any kids studying or studied in ESF (sai kung) kinder? thks!

cocobean225

BBIX,

Nope I mean I want to put him in some sort of bilingual kindergarten first then decide whether he should pursue ESF primary.

PM me and we can share more.

cocobean225

momalice,

May I know which nursery or playgroup did your son attend before going to Abacus?

Was there any interview with the kid before they offer your son a school placement?

momalice

Hi Cocobean,

My son did not attend any nursery, he only attend the "Littleton" Discovery Playgroup in TKO for about 1/2 year when he was 2. (because the playgroup was closed)

There is no interview for both parents and kids.  You just need to hand in the application form.

Hope the above information is useful.

cocobean225

Dear momalice,

I'm very much surprised that Abacus doesn't require any interview to select applicants. Well maybe the application is not competitive at all. This is indeed a very good news to me, as I'm always worry about the interview performance, if there's not going to be any interview, I'll definitely be less stressed out.

Since Abacus doesn't have nursery, my son can only apply in Oct 2007. Still a long way to go.

How long has your son been attending Abacus? is he in K1 or K2 now? Can he speak native-level English?

momalice

Hi cocobean,

I think all the ESF kindergartens did not require interview for applicants, no matter how many kids apply.  I heard the Sheung Wan one got a very long waiting list...

My son is studying in K1 now and he can communicate in both Chinese & English. And the teachers said he can communicate very well with the teachers and all the other kids in school.

cocobean225

momalice,

thanks for your prompt reply. Do you know if Abacus also have a long waiting list?

Is there any school bus arrangement for your son?

According to the information on the school website, kids are not assigned any homework at all. Is this true? How can you assess whether he has learnt something new then?

momalice

cocobean,

As far as I know, all the ESF kindergartens and primary schools do not have any homework... (All the other ESF moms, please correct me if I'm wrong).  For me, I will try to ask my son what he did in school, what songs he sang, what stories they are reading based on the information from the newsletter or diary (School will tell the parents what's the theme of the month, what they are doing in school eg. Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese New Year etc).  At first, to be honest, he cannot say much.  But he will show us new things from time to time, like last week, he told us about tadpole, how it look likes and can change into frog... That's what he newly learnt from school.  

My son took school bus (not run by school).  I think the routes are mainly for Tseung Kwan O and Sai Kung, may be Clear Water Bay too.  School will give you the contact number once you are enrolled.

Concerning the waiting list....  I have no ideas, sorry can't help you on that.

cocobean225

momalice,

I actually made a site visit to Abacus today. It was actually quite small. The appearance of the school is more like a village-school than ESF.

But anyhow, most important thing is its operation under ESF. I guess this is the ultimate relief to us.

When your son first attending Abacus, how fluent is his english? does the school care about the english level of their new students?

WYmom

momalice,

ESF primary schools do have homework, just not so much as in local schools.

momalice

Thanks a lot, WYmom.

But they don't have have examinations, do they?

WYmom 寫道:
momalice,

ESF primary schools do have homework, just not so much as in local schools.

WYmom

momalice,

They have assessments all the time, but no need to do revisions beforehand, kids just do some exercises in class.  For P.5 and P.6, they have to do test papers which are assessment tests of UK and results are compared with those schools in UK.  ESF has announced that their primary test results are much better than the average in UK.

momalice

WYmom,

Thanks a lot.  

sophia1201

hi all moms here,

although I prefer ESF but I was worried about the level of math and Chinese reading/writing if my son was to study in ESF all the way to high school.

  I am struggling between Victoria and ESF as it seems to me Victoria have better Math/Chinese. Of course the trade off is level of English.

  any mom have the same concerns? please share your thoughts.thanks.

CherylMum

Re: any kids studying or studied in ESF (sai kung) kinder? thks!

[ 本帖最後由 CherylMum 於 09-11-17 16:45 編輯 ]

Pretty2006

Dear Momalice,

I am living in Sai Kung and my daughter is 2 months old.  When should I apply for Abacus because I know there is a long queue.  also, how much is the school fees?  

Thank you.

cocobean225

current school fee for Abacus ESF is $4211 per month.

BBIX

cocobean, may I know there is only 2 levels for kids( K1, and K2) then start primary school right away? cos normally kinder has 3 levels , doesn't it? thks!

cocobean225

BBIX,

If your son is going to attend International school, then after completing K2, he'll go to ESF for P1.
If he's going for local school, then he has to join another kindergarten for K3.

sophia1201

Cherylmom thanks for your sharing.
I do prefer western education philosophy over Chinese traditional edu phil (填鴨式). However math is the foundation of logic thinking and that's what I found many western people are lack of. so I'm a little concerned about it.  And inability to write Chinese could also be a problem.....

Perry2006, ESF kinder start to accept application as your kid approaches 2 year old. so 3-5 month before your kid reaches 2 yr old you may write them to get an application form.

BBIX

sophia, my son was born in may05, so when I need to appy for esf kinder? thks!!! and may I know the level is same as other IS kinder, cos ESF just has K! and K2, thks!!