LS or IS? Advice wanted

pinkmania

I am an alumna of Maryknoll Convent School Primary Section as well as a Catholic, so my daughter will have 25 points and a high chance to get into MCSPS.
But I have been wondering if the current education system in HK is going to do my daughter any good, and am considering letting her go to an international school.

Honestly, going to MCSPS is a much easier (and cheaper!) option. My daughter is 1 year old only and I still have plenty of time to think about it. Should I let her try a "genuine" international kindergarten and see if the style suits her? But I am worried she won't be able to cope with MCS's curriculum later.


Would really love some advice! Thanks!

Jane1983

你小朋友咁細個，你有好充份的時間考慮整個問題，可以聯絡番有女女讀緊的舊同學，收吓風而家什麼環境，亦可以去多d不同IS的school tour和open day，睇吓佢地比到的教育，係咪你真心追求的。

如果你未想好，可以揀如St Cat、Victoria的幼稚園，佢地上local和國際都ok。

bebemuimui

原帖由 pinkmania 於 15-12-06 發表
I am an alumna of Maryknoll Convent School Primary Section as well as a Catholic, so my daughter wil ...

I have faced a similar situation before and finally I chose IS. That is a tough decision after nearly 20 times of different local school visits , reading some books, miscellaneous posts in different forums, and talking to a lot of elites with different backgrounds.

If u don't bother doing research on it, I could tell u that indeed a lot of doctors and PHDs put their kids in the IS. Some even move to other countries for the benefits of their kids. Anyway good luck

Park88

回覆 bebemuimui 的帖子

I'm considering this as well! My daughter will attend k1 next year, I'm extremely busy with her interviews now, I apply her both LS and IS kindergartens, cuz I'm still thinking which KG is good for her, she is an active girl, not a quiet one, her English is good and she speaks in sentences already, seems IS will be more suitable for her... But as daddy is a doctor, he wants her to know more chinese but a bit worry about the local educational system, so difficult to make the decision! Now my daughter got a local KG offer at York, we will still go for ESF interview in the coming Jan, and ICHK Hong lok yuen interview in Feb... If both IS no offer, then perhaps will go for York which is good at English too but a bit aggressive at their academic, therefore still hv chance to think whether to go IS or LS during her K2 & K3.

Jumboshrimp

I have similar situation as yours. I am almost guaranteed that I can put my kid to a very famous primary. However , its curriculum, it's teaching style and most importantly it's homework load are definitely not what I like. I am now picking a IS which is relatively small and not famous at all. Yet it is a truly loving and nurturing school where kids would enjoy learning. People are saying that I'm crazy. I'm so determined that this is the best path for my kid. I do not care what I am giving up because I know what I will get from putting him into an international school. I just don't want my kid to follow my path and to study like hell in his childhood. I believe that his life should have more than homework and exams. Most importantly I don't want him to suffer just because of my privilege feeling of having a son in a top tier school.

Jumboshrimp

So in short it depends on how much u like about Is. ( or how much u hate with LS)
Ls and is are like apple and orange. It is not only that the language used to be different. It's philosophy, concept,the teaching style and the expectation to students are different.

newdaddy

MCS is a very good local school. However, it's still a local school.
So the following factors will still need to be considered:

*TSA and related practice

*Frequent and yet disturbing changes in Chinese SYllabus in DSE.

*A lot of local top students cannot get in University because of poor DSE Chinese result - that's why DGS intrduced IGCSE Chinese for her students.

*Pressure to get into secondary school.

*Do you want your kid to have the ability to challenge authority and make a change to the world (as in IB)?

* Unnecessary homework load

* your kid's ability to excel inthe future National Curriculum should it come back again.

I am confident that you will make a wise decision like many of us in this part of BK! Good luck!

oooray

原帖由 pinkmania 於 15-12-06 發表
I am an alumna of Maryknoll Convent School Primary Section as well as a Catholic, so my daughter wil ...

愚見1:香港傳統教育有幾好或幾爛唔重要，重要係 Maryknoll Convent可否替你女兒增值，還是只是表面風光，內裡仍要為生存獨自苦戰;作為舊生，你絕對比街外人清楚。
愚見2:人分3種，叻人庸人蠢人。叻人在什麼環境都可以跑出，蠢人在什麼環境結果大都一樣。庸人，就需要小心策劃，才有機會邁向成功。所以你的担心也是多餘。讀2年 happy school便失去競爭力的孩子，能力也是有限，反之能力高的，殊途同歸。
至於你女兒属那一類，路應該如何走，希望女兒如何成長，是你的選擇了。

964000

Same here, I have 25 marks for a local school same grade as MCS, but I decide to go for IS/ private school. I believe if one is good, one will thrive and excel anyway, if not why don't just stay happy at least learn to be an all-around person.
If you worry about chinese, you can find some IS/ private schools with higher chinese standard eg. CIS, CKY, ISF, SIS.

pinkmania

Thank you for all your advice.

I guess I'd better start researching on the various IS and their admission policies.

lijacq

My kids are now in Grade 11 and Grade 7. Both of them finish primary school in a famous LS primary school.  But I have transferred them out to IS secondary school because I did not like the teaching methods of the LS school.  My kids were discouraged from challenging the teachers (even in a polite way) and were refrained from expressing their opinions.  Sometimes, even the school is famous, but all it comes down to is the quality of the teachers.  And I find that many teachers in LS are still very traditional and offer no inspiration whatsoever to the kid.  My daughter spent 2-3 years to catch up in IS because she lacked analytical skills and critical thinking.  Now she has excellent discipline, communication and anaalytical thinking.  
My son's passion for learning has  practically vanished after 6 years of local school drilling and has no passion for books.  So I dis not hesitate to transfer him out in P6.
My opinion is that if the kid is smart, they excel in all systems.  But if they are just okay, IS has a better way to bring out the best potential in them.