No more Cat 1 and Cat 2 for ESF admission!

alpham0m

港英餘孽壽終正寢。

FattyDaddy

chickchick 發表於 13-2-4 10:28
杜絕一些符符碌碌入去, 但小朋友或家長英文水平不高的人. 對真正入到去讀書的小朋友是好事哦! ...

From first hand observation, I would say very few children actually fluked their way in, even the Cat 2 students speak good English. I wouldn't say there are no flukes, but very few.

The problem with the new system is, it is more vague. Previously the priorities were pretty clear cut, if you're an ESF kindergarten pupil, you have priority, if you are Cat 1, you have priority. These prioritizations may not be very agreeable, but at least they were out in the open, now they simply say they will admit "applicants who can benefit from an English-medium education", and that means very little to anyone.

I think they have simply taken a cue from those elite schools in Hongkong, instead of stating their preferences openly they now keep quiet about them.

chickchick

回復 FattyDaddy 的帖子

"applicants who can benefit from an English-medium education" 你說是對的, 確是沒有明確指引. 不過,那也是沒有辦法. 每項制度也有優劣. 也得取捨.

不過, 作為家長, 對策也只有好好讓小朋友學好英文. 現在改制, 我細仔9月入表申請Y1 (已有esf silblings) 也更緊張. 始終競爭激烈了.

有能者居之! 無論工作上, 學習上, 生活上, 也是合情合理的. 只有大家努力吧~ 唉

LOVELYABB

Chick chick - think u are in a very comfortable position already.  U shouldn't have much to worry about for second son right ? He should get an interview chance.

I think the parent interview is an excellent idea!

mldaddy

回復 Mom2One 的帖子

Thanks a lot for sharing this. Precious!

Shrimpiggy

原帖由 chickchick 於 13-02-04 發表
回復 FattyDaddy 的帖子

"applicants who can benefit from an English-medium education" 你說是對的, 確 ...

非常同意chickchick！學校面試和見工—樣，不知道別人怎樣選，先要準備好自己

21Ckid

2013 entry into ESF kinder would get the best of all. Interview priority just after siblings (as no Cat 1 to get in front of them in 2015 entry to P1). My kid is just few months old, but still wish you good luck.

I guess what they are after are, in essence:
1. to kick out the "forged" cat 1 kids
2. essentially giving preference to non-oriental faces
3. most important of all, about money. i guess we will see lot more nomination rights in future, and wouldn't be surprised if they introduce million dollars debenture in future.

tay

回復 Shrimpiggy 的帖子

Agree when it is a job interview, or interview to schools or uni for much older kids,  but not on 4 year olds!! The 'preparations' that a child that age has to go through to 'equip' oneself for admission to a school are just..... sad....  Now they are taking away the one good thing in their admission policy... (I mean the non selective criteria and not the cat 1/2 division)

alpham0m

有教無類已成歷史，精英教育愈演愈烈！

ramen

alpham0m,

Both your statements are so right ---> "港英餘孽壽終正寢。" & "有教無類已成歷史，精英教育愈演愈烈！"

田心

原帖由 alpham0m 於 13-02-04 發表
有教無類已成歷史，精英教育愈演愈烈！

That's same as the rest of the world.

oooray

I don't think local parents could enjoy so much from the change.
Instead, I foresee existing international kindergarten will expand their capacity rapidly and more and more new international kindergarten will be coming to meet the increasing demand (it "seems" to have a great chance for local parets to get a place without the cateogory issue).
End up more and more parents will be competing at kindergarten stage for the limited primary places; More and more parents will be disappointed.

At the end of the day, investors of International kindergarten are the only winners.

alpham0m

回復 田心 的帖子

I thought ESF was the last hope. Time to wake up and smell the rotten world!

do123alex

oooray 發表於 13-2-4 12:52
I don't think local parents could enjoy so much from the change.
Instead, I foresee existing interna ...

Agree.  The announcement mentioned that the policy will be more transparent and fair to families with English language background.  In other words, the local families as well as the non English speaking expatriates will not be benefited by the new policy.  

21Ckid

The plus is we don't need to do the weird thing of forbidding the kid to learn Chinese , and minus is we need to save up an extra 500k (or perhaps 1 million) as the no. of NR will sure multiply. Agree with the above that for local chinese not able or willing to be robbed 500k, the chance is no better than now.

konimama

They put the NR just after the 1. Staffs & 2. Siblings~
ESF going to be the same as others international school then. Like some others, buying debenture, raise up the tuition fee, interview solely depend on your kids' ability.
They hvn't asked u to show the bank book though, no worry if u are not rich. It's silly to think in this way.
Many students here whom their patents are civil servant, living in government funded estate. Not all are rich though.

ramen

oooray 發表於 13-2-4 12:52
I don't think local parents could enjoy so much from the change.
Instead, I foresee existing interna ...

I think the ESF kindies would be less attractive to local parents starting this year round of admission cycle as it loses its competitive edge of having the prority in the Year 1 admission process.

Your point is right, local parents would probably put their children in a "more competitive" international kindie (esf kindies are too "hea" in parents' eyes) in order to better prepare their little ones for the "battle".

新人王

Without government support, ESF has to become just another international school. It's very normal. Why blame it for increasing tuition fee and introduce NR? Even with 20% increase, the fee is still at the low side comparing to other international school.

cppc20

回復 alpham0m 的帖子

Is the priority of Cat 1 over Cat 2 有教無類?  I don't think so.  

alpham0m

回復 cppc20 的帖子

I actually think it is. You cannot put a kid who speaks no English in an English-medium school without causing much pain to both the kid, or more so, to the parents. They do not pick "clever" kids, they just make sure kids they admit speak and understand English so that they can grown and thrive. But that's just my opinion. Nothing important.