isf vs victoria

lyyshore

For K1. Both bilingual. What are the considerations ?

Aooyee

ISF preschool is a lot more expensive and it is a new setup. If you target ISF primary, you will have good chance though it was said not through train.

Victoria, you can try to apply both local and IS primary. Only 30% of its student will go to its primary school.

Baobi424

I think ISF will have better Chinese curriculum. I think 100% parents who applied the ISF pre school, want their children go to ISF primary. I think ISF primary is much more popular than VSA. Usually, you heard people give up VSA offer if they also have offer from ISF., seldom happened the other way around.

lyyshore

Baobi424, may I ask where do your kids study ? I feel your comments for isf are usually quite positive.

HKTHK

回覆 Baobi424 的帖子

Not true actually, there are kids who transfer from ISF to VSA

lyyshore

I feel the two are quite similar. Wondering what are considerations when deciding which one to go ?

slamai

回覆 lyyshore 的帖子

The language policy varies across victoria kindergartens.  If you think IB is important, ISF has no PYP.  You may take a look at the web page on IB world schools to find out more:

http://www.ibo.org/en/programmes/find-an-ib-school/

Baobi424

lyyshore 發表於 15-7-4 01:11
Baobi424, may I ask where do your kids study ? I feel your comments for isf are usually quite positi ...

My kids are in ISF.

lyyshore

原帖由 Baobi424 於 15-07-07 發表
My kids are in ISF.

How do you like isf ? Are kids happy and enjoy the school life?

Baobi424

lyyshore 發表於 15-7-8 01:00
How do you like isf ? Are kids happy and enjoy the school life?

My kids love it and enjoying the school very much.

Riesling

Baobi424, do u mind to share whether the language used in your family is mainly English, Cantonese or mandarin? If not mandarin, how did your kids cope with the 70%teaching in mandarin at the behinning years of school?

Thx v much! :)

jolalee

HKTHK 發表於 15-7-4 23:17
回覆 Baobi424 的帖子

Not true actually, there are kids who transfer from ISF to VSA

I know a close friend who chose VSA over ISF when her son got into both.

Sc21

Hi jolalee,

I'm a newbie in the international school section of this forum. I only made up my mind for about one month that I want my 18 months kid to go to international school. Your comments from different threads always impressed me a lot. You are one of the big contributors in this section. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you. And congratulations on your kid of entering a good school!

Do you know why your friend prefer VSA over ISF?

tinyan1977

我小朋友幼稚讀Victoria, 小/中學讀ISF! 以我膚淺嘅表面認識! ISF學生來自不同國家，有頗多西方國家的男士於亞洲結婚然後來香港定居，所以他們孩子本身的英文和普通話都是native的和不懂廣東話的。 我孩子的普通話和英文發音都非常好，我家是說廣東話的! 就算那些不是混血兒的西方小孩也能很自然地用普通話和同學交談和猜剪刀、石頭、布!相反VSA本地學生漸大比數和他們交談很自然說廣東話!我認識一羣VSA的中學生(每星期見他們六日)但我末聽過他們交談說普通話或英文!ISF 比較小班，可能就是學費比較貴的原因吧!

Riesling

Hi Tinyan1977,

Glad to know your kids are doing well in Isf! I wd like to ask if u hv given your kids any tuition class of mandarin to support their pick up of mandarin at school if ur family uses Cantonese in daily life? Also, wd u mind to share how long does it take for a kid who doesn't speak mandarin, to speak fluent mandarin since starting at Isf?

Thx a lot! :)

Atticus

If it is ISF Pre-school and VKN bilingual stream, I would go for VKN bilingual stream. Neither guarantees primary admission to ISF or VSA but ISF Pre-School is brand new and nobody knows how good it will be. It doesn't offer K3, so if your child cannot get into ISF Foundation Year, you will be in a very difficult position. VKN kindy has a stronger track record and you can keep your options open and apply to international or local primary schools.

If you are talking about ISF and VSA and the main objective is bilingualism and school fees is not an issue, I would go for ISF. Although VSA like to think that they are in the same league as ISF (just as ISF would very much like people to think that they are in the same league as CIS), well, they simply are not.

tinyan1977

They have no problem to pick up PTH at all, dont worry. You may let your child has extra Chinese writing class if you are worried

tinyan1977

I will say children can communicate in PTH within 3 ~6 months

Riesling

Thx Tinyan1977! :)

Riesling

Tinyan1977, also your input on the students mix of both schools are v valuable! It does make a difference as if we aim for international schools, what is the point of choosing an IS with Cantonese as a playground language??  :)