KCIS同SWCK大家會簡邊間呀?

elmostoney

they have PE class.  Last time they told me they have hired multi-sports to come and do PE.  My daughter was asked to wear sports shoes by the teacher on PE day.  Music - I am not so sure.  I did ask about it, but have to clarify this point when I have a chance.  Parent's meeting on 9/20.  

My daughter tells me they do a LOT of reading in school.  They teach phonics, do a bit of writing the letters and numbers.  Unlike in kindergarten, the teacher would ask the kids to do the writing more seriously.  In the kindergarten classroom, they have a lot of toys and teaching tools.  In the primary classroom, every tool/toy they have is more constructive.  My daughter said it's less fun (because more learning, less play and singing), but she still loves school.  She claims that since going to school for 2 weeks, she has started reading more words instead of looking at pictures in a book.  I don't know how true that is as I haven't talked to the teacher (Ms. Roper) and I haven't tested her.

For Year 1, I am not asking much.  14 kids in a class.  I don't think it matters so much whether the day is structured by subjects.  To me, it is more a transition into primary school since Year 1 in IS is essentially just K3 and she is only 5 years old!  My concern is the direction of the school - which I will ask in more details later. I don't think she will have a problem in reading.  She is probably in good hands.  However, since the school's curriculum is unclear at this point, I am doing my back up as well.  I have applied to a few other schools, and she is doing Enopi math as well.  She was previously in a Montessori centre for 3 years and has learned the concepts (not on paper) of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication, so I don't want 3 years to go to waste.  I will see how this year runs and how well the school can explain the curriculum to us.  If my daughter gets into another school of our choice and SWCK Year 1 and curriculum is not to our satisfaction, then we will transfer her in 9/2012.  Of course, if she loses out on her interviews at other schools, we will hv no choice but to stay in SWCK.

baby8

Small World Christian Kindergarten

Ocean419

What primary school will you let your children go onto?  My son was born in 2010 so I will start to think about his k1 path this time next year and SWCK is on top of my list, especially his birthday is in January so chance of getting accepted is very high.  However, since the school is relatively weak in both spoken and written chinese, there aren't many primary choices left except for esf and international, am I right?

I have also applied to KCIS and will really have to face the same question if my son is accepted to their K1.

原帖由 reneeleung 於 11-9-14 01:16 發表
Hi,

I am also SWCK mom. Can u update us how your kid school life.  I have thousand of question marks about SWCK upper K3 curriculum and the learning process of the kids. Coz there no such as PE, Arts ...

zachmama

原帖由 elmostoney 於 11-9-14 09:43 發表
they have PE class.  Last time they told me they have hired multi-sports to come and do PE.  My daughter was asked to wear sports shoes by the teacher on PE day.  Music - I am not so sure.  I did ask  ...

Hello Elmostoney,

I'm an ex-SWCK mom, and my son has just left and joined ESF P1 this September.  I'm still very interested in keeping an open mind about SWCK's primary school, seeing that my son, tho he likes his new school alot, still prefers going back to SWCK when given the choice.  He just loves it so so much there.  So please if you don't mind, I would be most grateful indeed if you could share something after your parents day on 20/9.  Whilst I have no doubt about the teachers' hearts and passion to students, like you I will be concerned with the school's directions and curriculum, as afterall it is still a school which is an important learning centre for our kids.  SWCK has been running for over 20 years and has an established path, but the primary school is still a new venture.  With a clear vision and direction and good leadership, I might still give ICA the vote of confidence, but short of that parents won't have much choice!!  Without parents who have "inside" information and first hand knowledge, at best we can only rely on info on website, which as we all know, might not be reflective of reality.  Therefore I sincerely hope you would be able to share some info here.

Many thanks in advance.

elmostoney

hi everybody, just back from coffee morning with ms gail and the class teacher, ms roper.  altogether parents of 10 of the 14 kids attended.  the meeting lasted 1hr 10 minutes.

my husband and I have doubts about the school before.  We never question the love and caring aspect, but this meeting really reinforced it.  We are worried about the academic aspect and the future of the school - in what direction will it go along the way?  In this competitive age, nobody wants to be left behind.

In terms of academics:

1.  English - seems they have a wonderful program in place.  Very interactive, a lot of games, balanced with reading and allowing the child to progress at individual pace.  I have no hesitation that children will have a great time learning.

2.  Chinese - at present, the direction of the program is unclear as far as I can see.  Although Ms. Gail seems keen to do a more comprehensive program than ESF primary (a friend of mine whose kids just started Y1 in Bradbury said that kids there are supposed to hv learned 300 characters by Y6 - pitifully close to nothing!)  They will divide the kids into 2 different levels and will employ 2  Mandarin teachers for an expected size of 110 kids when the school moves to the new campus next year.

3.  Math - uses the same program as CIS, Peak ESF and Australian IS.

4.  PE - for now, twice a week by multi-sport.  I don't know about next year at the new campus.

5.  will have some iPads coming in soon to test out incorporating it into classroom learning.

6.  needless to say, as a christian school expect to have many religious aspects.

7.  encourage parent participation - e.g. wrapping up all the new library books, laminating teaching materials, coming in to read to the kids, etc.  not a must of course.  ESF has something similar, from what i hv heard.

8.  new school will tentatively start with 5 classes - 2  Y1, 2 Y2, and 1 Y3, but if responses are overwhelming, they will consider opening more classes, though there may be a limit.  Right now, planning for 22 kids/ class.

9.  During the first 2 weeks of school, ms roper has spent time assessing the kids and grouping them based on their English and Math ability.  Kids are taught in groups for reading and math - which is a plus.

As a new school, there are still many issues requiring fine-tuning.  However, after the meeting, my husband becomes very positive about the school.  Initially, we regard SWCK primary as a transition, but we may decide to stay on.  I think parents who choose IS, at least most of them, simply don't like the crazy LS system.  I don't need my daughter to be a mathematician or a writer.  I want her to learn the necessary academic skills, develop a passion for learning and love of school, and hopefully blossom into a caring person who is loving, confident, and happy.  Seeing the team who works behind the primary school instills confidence in us.  They are people who are passionate about what they do.  They care about the kids as a person, not just about their grades.

As for Chinese, we hv a private tutor who comes regularly to our home.  After our discussion with her, all I can say is that the child may not fare much better by having Mandarin classes in most schools than having a qualified private tutor.  The HK education system does not recognize mainland China qualification, so we are left with mandarin teachers who are locals and learned to speak mandarin only as a 3rd language (after English).  As we all know, written Chinese standard in LS have also declined over the years.  So we are left with Chinese teachers who are probably of lower standards than 2 or 3 decades ago and who have to teach in putonghua - which they are struggling to learn themselves.

zachmama

Dear Elmostoney,

Thank you so much for your generous and informative sharing.  This has given me much confidence in ICA.  Like you, whilst I view academic important in this competitive age, most of all I want my kid to develop a passion for learning and become a loving, caring, happy, confident and responsible person.  My son is a "special" (I know each child is special and unique in his/her own way, but i hope you get what I mean) boy yet SWCK has embraced him wholeheartedly for who he is, that's why he felt he belongs there.  I would hope he can continue to grow and be nurtured in such a loving environment, which from what I gather from you, can also be found in ICA.  Soaking in that environment, hope he will grow up to be an all-loving, faithful and responsible young man.  Not saying he won't get that in his present school, but SWCK/ICA just gives me that little more confidence in being able to achieve it.

You have also given me a pointer that I should consider hiring a private tutor to boost up my son's Chinese!!  Thank you!!

Wishing you all the best in your little girl's primary school plans too!!

elmostoney

Anybody who decides to send her child to SWCK primary should keep in mind that, as a new school, there are so many glitches and as a parent, may find it frustrating.  At the meeting, I brought up the point about regular reporting to parents.  As they are still getting the curriculum together, I am not hopeful to see any report anytime soon.  If my daughter doesn't tell me (she tells me some, but not all), I wouldn't know what they do in school.  

I sent a message to Ms Roper yesterday about the Chinese class.  My daughter finds it EXTREMELY boring because her level of Chinese is much higher.  They are still teaching strokes, connecting dots, and more than half the time, the pth teachers speaks in English!  I am hoping that the teacher would let her bring in a bit of her own Chinese work to do in class, but they wouldn't allow it, saying that there are a few other kids who can also write some characters already.  So I am trying to lobby the pth teacher to separate the class into 2 groups with a group that can do some writing while the rest of the class can continue to connect the dots, write out strokes.  I will see how my effort goes.

elmostoney

del del del

[ 本帖最後由 elmostoney 於 11-11-3 15:15 編輯 ]

Littleho

Some international schools do stream students with different Chinese abilities/background into different classes. Some international schools have strong commitments in teaching Chinese language, making it the second most important subject. If you think Chinese is one of your key priorities, you should consider other school. Chinese is a far more difficult language than English. Kids usually prefer English than Chinese even when they are exposed the same amount of time.

原帖由 elmostoney 於 11-9-23 11:26 發表
對於學校的中文課程, 我有點失望. 當然一早知道他們只會將中文當作第二語言來教, 但校長說她明白中文的重要性, 所以亦會在IS的範圍內加強.

我問了班主任, 如果英文和數學會因為學生的能力分組教授, 那可否讓女兒帶 ...

JarJarBin

I read your message about the Chinese homework in IS.  Some ISs really emphasis more in this area.  My son is P3 from this Sep.  His Chinese homework makes me no time to review his maths and english everynight.  He always leave his Chinese homework until I come back to do with him e.g. writing words, worksheets, read a artical and answer questions becasue he doesn't have the ability to do the chinese homework by himself.  He has dictation everyweek.  The dictation is couple sentences.   I really cannot imagine the suitation if he studies in local school instead of IS.  The homework is much much more than that.

crystalpui

可能老師覺得kinder小朋友仲細....
不過中文都好緊要,
唔可以只學好英文

eneresnat

What about the school fee of Island Christian Academy? Will it be very expensive and will there be debentures/maintenance fee, etc.?

elmostoney

I am not so familiar with IPC.  I only know that from what I have heard, IB may not be the best way for kids below secondary.  IPC is more structured than IB - that's all I know.  I think young kids require more guidance, so in this sense, IPC is probably better.  

As for school fees, debentures, etc.  I haven't heard anything about debentures so far.  Our present school fees are $6700/month (all fees included already).  I have no idea if it will go up when the school moves to the new campus.  If you don't mind it being a new school, student/teacher ratio is better than ESF.  I think ESF is $7000+ now with 30 kids in a class.  ICA will have 22 kids/class.

I am going to hand in the lucky draw form for LS next Monday, and I have applied for ONE direct subsidy school.  I hv also applied to Victoria, SIS, and ESF, and am considering KCIS.  BUT every school has its drawback.  IMHO, IB for primary school kids is a joke unless the school itself is heavily involved in a standard curriculum.  There is too much freedom - for the teacher.  So different teachers teaching the same subject to the same grade level can have ridiculously varied material and demands.  Lazy teachers may teacher very little and give minimal guidance to the kids in projects.  Also, I agree that with very young kids, they don't even have the foundation down in reading, writing and doing their own research.  So a program that relies heavy-handedly on the kids themselves will just spell disaster for parents. I think IB is good - for kids in upper secondary - so that they can prepare for university.  I just don't understand the fad for primary school aged kids.  That's why I don't like most IB IS - perhaps with the exception of SIS as SIS is probably more structured.  

Another point to promote SWCK/ICA is its relatively smaller class size.  My only hesitation is it being such a new school that I don't know where it is heading.  Honestly, I don't feel that we, as parents, are given much information concerning the progress of the class.  A lot of ICA is still in the making and the wonderful people involved are VERY busy, so I suspect they will give us a more comprehensive overview many months later.  At the present, they are still talking to the architects about renovation.

elmostoney

I went to ESF head office to hand in the supporting documents for year 1 a few days ago, and I was abhorred by the mindless spending of the back office of an educational organization.  They rented a WHOLE floor of a state-of-the-art "intelligent" building in Quarry Bay.  The reception is about the size of  1 1/2 to perhaps, even 2 standard-sized classrooms.  They hire 2 not-so-helpful non-native receptionists who apparently don't have much to do.  Gosh, what do they think they are doing?

After witnessing ESF's spending habits, I have many ????.  Since the government is withdrawing is subsidy gradually, ESF will have not choice but to raise its fees.  Without subsidy, it will certainly be past $10,000 mark.  Then why go to an ESF primary?  Their schools are small, old, and rundown.  I live near one and have relatives whose kids went there.  They have 30 kids in a class.  If I pay $10000, there are a lot of choices out there.

crystalpui

esf以前係我target school
但睇返d news
佢令我有d失望
好似好commerical咁
咩都係錢行先.....

elmostoney

a bit of update.  My daughter started writing chinese during the last week or two.  They seem to be writing 1 character each day.  I will keep asking to clarify.  I didn't ask everyday, but on the days I asked last week, she wrote 人, 大 and四.  she rarely has work sent home, so I don't really know what they have done.  She takes the school bus - which means I don't really meet much with the teacher.  I will probably go and pick her up at least once this month so I can talk to the teacher more.

As for learning Chinese, for anyone who goes to an IS and wants to reinforce the Chinese part, I highly recommend 基礎漢字五百．I started my daughter last year when she was 4.5.  She has read about 350 characters to date, but has probably forgotten about 15%.  She started to learn writing Chinese strokes after CNY this year and began to do more character writing only when she turned 5.  It is good if you start early.  My younger son saw my daughter reading and he wanted to do it as well.  We just started after CNY with him and he has done almost 250 characters.  He will be 4 at the end of this year and I expect that he will finish all 500 by the easter to June next year.  He is a better learner than my daughter so he actually picks it up quite fast and retains much more.  He only reads about 10 to 15 minutes of Chinese each day and still has lots of time to play.

[ 本帖最後由 elmostoney 於 11-11-3 15:17 編輯 ]

crystalpui

有少少野想問about swck
swck係唔係冇secondary?
佢唔係行IB的,
如果讀完PRIMARY轉去其他IB SCHOOL
會唔會跟唔上?
另唔讀IB, 係唔係就考唔到LOCAL 大學呢?
謝謝