ISF offer

fatcni

just got an offer from ISF for pre grade one. Wanna know your comments and if so, I need to give up YCIS.

himmamme

fatcni 發表於 15-3-25 19:36
just got an offer from ISF for pre grade one. Wanna know your comments and if so, I need to give up  ...

Congrats!

fatcni

回覆 himmamme 的帖子

Thx but I still have doubts about this school.

lw1123

Just received Isf offer for foundation year, very surprised.

Jane1983

回覆 fatcni 的帖子

什麼疑問？講清楚d，會容易比到意見，呢度都多Isf用家。
我吾係YC hater，不過除非你好喜歡母語教學和九龍塘的地點，否則Isf會好d。

Babybaby2011

原帖由 lw1123 於 15-03-25 發表
Just received Isf offer for foundation year, very surprised.

Oh so late to receive foundation year offer ???

lw1123

Yes, result just released today.
As I know, ISF is very strong in academic, but besides that, can any ISF parents share the following experience to the newcomers like us?
- the after school activities
- math
- sports
- mandarin standard

Million thanks for the helpful Isf parents in advance ..

fatcni

ISF is a relatively new school, n just took IB exam for about 4 years, wonder if it is sustainable to get gd result? Are those IB students who got average of IB score of 40 were originally from ISF itself?!I do know the gd side about this school, very strong parents involvement and communication, strong academics, etc, but I hv experience talking directly to current students and they said they dun really like some of the teachers teach. Also heard that since 70% mandarin for lower forms which make them memorise a lot of things but relatively weak or less international than other IS. Can anyone share with me the teaching style and students happiness in ISF? Esp memorising Chinese things would damper it's interest in learning Chinese?!Many ppl said YCIS is not gd, but I am currently a parent of YC, and I hv compared to some other IS (kindergarten), YCIS is not bad except the use of Cantonese. But honestly speaking, I hv no confidence in YC secondary and that's why I planned to leave YCIS anyways or early.
Thanks for any comments.

HKTHK

回覆 lw1123 的帖子

The school did well for 1 year on IB DP results but I won't say it is very strong in academics. Personally, I prefer the school to be less academic and more well-rounded.
ECA: new director for ECA brought in and whole program is being revised. New program starting next academic year. Emphasis on participation and depth meaning anyone can participate on a team if they fulfill the practice requirements. Instead of offering a lot of activities, range would be reduced but popular activities will be offered several times a week.

Math: basically follows HK curriculum. Starting around G3, will start going faster than HK curriculum but things are covered in a different order

Sports: sports, wushu and dance lesson during class time

Mandarin standard: mandarin and English are both playground language. Chinese curriculum follows HK curriculum with some additional things added in.

caa

回覆 fatcni 的帖子

If secondary school is a concern, some facts to note: past few cohorts if ISF all consisted of only around 20, whilst lower primary now comprise as many as 180 each year. Higher secondary now hardly more than 50 per year as I heard (pls correct if wrong). May still take a number of years before the grad class will finally reach over 100 then the IB results may become more meaningful

HKTHK

回覆 fatcni 的帖子

Unlike YCIS, ISF is not an IS. Memorization in Chinese is not necessarily a bad thing. That is actually one of the few ways of getting good at Chinese. Expect to memorize about 12 Chinese poems and 三字經 in FY.

Chilax

Would like to clarify the focus for FY is pinyin, instead of memorization of actual Chinese characters.  The goal is to allow the kids to read books by themselves based on pinyin.  Kids will also be introduced to Chinese poems but there is no requirement to memorize them.

HKTHK

回覆 Chilax 的帖子

Memorization meaning being able to recite the poems. Kids are supposed to recite all the poems and they do it one by one in front of a teacher. Go into each classroom and you will see a chart of who has recited what.

Jane1983

回覆 fatcni 的帖子

其實你猶疑ISF的地方，並非全無道理，學校可能吾係100%符合你的理想。不過如果無其他offer，和升上去讀YC中學相比，ISF會係一個較好的選擇。
當然你可以讀住YC，以後繼續考插班，或者升中再考心儀學校，但就有uncertainty了。

kfy

你有沒有考慮過中學出國讀書？ISF 裡也有不少學生未讀到畢業就出國。如果你是住在九龍，讀 YC 開心，又考慮中學出國，不如不轉？

kfy

And answer to some of your questions:

1. Agree with HKTHK, ISF may not be so strong in academics as some perceive. The school doesn't stream the students in elementary. They are doing more to make sure nobody left behind.

2. ISF is NOT an international school AT ALL but a school that emphasise traditional Chinese culture (not modern China, not very local HK...).  Hence it does attract some foreign parents who wish to let their kids learn some Chinese and understand some Chinese culture ... and that's it! Guided Discovery covers topics about history of HK etc.

3.  ECA. My kid joins the school orchestra and choir, both practice 1 hour after school once a week. Good enough for my kid. Sports, math, dance, chess teams ... as far as I remember.

4. My kid and the friends I know here are quite happy with the school and the teachers. It is understandable that some students dislike Chinese and some dislike Math and I believe it happens in every school. I don't find my kid need to memorise a lot of things. My kid spends more time in musical instruments everyday than in homework. There are 10 classes in each grade level and it is a huge school now. You expect teachers are reasonably strict in discipline.

5. PTA is overall very good, reasonable and going great jobs.

6. Sports activities are sufficient. My kid's grade just finished their inter-class handball tournament. There are 9 classes in the grade, nearly every student played ... so it was a hottest topic for the whole grade for a while.  

hong0706

I got mixed messages from friends with kids in ISF. So just want to know more from ISF parents:

1. I went to school and noticed among those we accompany us, those who are small (grade 3) speak very fluent english with good accent。 Is this the norm if they are home grown from foundation year， even for locals like us? whilst many older students (guess seconday ) at least in terms of spoken englsh, are just like those in local school (guess they are transfer in from local schools)

2. ECA: i heard it is relatively weak. Is is true?

3. Percentage of students with mandarin, cantonese, and english a mother tongue.

Thanks

HKTHK

回覆 hong0706 的帖子

1) Pretty much yes but I won't say for all especially Mandarin speaking families with less English exposure
2) See above. ECA program being revamped completely

3) No one knows for sure. Anecdotally, I would say 20-25% mandarin, 40-50% Cantonese, the rest is mixture of English, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Japanese, ......

kfy

HKTHK 發表於 15-3-26 14:05
回覆 hong0706 的帖子

1) Pretty much yes but I won't say for all especially Mandarin speaking famili ...

Glad to hear about the revamp of ECA. Any more info about "participation and depth" you can share? While the others comment about the weakness of ECA, I am not too sure about the perspective we are talking about ... the choices ? quality of coaches ? the performance ?
Take music as an example ... are we targeting to strengthen it in a way so that we can beat local schools in music competitions? Honestly I hope that is not the case, my friends' kids in local elite junior primary need to spend 10 hours a week at school for choir practice in preparing for music festival. I personally find it very scary.

HKTHK

回覆 kfy 的帖子

The new Head of ECA gave a talk about the revamp about a month or two ago. Basically it will be the reverse of what happens in an elite local school. ECA will be about participation rather than selectivity or excellence. In Primary school, as long as you are interested in an activity and is willing to practice for 3 times a week, you can be part of the school team. Students will no longer be selected or invited to join a team but rather, it will be about who has an interest. Underpinning all these is the belief that it is more important to build an interest and give kids exposure rather than building skills or excellence at such a young age.

By depth, this means the activities that are popular will run several times a week so that people can have more chances to play. Instead of running 20 different activities once a week, it will be 8 activities but each happening 3 times a week. Practice makes perfect so kids will be able to excel this way and this will also means having a critical mass for competitive school teams in Secondary.