Do you recommend HY primary to other parents?

cheungll

Cherie123,

My daughter studies K2 now. Do you recommend HY primary to other parents? Actually, I do not know the standard of girls. Why do many parents choose for their kids?

Besides, as the teaching medium is in Chinese. What is the English result of the girls compared with the others?

Any parents from HY primary can reply. Thanks in advance.

Yes, I would recommend HYPS to other parents who want their daughters to study in a good traditional all-girls school (both primary and secondary) which offers a more lively and creative curriculum other than spoon-feeding.

The teaching medium is in Chinese, but English is very much emphasized. Because my elder daughter is in F.1 of HYS, I can tell you the standard of English of HYPS girls are on a par with girls from other much sought-after private schools (e.g. APS). HYPS stresses on writing and oral skills. When my younger daughter was in P.4, all P.4 girls had an activity to go to Tsimshatsui to interview the tourists, not just one or two, but as many as they could find in two or three hours. Such activities are usually in the curriculum of a secondary school. The girls also have projects, presentations and "one minute talks" to make in English in upper years.

Although you didn't ask, I'll talk a little about other subjects as well for your (and other parents') reference.

Chinese:
HYPS puts strong emphasis on usage and application. Unlike many schools which make their students copy pages and pages of words from the text book, HYPS doesn't give much homework on copying. Instead, the students need to spend time on doing research on the internet finding and editing relevant information about the texts being taught. There are also group projects and presentations in Chinese.

General Studies:
In General Studies, the girls are assessed throughout the term through various projects, news quizzes, presentations and two written quizzes on the text book. It means text-book teaching is not a major part. General Studies is not even included in the two examinations (called Formative Assessment and Final Assessment). In many other schools, students need to memorize e.g. 14 chapters of texts to prepare for the final exam of General Studies.

Music:
Music is taught seriously in HYPS. In upper levels, the girls are assessed on singing (even sight singing) and recorder. There will also be written tests on music theory. HYPS has 5 school bands/orchestras. About 1/3 of the students are members of one of these teams. HYPS teams has got very good results in the schools music festivals too (you can refer to the other post about learning music intruments).

Sports:
Heep Yunn (both primary and secondary) is well known for its good results in sports. There are so many sports teams to train the girls from P.1, so that HYS (secondary school) can have a good supply of girls with very brilliant results in sports to compete in inter-school competitions. HYS is the champion of the Hong Kong Bauhinia Bowl Award (girls school) for the past twenty something years (every year!) You may wonder why is it not DXX? This award counts each and every inter-school sports events. HYS can get this award because Heep Yunn emphasizes on the spirit of participation and teamwork, instead of raising individual stars. HYS teams may not get champion in many events, but they do get many runners-up and the school has the resources to train up so many different teams, and it also means many girls can participate and learn from the hard training and teamwork.

Drama and debate:
Drama and debate are also very much stressed in Heep Yunn. HYPS also puts in effort to train up girls who are interested in these areas. The debate teams of HYS are also among the top in Hong Kong and have got many prestigious awards.

What else do you want to know? If you read through the other posts here, you may find answers to some of your questions. You'll see parents saying HYPS is even better than what they expected. But it is not easy to get in, if you don't have enough marks or do not live in the right net, especially when there are only 3 classes in each grade. You can also imagine HYPS girls are very busy with all the activities going on, and they are happy because they are good at one thing or another.     

cheungll

P.S.: I forgot to mention Mathematics.

For Mathematics, although it is taught in Chinese, there will be some English Maths in P.6. The girls should be able to handle Maths taught in English in secondary school because the overall English standard is good for HYPS girls. You can also refer to TWMa's comments about Maths and the teaching medium in another thread of discussion.

Maths is also very much emphasized in HYPS and much homework is given on Maths during the upper grades.

This year HYPS won a Maths competition too, as I wrote in another thread.  
click here for 數學創意解難比賽協小得冠軍

Cherie123

cheungll,

Thank you for your useful information.
I want to ask another question.  What is the publisher of English textbook of HYP?

Because my daughter likes English much more than Chinese.  Her English standard is also much better than Chinese.  I mean, her reading skill is higher than the same age children.

I am also worried about her Chinese performance   whether she is suitable to study in Chinese medium school or much.  

Thanks again.

cheungll

Hi Cherie123,

I am not sure about the publisher of English textbooks used in lower grades. The booklist for this year will be known on July 10. I can only tell you this year P.5 students use Primary Longman Express, Enter the World of Grammar Book 2 (Published by mmpublications, "produced in EU"), and a number of readers for each term. The Grammar book is a serioius one, because it talks about how to distinguish between "will", "be going to " and the present progressive form when used in the future sense (i.e. "I will see Grandma next Saturday", "I am going to see Grandma next Saturday" and "I am seeing Grandma next Saturday")

You may refer to comments from other parents, e.g. TWMa wrote in another thread:

PLPR (Primary Literacy Programme-Reading) 屬英文能力提昇計劃的一環, 一年級下學期正式展開, 根據閱讀能力, 將學生分為 4 組, 由教師派回不同程度的書籍供學生閱讀, 組別不是固定的, 會調整, 這是小一唯一有分 level 的地方.

I have read in this forum similar worries from some other parents that their daughters seem to have grasped a better understanding of English than Chinese in kindergarten. They are also worried that their daughters cannot follow if the teaching medium is Chinese. In my opinion, it is exactly why the child should study in Chinese medium, so that she can strengthen her Chinese language, which has become more and more important in the world. I read in the newspaper some years ago that hundreds of thousands of Koreans are learning Chinese to get into universities in China, and more recently one school in the U.S. has made Chinese a mandatory second language. In HYPS, there are a few tiny foreign residents too, one "blonde" from the U.K in P.2, and one Japanese girl in upper grade. I think it is a strange idea that you should worry over your child being unable to learn in Chinese, if you're Chinese yourself. If your daughter is already good at English, it's something she will not lose if she studies in HYPS, she will only get better (like my daughters who were transferred to HYPS at upper grades), and at the same time her Chinese will improve.  

Cherie123

Cheungll,

Thanks again for your reply.
Please let me know the name of the readers or textbook once you know it.

You're right.  It is better to enhance the Chinese ability
too.

Cherie's MUM

cheungll

Actually my daughter has got the book list last week, but I didn't know it until today.

For P.1, these books are used:
Primary Longman Express /Workbook/Listening 1A & 1B
Junior English Grammar Book 1, 2 (MM Publications).

The booklist does not list the readers, but as TWMa said:
PLPR (Primary Literacy Programme-Reading) 屬英文能力提昇計劃的一環, 一年級下學期正式展開, 根據閱讀能力, 將學生分為 4 組, 由教師派回不同程度的書籍供學生閱讀.

有沒有一年級家長可以說說這個閱讀計劃有什麼書呢？

TWMa

原文章由 cheungll 於 07-7-5 16:02 發表
有沒有一年級家長可以說說這個閱讀計劃有什麼書呢？

如之前所說, 派書是按各人的閱讀能力而有所不同的.
但即使如此, 家長在計劃剛開始時, 或許仍會覺得派回的書內容太淺, 過於簡單. 不過, 這個計劃是鼓勵家長參與的, 所以, 如果家長有意見, 可透過 PLPR 專用的小冊子反應, 負責這個計劃的老師見了, 便會再調整.
PLPR 除了每週會派不同的 Reader 給學生之外, 課堂上的 Project 好像也是根據各人不同的識字能力, 分4組進行的. (PLPR 課從下學期開始才會派不同的 Reader 給學生, 上學期只會統一派由教統局編制的小一認字小冊子--- 只有一些單字, 沒內容, 非常乏味和不吸引)
協小的英文除了cheungll 提的教科書內容, 尚有為數不少的 Worksheet.

cheungll

Another key reason to choose HYPS is because nearly all HYPS students can get into the affiliated secondary school HYS. I'll explain with some maths:  

HYS has 200 seats in F.1 and can allocate up to 85% for its affiliated primary school, i.e. max. 170. But since HYPS has only 3 classes and max 120 students, even if HYS only allocates 120 seats to for its affiliated primary school, everyone can go to HYS (secondary school) unless they are Band 3. But if you're from another primary school, you'll have to be band 1 top (or with extremely good sports/music achievements) to get in first round, or you have to be both band 1 and very lucky to get in through the lucky draw.  

For illustration purpose, I'll use MXX, a very popular girls' school as example:
MXX also has 200 seats in F.1, but its primary section has 5 classes, i.e. around 195 students. I found in some forum that less than 140 seat are allocated to primary section, that means 55 primary section students need to find another secondary school, i.e. almost 30% cannot go to MXX secondary section. Of those 140 seats, about 60-80 are given to the top 60-80 girls. The rest are for lucky draw between the rest. It is a lucky draw, meaning that academic results do not count and everyone has equal chance to be drawn, so the girl ranking 81st may not be drawn, but the girl ranking 180th may be drawn.

ratafan

I'm an old girl of HYS but am still in contact with some of the teachers and did attend some annual big events recently.  Actually, I find that the academic standards have been raised a lot in recent years.  But one thing doesn't change -> strong emphasis on sports and music. You can seldom find any girls in the school who don't play musical instruments, even in my old days some 15 years ago.  HYS girls are very independent.  The students are very lucky to be able to learn from the bible since primary school.  Love is all around the school.  Overall speaking, it's a very nice school.

原文章由 cheungll 於 07-6-30 09:53 發表
Cherie123,



Yes, I would recommend HYPS to other parents who want their daughters to study in a good traditional all-girls school (both primary and secondary) which offers a more lively and ...

IceCrm

I am also an old girl of HYS, graduated 13 years ago. I strongly agree that HYS is all-round in academics, sports & musical development, with well-versed chinese and English standard , also the good morale and learning atmosphere around the campus.

Although my daughter is in K2 only, I very much wish she will be lucky enough to get a place in HYS. However,  I am only old girl of secondary section which doesn't contributes exta points for her primary allocation. I wish 20 points will make her to get place in HYS.

[ 本文章最後由 IceCrm 於 07-9-15 18:45 編輯 ]

littlelam88

原文章由 IceCrm 於 07-9-15 18:43 硐表
I am also an old girl of HYS, graduated 13 years ago. I strongly agree that HYS is all-round in academics, sports & musical development, with well-versed chinese and English standard , also the good m ...

各位家長,

請問家課多嗎?
是用傳統OR活動教學?
我的女兒只是一般成績,
請問如果入讀會否很吃力?
謝謝!

cheungll

Hello IceCrm,
From what I read in Baby Kingdom, you'll get extra 5 points even you're only HYS graduate (secondary school) because HYS and HYPS share the same address. You may need to confirm this. If it is true, then your daughter will have 25 points and she'll surely be admitted

原文章由 IceCrm 於 07-9-15 18:43 硐表
I am also an old girl of HYS, graduated 13 years ago. I strongly agree that HYS is all-round in academics, sports & musical development, with well-versed chinese and English standard , also the good m ...

cheungll

littlelam88：
你的女兒只是幼稚園生，目前的成績未必反映將來的實力；我覺得最重要的是家長要配合學校和協助小朋友，例如鼓勵小朋友多閱讀等等。

至於協恩的家課和是否活動教學，已有家長解答過，你可以參閱這個討論區的其他題目；又或者有沒有低班家長可以在這裏再說一次？

原文章由 littlelam88 於 07-9-15 20:39 硐表

各位家長,

請問家課多嗎?
是用傳統OR活動教學?
我的女兒只是一般成績,
請問如果入讀會否很吃力?
謝謝!

cheungll

Oh I'm sorry I misunderstood the rules...

原文章由 Planet 於 07-9-16 13:07 硐表
If you are only the old girl in Secondary school, there's no extra 5 points, eventhough they are sharing the same premises with Primary section.  This 5 points is only fortheir siblings not parents.

...

[ 本文章最後由 cheungll 於 07-9-17 08:10 編輯 ]