請問 RCHK 小學部家長

popolung

各位BK家長，請保持冷靜及客觀的討論，上BK的家長都是文明的一代，除了為自己子女著想外，也給其他人一點資訊。合聽就說句多謝，不合聽就算了。記往，子女的好壞，90%不是學校問題，而是家庭問題居多！


看到大家由客氣討論變成長篇大論的辯論，繼而開始有點火藥味，很是心痛，要是我們的孩子看到了，怎辦？


其實我們很想下一代能作育英材，但更重要的是，最小希望他們會變成一個好人，對嗎？


曾經有一位立法會議員對我說：「教導子女，"身教" 最重要。因為家長如何，小孩看在眼裏，記在心裏。你想你的孩子如何，你就要成為他們的榜樣！」願與各位BK家長共勉之！

[ 本帖最後由 popolung 於 09-2-7 11:22 編輯 ]

steamball

agree......

almom

原帖由 edexp 於 09-2-6 23:14 發表
I only have said that in order to develop a native level of language (no matter you want it is English or Chinese or other languages), one has to be totally immersed in such language environment for at least 5 to 6 hours a day, like most of the IS which consider English as the first language that expect all children to be able to master. Therefore, I have said if RC cannot foster a total English environment without a straight language policy, I really doubt its results on the spoken level of its students.  

English is the first language at RC. Students are immersed in total English environment at school. The only thing RC might be different would be, students are not forced to use only English at times like lunch time and recess.

My view is that, if a kid is already accepted by an international school, he should already be totally competent in English. Someone has already said so: why do English competent students need one extra hour of casual chit chat with English? And in fact, most native English speaking children would automatically want to speak mainly English even without any strict rules.

I think it is probably the differences in background of families that make our expectations so different. Many RC families are non-Chinese families. Even if they are ethnic Chinese, they are American, Canadian, Bristish, Malaysian, Indonesian etc families that have always used English all the time . My children were not Hong Kong born. They have all their lives used mainly English and they do not really NEED an extra hour of English chit chat to polish their spoken English.

On the other hand, of course, if a child does not have really good spoken English, may be their parents would prefer them to be forced to use only English at school.

However, I would wonder, now, why do students in an IS would be that incompetent? Taking ESF as an example, their students should have native English standard. Why do you think their spoken English would get worse by speaking one less hour of English everyday. And, in fact, for real native English speaking Chinese kids, I doubt whether they would want to speak much Chinese at all even if there is no strict rules.

Wingba

Come on edexp, stay cool. From your response I can 100% sure you are the one who had used another name in another thread that stirred up hot debate.

I was amazed to read that you hadn't used any strong words. You may review your postings and check then.

I believe you are an excellent warrior with an adament desire to win without giving any inches. Yet, it doesn't have any rational discussion here.

I am not a Christian but the Bible says when you are judging people you might overlook the thorn inside your eyes.

I totally agree with you that we should not avoid opening up a can of worms. But what I am referring to was not the problem that RC is facing or identified by you but the unnecessary squirrels. As a RC parent I really appreciate someone else can identify the problems that I might have overlooked. As I have said you have your point but I have lots of reservations on your way of responsing. Take a deep breath before rebutting my posting, or simply ignore it and have a good weekend with you family.

Cheers,

原帖由 edexp 於 09-2-7 01:43 發表
Wingba,

Firstly I don't think I need to disclose any of my personal or my child information if I don't wish as it is totally not relevant to my views and opinion shared in BK.

"I just want to know w ...

oooray

as an outsider (although i may become a RC parent, too), i think only insiders have the right to comment how good or bad the school should be running because they are the one who benefit and suffer directly.No matter how an outsider learn from third parties comments, it is only subjective viewpoint.
As i mentioned before, education resembles food. Those who are eating/tasting the food have the right to comment on its quality. As an outsider, i can say the food looks yucky and not healthy and i can refuse to try that food.
In the same way, an ousider criticizing the deficiencies of RC (comparing how successful he/she is at different school) should not be too subjective. Someone succeeds in one way  doesn't mean that everybody should follow the same way and that is the only way to success. No system is perfect (Education is not a religion).
Excessive subjectivity = Arrogant.
 

popolung

原帖由 steamball 於 09-2-7 10:17 發表
agree......

but I guess not many IS parents can read Chinese, or may be not willing to understand..... sigh......

anyway, hope you guys can discuss in a harmonized way. Kids are our future, and hope they can learn the good things from us, not the bad thing.

[ 本帖最後由 popolung 於 09-2-7 23:39 編輯 ]

JYFC

Being a potential RC parent, many thanks for all your sharing especially the ones posted by RC parents.


Basically each child is unique. “Elite school A” may be the dream school for everyone, but it may not be the best school for every child. We, as the parents must try our best to find out the potentials & capabilities of our kids and help them to find the suitable school to develop their further studies.

My daughter has been to RC once only. The first thing she told me after the interview was “Mum, I like this Big school, can I come here everyday?” And to my surprise, I heard similar comments from her classmates too.  I really wonder in my mind what is so good about this school.

After joining the RC school tour, now I have a better understanding of the school. From my observation, I notice the teachers are very friendly from RC and the students are willing to volunteer their answers. There are very close interactions amongst the teachers & the students. The campus/classroom is obviously very spacious & new. Then I thought this must be why it attracts my little girl.

Today, I ask my daughter why she likes RC?

“hehehe…..because the teachers are niceeeeeeeeee” she said with a big simile on her face.

I am confident that if we choose RC, she will certainly have a good start in her new school life.

原帖由 Wingba 於 09-2-7 18:33 發表
Come on edexp, stay cool. From your response I can 100% sure you are the one who had used another name in another thread that stirred up hot debate.

I was amazed to read that you hadn't used any stro ...

almom

I think many parents have always made a wrong assumption or have got some wrong impressions.

English is the main language at RC. There are rules at RC of the language they use during classes. Not that students can speak any language they want. English has to be the only language that they use (although I know that some students might not want to follow). They need to use English all the time in class. The only "un-regulated" time would be recess and lunch.

I think one great thing I like at RC is that, even without the strict language policy, even local students are good at English. Even if those local students were not that good in the beginning, they get a lot better after some time. This is probably quite unbelievable to many non-RC parents and they probably are thinking that I am lying.

But if you analysis a situation more logically, you will see that it can be so.

Just think of WHY we need any language policy at all in the first place. It is probably that we want the children to have more exposure to English. Fine and fair, right? But if the classes and teaching have been conducted effectively and professionally, do we still need such policy?

A lot of local elite schools and DSSs also have very strict language policy. They are teaching in English and students are forced to use only English in school. However, the English standard of the students still remains in second language level.

I think the English level of students does not rest with whether there is a language policy. It rests with what students and teachers we have. If a student is good at English, then he does not need any language policy to have good English. Even if a student is not that good at English, but has the drive and ability to move up, he does not need any language policy too. Then it also matters how classes are conducted and the teching support at school. Students benefit from high quality teaching and this means we need good teaching staff. And, we do have very good teachers.

Of course, if the school really also impose strict rules on language at RC, I am sure they can "attract" even more local applicants and would surely get more "positive" comments from local parents (obviously, positive comments at BK, at least). However, I wonder whether this will help the school to be genuinely a good school and to be genuinely more international. What we need is not a school that gain positive comments at BK. What we need is a genuinely good school. And from what I heard from many western teacher, RC is what they consider a good school that is getting better each year and is gaining respects from the circle of teachers.

For those that are concerned whether RC has mostly or mainly local cantonese speaking kids, I have some comments to make too.

Although the two ESF PIS (RC and DC) were supposedly set up to help ease the demand from local families, the present situation is that these two schools have in fact attracted a lot of non-local families. As a not-exactly-local family, we like the present diversified cultural atmosphere at RC. We have lots of non-local students: western, asian, half-Chinese etc. I think this is not what parents and ESF have expected.

The PISs were supposedly set up to serve up to 70% (more or less, not sure) of "local families".  Many parents (surprisingly, local Chinese parents are those that are not willing to team up with other local Chinese families) were afraid that the PISs would be stuffed with mainly local cantonese speaking students. However, they were probably not aware that many non-Chinese faces are in fact quite "local"  legally. Many western children at RC were born in Hong Kong and the whole family hold Hong Kong permanent ID cards. Some others have at least one parent holding a Hong Kong permanent ID card. Bear in mind that many western or non-local dads have been working or doing business in Hong Kong for a long time. Many have already gained the permenant residencial rights and hold the permenant ID cards. They are statiscally or legally "local". Also, there are just numerous ABCs, BBCs, etc (my children too) or half-Chinese kids with at least one parent holding Hong Kong permanent ID card. Et cetera.... So this make RC legally able to take more non-local chinese students than people presume.

I want to say that RC is probably not the best school available in Hong Kong. And likely, it will not moved up to be the best in the near future. However, still, RC meets most of my needs. And the school is getting better and better.

News schools do have flaws. RC is very new but it is a surprise to many, even including parents, that it is getting so much better within 3 year.

We hear a lot of negative comments of RC here. And unfortunately, most are untrue. And what's even more disturbing is that, RC parents are accused of being unreasonable when they are merely coming to clarify, trying to make things right. It is sad to see that rights and wrongs are so mixed up. And it is even more sad to see that quite a few RC parents are no longer contributing their views in BK.

Wingba

Ai..ya I was too dumb to have misspelt the word "squabble". Perhaps I am a bit too indulged in Disney's character Chip and Dale and used the word "squirrel" Sorry for the confusion folks.

原帖由 Wingba 於 09-2-7 18:33 發表
Come on edexp, stay cool. From your response I can 100% sure you are the one who had used another name in another thread that stirred up hot debate.

I was amazed to read that you hadn't used any stro ...

Wingba

Good Day Almon,

Thank you for your sharing and observation. I hope you can post more info. on RC in BK so that I can learn more.

As we cannot spare more time to join RAPT and other school functions we are afraid all we can do is to tell what we learned from our child as well as from the teachers from limited contacts.

I am also impressed by the accomplishment that RC has made in only 3 years time. I do agree with you that RC is definitely not the best school but it is getting better and better every day. I am satisfied with its Chinese curriculum and I am grateful to the efforts that the teaching staff have been contributing in helping parents to understand the school and its phlilosophy.

RC parents should share their views at BK, I totally agree

原帖由 almom 於 09-2-8 12:33 發表
I think many parents have always made a wrong assumption or have got some wrong impressions.

English is the main language at RC. There are rules at RC of the language they use during classes. Not tha ...

肥騫

Radiomama and Popolung,

Thanks!

My plan is similar to yours. The only diff is that I'll place IS over DSS.

Victoria kinder is our priority one also, but I'm a bit worried about their english skills. I attended the school visit of RC few months before and I found that there were some students coming from Victoria also...so, I'm strugging between Vic and IS kinder...so, ESF, Starters, Small World Kinder, Woodland are also our choices.

Could other parents of RC give me some suggestions here?

Thanks a lot!!

oooray

As an ex-Victoria parents, Victoria is definitely not your choice if IS is your first choice. (As least it applied to me)

原帖由 肥騫 於 09-2-9 18:08 發表
Radiomama and Popolung,

Thanks!

My plan is similar to yours. The only diff is that I'll place IS over DSS.

Victoria kinder is our priority one also, but I'm a bit worried about their english skill ...

肥騫

Hi Oooray,

Thanks for your opinion.
Do you think English proficiency in Victoria is not good enough? Can you share more of your experience in Victoria? I'm going to apply Habour Heights Branch.

I'm welcome if other parents can share their views here. Can parents of RC give me some precious opinion? What's the kinder background of RC students?

Thanks!!

almom

原帖由 肥騫 於 09-2-10 13:48 發表
What's the kinder background of RC students?

RC is a new school and students now with the school are basically from everywhere.
Just a couple of years ago, RC was still willing to accept students from local schools, however, I think they are not as interested in doing so anymore because of the language problem most of those kids have.
Also, because it is a new school, they seem to be adjusting their admission criteria each year, so that they can get students that they believe would be suitable for the curriculum. IB requires not only children with good language skills but a more outgoing and friendly personality.
It is still to early for us to guess the "pattern" of what they want from a child. However, as a wild or initial guess, I think if a child is not from an international kindergarten, the chance that he can get admission is a lot slimmer (if not totally impossible).

Wingba

I cannot give you a comprehensive answer as I don't know many of the parents in RCHK.

But I oberseve that students of RCHK come from all kinds of kinder, ESF, Boxhill, other Int'l kinder as well as local kinder as well.

My girl studied in local kinder with emphasis on English profciency. Don't worry too much, as long as you can train up your kind not to be afraid of communcating in English is should be okay in tackling the interview. So far studying in ESF kinders seems not to have an advantage over those nor ESF kinders kids. But things may change as more and more students are applying for RCHK. With the WKS kinder opening this year it may add another variable to the scene.

Cheers,

原帖由 肥騫 於 09-2-10 13:48 發表
Hi Oooray,

Thanks for your opinion.
Do you think English proficiency in Victoria is not good enough? Can you share more of your experience in Victoria? I'm going to apply Habour Heights Branch.

I'm  ...

oooray

probably not match the topic of this thread but just spare some room to express my personal feeling.
My daughter were in playgroup and Pre-nursery amongst a few Victoria in HK and Kowloon side.
As you may know, they are following IB curriculum. I attended an seminar held by Victoria and learnt that IB is good. Every teacher in Victoria are "certified" as a teacher for IB. Also, they have a very good Teacher:student ratio and English teacher is always be with the class (unless she is sick).
U may know that Victoria has her own primary (I'm not sure whether they have secondary, too). From their statistics, majority of graduates will go to Victoria primary and quite a number goes to Top Primary 1 local school (I wonder it is the effort of the school, as many kindergarten are screening applicants whose parents are old boys/old girls of top school).
I learnt that most Victoria parents are satisfied with the english/mandarin level for their children. Also, Victoria runs her business very successful and most parents "feel" good being a parent of Victoria Kindergarten (That's why there are so many applicants every year and the competition is very keen.)
What I don't buy there are that (maybe changed in recent years) most local teachers there are locally educated. They are trained to be a "qualified" IB teacher by taking courses but I do not think every teacher can change their attitudes towards "traditional" education, adopt and perform 100% what behind IB....(thousands words are omitted...too much saliva already)
If you haven't decided which stream (local or IS) your child is going, Victoria is not a bad option that you still have the chance to choice when your child is in K1/K2.
If you have decided to go to IS, it is better go to "real" International Kindergarten.
(Problems here are the keen competition for a Year 1 place that you may have no point of return when you have not offered a place by your famous school at Year 1 application; and also the inferior Chinese standard that have been discussing by other threads).
Hopefully, these are useful for you when you are making your decision(s).
   

原帖由 肥騫 於 09-2-10 13:48 發表
Hi Oooray,

Thanks for your opinion.
Do you think English proficiency in Victoria is not good enough? Can you share more of your experience in Victoria? I'm going to apply Habour Heights Branch.

I'm  ...

gentlemanhk

My girl is currently at Victoria K2 and got admitted to RC Y1. We are pretty happy with her English proficiency and really think that Victoria has done a great job overall (we do not have any supplementary classes for her). She can freely communicate with and is always willing to play with other native English speaking kids. Her English is at least on par, if not better than, those kids studying in some "self-acclaimed" international kingda or those famous for their English level.

However, her English is certainly not up to a native level. So I would agree with Oooray's comment that it is safer to put your kid into a "real" international kingda if you are so determined for the international stream. We put our girl into Victoria Kingda for reasons basically Oooray has already pointed out and we believe that VSA is also our good alternative (we don't like the spoon feeding type of education of tranditional schools regardless of their fame). VSA is one of the two fully accredited IB schools, along with RC at this moment, running PYP all the way to IBD. The weakness of VSA to us is that, despite its international perspective, it is lacking of a real international environment since its students are almost 100% local. Therefore, we would prefer RC over VSA but neverthelss, VSA is not a bad alternative to us at all. You should note that VSA no longer gaurantee a place for their Victoria kids and is no longer accepting outsiders since there were well over three hunderd applicants for the roughly 140? seats.

Victoria is well rounded, teachers are nice and kids are very happy there. It may not, however, suit you if you have a particular focus.        

原帖由 肥騫 於 09-2-10 13:48 發表
Hi Oooray,

Thanks for your opinion.
Do you think English proficiency in Victoria is not good enough? Can you share more of your experience in Victoria? I'm going to apply Habour Heights Branch.

I'm  ...

oooray

原帖由 gentlemanhk 於 09-2-11 11:49 發表
My girl is currently at Victoria K2 and got admitted to RC Y1. We are pretty happy with her English proficiency and really think that Victoria has done a great job overall (we do not have any suppleme ...

Basically, we share similar viewpoints to Victoria. Although I gave up her K1 offer, I do confess Victoria can give parents something more than traditional kindergartens, especially to those who are interested in IS but haven't decided which way their children should go in the future.

肥騫

Hi almon, Wingba, oooray and gentlemanhk,

Thank you so much for your advices which are very useful to me.

Thanks again!