when is the best time to be in IS?

MewB

frankly, the point is not about their foundation of knowledge laid down at the kindergarten stage.   Adapting from LS to IS is not as difficult as that the other way round.  the real difficulty rather is with the competitive disadvantage in securing a place with IS if the kid is not starting from kindergaten.  Many good IS primary school are through train from kinder.  English proficiency during entrance interview test is another issue for LS kinders.

samsam123321

Deleted.

shadeslayer

How would anyone know if IS is suitable for your kids?  You have not even given your criteria in education.
What is a good foundation of Chinese anyway apart from you defining it yourself?  Some people think DSE Chinese is minimum, right?

Peababylau

I just want to say....  It is impossible to try to get the best of both worlds!  Or it's not as easy as it seems.  

If u start from LS, can u ensure the child's english will be good enough for IS later on? And more importantly, spaces at higher grades in IS are indeed difficult to obtain.   Say if ur child is doing well at a LS, will you really be willing to interrupt his/her progess and switch her over to an IS? But if grades r not good, will a good IS be willing to take him/her over?   Catch 22.

If you start IS from kindergarten, their Chinese will no doubt suffer.   But I suppose you can get him/her a tutor and make sure you talk to them in chinese and encourage them to read newspapers and books etc.    There is surely no turning back to LS once you begin the IS path.