Kindergarten – NIS vs ESF

ssmm1012

My son got an offer from both NIS Kindy and ESF Kindy.  I am indeed quite struggle!!!
I personally like NIS better because of the spacious outdoor, the Christian belief and the small size class (max 18 students).  During the interview, I found the teachers and the principal are super nice and caring.
ESF is very popular yet commercial. The attractive side is ESF kindy has priority to interview ESF primary, though it is not guarantee a place.
Since there is not much comment on NIS, any wise parents can share their feedback on these 2 kindy?
Thanks!

FattyDaddy

ssmm1012 發表於 15-2-6 20:10
The attractive side is ESF kindy has priority to interview ESF primary...

The transition from kindergarten to primary school is a big headache, and interview priority is much much more than just an "attractive side". So unless NIS has similar arrangements regarding primary schools, you better choose ESF or you may find yourself in a very stressful situation two years down the road.

luckyveronique

原帖由 ssmm1012 於 15-02-06 發表
My son got an offer from both NIS Kindy and ESF Kindy.  I am indeed quite struggle!!!
I personally l ...

You will find ESF kindergarten is not that commercial and the teachers are also nice and caring

964000

My friend's daughter is studying in NIS from Kinder now to Yr 1.
He told me the school is super super great the teachers are nice etc etc

readymama

回覆 ssmm1012 的帖子

Hi my girl is currently studying in NIS kindie and next year will move to year 1. NIS is small class schools having 15 kids in each class.  It is very good teaching kids to do things on their own, ie wear socks,  shoes, complete classwork,  projects .daily has 30min Chinese,  teaching in traditional characters. Also very good in teaching kids behavioral problems, eg my girl always said who, who, who doesnt play with her or isolate her, teacher shows her how to ask to ppl to let her join the groups and also teach kids should play together without bullying thought. I heard all these from parents teacher meeting so found the teachers are very caring.but academic wise is not strong ie no home work and my girl's math concept is very poor .but she likes to read and know so many vocabularies in English . We speak cantonese with her at home.  She enjoys speaking both Chinese (mandarin)  and English at home with us. When she speaks English, she will tell us no Chinese. Year 1 class size is 20-22. But there composite classes structures introduced in Primary. NIS primary year 6 students last year has 1 moving oversea, rest has secondary placement ranging from ESF,ICHK.羅定邦

Mighty

I know one moved to JIS too at Y5.

貝珠

回覆 readymama 的帖子

Thanks for sharing. For poor math concept, do u think it is a norm for IS? Will you strengthen her math in private tutorial?

queenie1985

readymama 發表於 15-2-7 10:50
回覆 ssmm1012 的帖子

Hi my girl is currently studying in NIS kindie and next year will move to year ...

Do you think NIS is academically comparable to other IS? How difficult is it to find a place in ICHK / ESF after Yr 6?

Does your girl take extra tuition in maths?

beatricebryan

This is the latest survey of NIS children spelling ability released by school. They are preforming better than norm.

readymama

回覆 queenie1985 的帖子

i heard one kid last year from NIS obtaining scholarship to ICHK due to excellent academic. yes i am a lazy mom and I want to let my girl just remember our sweet and fun time . I send her to Eyelevel / JEI for math training. After work i tend to switch off my brain , i just focus watching TV and reading books with my girls and chit chatting . Logical thinking training i let others help on that. So, i quite enjoy sending her to private tutoring/ tuitiion but for only short tim in 1 week. As I don't speak English with her at home and she studied a local kindie before changing to NIS, the first year was difficult for her to pick up English and understand instruction in the class. At the beginning, my girl was really not enjoying the time in school as she doesn't understand and not feeling the involvement. As NIS is a small school and small class, she has very speedy improvement in her English and Mandarin.

queenie1985

beatricebryan 發表於 15-2-27 00:20
This is the latest survey of NIS children spelling ability released by school. They are preforming b ...

many thanks! do you know where the norm comes from?

queenie1985

readymama 發表於 15-2-27 09:29
回覆 queenie1985 的帖子

i heard one kid last year from NIS obtaining scholarship to ICHK due to exc ...

my situation is very much similar to yours. I don't really speak day-to-day English with my boy at home (although i  read story in English to him and he watches English-speaking cartoons). He is attending a Cantonese-speaking playgroup and I believe he will struggle for some time to get adapted to NIS.

If the teachers are caring and supportive enough, it should not be a problem for a 3-yr-old kid to improve his English.

is your kid staying in primary section? or change to another one?