Comment on 耀中國際學校(九龍塘)

RJSM

wongkc05,

I am afraid I will never agree with you.

Public exam and university entrance statistics do tell a lot. They reflect the outcome of a school's educational effort, the success of its academic programme, the path of their graduates in their future pursuit. Are these not the major concerns of us parents?

Don't tell me that you will be perfectly happy if your child fails all in public exams? Don't tell me that whether your child enters Oxford or a "wild chicken university" does not make much difference to you!

Rjsm

[quote]
wongkc05 寫道:

......Concerning the public examination result, I feel that university admission rate and result of public examination is meaningless to our clildren.......and how successful they are, is not solely related to examination result........  

好＊勁＊呀

RJSM,
I don't know about YC as much as you do but from what I read about your views, I really wonder why you still keep your child there? Why not change school and save yourself some money? If you are so disappointed with this school, you shouldn't let your child stay in such a school?

To my understanding, YC put emphasis in Chinese as well as English but in a lot of other IS, they don't offer Chinese class.  Also, studying in YC, children can study locally, e.g. admit into local university, is that true? If you want your child to become a totally 'English' person, shouldn't you send your kid to AIS or HKIS instead?

I tends to share baubautse's view.  If the kid is weak in a certain subject, why keep him/her in the same class as those who are strong at it.  Also, by mixing around the classes should help the child to improve their social communication ability rather than living in a 'small circle'.  Just imagine in University life, they will have to attend different lectures and have different classmates.  Why nobody complaint about that?

I would say every school has its own strength and weakness, please also let me know if you can find a perfect school.  Is CIS, AIS or HKIS perfect?

RJSM

好＊勁＊呀,

Thank you for your concern. My child is no longer there. I see nothing wrong with my sharing my own experience so that other parents can make informed choices about their children's education. This is exactly the purpose of babykingdom forum.

Chinese -- Let me correct a few things.

I have never said that I would like my child to be a "totally English" person. I would not have sent my child to YC if I didn't value Chinese. Like all other parents, I just want quality education for my child. I paid a big sum of money and I was told by the school that my child would be given quality education. At the end,  I didn't get what I wanted and paid for. My child did not have a happy or successful educational experience at school. So I aired my grievances and I let other parents know what I have gone through. Antything wrong with that?

Regarding Chinese - There are a lot more choices for parents these days, unlike the time when my child was small and YC seemed to be the only choice. Now there are many other IS which offer proper Chinese eg. CIS, CDNIS, SIS, Renaissance, Discovery Bay etc. Some of them even provide Chinese at different levels to cater for students with different abilities. Even existing ESF schools are now moving quickly towards proper Chinese currculum. More western-based IS such as AIS, GSIS and ICS also  provide Chinese but I am not clear about their standards. In fact many private independent schools and direct subsidy schools are adopting bilingual models - emphasis on both Englsih and Chinese. So the choices are many nowadays.

Honestly I think YC Chinese is too hard for most  students. They adopt material and teaching methodologies from Mainland China, which in itself may not be bad but just not suitable for HK children. Perhaps YC's target market is rich families from Mainland China.

Admission to local universities -- All IS students can apply to local universities, not just YC. Check out the websites of other IS which show university placement information. You will find HKU, CUHK and UST etc. Local universities also admit students on the basis of qualifications other than HK A levels.

No perfect school - definitely agree with you on this point. I am not looking for a perfect school. I am just hoping that my disappointing experience with YC will not repeat!

Rjsm

好＊勁＊呀 寫道:
RJSM,
I don't know about YC as much as you do but from what I read about your views, I really wonder why you still keep your child there? Why not change school and save yourself some money? If you are so disappointed with this school, you shouldn't let your child stay in such a school?

To my understanding, YC put emphasis in Chinese as well as English but in a lot of other IS, they don't offer Chinese class.  Also, studying in YC, children can study locally, e.g. admit into local university, is that true? If you want your child to become a totally 'English' person, shouldn't you send your kid to AIS or HKIS instead?

I tends to share baubautse's view.  If the kid is weak in a certain subject, why keep him/her in the same class as those who are strong at it.  Also, by mixing around the classes should help the child to improve their social communication ability rather than living in a 'small circle'.  Just imagine in University life, they will have to attend different lectures and have different classmates.  Why nobody complaint about that?

I would say every school has its own strength and weakness, please also let me know if you can find a perfect school.  Is CIS, AIS or HKIS perfect?

Cayenne

好＊勁＊呀 寫道:
I would say every school has its own strength and weakness, please also let me know if you can find a perfect school.  Is CIS, AIS or HKIS perfect?

Perfect schools , like perfect beauties , are illusions only.
Having said that, I seriously urge any parent who is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their kids'  education to personally visit the campuses   of various international schools , including but not limited to HKIS, CIS, GSIS, FIS , ESFs , Candian IS and Australian IS. Visit their websites too, to see how well their students perform in their university applications.

Only after she has done so can she knows whether her child will be in a good learning environment which has consistently produced top quality students.

If I may be allowed to sound a little bit materalistic ,it's only through comparison that a parent knows whether her hundreds of thousands of dollars are well spent .  

kamandaddy

RJSM,
如果想在yr.10由耀中轉往其他國際學校, 應該如何選擇? 囡囡覺得此校實在太不妥當.
當初跟囡囡選耀中都是因為她有中文課程, 而囡囡亦能夠應付到耀中程度較高的中文, 英文程度不是太突出.
我家在港島, 囡囡每天上學都很辛苦, 再讀一陣子都覺得不適合自己的話就要計劃轉校.

拜託拜託, 實在希望囡囡能夠讀得開心

RJSM

kamandaddy 寫道:
RJSM,
如果想在yr.10由耀中轉往其他國際學校, 應該如何選擇? 囡囡覺得此校實在太不妥當.
當初跟囡囡選耀中都是因為她有中文課程, 而囡囡亦能夠應付到耀中程度較高的中文, 英文程度不是太突出.
我家在港島, 囡囡每天上學都很辛苦, 再讀一陣子都覺得不適合自己的話就要計劃轉校.

拜託拜託, 實在希望囡囡能夠讀得開心

Dear Kamandaddy,

Based on my experience of school hunting, IS generally look for good English.  If your daughter's English is not strong, it may not be easy for her to make a transfer. But compared with other year levels, year 10 may be better since some parents like to send their children overseas after finishing yr 9 and hence there may be vacancies at year 10.

I would suggest that you do a web search first to have some ideas of other IS (e.g. curriculum, fees, extra-curricular activties). You may then ring the school to check out on vacant places and whether they have a long waiting list etc. Most IS have regular schedule for visits by interested parents. You may go to visit them to have a feel of their campus, atmosphere, whether students there look happy; etc. In some cases you may even have a chance to talk to their principals.

Apart from IS, I would suggest that you also explore other non-IS schools (sorry, I don't have much knowledge in this respect). As your child just moved from a local school to YC, I am afraid she may have difficulties in settling in other IS, which usually demand a higher level of English than YC. It's no good to make her life miserable just for the sake of changing.  

My advice in summary: do more fact finding; explore more options and make comparisons.

Good luck to your girl.

Rjsm

wongkc05

Dear RJSM,

Thanks for your opinion.  I am afraid that you has some misunderstanding.  Surely, my child's result is important, but it is not the only indicator of success.  Also, no matter how good or bad of the statistics of school result in public examination, my child's result is not directly related to the "statistics".  What our concern should be how much our child can learn from school rather than how good the "statistics" is.

** statistics usually is illusion.

Thank you.

wongkc05

Dear Smartdaddy,

Thanks for your comment.  But I am not saying "Don't say, just pay".  I supported that if there is any problem, we should tell the school or teacher.  What I means "don't expect too much"is that, even after telling the school about the problem concerned, don't expect there is a prompt response.  If you have such expectation, we should be disappointed.  Also, what I mean "don't expect too much from school" is school already disappointed me already.  I have no expectation from school.  I just hope they can teach my child the basic stuff and allow him to have happy learning experience, and parents teach him more at home.

Thank you.

yyyy

wongkc05,

"I have no expectation from school. I just hope they can teach my child the basic stuff and allow him to have happy learning experience, and parents teach him more at home."

你真是一個好好的家長, 一定很受學校歡迎!

而我就真是很depend on 學校, 所以對學校有很大的期望, 我覺得如果個小朋友學不到東西, 是老師的責任; 而事實證明一個好的老師真是令小朋友獲益不少, 至少令小朋友可以應付自己的功課!仲好d就是可以留意到個別小朋友的個性而給予特別的培訓, 如我女上年的班主任就覺得我女比較怕羞,所以叫佢做leader,讓佢更有自信, 又叫我們在家配合!

我女讀5年班, 我們放工返去見佢的時間都唔多, 再加上佢問的科學,數學真的有時都唔識, 很難幫! 我自己個case就真是很depend on 間學校!

kamandaddy

Rjsm,
謝謝你的建議.

szesze1078

kamandaddy,

You can consider Renaissance College, where my 2 sons  are now studying in the primary section. From
my observation during these few weeks and after
attending several information days, parent meeting/
evening, I have a feeling that the teaching team of
this new school does have a 'heart' to establish a
good educational enviromemnt for our kids.  Though
this is the 1st year of the school, may be there are
still lots of area to improve, yet I  believe that  we have made the correct choice for the kids.
Pls go to the school official website: www.renaissance.edu.hk    to have more understanding of  RCHK.

kamandaddy

Szesze1078,
其實很久以前也考慮過這學校, 只不過對囡囡來說每天到馬鞍山上學實在太遠太費神了. 不過也很感謝你的建議!

RJSM

Dear Kamandaddy,

You may try the new ESF school to be opened at Discovery Bay. DB is supposed to be modelled on Renaissance, using IB curriculum and with proper Chinese. DB is new, so the chances of admission might be better.  

Regarding your concern about distance, I know of a student who has to travel from Chinese U to Stanley everyday. Despite the long hours in transport,  he thinks the happy and fruitful school life is worth every minute of his travel.

At this moment, do not limit your choices. Just explore as many options as possible.

Rjsm

kamandaddy

Rjsm,
你的說法我也很同意, 而到愉景灣的交通也很方便, 會讓囡囡考慮一下.
但其實在市區(香港和九龍)是否已經沒有一些較有質素但又不一定要'過五關斬六將'才能夠入讀的學校? 選學校是一件非常難的事, 當初選讀耀中囡囡也經過半年的考慮才決定, 結果又讀得不開心, 真令我很頭痛啊......!

WYmom

kamandaddy 寫道:
Rjsm,
你的說法我也很同意, 而到愉景灣的交通也很方便, 會讓囡囡考慮一下.
但其實在市區(香港和九龍)是否已經沒有一些較有質素但又不一定要'過五關斬六將'才能夠入讀的學校? 選學校是一件非常難的事, 當初選讀耀中囡囡也經過半年的考慮才決定, 結果又讀得不開心, 真令我很頭痛啊......!

I want such school too! If the school is good, then many people will apply, competition will be fierce!

The ESF DB new private school is in fact continuation of the old ESF Bauhinia School.   Their secondary session will have year 7 only housing temporarily in Renaissance College in 2007, and the new campus will be completed only by 2008.  Many kids from Discovery Bay International School have prepared to apply.

There is another school - Independent School Foundation (ISF) on HK side which is getting more popular, may be you can take a look, its school fee is also expensive like YC, $100K per year.

kamandaddy

WYmom,
謝謝你的資料和建議!
可惜ISFA明年只有yr.8, 囡囡明年升讀yr.10了, 沒理由要降班嘛
兩難局面, 又無從入手了......

kamandaddy

Kareese,
謝謝你, 只要交通不太麻煩的話我和囡囡都會考慮, 如果有校巴的話就當然更好!

kamandaddy

Kereese,
謝謝, 會打去查詢