ESF Y1 vs FIS Y1 (HELP!)

Mumuwong

My son got accepted by ESF, with the blessing of our nomination right, in Y1 in the coming Fall.  Suddenly, he was aksed to do the interview by FIS and we just received the offer. Heard that both schools are good.  We are traditional Chinese and keen on academic results.  My son used to study in monterssori kinder.

We do not have faith in IB curriculm in primary which the ESF adopts as we are concern that it is less structure.  We hope our son could establish a solid foundation in primary school in order to build his knowledge up.  We heard that the excellent IB results the ESF posted are achieved by students who were not IB-trained in primary.  We understand that the curriculm in FIS is quite robust and academically driven.  But we afraid most resources have been allocated to the French stream rather than the interational one. Of course, we are not sure whether we can fit in in the French community/culture.

If we choose FIS, we have to forfeit the nomination right we paid, no refund.  My younger son would probably unable to get a chance to go to ESF.  He is studying in a non-ESF kinder.

Really boring but TOUCH questions to parents.  Please kindly help. Thanks in advance.

Teresaso

請問是否一定要交500000萬元提名權先有得讀，有幾多人交咗？

ekdaddy

Does anyone know if we have to line up very early for the INR nomination for submission on Sept 3rd?

Appreciated if someone can share their experience.  Thanks~

jolalee

回覆 VVhuilee 的帖子

I am looking for a school as you said with 30-40% ethnic Chinese, IB or UK curriculum, a good balance of both Chinese & English, a through train school. I know Kellet and NA is not very ideal in terms of their Chinese programme, but I have applied anyway just in case (better apply than regret later).
In your opinion and research, which school would fit my needs?
VSA? CIS? SIS?

Kingston is a good starting point although they have many ethnic Chinese in it. Definitely a great school to fall back on! It is wise to apply to Kellet and HKA as well; always have options. If you are looking for UK curriculum, also consider Harrow & GSIS, although you need to apply from birth.

As to "through train schools with 30-40% ethnic Chinese and a good balance of both Chinese & English" (IB or UK curriculum), that is kind of a hard combination depending on your definition of "good balance of Chinese & English".  Schools with better Chinese of course has more Chinese students in it. The ones you mentioned: VSA, CIS & SIS naturally all have strong Chinese populations in them (just click on their school photos and you'll see). You may add ISF to the list as well. In terms of work load, I'd say that SIS & ISF has lots of homework even at an early age, but VSA & CIS should be moderately okay. (Parents who knows about VSA please correct me if i'm wrong)

For through-train schools with 30-40% ethnic Chinese (therefore 60-70% non-chinese) with relatively decent Chinese programs, I believe CDNIS & HKIS would fit the bill. Both schools use traditional Chinese characters for advanced level and simplified Chinese for 'expat level' (for the lack of a better term). That's how they can keep both sides happy. CDNIS currently has 30% ethnic Chinese in the lower grades but more Chinese in the upper grades, and their Chinese program is known to be academically strong (not necessarily means that the kids are fluent Mando speakers, just that they have good grades in Chinese as a subject). HKIS parents claims that their level of Chinese rivals CIS, but this info is a bit dated (at least 5-6 years ago) and CIS has upped their game even more since then. This means HKIS' Chinese is decent enough as well anyhow compared with other IS with high expat population (which usually uses Simplified Chinese). Do note that HKIS families, from what i heard, live in HOUSES... So socially we are talking about the super upper crust here. I don't know the exact % of ethnic Chinese population in HKIS (as well as schools like GSIS, Harrows & ESF) since most ethnic Chinese there have foreign passports. Anyhow they are not as extreme as DBIS & Kellet in terms of expat population and CIS, SIS, ISF, VSA in terms of ethnic Chinese population.

ESF is definitely a good idea to apply, but do note that in general kids there dislike Chinese, and i am not sure how strong peer influence would play. I know a few success stories here with ESF students having a good command of Chinese, under great efforts given by wise parenting.  I am not sure if this is a trend that just applies to ESF (due to its history of application requirement being non-canto speakers, hence even the Chinese parents don't speak to their kids in Chinese, at least during early childhood), or that most IS kids dislike Chinese. All in all, parenting style does make a great difference.

VVhuilee

jolalee 發表於 14-6-19 15:27
I'm more familiar with the ESF primary schools on the Hong Kong side, and from what i heard QBS and  ...

Thanks for your feedback.  My son will go to Kingston this Aug for 1 year-old class (playgroup) and he should continue until (K2) then I have to think about going to their primary school or somewhere else.
Kingston is known being strong in their bilingual programme and this early acceptance is a big relief for us. I do believe their small class size & bilingual programme in KG, but it’s too early to say about their primary school.
My main concern for their primary would be English level with very few foreigners in the school and that being a relatively small school, the facilities is really downside.
I am looking for a school as you said with 30-40% ethnic Chinese, IB or UK curriculum, a good balance of both Chinese & English, a through train school.
I know Kellet and NA is not very ideal in terms of their Chinese programme, but I have applied anyway just in case (better apply than regret later).
In your opinion and research, which school would fit my needs?
VSA? CIS? SIS?
I heard that both are pretty demanding being an international school.
Is that the case?
I still prefer ESF as it’s being well established, but will probably need private tuition for Chinese.
Thanks for sharing!

jolalee

VVhuilee 發表於 14-6-19 11:31
based on your research/personal feelings,  which ESF primary is good?  what do you think about Kelle ...

I'm more familiar with the ESF primary schools on the Hong Kong side, and from what i heard QBS and Glenealy both has a strong system and good teachers in place. I heard that Peak school & Bradbury are pretty good as well.

Kellet runs the UK curriculum so it is suitable for those planning to study in UK in the future. Note though, that similar to DBIS it may have too strong an expat community in it that for parents who are not already socializing in the expat circles, their kids may feel left out. Imagine trying to find play dates when the parents are not comfortable having coffee together...

HK Academy is still a bit new but has received great feedback. It runs a full IB curriculum, but somehow i feel that they would ensure stronger academics at the primary level (feelings are unfounded, i have no proof whatsoever). I guess we wouldn't know until their IB results come out in a few years. I am not sure about their ethnic student mix for real but on paper the nationality is almost 80% American, British, Australian, Canadian, Swiss, so the same situation similar to Kellet & DBIS may happen as well.

Personally, i find about 30-40% ethnic Chinese within a school may be healthier especially if the family prefer to speak Chinese within the family. Again, this is only a personal preference.

hkparent

原帖由 HKPES 於 14-06-19 發表
"In any academic year, the number of places offered to INR applicants will be limited to 150 across ...

If I were you, I'd choose FIS. ESF has too many HKers.

kksjennifer

Happi to hear that some people can get it successfully

kksjennifer

Lui, thank you for your information,so we should line up earlier to get a higher chance

HKPES

kksjennifer 發表於 14-6-19 12:24
If i line up for the NR on the very first day it issued, do i get a high chance to successfully buy  ...

Yes, I think so.  I've got a friend who managed to get in (Y1) on the strength of NR.  

lui

原帖由 kksjennifer 於 14-06-19 發表
If i line up for the NR on the very first day it issued, do i get a high chance to successfully buy  ...

It's on first come first serve basis. Hence if you line up even earlier (before 1.9) and be the 1st few, I don't see why you dont stand a chance. Remember each school bears a quota. You will need to Putin your 1-3 choices in case the first choice is filled up. As per parents experience,KJS hasbeen so popular that the NRwas fully filled  up.

lui

原帖由 kksjennifer 於 14-06-19 發表
If i line up for the NR on the very first day it issued, do i get a high chance to successfully buy  ...

It's on first come first serve basis. Hence if you line up even earlier (before 1.9) and be the 1st few, I don't see why you dont stand a chance. Remember each school bears a quota. You will need to Putin your 1-3 choices in case the first choice is filled up. As per parents experience,KJS hasbeen so popular that the NRwas fully filled  up.

kksjennifer

If i line up for the NR on the very first day it issued, do i get a high chance to successfully buy it for Year 1 admission?
For those got it or know it, would you mind share your experience? Thank you very much.

HKPES

koala_xin 發表於 14-6-19 01:05
A little bit deviated from the topic:
We tried to switch our kid to ESF this year (lower primary) fo ...

"In any academic year, the number of places offered to INR applicants will be limited to 150 across all ESF schools from Year 1 to 13."
So, if you're too late and if all the quota has been filled, then I suppose there's nothing the schools can do..  

VVhuilee

原帖由 jolalee 於 14-06-17 發表
回覆 Mumuwong 的帖子

As Annie who has more experience here stated 小學部行IB或英制，對教學素質的影 ...

based on your research/personal feelings,  which ESF primary is good?  what do you think about Kellet and HK Academy?  if you don't want to response in public,  pls pm me.  your input is much appreciated.

lui

原帖由 koala_xin 於 14-06-19 發表
本帖最後由 koala_xin 於 14-6-19 01:09 編輯

A little bit deviated from the topic:

Did you try other ESF school? They do have a quota assigned for each school.

koala_xin

A little bit deviated from the topic:
We tried to switch our kid to ESF this year (lower primary) for various reasons.
We don't have foreign passport, our kid goes to local kindergarten & primary. We have no choice but have to consider purchasing NR.
My feeling is ESF doesn't actually care that 'huge' (for us) amount of money. They response to your NR application very slow. Central office and schools doesn't communicate effectively (my feeling only).
Most sadly, I can't even pay the 500K because they said they don't have quota. Notice they do have students leaving (since my friend has kid in the same year)..........

jolalee

回覆 Mumuwong 的帖子

As Annie who has more experience here stated 小學部行IB或英制，對教學素質的影響不大 as well as more and more parents telling us that PYP does not hinder a child's academic progress in the long run, i think it is important to look at the long range results of each school. I believe you haven't mentioned which ESF school you child go into, as that may make a difference as well...

My interests in GSIS now is only a by-product of discussion on this forum. Yes GSIS was once our top choice before my son got into a through-train IS, but given my son was almost age 2 by the time i wanted to apply and realized the queue begin from birth, we didn't even register. After learning lately that they do not teach Chinese until P4, that threw me off GSIS primary even more (may still consider GSIS secondary if my son excels academically, but i cannot see that coming yet, fingers crossed).

Personally I prefer North American over UK curriculum since i was raised in Canada, but my husband prefer the more solid UK teaching instead. After going through Montessori we were both in love with it and considered the IMS offer (my son was also Montessori trained, since age 1). In the end however, our son won over. Given he is very active, we picked for him an active school, which happens to run the full IB program (and honestly my son's character may not fit GCSE either).

At the end of the day you need to pick a good, suitable school rather than which curriculum it runs. For the sake of argument, a good school that runs IB may be more solid than a lousy school that runs the UK curriculum, although we know both schools in questions are good schools. Between FIS & whichever ESF school your son got in, also look into:
1) Where would your children most likely head to for University? (UK, US/Can, Aus, HK?)
2) What fits your family? (sounds like you prefer UK curriculum, and would feel uncomfortable in IB. In that case don't go for IB if that means there'll be a struggle between you and the school / the child)
3) What fits your child? (what are they like and where do you feel they will thrive?)

Mumuwong

Thanks Slamai.

Jolalee, noting that you are interested in GSIS from other post, which is also based on UK curriculm, would you support the UK curriculm more than the IB, which I personally believe would lay a more solid foundation in primary years which may help IB learning at senior secondary.  I believe most of the int'l schools, no matter FIS, ESF, GSIS or CDNIS, would in some extent encourage students with inquiry mind.  Does it have a big difference in UK national curriculm and IB in this respect?

slamai

回覆 Mumuwong 的帖子

According to many scholars and my experience, inquiry-based learning is suitable for almost all kids which helps develop their mind during childhood by providing appropriate stimuli.  Aren't children born to inquire matters they are not familiar with?  Apparent lack of academic achievements during primary years can easily be made up for during early secondary years provided a solid foundation of language and learning attitude/skill-set has been laid.