ISF 弘立書院

tingtingting

原文章由 brydenbobo 於 08-3-10 13:34 發表
We have been to the school's Open Day & was very impressed. We do intend to send our girl there but was wondering if Local Chinese like ourselves will be "Minorities" in there?
And, seems like a lot  ...

I missed the open day.  Could u pls kindly share yr experience.  TX.

金瑪姬

原文章由 justinamum 於 08-3-9 21:12 發表
thanks for the information.
My daughter will also join ISF as grade 6 student this Sept. we are a bit worry whether she can catch up with the
english lessons because she is now studying in a local pr ...

Eng is his best subject, so he's fine. He studied in private eng primary school.
I think it is not easy for a primary student from the main stream because they need to write a lot.
And, I think Mandarin will be another  problem.
Anyway, as they are so young, they will get use to it very soon.

[ 本文章最後由 金瑪姬 於 08-3-10 15:19 編輯 ]

金瑪姬

原文章由 chez 於 08-3-10 13:46 發表
is there any school bus to Kln side like Hung hom ?  thanks.

Yes, there is, at around 7:10am.

金瑪姬

原文章由 brydenbobo 於 08-3-10 13:34 發表
We have been to the school's Open Day & was very impressed. We do intend to send our girl there but was wondering if Local Chinese like ourselves will be "Minorities" in there?
And, seems like a lot  ...

There is a financial aid program. The school is target to have 30% of it's community to study there with financial aid. All parents here understand that the ISF community is make up of all different walk of life.

For info.

brydenbobo

金瑪姬,
Thank you for your sharing! So glad to learn that the school aims at being a school for all suitable, regardless of family background. Do you think they have achieved that goal already? Will those from poorer families be accepted by the other students all the same?

Besides the ability to fit in, would anyone be kind enough to advise on the academics please. From the Open Day, we saw a lot of displays on science subjects, and they are very good. But, are the other subjects well balanced? Can we expect the students from ISF, say Grade 1 or 2, to do Chinese and English composition as thier counter-parts in local schools?

so many doubts when it comes to finding a school for one's kid.

sabun

原文章由 brydenbobo 於 08-3-11 09:51 發表
金瑪姬,
Thank you for your sharing! So glad to learn that the school aims at being a school for all suitable, regardless of family background. Do you think they have achieved that goal already? Wi ...

don't worry!No one care you come from what kind of
family,be confidient yourself!
Their english and chinese standard are good too!  
The school care the student very very much!

ngmom

there is no point in comparing the language competency of students of different schools at so junior a grade, especially when language is not the key criteria for admission to ISF and students of varying levels of English/Chinese competence may be admitted to Grade I. Suffice to say that (i) the school adopts the Immersion Program and puts more focus on reading and listening initially, the speaking and writing will come naturally at a later stage; (ii) the school does not do a lot of drilling on spelling and grammar at the lower grades and it would be difficult to compare the quality of the writing of the students with other (especially local) schools since totally different results could be reached by using different assessment criteria. For me it's the ideas and organisation that count. (iii) the emphasis of English vs Chinese reverses in the upper grades and in my humble view the quality of the students should be assessed only after they have completed at least the whole primary program rather than on a piecemeal and/or short-term basis.

After all, unlike many other schools, the school believes in educating the whole child, rather than just focusing on academic competence on specific subjects. One really need to understand the education approach and philosophy of the school when deciding when it's the right school for one's kids.

原文章由 brydenbobo 於 08-3-11 09:51 發表
金瑪姬,
Thank you for your sharing! So glad to learn that the school aims at being a school for all suitable, regardless of family background. Do you think they have achieved that goal already? Wi ...

brydenbobo

Allow me to thank you all for the sharing.
I think I would put ISF on the top of the list after these reviews.
I have 2 children, the cost for sending them there is really high:cry:
I want to ask a few more questions, help me please.
- Are the teachers well-qualified? Been to some local schools, the teachers there have the qualifications, but may not have the experience nor heart;
- have the picture of some international school where students wear short skirts and started dating at 10 or smoke, is the discipline and moral good at ISF?
- does ISF have any connections with famous Universities?
Please help!

502

As parents of primary section,  we are 200% happy with the teachers - they are patient and caring.

brydenbobo

200% is really encouraging!
And, anyone has idea if the discipline is good and
whether the school has any ties with Univerisities or Senior High overseas? Is it true that IB students would be favoured by schools abroad?

brydenbobo

Thank you!
Discipline is of great concern to us.
Did you hear of the results of the meeting and if any measures are now in place to prevent bullying?
Is the case very serious?

brydenbobo

Oh no, this is serious!
Mental bullying can be real harsh, we are from working parents family and we sure do not want our kids to be targets.............please help to get more information if you can.

warrrren

Thanks for the “mental bullying” explanation.  I now realise why I got all the blues this morning – it was not because Arthur Clarke left this world yesterday, but because I was first mentally bullied by that unsightly fat man who drove his shinny Maserati in front of me and subsequently by the news that someone just bought a condo in Tai Hang for $35,000/ft2, and yet further by the fact that the guy next door knows what ventriloquism means but I do not.

There may well be students from really rich families who occasionally talk about big houses, skiing in the Alps, private singing coach, etc.  The faint-hearted and the narrow-minded may tend to think that they are showing off their wealth.  Not necessarily, I can honestly tell you.  A boy from a poor family who has never been to Ocean Park may find it offensive that another boy tells him how fun Ocean Park is.  Is the Ocean Park going boy boasting about his parents’ wealth?  Maybe, and maybe not.  He may truly consider Ocean Park fun and he just wants to share his joy with his friend.  Jumping on the boy and accusing him of being bossy or boasting is foolish.  Quite a few people tend to believe that schools with super rich families (e.g. HKIS, CIS and ISF to name a few) have this “showing off” culture.  My own experience is very different from this general belief.  If you walk into any of the above-mentioned schools and boast around, Ha, you will be frowned upon.  Anyhow, it is up to the person to decide how to handle “mental bullying” – he can choose to grow out of it and be a better and more beautiful person; or he can choose to look only at the negative side and continue to play the victim’s role.  Kids are easy; parents sometimes are not.  At ISF kids from different walks of life learn and play together.  If you are worried that there are too many kids who are from the rich and famous families, I can offer you one comforting fact and one simple solution: The fact first – most of the ISF kids are from the working middle class. The chance of you bumping into a kid living in South Horizon is higher than you bumping into a kid who lives in a big house up the Peak.  And here is the solution – stop worrying and stop comparing the size of your apartment with that of others.  Whatever you are worrying about you will pass it to your kid.

As for bullying (whatever it means, so called physical or mental), I accept that there are always some kids who are more challenging than others.  But, I cannot imagine how boring and uninspiring a school is if there are not a few kids who constantly pose themselves as challenges to the teachers, other kids and their own parents.  Tell me if you know of any schools that do not have challenging students. I will avoid them like plague.  By the way, I am not saying that discipline is unimportant.  I do care about discipline and always think that respect and responsibility are the two things that all students and their parents must learn.  I have been at ISF for quite some time and I can see nothing seriously wrong with students’ discipline.  My greater concern is the over-concerned parents who are more keen on over-parenting than parenting - they remind me of Bree in Desperate Housewives.  Horrible species indeed.

ngmom

I understand that the School takes the issue of discipline very seriously.  Implementation of the School's discipline policy will take time and is often challenging due to the diversity of the School community, given that the school is relatively young and many of the students joined the School only recently after its relocation to the current campus. Different parents might have different expectations of the School. Some might think the school is too strict while some might think the school is not strict enough. It is not easy to reach a fine balance which can please everyone.

As far as I am aware (my kid is in Grade 2), bullying is not very common (and no more common than many other schools) and I have never heard of the so-called "mental bullying" cases.  I have checked with other parents of my kid's classmates and they are not aware of these "mental bullying" cases too. In any case, I don't think wealth is directly related to the moral standards of the students. Much is dependent on the quality of the parents, of whom the ones I know are all very caring and concerned about their kids' personal development and character.

LousyMum

so far 我第一身接觸過的家長，沒有一個研究過 ISF 後話不 impressed 不喜歡的。唯一的negative factor 是學費貴。  反而好多話亞邊個邊個 個仔比人bully 到要轉校呀 + 其他不好的事等等的，我沒有一次可以證明到是真的，因爲每一次的當事人都總是朋友個朋友等, except one.  In that particular case, the mum told me that her girl got bullied but was quickly solved after the homeroom teachers talked to the one who bullied and the one who got bullied. And the mum was very impressed by how quickly the school solved that.  那次也不是太big deal.  那閒學校無呀？  另外，ISF的家長總括來講都算是好緊張好actively involved in the school's daily operation.  好多activities 都是家長負責的。 也可能因爲是這樣，所以校内好多事都好透明，好快可以傳出去。 這總比那些有大件事發生時校長都還收收埋埋個D學校呀。

最後，作為家長，由自私的角度出發，大家唱壞閒學校時，我個細B咪容易D入羅，競爭細D嗎。