Anfield,Kingston,Tutor Time & HK pre-school????

cpmummy

Hi all,

Any comments of below school?
-Anfield
-Kingston
-Tutor Time
-HK pre-school

Except Anfield, those school are offer bi-lingual program. I am going to put my daughter to pre-nursery class for the coming Aug/Sept 04. But still not sure which school is the best. My daughter is now studying the playgroup in both Anfield and Tutor Time. Both are good too, but it seems that my daughter still not really enjoy the mandarin class in Tutor time, I think she doesn't understand, I guest perhaps I don't speak mandarin, I always talk with her either in English or Cantonese. What I can help her?

Personally, I like Kingston, the campus is clean, one english and mandarin teacher stay the class for whole 3 hours with no more than 16 student in a class, it seems they offer more pre-nursery class, more parent likes to put their child to this school, so they are full whatever in am or pm class (3 pre-nursery class in pm are all full too, total 48 students). But they are far more expensive (the cost for pre-nursery class would more or less the same as Anfield and Tutor time, about HKD5300-5800/month, but when you decide to let your child to stay for K1 and K2, then the monthly fee will be about HKD7000/month, it is really alot of money!!)

For Anfield, the teacher there are nice, the only concern is their main language is English only, so my kid will not be possible to switch back to local primary school in the future.

Tutor Time, their campus is very nice, clean and bright, but it seem people stay there for playgroup and nursery class only, it seem not many student will be stay for K1, K2 or K3!! it seem that there are very few students, that is only my impression, I am not sure if it is really ture or not.

HK pre school, they offer interantional class - mandarin and english, the campus is nice too, the ratio between teacher and student is 1:10, and monthly fee (HKD3080) is more reasonable than above school, so I think that's good too, but they said they will accept a class up to 30 student, that will not be good, as too crowd.

Does any of your kids studying in above school? Are there any comments/ opinion? Whatever it is good or bad! Can I share your experience?

cpmummy

Brent

If money is not your concern, Kingston is very good because it has low teacher and student ratio.  As each class has 1 Eng and 1 Mandarin teacher, children have equal exposure to both languages.  More important, they don't allow Cantonese speaking in the campus.  However, if no one speak Mandarin with your daughter at home, it is likely that she tends to speak Eng rather than Mandarin at school.

If you are talking about value-for-money, HKPS may be a good choice.  Although the Kowloon Tong school is new, the headmistress has been leading the Ascot school (at Fo Tan) for many years.  The drawback is that children's Eng exposure may not be enough (less than 1/3 of the time) since each class has 1 Eng and 2 Mandarin teachers.  Moreover, as Cantonese speaking is allowed, children may use Eng/ Mandarin only when they communicate with teachers but use Cantonese when they communicate with other children.  Does it mean HKPS is not good?  The answer depends on your expectations and requirements.

cpmummy

Brent,

Thank you so much for your comments!
Which school is your son/ daughter studying now? Why did you choose it for him/her?

cpmummy

Brent

My son attended Kingston’s 1-year old class and is attending HKPS’s 2-year old class.  It is likely that I would let him attend K1 in HKPS as well.  In fact, I find Kingston is better but still choose HK(Ascot)PS because
1)        It is good even not excellent but cheaper (value-for-money factor)
2)        Closer and within walking distance.  (When my son was one, he took school bus together with my maid so it was OK.  When he was two, he needed to attend school and thus take bus by himself but I though he was too little for that so I chose HKPS)
3)        His Eng was better than Cantonese when he was two so I put him to HKPS (Anglo-Chinese) class for him to learn more Cantonese and Mandarin.
4)        He likes HKPS now and can see his classmates around after school
5)        I haven’t decided to send him to local/Int’l schools so he would better learn both Eng and Chi now.

If not for points 1 & 2, I will sure choose Kingston.  In fact, Kingston’s Primary session is one of my choices.  However, its campus is small and it has no secondary session although it would have some kind of connection with Phoenix

Prema

Dear Mum,

My son is studing in Yew Chung playgroup now. And thinking whether to change him to Kingston or not? Just like cpmummy, I can not decide which one is more suitable ?

Kingston : I like it to use both Mandarin and English.  But my son would need to repeat playgroup/1yr old class the whole year again next year.  Because he is now studing in playgroup already in Yew Chung since beginning this year.

As in Yew Chung, he can go to 2 yr old class when he reach Dec. 2004. He can go to 2yr old class in 2005.

Can anyone give me any suggestion?

I am sorry to ask because I can not decide at all.

ronnie

hi Brent,
my son is studying in Kingston at the moment. He could have to repeat 1-year old class since he was born in nov. shall have to wait for evaluation by end of may from school. meanwhile, i have to look for other alternatives. wanna know more about HKPS from a user like you. may we have a chat if you don't mind? have pm my number to you.

hi prema,
anything wrong with Yew Chung?  why do you wanna change??  have you planned to go for int'l school or local stream yet??

SYMAMI3

My daughter is also studying at HKPS (Ascot). She love to go to school. There is dramatical change in her after she goes to HKPS.  She is much more outgoing and active.

Bernt is right, HKPS might not be an excellent school but it is still a good school.

Brent

Hi Ronnie,
What’s the May evaluation for? For deciding putting your son to 2 year-old class in Sep?  Will they eventually allow your son to attend 2 year-old class in when he turns 2 in Nov?  If so, why change.  If not, you may consider HKPS (I just know about Ascot school but not Kowloon Tong school) if you don’t mind they have larger classes, lower teacher-children ratio, lesser English exposure, less beautiful arts & crafts materials (always using white A4 papers), and allow Cantonese speaking in the campus.  In fact, the points are the major differences between Kingston and HKPS in my view.

Hi Prema,
I prefer Kingston to Yew Chung because the former uses Mandarin but the latter uses Cantonese as teaching language.  I have a strong believe that children can benefit more from using Mandarin to learn Chinese because they can write down whatever they say (Mainland children's writing ability is much stronger than HK children's).  In any case, it is only my personal view.

cpmummy

Brent,

Thank you so much for your information! You are so helpful!

Prema,
I also want to know why did you want to change? I had visited Yew Chung two months ago, my impression of this school is quite good too, the place is clean, the teacher there are nice (they seems to be experienced-not sure!!, because their age like to be from 25 to 35).

Ronnie,
Can you also let me know your comments about Kingston? Why don't you consider Tutor Time, they are also offering Manadrin and English.

ronnie

Brent,
I have discussed with school about my case.  I was told to evaluate Ian's basic self-care ability (self-eating, balancing, etc) in May.  It's fair enough cos I won't be around in 2-year class.  Not only the teachers, but also myself wanna ensure he is fine on his own everyday (5-day school by then).  Yet, I have started to train Ian more independence since april.  Definitely, he will go up to 2-year class if passed by august, not november.
I still have to look for alternatives in case.  Touch wood, if Ian missed the 2-yr class, I will keep him stay in the 1-year class until Jan-2005.

cpmummy,
I like kingston in terms of its approach, curriculum + Eng & Putonghua, students/teachers ratio, campus, teachers and etc.  I buy IB too.

Yew Chung does not have any putonghua, that's why I didn't consider it earlier.

Since Ian was not old enough for Kingston's, I enroled Tutor Time-kln tong for him when he was 10 months' old.  I found the class was crowded and both teachers were not experience in handling parents & students as well as a messy run down togehter with the room was too small during the first lesson.  I knew I won't continue the class next month but still requested for transferring to Red Hill campus for the fee I've paid though I live in Yuen Long.  I was unwilling a waste of money i've paid.  However, I found Red Hill's operation was far more better than kln tong's, just too far...  noted I was talking about experience in last year!!

I've tried Anfield's Toddlerobics in order to know the school more.  teachers are english-speakers but not native (I concern), the two i've met were not experienced

cpmummy

Ronnie,

Is Kingston really accept Ian to their 2 year old class even he is only one year old something when they starts their term in August? Are you going to take morning class? or afternoon class?

Are you still living in Yuen Long? Are you planning to let your son to get on the school bus? As I also living in Yuen Long. So I would appreciated to know how did you manage it? That is one of my concern, as school campus is far away from the MTR station.

cpmummy

mommy2003

Hello, I'm new on this topic.  Can I ask a few very simple questions:

Where is the location & monthly school fee of these schools?  Any web sites I can check further details?

Many thanks!

puibb

All In Kln Tong Areas:

kingston's web site:
http://www.kingston.edu.hk/

1 - 2 Years Old 3 Days / Old
3 Days / Week - $4,060 / M
4 Days / Week - $5,568 / M
5 Days / Week - $6,728 / M

2 - 3 Years Old 5 Days /Week -$5,800 / M

3 - 5 Years Old 5 Days / Week -$6,980 / M

tutor time's web site:
http://www.tutortime.com.hk/

Anfield's web site:
http://www.anfield.com.hk/

cpmummy

The tution fee for Tutor time and Anfield are as follow,

Tutor Time
Nursery class (2year old) : $5,600/m
K1: $5,300/m

Anfield
No nursery class
K1: $5,000/m plus $3,000/annual=$5,300/m

cpmummy

mommy2003

Thanks all for yr valuable info!

Laura

I dont know much about TT,anfield and hkpreschool tho for kingston, its word of mouth is kinda good.
Of course, youve invested more money than most of the others, it will give you higher quality of education.
My daughter used to attend kingston too. Kids of my fds usually spend short period of time in Kingston then transfer to the other schools like ESF, Yewchung or those in hk side.
Whilst kingston got one more good advantage is i can see some kids can choose the way to english junior schools after kindy but not only int'l schools.

ronnie

cpmummy: I wish Ian could be upgraded by august, still not sure for now. Try his best.
i drive Ian to school. <30mins from home to school. consider moving out if he takes 5-day school.
How old is your kid? boy or girl?

cpmummy

ronnie,

My daughter is 26months now.
It is a big headache for me on her transportation if we decide to send her to Kingston as morning class are full, there are only a few place left in afternoon class. As I have to work, I can only drive her to school before I go to work and then ask my mother to pick her up, so morning class would be more convenience for us. That's why I ask you how will you manage it?

cpmummy

cpmummy

janice,

Can I know the teacher's name of your kid's class?
How many students in your kid's nursery class?
How many students in your friend's daughter class (K1)? Do you have impression that there are not many students who will stay for K2?

cpmummy
cpmummy