How to choose between GSIS & QBS ?

Chocoball

Dear christf

May I know when did your boy join QBS, I mean after finishing K2 or K3?

Thank you for sharing.

Kycmc

Chrisf,

I know of a case where a student couldn't survive the probation. That was some years ago and it was the child of my friend's brother. The boy was very bright with good English, but unstable emotionally and sometimes showed disruptive behaviour. Not sure if this was exactly the reason for the expulsion. The boy was later transferred to another IS and seems to be doing pretty well.

I think a child with your son's personality needs a caring and liberal environment to flourish. A much troubled parent myself, I am speaking from my own experience. Usually bright kids set a higher standard for themselves and for the teachers as well. So they easily become what less open-minded ( or sometimes less competent) teachers regard as rebels or trouble makers. That could make the kids' school life disastrous. I do not know much about QBS and GSIS to give you any advice. But if you agree with me that a caring and liberal school is right for your child, it is worth your time to make a comparison between the schools based on (a) whether the teachers and staff look friendly and enthusiastic and (b) whether the students look happy. These were what I looked for when I did the school hunting for one of my children last year.

Somebody mentioned earlier the curriculum. This is a very valid point. ESF schools are moving towards IB, which in my opinion, is good for our children's future. With due respect to other national curricula, I consider IB having an edge in terms of developing students into an all round person with creativity, critical thinking and a better appreciation of the wider world. Of course, the success of the IB curriculum also depends on how well teachers are prepared/retrained to implement a new methodology of teaching. Also ESF is moving towards enhanced Chinese curriculum. This is not an unimportant consideration.

Kycmc

Alam

Dear Christf,

I can't say whether GSIS is very demanding academically as I have no experience with other Int'l school.  But I am happy with my son's progress so far.

The kids will never be ranked in class and I don't think the school will deliberately force somebody out.  Quite a few children don't perform so well still have promotion year after year.  I think the school is typically "nervous" at the English proficiency in Kindergarten and Primary entrance test.  Once you got in primary, not much problem I heard of.

There are also two high IQ boys in my child's class who has emotional problem.  They were trouble makers and bullies in P1 and P2.  Teachers called in their parents almost every week.  Now they are at P4 and situation has improved a lot.  I don't know how they worked it out but it seems the teachers worked together with the parents through these years.

There is one thing I typically like in GSIS is that the school is very low key, so much so that the parents are also very low profile about their wealth.  The children wear Bossini, Chickee Duck, worn out Polo, Giordano etc.  The "annual ball" run by mother committee is also low key and non-compulsory.  Parents can return raffle tickets (for raising school fund) to accounts dept directly without embarrassing the children.  One of my child's classmate lives at Taikooshing and one at Broadcast Drive.  Most children's parents are professional rather than businessman.  In our parents gathering, we all dress very casual.

As far as teachers are concerned, it's a matter of luck.  Some teachers are loving and caring and some are messy or have no patience.  I think it is the same in every school.  The most important thing is how we teach our kids to handle the situation.  C'est la vie!

Hope I can answer your question.  

ggbb

christf: Congratulations to your boy being accepted by such a good school GSIS!
Please check PM. Thank you.

Komuimama

Alam 寫道:
Dear Christf,

I can't say whether GSIS is very demanding academically as I have no experience with other Int'l school.  But I am happy with my son's progress so far.

The kids will never be ranked in class and I don't think the school will deliberately force somebody out.  Quite a few children don't perform so well still have promotion year after year.  I think the school is typically "nervous" at the English proficiency in Kindergarten and Primary entrance test.  Once you got in primary, not much problem I heard of.

There are also two high IQ boys in my child's class who has emotional problem.  They were trouble makers and bullies in P1 and P2.  Teachers called in their parents almost every week.  Now they are at P4 and situation has improved a lot.  I don't know how they worked it out but it seems the teachers worked together with the parents through these years.

There is one thing I typically like in GSIS is that the school is very low key, so much so that the parents are also very low profile about their wealth.  The children wear Bossini, Chickee Duck, worn out Polo, Giordano etc.  The "annual ball" run by mother committee is also low key and non-compulsory.  Parents can return raffle tickets (for raising school fund) to accounts dept directly without embarrassing the children.  One of my child's classmate lives at Taikooshing and one at Broadcast Drive.  Most children's parents are professional rather than businessman.  In our parents gathering, we all dress very casual.

As far as teachers are concerned, it's a matter of luck.  Some teachers are loving and caring and some are messy or have no patience.  I think it is the same in every school.  The most important thing is how we teach our kids to handle the situation.  C'est la vie!

Hope I can answer your question.  

Dear Christf,

My kid is now with GSIS kindergarten.  I also confirm that GSIS offer letter stated a probatory period of 6 months.  As far as I am aware, they seldom expel a less able child but would ask them to repeat the year.  

Quite contrary to what they said in their offer letters about not offering special needs to less able children, from what I notice the teachers are actually giving sufficient attention to those less able children and help them catch up.  They are quite kind and caring and seem to know every child quite well.  Instead of pressurizing the children, they motivate the children to love learning.  I can see that every child in the kindergarten loves to go to school.

I am told that in the primary years, they will divide the children into different ability groups and teach them according to their ability within the same ability group.  Perhaps Alam can confirm whether this is true.

Another thing I like GSIS is that they encourage the parents to build a good relationship with each other so at the end of the academic year, the children and their parents will know each other well.

What I can say relate only to the kindergarten but I hope it still helps you to make a right decision for your boy.

wskwok

Hi Christf,

Thanks so so so much for giving me a clear picture of the interview procedure.  BTW, I have heard that the GSIS primary is a half-day school only.  The afternoon extra-curricular activities are self-funded.  Is it true?  

wskwok

Dear Alam,

Your briefing is really helpful and encouraging.  May I know if your child need to attend extra Chinese class after school?  What kind of language you use at home with your child?

Alam

Komuimama's experience is quite different from what I encountered years ago.  But the school has changed the Kindergarten head years before and may have a different policy.  At my child's day, any kindergarten child with non-native English standard had to leave.  The school viewed it as a "structural problem" which couldn't be fixed because of another year.  They said their statistic showed that these children would struggle very hard in P3 after which was not good to their learning initiative.

As far as ability is concerned, the children may go to next year class or even higher for Maths if they out-perform their classmates.  But only for Maths.  He/She still belongs to his/her year in other subjects.  When the children go to P4,  they will then be divided into two to three ability groups in Maths and Mandarin.  But for Maths, the different ability groups has same syllabus but in different approaches and homeworks.

Dear Wskwok,

Of course my child need extra effort in Mandarin.  GSIS Mandarin is not up to our standard and it only starts at P3 (before 2006, it started as late as P4).  We use English at home because it becomes a habit to talk to him in English.  But my husband and I still use Cantonese with each other and my boy also picks up quite a lot.  I try to remind myself to talk to him in either Mandarin and Cantonese.

Dear Christf,

Please let  me know if you have any further question.

XteacherMom

Desr Christf
After reading what happened at QBS. I think the problem lies on your son. Some children just needed a more caring and naturing teacher. In many times they will  do things just to get whoever's attention. This is the reason why I am not sure about going to another school can solve the real problem. Personally I do not think any child have a behavior problem sometimes they just do not know how to express thier anger and fustration. In adults' eyes those are label as bad behavior. Like adults, when children are angry they say something that they don't really mean it at all.  They also do silly things. It is more important to understand your child. What happen and what makes him so up set and choose not to participate in classroom activities. Not participating means u cannot learn from your teacher. All activities in class are design with a purpose (a professional teacher spend so much time to design everyday even minor activities for his class).  I think it is better to talk to your child and see what he needs before making any decisions. Trust yourself you can open your child's heart. He can tell you direct or indirect of what happened or why is he emotional etc...  Knowing why can help you to prepare your self emotional and how to handle things better. He will grow up and learn from his experience. Do not just let it go and go into the cave it doesn't help. The issue is still there and is doesnt go away.

Komuimama

Alam 寫道:
Komuimama's experience is quite different from what I encountered years ago.  But the school has changed the Kindergarten head years before and may have a different policy.  At my child's day, any kindergarten child with non-native English standard had to leave.  The school viewed it as a "structural problem" which couldn't be fixed because of another year.  They said their statistic showed that these children would struggle very hard in P3 after which was not good to their learning initiative.

As far as ability is concerned, the children may go to next year class or even higher for Maths if they out-perform their classmates.  But only for Maths.  He/She still belongs to his/her year in other subjects.  When the children go to P4,  they will then be divided into two to three ability groups in Maths and Mandarin.  But for Maths, the different ability groups has same syllabus but in different approaches and homeworks.

Dear Wskwok,

Of course my child need extra effort in Mandarin.  GSIS Mandarin is not up to our standard and it only starts at P3 (before 2006, it started as late as P4).  We use English at home because it becomes a habit to talk to him in English.  But my husband and I still use Cantonese with each other and my boy also picks up quite a lot.  I try to remind myself to talk to him in either Mandarin and Cantonese.

Dear Christf,

Please let  me know if you have any further question.

Dear Alam,

Perhaps I have not expressed myself clear enough. GSIS has not changed their policy very much over all the years.  In fact, most of the teachers have taught there for many years and are very experienced teachers.

Most of the children now in their kindergarten speak very fluent English.  In my kid's class, even the Chinese kids can all speak English to a native English speaker's standard.  GSIS has always stressed that in kindergarten, the children have to be very vocal, i.e. they must be able to speak English well, have above average ability to express themselves and understand the language.  Being vocally capable is one of the criteria, if not the most important criteria, for accepting a child into their kindergarten.

What I meant to say when I mentioned that the teacher would help the less advanced kids to catch up was not that the teachers would help those children that cannot understand or speak English well, these children probably would not have been admitted to their school in the first place, all the children there speak and understand English very well but some of them may not be as good as the others in the recognition of the sound of the alphabets or are weaker in Maths, the teachers will spend more time and give more attention to them so that they will not lag behind.

If the child has problem in speaking and understanding English, the school will not tolerate.  There was an Australian kid who was not promoted to Year 1 in September this year because he had speech problem.  That kid ended up going back to the Downunder.

Is it the Maths accelerated programme that you are referring to when you said that the children will go to the next class when they out-perform the others in Maths?

502

Dear christf,

WOuld u mind pm me the contacts of your CP?  My boy is in Kennedy and he is having similar problem as your son.  

Tkx in advance.

Best regards,

502

Govinda

if i can afford,
i will choose GSIS over QBS

jli_99

I really want my son to study at GSIS.  he is 21 month old now.  May I know which kinder should i send to him in order to geti nto GSIS.  Now, he is studying at Woodland Tai Tam Playgroup.   Please give my some suggestions.  thanks