ESF hillside k1

木子兔媽媽

My girl very fortunately got offer from ICS and KCIS already. We lived on HK West. Now ESF hillside call her for an interview. If she is got accepted, what should we do?

jolalee

Congratulations! Given ESF kindergarten no longer have interview priority to ESF primaries, if you are looking for a quality through-train school it is between KCIS & ICS. You must rank within your mind the education goals for your child, including: academic strengths, character building, Chinese curriculum, through-train or not, distance to school & other factors that are important to your family. If you can a have short list of ranked goals, then we can help provide suitable comments for your child.
[note: ICS technically is not a through-train school but over 90% of ICS kindie kids gets into ICS primary so it is as good as through-train]

木子兔媽媽

Thanks!

FattyDaddy

jolalee 發表於 14-6-6 13:55
Given ESF kindergarten no longer have interview priority to ESF primaries ...

This is just my personal impression, in previous years it is relatively rare for ESF kindergartens to be still calling for interviews at this late stage (almost mid-June already), may be this year more people are giving up their ESF kindergarten offers which they accepted earlier and thus free up more slots. It does seem ESF kindergartens have become less attractive given that they no longer enjoy application priority to ESF primary schools.

While it is true that if one's target is ESF primary schools, ESF kindergartens is still the best route because of the close working relationship between ESF kindergartens and primary schools built up over the years, the lack of an officially stated priority is discouraging.

c200

回覆 FattyDaddy 的帖子

While it is true that if one's target is ESF primary schools, ESF kindergartens is still the best route because of the close working relationship between ESF kindergartens and primary schools built up over the years.



Totally agree of your view.......

木子兔媽媽

Thanks! I am also very surprised when I received the call today.

FattyDaddy

木子兔媽媽 發表於 14-6-6 16:17
Thanks! I am also very surprised when I received the call today.

Good luck with the interview. If your child is accepted by Hillside and your residential address falls into Bradbury School's catchment, the chances of your child proceeding to Bradbury 2 years later should be quite good, Hillside is next door to Bradbury, and convenience (of the primary school teachers doing their assessment) does help.

木子兔媽媽

We lived in Sai Ying Pun

木子兔媽媽

We lived in Sai Ying Pun and that falls into Kennedy School. We got another living place in North point and that would fall into Quarry Bay school. So what should I do in this case?

木子兔媽媽

And if my maiden family address can apply Bradbury school, would it be possible then?

FattyDaddy

木子兔媽媽 發表於 14-6-6 17:06
And if my maiden family address can apply Bradbury school, would it be possible then?

You will need to provide a proof of your residential address, e.g. a utility bill (electricity, gas etc) with your name and address printed. If you really want to, I suppose you could ask your parents to use your name for their electricity or gas accounts.

木子兔媽媽

Thanks FattyDaddy! I am just curious to know for the 3 ESF schools I mentioned (Kennedy, Quarry Bay & Bradbury), which one is better than which? (Or should I compare them?)

FattyDaddy

木子兔媽媽 發表於 14-6-6 17:42
Thanks FattyDaddy! I am just curious to know for the 3 ESF schools I mentioned (Kennedy, Quarry Bay  ...

In principle, there is little difference between ESF schools, I mentioned Bradbury simply because of the "convenience factor", you will know when you go for the interview at Hillside that it is in the same building complex as Bradbury.

jolalee

木子兔媽媽:
From my research, QBS is very well thought of and Bradbury was know to be pretty good as well. Kennedy often get mixed reviews, mainly due to a few bad loose teachers and supposedly lack of communication with the parents, but i am sure once i say this many parents from Kennedy will rectify what i heard.

Of high school i heard that West Island is good, both in terms of academics and facilities. I did a bit of research but mainly it's just things i read on school forums.

Fatty Daddy:
The way how the ESF 'lottery' system works (where applicant is assigned a random number), if a person is near the middle or end of the queue, i am not sure if the close relationship between ESF kindergartens and primary schools built up over the years would help. I am sure it would be useful in the interview, but we all know (at least in the past) ESF interviews basically check for the child's ability to communicate in English anyhow, so good preparation at a good IS would do.  

Also, given they now have no priority, i am now sure if primary school teachers would still go to ESF kindergartens to do their assessments.

木子兔媽媽

Thanks Jolalee again. Did you hear anything about hillside?

FattyDaddy

jolalee 發表於 14-6-6 18:02
The way how the ESF 'lottery' system works (where applicant is assigned a random number) ...

Yes this is how the system currently works, but we don't know if this system will also be adjusted, only time will tell how much it will affect ESF kindergarten pupil's success rate in proceeding to ESF primary schools. My guess is, the success rate will decrease but perhaps not significantly. No I don't have any facts to support this, other than reasoning from a business point of view, it does not make business sense for ESF to hurt their kindergartens significantly but bring no obvious gain to the foundation as a whole, unless their business plan is to downsize and eventually cease operating kindergartens altogether, but this seems unlikely because they are opening a new kindergarten in Tung Chung in 2015, so either they are stupid or they are keeping something up their sleeves.

Anyway, this looming uncertainty seems to be already undermining people's confidence in ESF kindergartens.

木子兔媽媽

What I concern is the academic, moral values and vision of the teacher staff and students in these schools. Priority in primary school places and sibling priority are also another concern.

jolalee

木子兔媽媽 發表於 14-6-6 18:28
Thanks Jolalee again. Did you hear anything about hillside?

Always heard very good comments about Hillside. Met an ESF Hillside teacher once and she was great; she told me how Hillside operates and the system is very meticulous (in a positive way), taking note of how/what students learn each day. It's the only ESF kindie on HK island and used to be impossible to get in.

Like what others have said, it's probably due to the lack of priority would it be possible to get an offer now in June. Probably other parents weighted the pros and cons too and gave up their spot, probably due to another offer from another school at this time as well. May-June is the "2nd chance" period where existing kids withdraw and parents finalize their decisions hence releasing additional spots.

木子兔媽媽

That's why I am so surprised! It is such a difficult decision to give up any of the schools as they are all so great!

jolalee

That's why I asked you to list out your goals. Every family is different. For example, this is mine in the order of importance:
1) A through-train school with strong academics
2) A good Chinese program (but doesn't need to rival LS)
3) Character building
After listing out these 'guidelines', it become clearer as I match and compare each school accordingly. I believe for your family character building rank higher, correct?