine every year the school would admit at least 15 students thro local agencies. Just three years' intake thro HK agencies would amount to nearly 100% occupation of Hong Kong students in the boarding house.

Unfortunately, Warwick and Ipswick each has 50 boarding places in the boarding house. I’m not sure whether these two schools have 100% Chinese students in the boarding house. If such is the case, you kid may speak Cantonese all the time in the boarding house.

For St. Peter, one of my friends has some reservation on this school. You may seek other’ s advice on this school.

Above all, the competitive school fees and ranking are not the only determining factors in choosing your targeted school. The agencies which earn from commission may not reveal some unfavourable information to you.

Some schools such as Oundle with large size of boarding house which has only about 5% Asian students ratio in the boarding house may offer a very good English speaking environment than those schools with small size of boarding house.

[ 本帖最後由 CPU1995 於 11-10-2 11:02 編輯 ]

作者: venice121 時間: 11-10-3 20:27

The agent advice me to choose the school which is not in the top of the ranking to make the student study happyily in the first beginning. I can choose the top school in Year 10. Is it make sense? I found it is so difficult to the parent to choose the right school for their child because there are so many choice. I am pleased to get more opinion from different parent. Please share your experience or whatever in this thread. Thanks a lot.

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-10-3 21:38

The first year in UK is the adaption year and you don’t expect your son with a calibre to get a result with flying colour so as to change to other school with a higher ranking by the end of 1st year.

My foolish opinion is that:
(i)    Avoid choosing school speaking with Welsh accent;
(ii)    Avoid choosing school with over 10% Chinese;
(iii) Avoid choosing school with 100% Chinese in boarding house;
(iv) Avoid choosing school with ranking out of top 200;
(v)    Avoid limiting your budget in choosing a good school.

[ 本帖最後由 CPU1995 於 11-10-3 21:40 編輯 ]

作者: venice121 時間: 11-10-3 22:40

非常感謝CPU1995的回應.

我已詢問過agent， WARWICK 確實幾乎100%中國人寄宿生，好肯定這會減少講英文的機會但究竟這是否直接影响學生成績呢?

我會跟據你提供的意見，小心挑選學校。不過要合乎經濟原則又要排名在大概100範圍的選擇實在不多。AGENT通知我NEW HALL會考慮我的申請；IPSWICH 和 ST PETER 則未有回覆，如果後兩間不接受我的申請，這可能小兒成綪未逹要求，我會考慮200內的學校。

作者: orancarmen 時間: 11-10-4 05:34 標題: 回復 26# venice121 的帖子

Hi venice,

check pm, pls.

作者: peter_pan 時間: 11-10-4 12:08 標題: 回復 24# venice121 的帖子

I'm afraid I don't agree with your agent.
Most top schools recruit students at Year 7 & Year 9 so it is much more difficult to get into a top school at Year 10.
Since your son is going over at Year 8, my suggestion would be to get into a reasonably good school & stay there until after GCSE.
If he performs well at GCSE, then it may be possible to switch to a top school for A-levels.

作者: venice121 時間: 11-10-4 22:25

My agent told me that let the child to have happy study for one year. After, the child may go to the top school in year 9.

The school report was sent to the St Peter, Ipswich and New Hall. At this moment, only New Hall will consider my application. Even I want my son to get to the top school but it doesn't mean he will be considered.

作者: CPU1995 時間: 11-10-8 08:27

For affordable school fee with good word of mouth school reputation, you may consider Monmouth School.

According to my friend, the school fee is just about gbp 22,000 per annum. The school has excellent discipline, large boarding room (1,000 sq feet for two boys), low Asian students ratio and responsible teachers.

According to my son, the entrance exam of Monmouth is difficult compared with other schools such as Oundle, Shrewsbury, Loughborough Grammar School. You may browse the sample entrance papers:

http://www.monmouthschool.org/en/m_sample%20papers

I can’t find the ranking of Monmouth School this year and last year’s ranking is about 190. The school is located in beautiful countryside in Wales.

Another school with inexpensive school fee (gbp 18,842 per annum) and good ranking (85th) is Loughborough Grammar School. You may consider applying it thro agency as well.

原帖由 venice121 於 11-10-3 22:40 發表
我已詢問過agent， WARWICK 確實幾乎100%中國人寄宿生，好肯定這會減少講英文的機會但究竟這是否直接影响學生成績呢?

我會跟據你提供的意見，小心挑選學校。不過要合乎經濟原則又要排名在大概1 ...

作者: venice121 時間: 11-10-8 17:40

Thank you for your advice.

I'll check it out with agent.

作者: venice121 時間: 11-10-26 19:11

Besides Kingswood & St Peter to invite my son to sit for exam, I haven't got the reply from other schools yet due to the half term break. It's make me anxious.

作者: venice121 時間: 11-11-12 16:09

Hi everybody,

Prior Park has offered the place to my son, I'm waiting for Kingswood reply now. I believe my son also get the offer by Kingswood. At this moment, should I try another school which is high ranking than these two schools?

The Leys is not consider my son in Y8 for next year.

作者: orancarmen 時間: 11-11-19 08:11

hi venice,
pls check pm

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