Victoria or St. Paul's Convent?

Newton

Victoria is half-day English/Putonghua international and St. Paul's is full-day nursery. Anyone has any comments on these 2 schools?

Newton

SPN's teachers communicate with children in Cantonese and there are no native English speaker according to the photos posted in their website. It so happens that language is one of my major concern. Originally I tilted towards St. Paul because they provide all-round care which include breakfast and lunch which seems quite nutrient and the training they provide must be better than the maid. However, after reading so many good comments about Victor, my intention is shaken and now more lean towards Victoria. Tough choice!

Newton

My son will be one of the handful male in St. Paul. I don't quite concern about the gender imbalance there.

Why the English standard of those children in St. Paul high. Are they acquiring the language mainly from primary school. I know their secondary school English are pretty good but according to the interviewer, they communicate with the kids in Cantonese at kindergarten and that worries me.

"雖說Victoria有很多小朋友派位理想，但實質不是幼稚園因素" - What is the other factors for good allocation?

Bear with me for so many questions.

Thks a lot

What is the point system for primary school. I am completely new. Would you minding offerring some pointers?

Newton

Yes. Got accepted.

Newton

Thank you for your opinion.

I have a serious thought to send my son to international school for primary education. I personally do not quite enjoy the local education system above the primary school level and I think it has high chance to hinder children development even though it can produce 10As students effectively. Therefore I am thinking about German-Swiss (but I think the deadline is due) and Canadian International.

麟媽媽 寫道:
Newton,
You should have told me earlier that yours is a son! If that's the case, I vote for Victoria. St. Paul's Convent School (Primary Section) is an English school which means except Chinese Language all other subjects are to be taught in English. They use P.2 English text books for P.1 and so on (that's what it was when I was in Primary). Teachers conduct in English during class and most students can listen well. Too bad that it's a girl's school that's why I sent my boy to Victoria.   

Newton

My feeling is if you get the interview, you are pretty much in.

The interview was conducted by one of the teachers. She sat my son down on a small table to play with legco himself and brief us a bit about the school. Nothing special and not too many questions. Especially almost none went to my son.

We were actually quite under-prepared for the interview and even thought that we were not able to make it.

However, don't take my words for granted. It may be different for each individual interviewer.

2mings 寫道:
Hi Newton
Yes, you should think about it as St. Paul's is a dream school for girls but not for boys! However, I think you can also check with the school where the old boys of SPN been? I heard that most of them can enter some famous schools.

BTW, would you please share with us if there is an interview for SPN. What's the contents of the interview?

Newton

Hi 麟媽媽

Hum...I think I got only 20 point at most!

Some other questions since you are from St. Paul's as well.

1) Full-day vs half-day - do you think kids will be better trained in terms of discipline and manner. My thought is that Victoria are so free and the maid cannot train them well, a full-day nursery with St. Paul may be a better choice.

2) As mentioned by the others, do you have any information about the primary allocation records for SPN or SPK, both girls and boys (although I know most of the girls will go straight to St. Paul's Primary.

3) Do you think day-nursery for the kid is too long, especially for a slightly over 2 years old boy.

Any of your advise is highly appreciated.

Newton

up

Newton

After reading a lot of information and comments in this website, here are what I feel and perceive:

1) If my son gets into SPK instead of SPN, I may choose Victoria over SPK since communicating with native English speaker without accent is the best way to learn English. However...........

2) SPN is full-time and independence and minimal discipline is what I concern my kid at this stage. Our maid has been overly kind to and so much caring for the kid (which is a good thing for us) but definitely is not the best way to teach him. Therefore I would rather let the kid stay full-time in an environment with good balance of fun and discipline. In this sense, Victoria seems to be too free to meet my requirement. Since my wife and I both need to work very late in the foreseeable future, if my son's behavior is not bounded by the school, it will be quite easy for him to go beyond the line which in turn will make further education difficult even when we have time available to him later.

3) The environment of SPN is overwhelmingly attractive to me. I read that there is an outdoor garden and a semi-outdoor playground with SPN while Victoria in Hoi Fung is basically indoors classroom teaching and playing. I would think that more chance for the kid playing outdoors can help his development as well.

4) The food is good - so good that we definitely have no time to think and prepare such a variety of food. It is good to my kid's health.

5) My wife is not native English speaker but her English surely is more fluent and possesses much less accent than most Hong Kong people. I hope that it can compensate a bit of the deficiency of St. Paul in English teaching.

6) The gender imbalance will not be too much of a concern for me. As far as I can remember, I never spent a second to think the difference between girl and boy when I was in a local kindergarten. What I can recall is that I was quite admire those who academically superior than me ----- Oops: it is the evil of local education and therefore I hate that......St. Paul, according to the study schedule and comments in this forum, has deviated from this traditional teaching methodology ---- good!  

Therefore, I pretty much make up my mind on St. Paul Convent.

Any further factors which any of you think I am missing?