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標題: which would u prefer? Victoria or esf [打印本頁]

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 00:01 標題: which would u prefer? Victoria or esf

Any considerations ?

作者: hellokids 時間: 12-8-25 00:29

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ESF is a must for me

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 01:05 標題: 引用：回復+DonaldTsang+的帖子 ESF+is+a+must+f

原帖由 hellokids 於 12-08-25 發表
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ESF is a must for me

Any reasons? What made Vic isn't a preferred choice?

作者: stanton.angela 時間: 12-8-25 01:17

ESF is a much better choice. once you send your child there, he is garanteed a place in ESF's primary and secondary schools. ESF follows the IB programme, which is a well round and interesting one to learn. However, Victoria only has a kindergarten and a so-so primary school. Usually, kids who go to Victoria have to worry about getting a place in a good primary school, but you wont have to worry about that if your kid goes to ESF.

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-8-25 01:38

本帖最後由 FattyDaddy 於 12-8-25 02:10 編輯

stanton.angela 發表於 12-8-25 01:17
ESF is a much better choice. once you send your child there, he is garanteed a place in ESF's primary ...

ESF kindergarten students are not guaranteed a place in ESF primary schools, this is stated clearly in all official ESF communications. However when I attended a parent tour at one of the ESF kindergartens in January this year, I specifically asked the principal what percentage of the students proceeded to ESF primary schools last year and she said 97%, which is good enough for me. I see no reason why she would purposely give me false information.

作者: lottieclee 時間: 12-8-25 03:39 標題: 回覆：stanton.angela 的帖子

ESF kindergarten doesn't guarantee a place in EsF primary. Children have priority interviews, but there is no guarantee. I consider Victoria local.

作者: Annie123 時間: 12-8-25 10:48

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作者: Radiomama 時間: 12-8-25 10:51 標題: 回覆：DonaldTsang 的帖子

You mean kindergarten, primary, or secondary school?
Victoria-IB through train in primary & secondary (PYP, MYP, IBDP)
ESF-PYP, GSCE, IBDP
RC & DC-IB through train in primary & secondary

作者: lui 時間: 12-8-25 11:04 標題: 引用：Quote:DonaldTsang+發表於+12-8-25+00:01+A

原帖由 Annie123 於 12-08-25 發表
You are choosing a school for your own child. Why ask other people?
Look at the website of the sch ...

I think there is nothing wrong for a parent to ask which school ppl is preferred with their own grounds. She is not asking some factual information which is well written on the school website.

作者: poonseelai 時間: 12-8-25 11:12

Victoria Kindergarten's 2011-12 primary allocation is below. It gave you a better understanding of where the students went. Some parents may consider these primary schools were not good enough.

http://www.victoria.edu.hk/eng/A ... imaryAllocation.pdf

作者: Annie123 時間: 12-8-25 11:15

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作者: poonseelai 時間: 12-8-25 11:15

poonseelai 發表於 12-8-25 11:12
Victoria Kindergarten's 2011-12 primary allocation is below. It gave you a better understanding of ...

sorry should be 10-11.

作者: poonseelai 時間: 12-8-25 11:20

By the way, VSA nevers claims to be an international school, and it is not an international school according to Education Bureau's classification. It is a private school offering IB programmes in a bilingual environment.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 16:11 標題: 引用：Quote:DonaldTsang+發表於+12-8-25+00:01+A

原帖由 Annie123 於 12-08-25 發表
You are choosing a school for your own child. Why ask other people?
Look at the website of the sch ...

I have browsed through the websites already. As I don't have any friends' children studying in these schools I would like to know more on the fact. It seems to me that both schools offer IB program and that they seem to run similar curriculum but getting in esf kinder is more difficult than Vic kinder so I would like to know more from each school before making my decision.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 16:13 標題: 引用：You+mean+kindergarten,+primary,+or+secon

原帖由 Radiomama 於 12-08-25 發表
You mean kindergarten, primary, or secondary school?
Victoria-IB through train in primary & secondar ...

I am asking if I wanted a through train program which one is preferred

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 16:17 標題: 引用：Quote:原帖由+Annie123+於+12-08-25+發表Yo

原帖由 lui 於 12-08-25 發表
I think there is nothing wrong for a parent to ask which school ppl is preferred with their own grou ...

Thanks for your understanding

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 16:18 標題: 引用：Quote:lui+發表於+12-8-25+11:04+I+think+t

原帖由 Annie123 於 12-08-25 發表
I never said there is anything wrong.
I just feel that the opinion of other people might not help w ...

Or put it this way, could you share which IS your child is studying and the reasons behind?

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-25 16:25 標題: 回覆：which would u prefer? Victoria or esf

Of course I could understand that esf has a long established history and reputation than Vic. At the moment although I tend to have my child to study in IS, preferably esf, I don't know how much chance I could get it as the competition is so keen. Also i want to know what the good sides and pros in esf as i dont really know much about this school From my previous perception, if Vic is also an IS then it may give me another option to let my child to go for IS. Of course I agree that reading their websites and doing site visits as well as talking to teachers should help, however, neither school would offer open day or site visit until late this year. Therefore I would like to know more from parents as well as teachers.

作者: Radiomama 時間: 12-8-25 16:31 標題: 回覆：DonaldTsang 的帖子

For through train, no primary would give you a free ticket. Both Vic & ESF would only give you a chance to interview.
In my past experience, my son studied in Vic which also provided IB in K1-2, then he was admitted by RC( Private School run by ESF).
Both schools are suitable to my boy but I chose the one with better English environment. That's it!

作者: lui 時間: 12-8-25 18:23 標題: 引用：Quote:原帖由+lui+於+12-08-25+發表I+think

原帖由 DonaldTsang 於 12-08-25 發表
Thanks for your understanding

I am going to send my girl to IS so I started reading the thread at forum, friends and the websites. From my understanding so far, ppl choose Vic kindy usually targets for local school though Vic primary is an ib school. I think picking esf kindy , or some other international kindy like Kingston , anfield would truly help you to get a better chance in international primary school. I am still browsing any other good kindy for my younger one.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-25 20:29

本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-25 21:19 編輯

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-25 01:05
Any reasons? What made Vic isn't a preferred choice?

Is your kid speak English as a 1st language? If not, it just a slim chance to get an offer from ESF.

Actually, all famous kindy are difficult to get an offer indeed. Got offers first!

作者: mrshoho 時間: 12-8-25 21:52

apply both then decide when you have both offers....

作者: slamai 時間: 12-8-25 23:53

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As a parent who has children studying / have studied in both ESF and VSA (including Victoria kindergarten), I can tell you something which may be obvious but must be assessed independently by individual parents for their children.While both are good schools, ESF has a better English environment and VSA has a better bilingual environment (not just better Chinese but also in terms of Chinese culture). Some parents may prefer ESF for being more international with more foreign students while some may have reservations of ESF secondary schools for the relatively loose control on the mixing of both sexes (which is common for all international schools). The support of the family in supplementing the school's language environment is also important in deciding which school to choose.
There are no hard and fast rules nor right or wrong choices. It all depends on the individual considerations of the family for the child.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-26 13:19 標題: 引用：Quote:原帖由+DonaldTsang+於+12-08-25+發

原帖由 lui 於 12-08-25 發表
I am going to send my girl to IS so I started reading the thread at forum, friends and the websites. ...

Thanks so much for your sharing.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-26 13:31 標題: 引用：+本帖最後由+melonfans+於+12-8-25+21:19+

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-08-25 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-25 21:19 編輯

Not sure what my kid will speak, the kid is still baby. So should I train the kid to speak English as 1st language?

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-26 13:32 標題: 引用：apply+both+then+decide+when+you+have+bot

原帖由 mrshoho 於 12-08-25 發表
apply both then decide when you have both offers....

This is a good idea.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-26 14:18 標題: 引用：回復+DonaldTsang+的帖子 As+a+parent+who

原帖由 slamai 於 12-08-25 發表
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As a parent who has children studying / have studied in both ESF and VSA (i ...

Thank you so much for your sharing. Does vsa provide a good English environment given it places more emphasis on Chinese or Chinese culture than esf? Could you share with us whether your child or children going to Vic p school or IS? What if my kid was admitted to esf kinder but failed to get in esf p school then what my plan B could be? (because esf kinder offers only up to k2. )

作者: lui 時間: 12-8-26 15:10 標題: 引用：Quote:原帖由+slamai+於+12-08-25+發表回復

原帖由 DonaldTsang 於 12-08-26 發表
Thank you so much for your sharing. Does vsa provide a good English environment given it places more ...

I think if u cannot get a seat in esf primary. You have two choices. If u still want to go for the international stream, then u can apply, of course not only after you are failed at esf, but instead at the same time, apply other is school as well. If u decide to go for local , then u can apply k3. But it really depends the seats available.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-26 21:26

本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-26 21:35 編輯

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-26 13:31
Not sure what my kid will speak, the kid is still baby. So should I train the kid to speak English a ...

If you're planning your kid to study in IS, you're better to let her/him speak fluent English or bilingual. ESF web-site is stated clearly their admission criteria divided in CAT.1 & 2.

How come your kid can pass the interview as they conduct in English?

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-26 21:52

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-26 14:18
Thank you so much for your sharing. Does vsa provide a good English environment given it places more ...

yes! good question! You hv to consider the alternative if your kid cannot directly promoted to primary section.

This is the hard way back to the local school & difficult to get a place for K3.

The only way to apply others IS as well. Debentures & levy are also to be concerned.

作者: slamai 時間: 12-8-26 23:01

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In VSA primary, there is one English (NET) and one Chinese class teacher in each class. The student should have enough exposure to English to polish his/her English to near native level though not all students can achieve this level for various reasons. Even in ESF, not all students are good in English anyway.While there is no guarantee to get into a ESF primary school, you should apply to the private schools of ESF, i.e. RC/DC, which may be easier to get into.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-27 00:29 標題: 引用：Quote:原帖由+DonaldTsang+於+12-08-26+發

原帖由 lui 於 12-08-26 發表
I think if u cannot get a seat in esf primary. You have two choices. If u still want to go for the i ...

Yes that's very true. I need to apply few IS at the same time. But if I applied K3, I believed the chance would be very low. What's more is I am still not sure if I really want to apply IS.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-27 00:31 標題: 引用：+本帖最後由+melonfans+於+12-8-26+21:35+

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-08-26 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-26 21:35 編輯

No, my child is a baby only and yet we didn't apply. Do other IS also require the candidate to have fluent English ?

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-27 01:22

本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-27 13:34 編輯

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-27 00:31
No, my child is a baby only and yet we didn't apply. Do other IS also require the candidate to have ...

Yes, i know your kid is still a baby. But the curriculum of IS kinder is not connected to local school. Less of IS teaching chinese language and chinese writing. That's not easy to catch up the curriculum in local primary school.

I can't throughfully tell you the English requirements of all IS. But basically you have to know their teaching language are using English. If the applicants are not understand & communicate during the interview. How can you convince the interviewers think the applicants can be understand in the lesson & fulfill the school entry requirements ?

Did you read the entry requirement of ESF?

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-8-27 02:10

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-27 00:31
No, my child is a baby only and yet we didn't apply. Do other IS also require the candidate to have fluent English ? ...

I can't say anything about other international schools as I had not dealt with them, but having gone through the admission process of an ESF kindergarten, I can say they don't really require applicants to be speaking fluent English, this is contrary to what many might believe.

The decisive part of their admission process is a "play visit" at the school, and what happens during that is mostly the parent playing with the child while a few teachers quietly observe from the side. Of course, if the child is already speaking fluent English that would be excellent, but most applicants are just a little over two years old and as I had noticed during the play visit which my daughter and I attended, most of the children didn't say much (my daughter didn't utter a single word for the entire event). So the teachers are not really assessing the child's but the parent's spoken English, and whether the child understands what is spoken by the parent during play.

What this means is, you need to be speaking English to your child all the time in routine everyday life starting from now when he/she is still a baby, and this needs to continue even after your child has started attending ESF kindergarten, because when it comes to applying for ESF primary schools in the beginning of K2, they will expect the child to be speaking fluent English by then, and just speaking English for 3 hours at kindergarten 5 days per week is not enough. You must refrain from speaking Cantonese to your child for 4 to 5 years, and during this time, your child will not be able to communicate with other children and family members who only speak Cantonese.

So before you decide to go the ESF route, you need to be aware of this and ask yourself if this is really what you want.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-29 00:30 標題: 引用：+本帖最後由+melonfans+於+12-8-27+13:34+

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-08-27 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-27 13:34 編輯

Yes melo thanks so much. Actually at this early stage I want to know mores out IS though I am not sure if I would go for or if my kid is suitable to apply. Yes I did read the Adnission requirement which to my understanding is English is very important

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-8-29 01:22

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-29 00:30
I am not sure if I would go for or if my kid is suitable to apply ...

Bear in mind that it is not just down to the child, the parents are in this together, and in fact it depends more on the parents than the child.

For ESF schools, if the parents do not create an English speaking environment at home for the child's first 4 to 5 years, the child will encounter many difficulties along the way.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-29 01:39

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-29 00:30
Yes melo thanks so much. Actually at this early stage I want to know mores out IS though I am not su ...

You're welcome! Many parents here are also glad to share their experience to help each other.

If you didn't make up your mind to let him study in IS primary school, i think it's not a good strategy to choose IS kinder.

Local int'l class may be most suitable for you to select which is the right way for your kid. Open you mind to consider not only the famous schools as they are not easy to get an offer. Searching some good reputation kinders nearby your home is really good for small boy when he still need to have a nap time.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-30 00:15 標題: 引用：Quote:DonaldTsang+發表於+12-8-29+00:30+I

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 12-08-29 發表
Bear in mind that it is not just down to the child, the parents are in this together, and in fact it ...

Thank you fatty daddy. You really gave lots of insights. Initially I also thought the kid must present the good of use of English during interview but I was surprised it isn't and rather it is based on parents' ability to communicate in English. Am I right that not every applicant will be invited for play visit? You may be true that it would be dependent more on parents than the kid to consider whether to go for IS.

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-8-30 01:04

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-30 00:15
Thank you fatty daddy. You really gave lots of insights. Initially I also thought the kid must present the good of use of English during interview ...

For ESF kindergartens, their interview (they call it "play visit") is not the same as many of the local kindergartens, they don't ask the child to perform anything, instead they just watch how the parent plays with the child, and as I had noticed during the play visit I attended, most of the children didn't say much, so the school must be assessing the parent's spoken English more than the child's.

I guess their underlying rationale is this, if the parent's English is good, it is very likely that the child's English will be good too. In a way this is more fair because young children are very temperamental and unpredictable, their performance can vary a lot depending on their mood, so an assessment based just on the child is likely to be inaccurate.

You are correct that not every applicant will be invited to a play visit, so the school must be doing some initial screening to determine who to invite and who to put on the waiting list, but I have no idea what criteria they use for this initial screening.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-30 01:21

FattyDaddy 發表於 12-8-30 01:04
For ESF kindergartens, their interview (they call it "play visit") is not the same as many of the lo ...

I guess their underlying rationale is this, if the parent's English is good, it is very likely that the child's English will be good too.

Yes, that's the point!

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-8-30 21:05 標題: 引用：Quote:DonaldTsang+發表於+12-8-30+00:15+T

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 12-08-30 發表
For ESF kindergartens, their interview (they call it "play visit") is not the same as many of the lo ...

Yes thanks for your sharing. Am I right that the priority for screening is also based on cat 1 n cat 2 method? If that is the case, then in any event I would claim my kid should be in cat 1 in order to gain the chance for visit. Is that true?

作者: Julie_HongKong 時間: 12-8-30 21:25

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In theory, yes. However, if you make a false claim (say, claiming that English is your kid's first language) and the school finds out during the interview (say, the interview is conducted in English only and your kid's level is only basic/medium), it won't do you any good at all.

I heard that plenty of parents have tried these tricks and ESF is getting better and better at detecting such...

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-8-30 22:55

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-30 21:05
I would claim my kid should be in cat 1 in order to gain the chance for visit. Is that true?...

Given that they do the initial screening based only on the information provided in the application form, it is true that you can enter favourable but inaccurate information in order to increase the chances of being invited to a play visit, but if it is too far off from the truth then they will be able to discover during the play visit.

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-8-30 23:19

本帖最後由 FattyDaddy 於 12-8-30 23:43 編輯

Julie_HongKong 發表於 12-8-30 21:25
回復 DonaldTsang 的帖子

I heard that plenty of parents have tried these tricks and ESF is getting better and better at detecting ...

Since you mentioned "tricks" I can share a bit more on this.

During the play visit which my daughter and I attended, they took a picture of every child together with the parent. At the time I thought this act was a little strange, but subsequently I figured it must have something to do with verification, and sure enough, when my daughter and I started school there last week, they took a picture of every child with the parent again, obviously they would compare the pictures to ensure those children who are starting school are indeed the same ones they met during the play visit which took place over 6 months ago.

I guess some time in the past, some people must have pulled the trick of asking someone else to stand-in for the child or the parent or both to attend the play visit and got admitted, and then when school started ESF was unpleasantly surprised to discover some of the children's English ability was so poor that they should not have been selected in the first place, this aroused their suspicion and so they added the verification measure.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-8-31 14:11

本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-31 14:23 編輯

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-29 00:30
Yes melo thanks so much. Actually at this early stage I want to know mores out IS though I am not su ...

Would you consider Think & Anfield? My kid's classmates transferred to Anfield for K1 due to they guarantee a place to primary school for their kinder's students.

Think kinder is good in training children to speak English whom are being their 2nd language. The English requirement is not strictly high in kinder but in primary. They also provide 2 curriculums for local & int'l school which are suitable for you if any changes in the early stage.

I'm not sure your kid having potential or genetic inheritance as a gifted child. Vxx is not a best choice as they have not well knowledge & support for this kind of children.

作者: slamai 時間: 12-8-31 23:56

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With your remarks on Vxx regarding gifted child, I wonder which school(s) you have in mind being suitable for such a child and why.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-9-1 00:09

本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-9-1 00:13 編輯

slamai 發表於 12-8-31 23:56
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With your remarks on Vxx regarding gifted child, I wonder which school(s) you ...

Is your kid study there or you have a gifted child?

If you would like to have more information, you refer to the forum of 資優教育 would be helping with that.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-9-1 01:21 標題: 引用：+本帖最後由+FattyDaddy+於+12-8-30+23:43+

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 12-08-30 發表
本帖最後由 FattyDaddy 於 12-8-30 23:43 編輯

Thanks fatty. I am sure I would not use this trick to increase the chance of getting in but I just want to share with you all my funny thought. By the way, I would wonder most of the families here should be a Cantonese speaking families as well as bilingual type. So I wonder how we should create an English speaking environment where in reality different family members speaking different dialects. How you guys do it? Say daddy speaks English while grandpa n grandma speak Cantonese, will a kid have language confusion?
Also during the interview if the interviewers really don't care the kids' English ability but patents' , then it seems like parents must practise their English. Of course I agree that if the kids' English was not trained they would not be able to continue to study in Esf

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-9-1 01:24 標題: 引用：+本帖最後由+melonfans+於+12-8-31+14:23+

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-08-31 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-31 14:23 編輯

Thanks melon. An field does provide a flexibility as I just visited its website. But heard from other mamas that it's curriculum only fits IS but not local school. Do u know if it is real difficult to get in? In fact the website doesn't mention the selection criteria or application procedure in details.

作者: melonfans 時間: 12-9-1 01:35

本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-9-1 01:53 編輯

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-9-1 01:24
Thanks melon. An field does provide a flexibility as I just visited its website. But heard from othe ...

I think it's not difficult in kinder. Their debenture is quite high than others.

The curriculum is not connected to local school which is a normal practice in IS.

Think int'l is a just a special one.

作者: FattyDaddy 時間: 12-9-1 10:26

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-9-1 01:21
Say daddy speaks English while grandpa n grandma speak Cantonese, will a kid have language confusion? ...

The language environment at home doesn't need to be 100% English, it can be English plus some other language, but that "some other language" must not be Cantonese. For example, the parents can speak English while the grandparents speak Mandarin (or whatever is their native dialect as long as it is not Cantonese).

You might think young children growing up in a multilingual environment would get confused and mix up the languages, but in fact they don't, they know which language to switch to when talking to different people. The confusion arises when the same person talks to them in a "language mixture", i.e. one sentence in language A and then the next sentence in language B, then they will also talk in this mixture.

ESF do care about the child's English ability, as I said, if the child is already speaking fluent English at the "play visit", that will be excellent, but usually young children don't talk much and are moody at times so ESF seems to asses the parent's English as well as the child's. This is only for kindergarten though, when it comes to applying for primary school the child must be speaking fluent English by then.

作者: Radiomama 時間: 12-9-1 11:09 標題: 回覆：DonaldTsang 的帖子

It seems that you hv not yet made up your mind whether int'l or local stream.
Think twice!
ESF kindies, Anfield, Tutor, KCIS will lead to int'l path.
Vic kindies, Think, St Cat provide 英普班 which is also popular. It could lead to local or int'l primary somehow. But don't aim at ESF primary because they won't even have a chance to interview.
If your target is CIS/HKIS/Harrow/GSIS etc, pls put your kid into its prep class.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-9-1 23:03 標題: 引用：回復+melonfans+的帖子 With+your+remarks

原帖由 slamai 於 12-08-31 發表
回復 melonfans 的帖子

With your remarks on Vxx regarding gifted child, I wonder which school(s) you ...

No. My kid is just normal kid.

作者: DonaldTsang 時間: 12-9-1 23:07 標題: 引用：+本帖最後由+melonfans+於+12-9-1+01:53+編

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-09-01 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-9-1 01:53 編輯

Debentures? But it isn't mentioned in anfield's website. So how much is it? I'm pretty afraid of that

歡迎光臨教育王國 (/)