The ISF Academy - MYP Authorisation

Hedgies

Just heard that ISF got IB authorisation for its MYP... Congratulations to the school, students and their families!!

I know they are issuing new capital note... HK$1.6mm... quite expensive!! I have bought one capital note several years ago and am not sure if I should buy another one now for the new-born girl.. any advice?

hayleyyorkshire

ISF Academy值唔值得$1.6M呀?!!

Hedgies

I have a few friends whose kids are studying at the ISF.. they said a lot of great things about the school, especially their well-balanced focus on English/Mandarin teaching.. this is not something that the other well-known IS can offer..

Well, I think the price of HK$1.6mm is not cheap to be frank... The key question is whether you like this school or not.. If you like this school, buying a debenture may not be a bad idea as this would put your kids at the front of the queue... the only other IS/private school which offers debenture is CIS whose debenture is trading at HK$3.7mm (and you need to have a real business entity in order to qualify yourself as a eligible buyer though)...

tingtingting

I guess he/she is asking from an investment point of view.  I know quite a few CIS parents who got CIS's CNR for less than $600K just a few years ago (luckily I am of them) and another few ISF parents who are holding ISF's capital notes purchased at $150K three or four years ago.

Hedgies

Sorry, I should have been more specific in my previous msg.. I bought my first Capital Note 2-3 yrs ago when my first son was born.. As he is only 2.5 yrs old (and hence has not applied to the ISF yet), I dont have the real life experience to share with other parents here about the ISF.. But it is my plan to apply to the ISF for him when he turns 4 in approximately 1 year's time...

I just have another new-born girl (who is only 2-months old).. and that is why I am considering whether to buy a second Cap Note for her or not... Eventhough some ppl told me that she can benefit from the subling priority if her brother gets admitted to the ISF.. However, I heard of several cases where sublings need to be placed on waiting lists as there are ample students covered by Cap Note ahead of them in the queue.. If my son does not go to the ISF in the end, I may simply transfer the nomination right under my first Cap Note to my second kid..

Hope this clarifies...

原帖由 thankful 於 09-11-29 02:08 發表
Sorry, I forgot to ask you something.  As you said you bought one Capital Note several years ago, I presume you also have a kid studying at ISF for several years already.  It seems strange that you ha ...

tingtingting

You don't get a secured place by holding a capital note.  There are cases where applicants armed with capital notes are rejected.  I heard a story about a lady who, believing that a capital note would help, purchased an apartment in Bel Air and bought a capital note.  Her son did not get admitted but she made over $8m in less than 12 months from her apartment in Bel Air.

tingtingting

原帖由 hayleyyorkshire 於 09-11-28 11:53 發表
ISF Academy值唔值得$1.6M呀?!!

I don't know whether it is worth $1.6m or not.  Price is a relative concept.  All I know is one large international bank which claims to have lost some big money is interested in getting a couple of the notes for its expat employees. I regret that I did not get one during the last offer (the note was priced at less than half of $1.6m then).

Hedgies

As far as I know, the ranking priorities are as follows:

1st priority:  Sublings covered by Cap Note
2nd priority:  Applicants covered by Cap Note
3rd priority:  Sublings not covered by Cap Note
then:  Other applicants

I know that their foundation year's intake is approximately 130 students p.a.  Two of my friends whose younger kids passed the admission tests but are still on waiting list while their elder brother/sister are studying at the ISF... So I guess this means the number of applicants in the first three categories has already exceeded their yearly intake number already... On the number of outstanding Cap Notes, I dont think that  the school has announced (and dont think they will) the number of Cap Notes they have issued.. .But looking at their funding needs due to their expansion, I am not surprised that a good number of Cap Notes has been issued recently.. While it is not possible to estimate the number of subling applicants per year, but if we look at their student population (>1,000), I am not surprised if there are tens of subling applications per year...

I have said a lot of things about the ISF.. but dont take me wrong.. I am not biased towards ISF or any other IS at all... While I like their well-balanced focus on English/Mandarin, I agree that they dont have a track record on university placement and they need to prove themselves in the future.. that may explain why their Cap Note is trading at a price significantly below CIS debenture.. I think if the ISF students can make good univ placement record, there is a good chance their Cap Note may trade close to the CIS debenture price...

ISF is definitely on my high-priority school list for my son... But there are definitely many other good IS schools in that basket too... I, just like other parents on this forum, just wanted to maximize the chance of my son getting into one of those high-priority schools, and so no stone is to be left unturned...

原帖由 thankful 於 09-11-29 22:25 發表
***However, I heard of several cases where sublings need to be placed on waiting lists as there are ample students covered by Cap Note ahead of them in the queue..***

I don't know if Capital Note Hol ...

Pooh_Pooh

..... 沉默是金.
Hedgies, 我稍後pm你!

[ 本帖最後由 Pooh_Pooh 於 09-11-30 18:44 編輯 ]

Hedgies

As we discussed, ISF needs to prove itself in the next few years relating its univ placement.. But personally I am not too worried about this (and I really hope that I am right).. It is the quality of the students who matter in the public exams.. As long as the school can attract the best breed of students, there is a good chance that they will flare well in the exams.. Then the next question is whether ISF can attract good students... The reason I have been spending time on this school is because their program does sound very interesting to me (and hopefully this would apply to some other parents as well)... While I want to kids to study in a more "internationalized" and "open" environment, I really dont want to compromise the Chinese speaking / writing skills of my kids... and this is the only reason I am considering the ISF.. While other IS like HKIS, GSIS, etc have very good univ placement records, honestly the Chinese language skills of their students are not up to my expectation at all (or to be fair to those schools, a big portion of their students will go back to their home countries to work when they grow up, so whether having good Chinese language skills may not matter to them at all)..

On the downside risk on the Cap Note, I am not too much concerned with it... Price is determined by demand and supply of the goods... The school is the "only" supplier of new Cap Notes, to put it in a blunt way, they can "make" the market by controlling the number of new Cap Note to be issued... On the demand side, I think the demand would continue to grow on two counts.. First, the school is still a relatively young school and their size would continue to grow as they expand.. as long as parents like their program, I dont see why their new capacity cant be met with additional demand.. Second (and perhaps even a bigger factor) is the demand from the wealthy PRC immigrants.. Honestly I think the ISF offerings would be appealing to them as traditional PRC families wont want their kids to turn into a "Gweilo" or "Gweil-mui" when they grow up... And dont forget, it is this group of people who can easily spend hundreds of millions of dollars to spend expensive houses in HK.. and spending a couple of millions to buy a debenture for their kids is just a drop in their buckets... So if you ask me, I think the downside risk on the Cap Note price is limited...

原帖由 thankful 於 09-11-30 01:08 發表
Don't get me wrong, I am not biased against ISF either.  It's just that something doesn't quite add up.   As you said, $1.6M is a lot of money to many people.  We ought to think carefully before makin ...

Hedgies

Thanks Pooh_Pooh for your remark...

On the case where the little one cant get in even his bigger brother is studying at the ISF, is it becos the younger one did not pass the admissions test, or is it becos the queue is too long so he simply cant wait? Would be great if you could tell me more as this would have bearings on my decision to buy the second Cap Note or not.. Thanks!

原帖由 Pooh_Pooh 於 09-11-30 00:52 發表
無錯.
我都知道有家長有Capital notes, 亦多番嘗試, 都係rejected!  另外, 亦有case係有哥哥讀緊, 但弟弟點攪都唔收.  

nintendo

原帖由 Pooh_Pooh 於 09-11-30 00:52 發表
無錯.
我都知道有家長有Capital notes, 亦多番嘗試, 都係rejected!  另外, 亦有case係有哥哥讀緊, 但弟弟點攪都唔收.  

有人辭官歸故里
有人漏夜趕科場

BK 內有家長話 ISF 好
但亦都有唔少話唔好
當中都有幾個曾經分享過 ISF 的問題所在

我都有朋友有孩子讀 ISF
朋友都係彈多過讚
佢的起心肝諗住幫孩子轉校
舊年已經魚翁撒網式入表申請好多間
今年再接再勵

學校好唔好, 我覺得要睇個別家庭的要求
我都戥個 D 覺得 ISF 好的家長開心

[ 本帖最後由 nintendo 於 09-11-30 17:49 編輯 ]

meganlee

I think the students on the 1st/2nd priority are not so many. Although, the school is expanding and need fund-raising, they issue only very  limited number of capital note every year.  So, there is a waiting list for purchasing capital note.  They want to limit the no. of students with capital notes at around 20-30%.  Then, they leave more places to choose the students from the main pool.  One can pass the admission test but still  put on the waiting list because the school need the replies from the students who perform better. Some of them may refuse the offer. If there are places afterthat, it will be  for the students on waiting list.

原帖由 Hedgies 於 09-11-29 23:24 發表
As far as I know, the ranking priorities are as follows:

1st priority:  Sublings covered by Cap Note
2nd priority:  Applicants covered by Cap Note
3rd priority:  Sublings not covered by Cap Note
then ...

Pooh_Pooh

我PM似乎有D問題, 如果你收唔到, 留個E-MAIL比我, 我SEND比你!