Comments on RC, ISF, YC, VSA

angela11

I am asking this for a colleague of mine who will relocate to HK from Shanghai later this year. Her daughter will be in Year 1 (= local K3) for School Year 2014-2015 (i.e. deadline to submit applications: around this Sep. - Oct.). My colleague wishes her daughter to get into a school strong in English (hence, IS and a few others such as ISF) and Putonghua (compared with other IS). I met the kid once - she speaks native Putonghua and is quite ok in English (mainly due to her home and kindergarten learning I believe).

My colleague did some research, and wants to learn more about these schools: RC, ISF, YC and VSA, from the parents here. She is most keen to know about:
- Teachers' quality;
- Curriculum rigor;
- Language spoken between students (out of class);
- Overall parents' style (pushy, laid-back...);
- ...

Location is not an issue at this moment as the family will decide where to live considering factors including the kid's schooling.

Your help will be much appreciated.

elmostoney

Can any parents share the hw load in upper primary years?  A friend whose child in Y2 told me that workload in UOI has increased a lot lately, so nowadays, her son needs 6 to 7 hours/week hw time.  She said her son is not especially slow as she talks to other parents and compare hw time.  She advises that I should expect 1 hr of hw for Y1, then increase 1/2 hr for every year.

lsm0113

原帖由 daffodil 於 13-04-29 發表
My son is now studying Year 2 at VSA and he started going to Victoria Kindergarten as early as in th ...

Hi, do you mind sharing about their secondary or PM me about it?

whitesky

回復 wenwan 的帖子

I always take the same bus with Victoria secondary kids when they get off from school. Most of the time, a group of them speak Cantonese with each others although once in a while,  a few of them switch to English but very soon they switch back to Cantonese. To me, they don't seem like other IS kids speaking English with friends. I wonder why.
Discipline seems okay. They just talk and talk with each others, never distribute others.

daffodil

My son is now studying Year 2 at VSA and he started going to Victoria Kindergarten as early as in the Playgroup. Frankly speaking, my husband and I as well as many other parents I know are happy with the school. I really don't see anything "commercial" about this school. It's not like you get better chance to get into the school or receive more attention from the teachers if you have a better family background. Most of the parents I know are from the middle class. I would say no school can please everyone. Just that I don't think this is a fair judgment especially if this comes from someone who doesn't have any kid studying in this school before.

I do go to the school as a parent helper and I get a lot of chance to meet or talk to the kids there. Seems quite a lot of them especially in the upper years speak English outside the classroom. In fact many kids in my son's class are fluent in English and quite a number of them are native English speakers.

One thing I like about this school is that they emphasize both English and Chinese (taught in PTH in Traditional Chinese) in the primary years. I am not too worried about my son's Chinese as he can read the Chinese books by himself without too much struggle though he does prefer reading English as it seems easier for him. He has no problem communicating in PTH nowadays. It seems to me that there are more native English speakers than native PTH speakers as I observe.

pppwong

原帖由 luckyveronique 於 13-03-06 發表
actually, esf kinders will no more enjoy priority starting next academic year, thus if I were you, I ...

Thankyou so much for your kind sharing. I am fully aware if the ESF changes and hv applied for anfield already. Box hill is a problem as all of its campuses are very far away for me. For Kingston, I would be happy to consider should it not hv the $72000 capital levy just for PG admission...
It's such a headache as there are so few good kindies in preparation for IS. To triple the problem mine is a small boy born in October which means that he doesn't stand a very good chance for ESF and will even lose the opportunity if he has to be admitted as a big boy for good kindies that cut off early...

Any comments would be very much appreciated!!

ramen

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luckyveronique

actually, esf kinders will no more enjoy priority starting next academic year, thus if I were you, I'd rather choose some IS kinders with strong academic education instead of free-play.

It seems that anfield, boxhill, kingston are all good IS kinders, which could answer my needs. Whilst my kid will start K1 this august, and given I am targeting ESF/PIS, I may still let her go to ESF kinder to get a priority.

luckyveronique

actually, esf kinders will no more enjoy priority starting next academic year, thus if I were you, I'd rather choose some IS kinders with strong academic education instead of free-play.

It seems that anfield, boxhill, kingston are all good IS kinders, which could answer my needs. Whilst my kid will start K1 this august, and given I am targeting ESF/PIS, I may still let her go to ESF kinder to get a priority.

pppwong

Dear mums, I was so glad to find this thread of discussions. I'm a new mum and new to the game of IS. Would you all be kind enough to share what kinds of kindergartens should I target if I'd like my boy to be admitted to RC and ISF? I wonder if ESF kindies still hv a niche but if course I'll still give it a try. Other than ESF kindies, what would be your recommendations?

chansiub

回復 Mayandrew 的帖子

Well said.   Comparing to long established IS like CIS and many others, I believe that VSA and ISF may be less developed in a lot of aspects e.g. staffing, curriculum.  But when it comes to "commercial", I don't see any differences among them.      

Mayandrew

I did some teachings in both CIS and ESF schools before. I would say all are pretty "commercial".  A good school needs a strong value chain from intake, curriculum, staffing, to alumni works. I would say 20 years is a cycle to build up a good school and that's what CIS has done. If management of ISF and VSA keep going on a right track, I anticipate there will be a big room for them to reach highest in next 5-10 years. In addition, emphasizing Chinese is a must running an IS in Asia pacific these days.

lui

原帖由 chansiub 於 13-03-01 發表
回復 lui 的帖子

True.  But it appears to me that the term "commercial" on EK is very negative and e ...

Yes. I have the same feel too. So I don't agree people using this term on Victoria only !  Victoria is actually quite a good school though. The comments somehow is unfair. If it does, other profit making kg do as well.

chansiub

回復 lui 的帖子

True.  But it appears to me that the term "commercial" on EK is very negative and evil.  That's why I want to know what's the difference between Vic and other IS (e.g. YC, ISF, ESF, CIS) when it comes to "commercial"?  I am looking for fair and constructive suggestion/comments and feel very frustrated when I see these "commercial" type of comments.  The term "commercial" on this forum makes no sense to me.  It's just like the term "口感" mentioning in almost all 飲食節目。   

lui

原帖由 chansiub 於 13-03-01 發表
本帖最後由 chansiub 於 13-3-1 10:13 編輯

回復 mingmingyinyin 的帖子

Other than 非牟利機構，all other kg are profit making and hence commercial I believe. For the commercial feels of Victoria, it may be true as comparing with others like St. Paul, SHk but not other profit making kg like st Catherine , york.

wenwan

My older son studied in VSA for two years. Both my son and I love the school. I am not sure why this school has bad comments in BK.   The strange thing is those who gave bad comments do not have kids studying there.  

Anyway, the teachers are caring and responsible. 28 - 29 kids per class with two home room teachers.  Students are happy and they do not have many homework in year 1 and 2. But as they move to upper primary, their homework volume will increase. Students speak mostly in English during recess and break. A few groups speak Cantonese. But everyone have to speak only English and Putonghua in the classroom. Students are polite and well mannered.  academically, Math and English are strong.  For Chinese, although it is not as good as those local elite schools, their standard is not too far behind.

mingmingyinyin

回復 chansiub 的帖子

I agree with you that no school is perfect. But it is good to hear that your boy loves this school. Isn't it a through train school? That's good enough.

chansiub

回復 mingmingyinyin 的帖子
Again, it is not the experience of someone who have kids studying in VSA.  It's from an unhappy ex staff.  I think it is very difficult for an organization to make all their staff happy.  My kid is studying at Victoria Kindergarten.  A lot of parents here on BK said this kindergarten is commercial.  But what does it mean?  It means that they will only concern about money?!  I have no clue.  The impression of Victoria Kindergarten in my mind was really bad after reading numerous posts on BK.  Then I visited the school and decided to give it a try.  This school is not "perfect" (think no school is) but I am happy with this school and my son loves the school.  Hence, I am thinking whether I should let him join VSA as I believe that the whole organization should have the same mission and culture.  However, the comments on VSA is even more terrible than those on Victoria Kindergarten.  Sign............

cppc20

回復 angela11 的帖子

Apply all first!  Since your friend's kid speaks native PTH, that will be an advantage in ISF interview.  

Shrimpiggy

1:5. In those 5 are Asian faces including jap, Korean, etc.