KJS or RC? need to make a decision soon

bebemuimui

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 15-02-23 發表
Fact is, which ESF secondary school a child goes to does NOT depend on which ESF primary school he/s ...

http://www.esf.edu.hk/sites/esf/files/KLC_Consultation_paper_150206.pdf

A recent update

gatochat

I think regardless of the mix of children in the school, we parents have little control over who our children play with.  

My son goes to RCHK. I've heard from other parents, and have personally over heard some of the children using Chinese to communicate amongst themselves.  My son prefers and would rather play with English speaking ones ( I was kinda hoping his would get to use his Cantonese occasionally).

My son has also became very close to some wild Caucasian children and there's nothing I can do about it other than constantly reminding him to be sensible and think twice before he act on anything.

In conclusion, I would choose a school based on the facilities/teaching/location rather than on  the race of the children.  

hkparent

原帖由 gatochat 於 15-02-23 發表
I think regardless of the mix of children in the school, we parents have little control over who our ...

I care a lot about student mix as we pay a lot to study in an international school. If the language environment is more or less the same as local school, it's not worthwhile.

shin08

原帖由 hkparent 於 15-02-23 發表
Most ethnic Chinese in KJS hold foreign passports? What is the proportion of expat families (white U ...

Sorry, I don't know what passport the students are holding. If u are concerning about the language environment in kjs, I can definitely tell u that kJS is a "real" International school with all the students using English for communications. Even my son can speak in Cantonese, he don't know who can also speak in Cantonese in his class . If u doubt about their English standard, u can go for school visit & u will know more about it.

hkparent

Thank you. That's what I thought. I don't think the 2/3 figure is true. I am only doubtful about the language environment in the independent schools.

ramen

shin08 發表於 15-2-23 19:42
I just wonder where u get the information that 60% of the kjs students are from one ethnic group. I  ...

From your last reply, I think you are one of the KJS parents.  Answers to your question of where I got the information:

1)

Please refer to the email dated 15 October 2014 from the Principal regarding Diwali Celebration (Indian New Year which celebrates at KJS each year).  The Principal wrote “…Diwali is an important event on the KJS calendar reflecting the large proportion of the school community (approximately 50% of our students) with cultural links to India and the Hindu faith…”.

2)
I think the number of 50% the School mentioned is a general / conservative number.  If you have the 2014 Yearbook (the latest one) please take a look at it.  Take several class photos randomly and count the numbers of Indian students.  Least case is about 10 – 12 nos., medium case is about 15 – 18 nos. and extreme case is 22 – 25 nos.  Also take a look at the sports teams photos, I think they should be fair / representable of a school population.  Each team consisted of more than 50% of Indian students (but don’t look at Cricket Team which is 100%  coz it wouldn’t be fair due to the background of the sports).  The EDB link you provided stated 24.4% of Indian students in KJS as at August 2010 (simple math, average 7.32 in each class of 30 children), don’t think it truly reflected the reality.

But that’s not my point, my point is not about whether the majority of Indian students at KJS being an disadvantage or advantage.  Back to the discussion of this thread:  KJS or RC? Some shared the view of preferring KJS over RC because it is more “international”.  All I wanted to say is: having a majority of Indian students at KJS is not any more “international” than having a majority of Chinese / Hong Kong students at RC.  After all, a school with a large population of any ethnic group can’t be “international” than the other.

Just my two cents.

964000

原帖由 ramen 於 15-02-24 發表
本帖最後由 ramen 於 15-2-24 09:36 編輯

Actually, my friend transferred his son from KJS to SJS few years ago, because she think the KJS is more like an Indian school.

hero_hero

原帖由 ramen 於 15-02-24 發表
本帖最後由 ramen 於 15-2-24 09:36 編輯

The definition of international should be any other nationality besides local which is Hong Kong Chinese.
So why don't you consider Indian as international? Also I feel that you are being very prejudice to Indians. Those Indian kids actually possess great English language skills.
As a current KJS parent I can tell you that the students come from a large range of different nationalities and can definitely be considered international.

hero_hero

The definition of international should be any other nationality besides local which is Hong Kong Chinese.
So why don't you consider Indian as international? Also I feel that you are being very prejudice to Indians. Those Indian kids actually possess great English language skills.
As a current KJS parent I can tell you that the students come from a large range of different nationalities and can definitely be considered international.

ramen

hero_hero 發表於 15-2-24 11:03
The definition of international should be any other nationality besides local which is Hong Kong Chi ...

I see you and I have different views on the definition of "international", so not intended to start this type of endless debates.  But one thing I need to clarify, I am not prejudice to Indians.  If a school has a large proportion / majority of an ethnic group, e.g. Korean, Japanese, American, Australian, etc., I still don't think that would make it very "international".  In addition, the English language skills of the students is not the only factor contributing to whether a school is "international" or not.  Of course, these are just just my opinion and not necessarily others have to agree to that (so no debates is necessary here).  It just happened that this thread talked about KJS and RC and there are quite many Indians in KJS and that started the discussion.

shin08

原帖由 ramen 於 15-02-24 發表
本帖最後由 ramen 於 15-2-24 09:36 編輯

That's funny that u make the statement "2/3 of the students are Indian....." by just referring the content of the email & the class photos........
Firstly, regarding the email, I think approximately 50% mentioned is far behind from the 66% that u concluded!
Secondly, my kid's class is with less than 10 Indian students (with class size 30), your statement "Least case is 10-12 nos...." is not correct.

I am going to end this discussion/conversation, cause it is meaningless to debate this topic. Parents who interested in kjs can arrange a school tour to know more about this.

nintendo

Why so concerned with admitting there are lots of Indians at kjs? My kids are with sjs/stc. I have no problems with admitting that are a lot of Chinese students at our school. It is the quality of students that matters.
There is no need to be too concerned with the student mix. Even though there are lots of Indians or Chinese, and they probably do speak Indian and chinese, they still speak good English. We should treasure the fact that a lot of ESF students are talented in language, and can still keep up with their home language, while being truly fluent English speakers.
Please stop being so hostile.

ramen

Great that this discussion is ended.  But just for the record, please don't mis-quote me, I didn't say "2/3 of the students are Indians".  I only wrote "2/3 of the class" which I referred to my niece's class, a Year-6 class of last year.

EC2009

Stop trying to back yourself up, u don't know what you are talking about now.

Anyway I agree with other parents that visits to the schools will give u a gd feel of whether it suits ure children n family.

ramen

Oh...new member...I see I see...

Lamk2

Good point and fair comment!

Lamk2

I mean good point and fair comment to  Nintendo's last statement.

Guys/ ladies, both KJS and RC are good schools. I just went to KJS for my girl interview, to be honest many Indians which surprised me a bit. And RC, yes a lot of Chinese too as my elder one is studying in RC. Student mix is important, but both school teach their students to respect ppl from different countries. So what, Indian, Chinese, Aussie, American.... Look at the quality of the schools and students, Should it be more important?

By the way, I just confirmed the offer from RC and gave up KJS. Tough decision as I like both schools. But both of my girls love RC.