請教漢基CIS及寶山的家長/準家長

alicewong

Dear Alam,
Thanks for yr valuable advice. I am so glad that GSIS is not the way I used to believe. I only know 2 persons came from this school, 1 is Edison Chan and the other is my university's classmate. No need to say about the impression Edison gives me... my classmate is really rich and his family donated $ to the University. One of the bldg. in our University was named with his grandfather's name becoz of his donation.
After yr detailed description, I planned to apply this school in the academic yr 2005 for my daughter. according to the website, they have class for the age of 3 but those who apply to the school should reach the age of 3 by 1 sept. As my daughter is a small girl (nov 02). I wonder whether they will consider my application or not.Or they will let those younger kid to attend the school until they reach the age of 3.
besides, I know 1 couples who are both professionals and their daughter has good mastery of english but still could not get a seat in GSIS.(she attempted twice). I dont have confident that my girl will be accepted by the school although we talked to her in english...
please advise. thanks.

Alam

Dear Alice,

You are right.  Most families here are well above average and some of them are really rich.  However, most parents are very low key.  Of course there are certain "Chanel" parents but I still feel comfortable to make friends with  the others.  It may be the culture of western families that even the parents are very rich, they will not spoil the children with materials.  However you would feel the pressure after long holidays that almost everyone has been away and the teachers asked the children where they had been and wrote a story about it.  Besides, the school stresses playday and will "remind" your child to play more with native speakers in the class.  Inevitably your child will go to her classmates' house and may ask you to move to a new home with stairs.

I think the school are quite picky in choosing Chinese students.  The child must prove his/her English with native proficiency.

There are 1 class of K1 and 2 classes of K2.  If your girl is too young to be admitted to K1, you can try K2 where there is a new class open for enrollment.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Cheers,
Ada

alicewong

Dear Alam,

Thanks for yr prompt reply.
May I know the way you train yr kids english? what will the school assess during the interview?

regards,
alice

jollymom

Dear Alam and Babylee,
Sorry for the late reply, went to Macau with the kids for the last 3 days.  
My experience with HKIS is so far very good.  Did not feel much "snobbishness" in the school.  A lot of the families are expats.  Thus they might have big co. houses, good income, but didn't necessarily mean that they are very rich and snobbish.  I buy t-shirt and jackets for school from Stanley market and a lot of the other parents do so too.  But since alot of the expat moms don't have to work, they do volunteer a lot at school and are very devoted to school activities.  As mentioned earlier, I'm glad to find that the school's emphasis in Chinese is definitely picking up, but of course of CIS is still ahead.  My son did have a chance of changing to CIS last year, but since my son is really enjoying himself and doing well, just gave up.  For my younger son, my priority is still CIS for building a stronger Chinese foundation.  For the concerns you mentioned, I have also previously heard for CIS.  However, 2 of my friends' kids just entered CIS last year and they said those comments are overblown.  Parents are mainly professionals.  Actually, I think there are bound to be some snobbish parents/families in each school and it's up to us parents to steer our kids to the right mix of friends.  Hope the above helps.  Rgds.

jollymom

Dear Che,
Sorry for the late reply, was away for a few days.  
For BM, the communication with teachers and principal are ok.  But since my son only studied at their nursery class and K1 and I sent my son to school alot of the time, got to talk to the teachers and principal quite a bit.  Didn't know whether this applies to K2 and 3.  rdgs.

babylee

Dear Jollymom and Alam

Yes, like alicewong, I am also interested at how you trained your children with English.  Just at BH?

Babylee

Alam

Dear Jollymon,

Thanks for your reply.  I am interested to learn more about HKIS and please feel free to post more information about the school to help me understand more


Dear Babylee and Alice,

My husband and I speak English with the boys at all time.  They watched only the English channels and videos.  The activities of my elder boy are all conducted by native speakers, except Mandarin.  However, my husband and I talk in Cantonese between ourselves and we watch Cantonese channels TV.  Thus, my elder boy understands Cantonese but not speak very good.

BH were the only days my elder one learnt much of his Cantonese and Chinese words (because of its bilingual syllabus and all the classmates speak Cantonese).  Actually I tried to talk in Cantonese to him after he entered GSIS.  But after a few months, his teachers warned us that his English was not native enough.  At K2 standard, he must use simple past tense in his speech spontaneously, e.g. I went to David's home.  I ate pizza for dinner.  I was sick. etc.  As what the head of the kindergarten warned us, the school used English to teach but didn't teach them English.  Children must learn the English syntax and vocab from the parents.

My son is going to be 6.  He could write a simple story around 50+ words with ease and starts to read chapter books.  However, I am not very happy about my son's Chinese.  That's why I am thinking about the school for my younger one and am interested to explore more about HKIS from Jollymon.

Let me know if you want any other information.

alicewong

Dear Alam,
Thanks for yr sharing.
I sent a email to GSIS regarding the age issue of my daughter. The school replied to us that they will not consider application for children under 3 years old... At first, I think that it will be easier to be admitted by the school at the younger age, but my plan could not work now... as you suggested, we could only send application for the K2 class. I guess it will be more competitive than K1, eg, they expect her to speak more... do you still remember what the school assess at the time when yr elder son applied the school?
thanks very much
rgds
alice

babylee

Dear Alice

My little boy was also born in Nov 02.  Like your daughter, he will only be 2 yr 10 mth in Sept 05. But again in Sept 2006, he will still be under 4.  Do you think GSIS would accept this for K2?  Or, do they prefer "small children" to apply K1 in the next year, ie, when they are 3 yr 10 mth?

Yes, I agree with you that at the younger age we apply for the kids, the bigger chance they get accepted.  I can hardly imagine my boy master simple past tense at 4 if he goes to local or even international kindergartens.  

Are you going to playgroup now?  Do you have any good ones to share?  We are living in HK Island.

BabyLee

alicewong

Hi Babylee,
I have the same concern as you regarding whether they will consider a younger applicant for the K2 class. I have sent email to ask them but they didnt reply to me anymore. Maybe you can try asking them about the K2 issue :) besides, if you also send yr address to them, they claimed they will send you a information pack.
btw, will you consider ESF?
I previously attended victoria playgroup in Harbour heights for 1 month and attended Hilltots (HK preschool playgroup asso)in Tai Hang Road for 3 months. Nothing to do in July. I am now thinking of let my bb to attend the lily tsang kinder ballet but i've not yet enrolled. she will attend toddler class in victoria in the coming August. how about you?
regards
alice

babylee

Hi, Alice

At first, I didn't intend to send my little one to PN. I applied to Victoria Harbour Heights only in May and apparently he is now on the waiting list.  So I am looking around for playgroups / toddler classes.  

I have visited HKPPA in Boret Road. I like the way that they separate parents/babies classes from helpers/babies classes.  I am now considering Hilltots 'cos it will be nearer my home.  Will you recommend this one?

BabyLee

alicewong

Hi babylee,
you can also see the comments from other mommies regarding hilltots. to me,
Gd: near my home, less people in weekday group, english-speaking environment (but according to another BK mommy, 1 teacher is from singapore and 1 teacher is from Russia?), price is reasonable, has outdoor area for playing, not very commercial and helpers/mommies need to tidy up the toys
Bad: small area, facilities are quite old and cannot compared to victoria, harbour heights.
if you can go with yr son and need not worry about the transportation as my case(i cant trust my maid to take taxi with my daughter for a relatively long distance), victoria is a better choice.at least they have native english speaker staying with the kids all the times (of course dont expect them to speak to yr son very often). the school advised 1 person to accompany the bb but most of the times, 2 parents will go with 1 kid. so, the classroom was really crowded, especially the music room.
these are my personal opinion. hope it helps and feel free to ask.
rdgs,
alice

Alam

Dear Alice and Babylee,

My son will be grade 2 after summer.  While most of his classmates are around 6, the youngest one will only be 6 at the end of 2004 but the oldest child will be 7 in coming September.  So you may decide whether you want your kid to apply K1 as an older kid or K2 as a younger kid for the year 2006.

As to the way of assessment, K1 is relatively easy - conversation.  There are different toys in a classroom.  Six kids with parents will stay inside for approx. 20 min.  2-3 teachers will walk around to chat with the kids.  For example, could you put the car inside the tunnel?  Why do you choose this blue horse?  If your child doesn't response or gives very brief answer, they will assume his/her English is not up to standard and fail him/her.  As this "test" is really easy, they don't need to interview many candidates.  Even the queue is over 100, they may just interview 40+ for 18 seats.

As to K2 interview, the children has to go to 4 teachers individually for different assessments.  Parents could not go in.  One teacher shows children a picture for some questions.  One teacher about shapes.  Others not sure.

There won't be any interview for parents in the kindergarten.

P1 assessment is even stricter.  There are 4 tables to test individual's English, Mathematics etc.  One more test is story time.  The teacher will see whether the children are attentive to the story and can answer questions about the story afterwards.  Though only oral test is given, the children's grammar and diction in the spoken English is counted.

Please let me know if you want to know any other information.

smartb

Dear babylee,

My son is going to CIS reception class on late August.
According to the school, there will be two teaches in each class. One speaks english and one speaks Mandarin. They learn the full form chinese character.
Since the places in limited, 88 students in the reception (3 a.m. classes, 3 p.m. classes), the competition may be tense. We are not "rich" people and my son was admitted through interview. (I know Mr. Lee KS and Mr. Yeung SS 's grand children were CIS students)
Hope it helps you to make a decision.

SmartB

alicewong

Dear Alam,
thanks very much for yr detailed reply:)

Hi, smartb,

yr son should be very smart coz I know some of my friend's kids could not be accepted by the school.
may i know how will the school assess the children for the reception class?
many many thanks.
rgds,
alice

babylee

Dear Ada
Thank you again for the sharing.  It's really informative and helpful. Thanks!!!!!!

Dear Smartb
Yes, your kid must be smart.  I have recently heard that many kids failed the CIS entry test.  So I guess the assessment must be very difficult.  Can you recall how they tested your kid?  
And, I am more than happy to know that they teach students in 繁體字 Chinese.  

Dear Alice
I think most int'l schools are closed for summer holiday now.  Chances are you will not be heard for a month or so.  I will search the school in Sept again.

BabyLee

alicewong

Dear babylee,
I have just received the reply from CIS. The school will not consider my application until she has reached the age of 4. In that case, if we want to apply both CIS and GSIS, our kid should be "Big girl ". do you know any other international schools which will accept those kids who was born to be a small girl? and may I know what is yr plan now?
many thanks,
alice

babylee

Dear Alice

EFS seems to be more flexible with kids born in sept/oct.  Don't know exactly the case like ours in nov.  CIS/GSIS/HKIS are top on my wish list.  Surely I will apply EFS for security.  They are now accepting applications from kids born in 2000.  So we need to check from time to time next year.

Maybe I am wrong.  But I prefer my son to go to school as "small child" rather than "big child".  Really need to think over.  I have no particular plan in the summer 'cos we may be out for holiday next month.  But may check hilltots playgroup in Sept.  

Keep in touch
BabyLee

03baby

babylee, if you are interested in hilltots, better do it earlier. coz the classes fill up quickly ... esp those teach by the singapore lady. she is good. she will tell the mom/maid how to teach/play with the kid at home.