請問 RCHK 小學部家長

Miclint

計我話 RC 和 SJS 兩間都係好多人想入都入唔到o既好學校，入到其中一間都係上天的恩賜呵！

hysterical

Just like to share my experience with RC.

The teachers are very caring and highly qualified. They are recruited from all over the world, and are experienced in teaching the IB curriculum.

The students are mostly from HK. I would say about 80% of the students are local kids. Most of them have been attending international schools since kindergarten so the English level is very high. Most of them are also fluent in Chinese, and this is also helpful in their  language development.

They started using the computer quite early, especially for reading. Laptops are available in each year level hub. In Year 4, they learned to use the powerpoint for presentation, and they also used Word to publish a writing assignment. They have their own email account, and homework is sometimes given out by email. This is increasingly important as they move onto secondary school.

The school is already at full capacity for primary and near full for secondary. I would find it impossible to house the entire GSIS primary school on the same campus.

Is RC the best school? I don't know and I am not sure if there is one. But I can tell you that my kid is very happy at the school. He is challenged everyday and he is learning at his best. He has improved in every way since transferring there two years ago.

Good luck with your school search everyone!

almom

I am an RC parent. I do not want to "challenge" anyone. Anyone has his own views and feelings. I am sure Miclint's source has her standing. However, it would appear that Miclint's source does not know RC well enough and I do need to make a few comments or clarifications:

(1) RC is an IB school and our teachers are all IB qualified/approved teachers. According to a western friend who used to be an IS primary school teacher in Hong Kong, RC is in fact rapidly gaining reputation and respects from amongst teachers local and abroad. A lot of teachers are interested in teaching at RC because of the attractive package they offer. As far as I heard from different sources (both from the school and my own friends), the schools have lots of candidates to choose from.

(2) RC does not have the best IT facilities in Hong Kong and we do not have that much emphasis on IT. Students do have their own school email account. They do have easy access to the school computers. There are Mac computers around the campus where students can use (for school related work). Secondary students are allowed and encouraged to bring their own Macbook to school., but can loan one from the school if they do not have their own notebook computer. And this is about it. In this era, when we are no longer using typewriters, computers are the only and most convenient alternative to typing up papers or homework. I do not see how anyone can effectively finish a 2000 word paper without using a computer. May be parents can judge whether this is "too much emphasis".

(3) 沙陳? Wow, what an old phrase to use to describe a person. All I would say is that I disagree that RC kids are 沙陳.

(4) Beside the central library, we have a lot of books in the classrooms and and hub areas (the sitting area shared by the whole year level). I do not know who has got more books. I would not be surprised if we have fewer books because we are a new school and it takes time to build up a library. But my child has never complained of not having good books to read. Further, I notice that the school is always buying new books, and a lot of parents are donating new books to the library.

Lastly, I must say again that SJS and SC are very good schools indeed.

popolung

原帖由 Miclint 於 09-2-5 17:13 發表
計我話 RC 和 SJS 兩間都係好多人想入都入唔到o既好學校，入到其中一間都係上天的恩賜呵！

wowow looks like we have a long discussion here today. I agreed if your kid can get into either RC or SJS, both are good primary schools but with different style. Take either one you won't feel regret. For me I only consider if my school is close to where we lived, so I am still waiting for CWBS....

[ 本帖最後由 popolung 於 09-2-5 21:05 編輯 ]

Wingba

Thank you for sharing, Miclint.

I would also take this opportunity to ask other RC parents not to tak this comments too personal as RC is a new school I embrace the risk that involved in sending my girls there.

Other parents have already sent their feedbacks and they are reasonable and fair.

In HK's environment parents are always choose to play safe and it is nothing wrong with it. The comments that you shared should be taken as reference when we are talking to the school management how to make RCHK better and better.

SJS is indeed a very good school with proven track records. It sets the benchmark for RCHK to catch up with and there is nothing RCHK cannot do to move up to what SJS is now enjoying.

Let's strive for excellence with the school

原帖由 Miclint 於 09-2-5 15:57 發表
Dear all Parents:

I am happy to share what I heard but first of all let me make it clear that anything I am going to share here doesn't mean to offend any RC or pro-RC or other ESF parents. I myself  ...

Wingba

Dear JYFC,

I trust you got most of the answers from other RC parents.

As there are more than 80% of the students are local students you can hear cantonese everywhere. I used to ask my girl not to talk in cantonese so often but most of her classmates speak cantonese during break time, it doesn't worth it to make herself the odd one out.

Yet, as her class has students from Australia, Korea, Sri-Lanka and US and she always play with them the only effective means of communication is English so be it.

原帖由 JYFC 於 09-2-5 15:05 發表
Dear Wingba/ or other RC parents,
Since I don't know any students from RC, our information abt this school is very limited. Do you mind telling us a bit more about the school such as:

- how's the pro ...

hhy2007

edexp,

You have a point in suggesting RC take measures to enforce the policy of only speaking English in campus.  This measure may attract more parents.  

My daughter started her international schooling in Shanghai American School when she was three and a half.  Her class teacher required her students to speak only English in campus. In particular, the class teacher made sure that only English was spoken to those students who were not good at English in order to help them catch up as fast as possible. This worked out well. However, such kind of unofficial policy is based on the mutual understanding between parents and school that there is no discrimination on Cantonese involved.   

As to RC's teaching team, to doubt their qualification and educational experiences is unfair.  They are definitely no inferior to SJS's teaching team, if some people want a comparison. RC is quite transparent in presenting its teaching team.  It posted its teachers' background together with their photos on the website.  To me, RC teachers' caring image is standing out by one anecdote that my daughter's teacher used her own money to buy imported chapter books for all her class students as Christmas gift. We knew she doesn't have to do so, and we were totally touched.  

Speaking of RC library, I also noticed that books were not sufficient as I expected.  However, we can always go to HK public library to make it up.  So it's not an issue to me.  

It's so hard to compare RC and SJS at this stage.  In a sense that English proficiency is one major criteria in the selection process for SJS while RC demands more than English proficiency, I figure RC will sooner or later stand out pretty well in its students' academic performance.

jjd

True, Cantonese is more commonly heard in RC than any other ESF schools.  However, the fact that "Cantonese can be heard anywhere" during breaks is definitely NOT the case.  There are kids that prefer Cantonese or English.  There are kids that don't have particular preference but would speak different languages when interacting with different school mates.  

Quite a number of parents I know have approached Mr. Kenny suggesting the school to take more stringent meaures of enforcing an English speaking only policy.  However, he and some of the teaching staff were of the view that children should be free to express themselves in a language that they feel most comfortable.  This is really something that a lot of parents, including myself, are not too happy about.

There is however, one interesting fact that that I note about the reading skills of the lower primary kids.  Almost all the non-Chinese/mixed kids possess the poorest reading skills among their classmates.  Those that are able to read chapter books in years 1 and 2 are ALL Chinese (local) kids.  Those foreign kids who speak perfectly fluent English are only reading ORT Level 2-4 books in years 1 and 2.  I think parents should not be obsessed with having the large proportion of foreign kids in the school.  Local kids might be weaker in their spoken English but they still have their strengths.  They also possess far better mathematical skills and a higher academic standard on average.

popolung

Bear in mind:

Traditional ESF is called English School Foundation... so you should expect they ask your kid to speak English within the school. And to intake Native English Speaker is their no.1 goal, and they still get subsidies from the HKSAR Gov't, which this is a requirement.

For RC, though under ESF umberlla, but they are under IB, which encourgae multi-lingual environment and focus also on mother tongue. And also they are a PIS which made them less restriction in recruiting new students

If you can consider the above factors, and send your kid to the correct school, both you and your kids life will be easier and happier.

Hope this help!

肥騫

Hi all parents,

Thanks for all your comments. It really helps a lot, especially to the parents that comparing RC with other IS, like me.

My son is still in kinder stage and I'm interested in RC also. I'm now thinking if I need to send my child to IS kinder in order to get him into RC (or IS). The only thing that hinders me is that he can't learn any chinese in IS kinder.

So, could RC/ other IS parents suggest me if I really need to send my son to IS kinder? Can you tell me your children/ classmates' kinder profiles?

Many thanks

maumiu

me too!
My son is now in Boxhill nursery class and he just received the offer from EFS (Wu kai Sha) kinder. We are now struggling whether we need to transfer him from Boxhill to EFS if we just targeting on RC.

Any comment?

popolung

Again you can't get both sides of the world. If you want to study in IS like RC or other ESF, etc, you need to put you kid in IS Kinder. I see some other local kinder also teach Chi & Eng at the same time, but once you have interviews in IS for year 1, you will know this may be a disadvantage. Some IS will fail applicants who speak chinese during the interview.

So make up your mind where you want to send you kid to, and then prepare. Honestly speaking to teach you kid do some many things while they are only 3-4 is very hard to them. I see some parents sending their kids to have IS Kinder in AM then local kinder in PM, saying that this will help them learn both Chinese and English. I told you what your kid need while they were still very young are, LOVE, and SLEEP.......zzzzzzzz

starfox

"I am not sure how many number of Chinese lessons in RC primary and also SJS. I don't think the number differ too much - right?"

The number of class is totally different.   The chinese lessons in SJS is only 1 or 2 lessons per week, and they all need to have extra chinese class outside.   For RC,   they have chinese lessons everyday and they have several levels according to the student's ability.   Like my child, he is in the advance class. They are using local school P1 book and they have dictation today for the words like 藍色, 巳經 etc. I think you should make a school visit and understand more first.

starfox

I agreed with Annie123.

When I was studying in the US high school, many classmates spoke perfect english at school and also spoke Spanish when at home or after school.   They considered Spanish as their families hertiages and they are proud of their languages.   Therefore I don’t see any problem that my child can speak cantonese to his friends.