St Paul Kindergarten

meganlee

My daughter is now 19 months old. I am very interested in SPK. But many people said that it is very difficult to get a place. Any BK moms can share your experience?

What are their selection criteria?
family background?professional parents? interview performance? connection........?

meganlee

Dear chingchingfather,

Thank you for your information!
Your daughter must be very smart. Are you from TKO? Is your daughter take school bus to school? It takes how long for travel? I live in TST. Do you know that there is any school bus from TST to SPK? How about the interview? I'm a working mom.Do you think that children with working mom have lower chance?

Best regards,

Meganlee

meganlee

Hi Samuel,

Is SPK a one-dragon school? Will your elder girl study P.1 in St. Paul?
I live in TST which belongs to School Net 31 (includes St. Mary). But I have no extra marks (I'm not an old girl nor catholic). I think the chance of acceptance is similar to win  Mark Six. Good private girls' school eg. Good Hope is too far away. I think  travalling from TST to causewaybay  takes shorter time than from TST to Clear water bay road.Do you think so? So I also consider SPK.  Do you have any other suggestions.

Your little girl can surely be accepted. Could you share your experience after interview?

regards,

meganlee


         

ClaudeeMa

Hi meganlee,

There is no official school bus route to Kln side, but don't worry, there are private school vans running to and from Kln side and SPK.  The routings of the private school vans are tailor made so as to include as many 'customers' as possible.  However, the cost is relatively high ($1,5XX per month for Kowloon and almost $2K for N.T. area such as Tai Po, Ma On Shan), and the travel time of course is longer than if you take your daughter to school by MTR from TST.

As I know there is no piority given to any SPK applicant whose sister is an existing student in SPK/SPN/SPC.  It all depends on the interview performance of both the parents and kid.  I know many cases that the brother/sister failed to get a seat even though he/she has sister studying there.  And the SPK principal doesn't accept any begging for a seat at all.

The above is according to my understanding only.  FYI, my daughter is a SPK student and we live in Kowloon side.  I am a working mother too.  In my daughter's group of 15 students, 14 of them got a working mom :wink:

meganlee

Hi claudeeMa,

Thank you for your information!!
Do you think that attending pre-nursery or playgroup would increase the chance of acceptance?  The interview was conducted in English or Cantonese?  Did they interview parents and kid together or separately?

      

twyam

Dear SPK parents,

My daughter is now 2 years old and I am plannig to apply the K-1 seat for her in coming December.

In fact, I have been very worry about her performance during the interview, for instance, I am worry that when the teacher ask her question, she might not answer even she is not crying.  Or can I sit aside her and repeat the question and ask her to answer to the teacher?  Is it allowable or is it good to do that in front of the teacher?

To be frank, SPK is really my dream school for my daughter and I hope she can get a seat in there.

Can any parent share the successful experience with me?  What kind of preparation should I have now?

Thank You in advance.

twyam

Ramomo

Hi meganlee,

I'm also one of the working mom and my girl is now studying in SPK K1.

Their interview is conducted in Cantonese. Once we entered the room, one teacher will lead the kid to a corner with a table and chair and asking her some simple questions, my girl told me she had to identify between toothbrush and toothpaste and some shapes and colour.  At the same time, my husband and myself were led by another teacher to another corner of the room.  There're 3 questions : 1. Why have you chosen SPK for your kid ? 2. Who is the one taking care of your kid ? 3. What do you think the relationship between the school, parents and the kids ?.

The school do not care if the mom is working or not, if we have any religion or not.  They only concern the character of the kid :will they be shy and cry or stick to the parents (cannot be separated) at the interview.

It'll definitely be good to attend pre-nursery / playgroup.  My girl is very shy and she did attend pre-nursery at Victoria for 1 year. I was so amazed that she can be separated from us without making any noises on the interview day. (The interview will take less than 5 mins)

My girl enjoys her school life at SPK so much. She shares with me so many things each day.  Honestly speaking, I am so pleased and would like to be one of her shcoolmate also......

Hope your girl will be successfully admitted to SPK.

Ramomo

Ramomo

twyam,

You can refer to my message for meganlee.

Sorry, you cannot accompany your girl during the interview.  I think you can let her attend pre-nursery/playgroup.

My girl did not response to questions when she attend pre-nursery class for the 1st 2 month i.e. Aug, Sept. However, she has made improvement in October after she got used to the environment and teachers.  Luckily, the interview at SPK was hold in early December and I think she would not be kept silence when she's interviewed by the teacher.

I'll also let my girl know in advance (a day before the interveiw day/on the way to the school attending interview) that she will be asked for some questions and as a courtesy she should answer the teacher.

Besides, you can let your girl try on some other school's interview. For me, because my girl can directly progress to Victoria Kindergarten after one year pre-nursery, I had just applied for her St. Margaret Mary's Kindergarten (Happy Valley, next to St. Paul's Secondary) and SPK. Before attending the interview at SPK, my girl had the chance of attending the interview at St. Margaret Mary's Kindergarten in Nov.  Just like rehersal for the kid.

Good luck.

Ramomo

Ramomo

Hi Samuel,

You're right. It should be Feb and not Dec.

Ramomo