St Cat vs Soka

maggiewawa

My girl is accepted by St Cat. and Soka pm class.

I am thinking of which one should choose.  SC is good at teaching English, however, the campus (Nolfolk) is old, untidy and dark.  The steps there are too high for small kids and may cause accidents.  The teachers seems not as friendly as Soka's.

My girl says she loves Soka (cause she played for an hr at school on the interview day).  Hus and I also prefer Soka's env. , teachers are very friendly, classrooms are bright and tidy...

So I am headache of choosing between 2 cause i really want my girl to have good English but i also want her to study in a happy environment.

Since Soka also teach Phonics at K1, why is its English standard not comparable to St Cat?  Is it simply just because St Cat. has Eng class every day?

About the class size, are both schools more or less the same (about 30 in one class)?

Could anyone kindly give some comments?

maggiewawa

Which one will u choose in terms of teaching methods, caring of the teachers and the smartness of kids?

原帖由 maggiewawa 於 08-12-4 17:11 發表
My girl is accepted by St Cat. and Soka pm class.

I am thinking of which one should choose.  SC is good at teaching English, however, the campus (Nolfolk) is old, untidy and dark.  The steps there ar ...

LovelyBB06

原帖由 maggiewawa 於 08-12-4 17:11 發表
About the class size, are both schools more or less the same (about 30 in one class)?

Soka - Three teachers in one class -->better care

angeemama

I think we also need to consider for their future as well...SC and more famous and a lot of Primary schools love to accept SC students....I will choose SC for sure

SCKnight

Even though I agree to your point on the physical facilities, most important is the software of the KG.  Your kid will not learn English from the playground or classroom.  They learn from their teachers.  I've interviewed 14 different KGs in last 3 months, you can find the quality of the teachers through the conversation, interview skills and the communication techniques.  SC NET is very impressing among different schools I have interviewed.  During the interview my son run through from the gate to corridor and passed all the classrooms and did not fall down.

原帖由 maggiewawa 於 08-12-4 17:11 發表
My girl is accepted by St Cat. and Soka pm class.

I am thinking of which one should choose.  SC is good at teaching English, however, the campus (Nolfolk) is old, untidy and dark.  The steps there ar ...

tvnotallow

SC overall is better.  
if you want to entry some famous Primary school. SC is your choice.

SCKnight

I've alos interviewed Soka and have friends study in Soka and KV.  Major problems they've comment is the time student engaged with NET and English speaking class are less than SC.  Except your kid fonds on reading English books, otherwise, they will learn and imitate their peers - read Chinese Books.  Study atmosphere is very important, if your family are not using English to communicate, the school will take an important role to foster a English reading habit.

Mqchris

但我有親耳聽過今年讀st.cat -k1的家長講... 小朋友跌親, 竟然一個電話交待都無... 嘗試找老師，老師忙到沒有一個回電，而當小朋友上學一段時間後, 開始變得不適應而經常哭，想找老師傾，都係沒有傾... 放學立即找老師，老師只說她女兒英語能力問題....

不知是否真的老師太忙了..... 相對，我都信老師一定不及有理念的學校....

不過st.cat的名氣好大....

idachan

其實要有心理準備SC未必是你想像中,我有朋友試過接受不了太多人一班,讀了幾個月轉校了,班房細外,要視乎你遇著的老師好不好.但近兩三年Soka的評價很好

maggiewawa

Thanks for all the comments.  

I agreed that SC may provide a very good Eng learning environment.  However, afraid the teachers are too busy with so many kids in one class and turn out pay not enough attention, kids so are left behind doing their own works, or lose interest (no one listen to them)...  I think teachers' attention and caring to kids are also important as kids can feel whether their teachers like and care them or not.

If I can sit a lesson at the 2 schools, of course, I can judge which one better overall.  So I am eager to learn more about the experience (bad or good) about the school life in these 2 schools.

Thanks again for the comments.

原帖由 idachan 於 08-12-5 00:08 發表
其實要有心理準備SC未必是你想像中,我有朋友試過接受不了太多人一班,讀了幾個月轉校了,班房細外,要視乎你遇著的老師好不好.但近兩三年Soka的評價很好 ...

luplup

Soka is good but if English learning is important to you, you should think twice.
SC is a very big school (in terms of no. of teachers and students).  So it's possible some teachers are not as good as others but from my friends' experience, most teachers (both NET and local) are very nice and responsible.  They know their students very well and call parents to talk about their kids regularly.

chelsealam

好難決定．．．真的．．．

vlsiupo

I also have the same issue.  My little girl is accepted by both St Cat and Soka for pm class.   Let me know your final decision, so may be our little girls will become classmate later.

chelsealam

我都係 both pm class bor ^^

我老公想 Soka, 我 prefer SC 。。。煩！

kakatam

在于我本人自己立場, 因我大女讀過HKPS's N1 -> st.cat's k1-k2 -> HKPS's K3; 細女讀緊soka..有3間學校, 我反而覺得hkps係最好. 之後係soka...反觀我唔係太鍾意st.cat. 這純個人意見. 不要見怪...
因我大女由hkps轉到st.cat後, 變得不太喜歡上學. 事實, 學校係大, 但係人數都多...可以講話學習環景soka係比st.cat好好多!!
小朋友係學校係學習, 除左各位好著重英文要好, 但環境都好重要....
或者甘講啦, 入得st.cat的, 很多人都變得覺得英文一定好得!!! 其實, 唔好甘想呀........
個個小朋友都係天材!!! 唔係入呢間學校d英文就一定好........好多小朋友係屋企有人補下英文, 自我practice下, 或者出外學英文....
有好多方法途徑都可以學得一口一手fluently的英文. 我大女讀st.cat時, 我自己係一直估唔到, 原來, 她有壓力! 壓力係來自自己+同學+學校....(st.cat好在意eng的能力, 事實, 好多時學校同我傾, 也mainpt係語言上)...家長同家長之間都有壓力......所以, 我大女好唔like番st.cat....我確實忽略左原來小朋友番學的環境, 老師...係好重要......大女讀當年, net唔係好responsible....呢點我有d失望....
結果大女k2未讀完就送番大女去hkps讀上去....好彩, 我大女開心番晒, 對番學冇抗拒...今年係女拔讀緊p1喇! =)
我細女讀緊soka, 環境, 感覺, 老師, 同學, 家長, 所有都好好....我細女呢家k1, 各方面都好好, 英文好丫...我唔覺比起st.cat 的差, (一定要知道, 學英文唔係凈係係學校學就一定好, 一定要幫小朋友多d practice), 番學日日開開心心....

不過有好多家長好insist一定要入old-famous 學校的話, soka你地就未必會揀喇...但係, 好似soka呀, hkps呀..一d比較新的學校, 他們出門的小朋友都好0力, 入名校的機率都唔弱架!!!

=)

cheungmingwai

hi,我十分同意你的想法! 學習不單純語文,更不能重視英語!!!

原帖由 kakatam 於 08-12-5 15:16 發表
在于我本人自己立場, 因我大女讀過HKPS's N1 -> st.cat's k1-k2 -> HKPS's K3; 細女讀緊soka..有3間學校, 我反而覺得hkps係最好. 之後係soka...反觀我唔係太鍾意st.cat. 這純個人意見. 不要見怪...
因我大女由hkps轉 ...

maggiewawa

I agreed the learning env is even more important than everything.  That's why i struggle between the two choices.  Since i want my girl to study am class, so i may write to see how it comes out.  Let God decides.

Have your kids study pm class before?  Could u pls share the timetable (more details)?  Thanks.

原帖由 cheungmingwai 於 08-12-5 15:23 發表
hi,我十分同意你的想法! 學習不單純語文,更不能重視英語!!!