ICS Parents

tommyzoe

Dear pyc,

In HK, quality education we need to pay for it. It should not be like that. Hope the EMB will have new and stable directions for us from now on.

luluonthemoon

tommyzoe,

My child has moved to JIS and now she is in the Reception class. The reason is JIS had been our first choice all time and we want our child to enjoy truly international environment. For ICS, I have seen some rude students in elementary section when I often went up to school for volunteer help. Plus, we are not very much in favor of school administration at ICS, as they are not really students and parents oriented.
Now my child is really happy at school and we do assure that the decision we made was 200% right.

tommyzoe

luluonthemoon,

Later you may find the problems in JIS as well. Meanwhile, you may share with us.

luluonthemoon 寫道:
tommyzoe,

My child has moved to JIS and now she is in the Reception class. The reason is JIS had been our first choice all time and we want our child to enjoy truly international environment. For ICS, I have seen some rude students in elementary section when I often went up to school for volunteer help. Plus, we are not very much in favor of school administration at ICS, as they are not really students and parents oriented.
Now my child is really happy at school and we do assure that the decision we made was 200% right.

luluonthemoon

tommyzoe,

Good morning.
I am 200% sure again that JIS administration is much closer and clearer to the students and parents. And I believe it's also as good in other international schools. We have seen this school, JIS for almost 3 years and it's been doing a lot to minimize possible causes of problems between the school and parents rather than bringing in the Debenture at the last minute and is never willing to return the money as they only count the heads. I have told other parents and staff of JIS and also other schools' parents what ICS has done to the students and the parents last year. They got mostly shocked and couldn't believe the ears at first. Of course, I wouldn't want to believe what had happened. It just made me a clam and since then I didn't feel up to talking about this school in this forum. Anyway, it's over now and we're outta there. The staff at JIS promised me that what we've been through at ICS would never happen at JIS.

tommyzoe

luluonthemoon,

It seems that you like JIS very much. As I am a scholar in higher education, I do believe that each school have both strong & weak areas. It is important that we need to accept both of them, not just strong areas, then we send our kids to there. ICS is also like that there are both strong & weak areas. In my opinion, JIS and any school over the world should be like that.

Anyway I am happy that you can choose a suitable school for your daughter. What will you do after she finish primary education at JIS?

pyc

Dear Both,

Can I ask which school is JIS?
Thanks,
pyc

luluonthemoon

tommyzoe,

You are right. Any schools have their own strong and weak points. I do totally agree with you on that. But what ICS did won't fall into this. They did something wrong just to overcome some of their weak points. If they say, "Oh, we didn't simply expect that huge impact among the parents" (well, this is actually what Mrs. Van Hoy told us as a first excuse), I must say that they are completely out of touch with reality. Do they fully admit this? No, they can't. If that was a carefully worked-out scheme, it's nothing but a mere deception. This can't be admitted either. They just couldn't give us the true reason why it simply happened. In either way, it was just dirty and cheap.

Thanks for asking a secondary school!! It's like we are going to have a new born baby! Secondary school for our kids is on the way. In fact, many parents at JIS have been long concerned about this. As my Danish friend just said in the meeting one day, "we could've sent our kids to GSIS or FIS for example, but what we normally see is a particular ethnic majority. That's not what I want. I don't feel I'm minority here and that's why I'm excited about this (secondary school) project."  And she's not the only one. The other parent who went to see RC the other day told me she didn't hear any English outside the classroom and she said that's out of question to her. What we are going to see is a truly international school with great demographic. We are putting our heads together to maximize the strong areas and minimize the weak areas as the parents have seen many schools so far and we know what we want for our kids. It's really exciting now. The baby is soon to be born and we are the help to let it grow. I must say, something must've led me here at this timing.

Oh, by the way, lots of expat parents have heard about ICS but it doesn't seem to be the choice for them as secondary education. This was actually a little shock to me. Even the families from the US (I found there are some Christians as well), they don't seem to be interested in ICS. I didn't ask them to elaborate but it could be the Deventure program... Anyway, if there's any more weak points of ICS that I find from outside, I am willing to share with you for further improvement.
  
pyc,

JIS is Japanese International School in Tai Po. But the one we are talking about is English section.

tommyzoe

luluonthemoon,

In order to let us know more clear picture about the event, could you please tell us in detail? In your words, your daughter was R1 or R2 student at ICS, right? I really want to know the event in details. It seems that you are very angry from the case, right?

Since I know Mrs. Van Hoy, she is a very nice lady & loves kids very much. Also she is a good Christian. If you have some misunderstanding with her, you may try to discuss with her. I think she is willing to talk to you. If you are a Christian, you may try to pray in God. He will lead you a way to see more!

Up till now, I am happy that your daughter can study at JIS. It is really a good school. But from now, you must need to pay more & more for her education. If you are rich, I think it is no problem.

In HK, if you can pay more, you can get more customer oriented service. At least there is psychological advantage in views of customer. As I am an experienced educator in HK, I think that HK education will go into this way. Is it good or bad? I don't want to give a comment. It depends on what you want to get it. Different people must have different expectation. But what is a real education? Did Confucius do it already? Did Confucius follow parents' expectation? Or parents trusted Confucius? Could Confucius teach many good students? Let us think in deep!!

Maybe, if the EMB of HK government can do much better, we don't need to discuss such topics, right. We don't need to spend too much to send our kids to IS, right? I hope Prof Lee or Mrs. Law will not fire me.  

luluonthemoon 寫道:
tommyzoe,

You are right. Any schools have their own strong and weak points. I do totally agree with you on that. But what ICS did won't fall into this. They did something wrong just to overcome some of their weak points. If they say, "Oh, we didn't simply expect that huge impact among the parents" (well, this is actually what Mrs. Van Hoy told us as a first excuse), I must say that they are completely out of touch with reality. Do they fully admit this? No, they can't. If that was a carefully worked-out scheme, it's nothing but a mere deception. This can't be admitted either. They just couldn't give us the true reason why it simply happened. In either way, it was just dirty and cheap.

Thanks for asking a secondary school!! It's like we are going to have a new born baby! Secondary school for our kids is on the way. In fact, many parents at JIS have been long concerned about this. As my Danish friend just said in the meeting one day, "we could've sent our kids to GSIS or FIS for example, but what we normally see is a particular ethnic majority. That's not what I want. I don't feel I'm minority here and that's why I'm excited about this (secondary school) project."  And she's not the only one. The other parent who went to see RC the other day told me she didn't hear any English outside the classroom and she said that's out of question to her. What we are going to see is a truly international school with great demographic. We are putting our heads together to maximize the strong areas and minimize the weak areas as the parents have seen many schools so far and we know what we want for our kids. It's really exciting now. The baby is soon to be born and we are the help to let it grow. I must say, something must've led me here at this timing.

Oh, by the way, lots of expat parents have heard about ICS but it doesn't seem to be the choice for them as secondary education. This was actually a little shock to me. Even the families from the US (I found there are some Christians as well), they don't seem to be interested in ICS. I didn't ask them to elaborate but it could be the Deventure program... Anyway, if there's any more weak points of ICS that I find from outside, I am willing to share with you for further improvement.
  
pyc,

JIS is Japanese International School in Tai Po. But the one we are talking about is English section.

luluonthemoon

tommyzoe

You don't necessarily need to know about this.... It's up to you to believe it or not.... In fact, I didn't really mean to have come that far. I am a little surprised now for myself that it's been on my nerves for that long.... At that time, it was not an anger that came up first. The parents involved were all devastated. It rattled the whole class. We just couldn't believe what was happening in front of us. We all just couldn't help but ask to ourselves, "why now? why to us? why to my child??"

You should ask the school if you need to find it out. It's been just too much for me to go. I am a little tired of even recalling that darkest time. If they think that  they have learned the lesson from that, they will put the hand on their heart and tell you what happened. I don't think they've forgotten that, as it was hanging on for over 2 months last year. In which case, I feel that they are not that bad after all. Yes, the principal may look nice to you and at first to us as well. We didn't simply know that she was hiding the mud pie in the back to throw into our face. For the families involved at that time, some are going to leave the school after the term. They are also the ones who have suffered from separate problems in the school after the issue above and they feel there's no use staying any longer. The problem is.... we have tried to have a talk to her first and nothing changed. Not only  about this issue but about other following separate problems Then we raised our voice higher than ever before from time to time. Then nothing changed. I really don't understand how she takes all these..... Is she just playing down? Or is it all out of her hand??? I still don't know. And nor do other parents.

When I broke the news to some of the moms involved that we'd leave, they said, "we gave up on this school anyway. we're also counting down the dates to go. " That was a real shame for them... and for ICS!! It shouldn't have been like this.......... and it shouldn't be. However, I am still in favor of most of the teachers. One of them said to me that she was praying for all the families though she couldn't practically help us amid that chaos. That's why I'm saying it's a big shame. It's really taking the shine off from the school. Anyway, I just can't help but hope your child and any other will never come across such difficulty. Seriously, it shouldn't happen to anyone else.

I must say, it doesn't always mean that the more you pay, the more or better you can get... even in HK. You can see that. My case is one of them. My friend who runs a local kindy said what ICS did was outrageous. Her school charges parents around $2000 per month. But that's not the thing here now. Plus, I don't really mean to compare ICS to JIS or any other. I do believe that each school is different and unique, and so is every child and family. It's just what you wish for, how you feel about a school and the chemistry between a school and your child, and you within the realistic range of budget. To our luck, we were able to find the best fit one to our child. We do keep in mind for our child that it's just all started and takes a long way. But something you like doesn't simply apply to everyone.

Thanks for your attention, tommyzoe. And this is it. It's over. Good, it's over and we are through with it now.

tommyzoe

luluonthemoon,

If you don't make the case clear enough, it is not fair to everybody. As you know, you had mentioned the name of the person involved and it was showed in this forum. All people can see the name of this person but they don't know what it had been happened there. Futhermore, if the case is real, I think the parents should know who you are. So... it is not fair to you as well. You should state the case based on real evidence, right?

As I had handled many cases between parents and school, I can find that many parents think their points right. Similarly, management of schools think their points right too. Every school has its problem?! Can a school entertain all parents? Yes or No? It is denfitely "NO". Even you are 200% sure that JIS is very good IS, I don't want to make you lost. You don't know many thngs about this school. Of course, I don't tell you much at all. You will know the problems of JIS in one day.

As you mentioned that your friend paid nearly HK2,000 a month for school fee. He/She feels very happy about the school. It is normal. This is not out of my last saying. For the details, I would like to write a paper about education in HK then you can read more from it.

Be happy in JIS and hope you no more change.

luluonthemoon 寫道:
tommyzoe

You don't necessarily need to know about this.... It's up to you to believe it or not.... In fact, I didn't really mean to have come that far. I am a little surprised now for myself that it's been on my nerves for that long.... At that time, it was not an anger that came up first. The parents involved were all devastated. It rattled the whole class. We just couldn't believe what was happening in front of us. We all just couldn't help but ask to ourselves, "why now? why to us? why to my child??"

You should ask the school if you need to find it out. It's been just too much for me to go. I am a little tired of even recalling that darkest time. If they think that  they have learned the lesson from that, they will put the hand on their heart and tell you what happened. I don't think they've forgotten that, as it was hanging on for over 2 months last year. In which case, I feel that they are not that bad after all. Yes, the principal may look nice to you and at first to us as well. We didn't simply know that she was hiding the mud pie in the back to throw into our face. For the families involved at that time, some are going to leave the school after the term. They are also the ones who have suffered from separate problems in the school after the issue above and they feel there's no use staying any longer. The problem is.... we have tried to have a talk to her first and nothing changed. Not only  about this issue but about other following separate problems Then we raised our voice higher than ever before from time to time. Then nothing changed. I really don't understand how she takes all these..... Is she just playing down? Or is it all out of her hand??? I still don't know. And nor do other parents.

When I broke the news to some of the moms involved that we'd leave, they said, "we gave up on this school anyway. we're also counting down the dates to go. " That was a real shame for them... and for ICS!! It shouldn't have been like this.......... and it shouldn't be. However, I am still in favor of most of the teachers. One of them said to me that she was praying for all the families though she couldn't practically help us amid that chaos. That's why I'm saying it's a big shame. It's really taking the shine off from the school. Anyway, I just can't help but hope your child and any other will never come across such difficulty. Seriously, it shouldn't happen to anyone else.

I must say, it doesn't always mean that the more you pay, the more or better you can get... even in HK. You can see that. My case is one of them. My friend who runs a local kindy said what ICS did was outrageous. Her school charges parents around $2000 per month. But that's not the thing here now. Plus, I don't really mean to compare ICS to JIS or any other. I do believe that each school is different and unique, and so is every child and family. It's just what you wish for, how you feel about a school and the chemistry between a school and your child, and you within the realistic range of budget. To our luck, we were able to find the best fit one to our child. We do keep in mind for our child that it's just all started and takes a long way. But something you like doesn't simply apply to everyone.

Thanks for your attention, tommyzoe. And this is it. It's over. Good, it's over and we are through with it now.

CherylMum

Re: ICS Parents

[ 本帖最後由 CherylMum 於 09-11-4 10:37 編輯 ]

tommyzoe

As we are not a rich family, we hope to pay as less as possible. But ICS's debenture is already less than many ISs. Some ISs request you to pay capital levy each year or each month. Also this amount is not either refundable or transferable. For reception class of such ISs parents need to pay for it nearly HK$100,000 a year or even more.

ICS is a good news to many HK sandwich class families. With ICS, we can afford to send our kids to get quality education in a real international school.

It seems that you not only don't like this school but also you don't like the students there. So you said that you had seen some rude students in elementary section when you often went up to school for volunteer help. But I don't know why luluonthemoon still try to send your daughter to there. From our observation, even most of ICS families are not rich, the students are not rude.

allymcbeal

Hi there,

My son of Grade 1 is just a new comer of the ICS family. I wonder what S.A.T. means in ICS as i was told that there would be kinda assessment named SAT. Would someone throw some light ?

many thanks.

LeoQuincy

SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Tests) are the international exam to test on the aptitudes of a candidate for the purpose of admission to US universities.

I was brought up under local education system and when I attended SAT some 20+ yrs ago, I scored very high marks in Maths but poor result in English.

HarryPotter

According to the ICS Elementary Pulse April 13
SAT is Stanford achievement test which I think is different from the SAT taken in Grade 12

LeoQuincy

Oh I see......so it seems the test is taken at elementary level?

allymcbeal

HarryPotter 寫道:
According to the ICS Elementary Pulse April 13
SAT is Stanford achievement test which I think is different from the SAT taken in Grade 12

Right , i think it should be Stanford Achievement test.
Anyway, thanks.

MarcusD

Can anyone tell me, in ICS, is there any Chinese Class for Primary 1? If yes, how many class is a week?

Thanks!

MarcusD

ffma2007

Yes, there is. 3 lessons in a 6-day cycle. Students are divided into 3 levels and taught by different teachers.

MarcusD

ffma2007 寫道:
Yes, there is. 3 lessons in a 6-day cycle. Students are divided into 3 levels and taught by different teachers.

Thank a lot!

MarcusD