Top Schools

chifam

any comments on this educational consultant company? As they charge a lot

Katherinee

What service can they provide? How can they help in admission?

chifam

Claimed to select a shortlist of schools which is most suitable for one kid.

964000

I think more suitable for expats who got no access to EK they will also recommend newly set up schools.

Babybaby2011

原帖由 964000 於 16-08-22 發表
I think more suitable for expats who got no access to EK they will also recommend newly set u ...

Mount Kelly HK?

pinkmania

我覺得唔值

type409

This agent is a parent in my kids' school. My 2 cents is - regardless whether you are expat or mainlander, just spend a couple of hours sitting down in front of the computer and google everything, read and filter the info. That's all you have to do. Their service is basically your time cost.

lovecasey

回覆 chifam 的帖子

i agree it is basically tailored for expat which are new to HK. you wont find it very very helpful if u are local and have a basic understanding of the education system here and have time to fill up the application forms.

964000

原帖由 lovecasey 於 16-08-23 發表
回覆 chifam 的帖子

i agree it is basically tailored for expat which are new to HK. you wont find it ...

My friend joined one of these agency before, he was too busy to research and fill in forms himself and his wife's English/ability is not good enough to handle. He paid $50000 to the agency that "helped" him to get into tutor times nursery then ESF WKS k1, he just paid extra $20000 to the agency to help the younger son to get into IS too. He praised the service is good and useful and I didn't dare to say anything. Well, there is always "need" there. I told my husband he is lucky I can handle it myself and saved him a buck.

chifam

Thanks all for the advice. Agree that's save time for searching thru Internet. I am not sure if they claim there is connection with schools

lovecasey

回覆 chifam 的帖子

i am sure there are some business connection as you can see there are few schools which she mentions more often and give positive feedback.  

Sometimes you can find this forum is more useful as most of us are user of many IS.

chifam

回覆 lovecasey 的帖子

Yes can't agree more

dbchu

I think just like a wedding planner....

964000

原帖由 lovecasey 於 16-08-23 發表
回覆 chifam 的帖子

i am sure there are some business connection as you can see there are few school ...

Well, I can only say they just don't have connections with those most sought after schools, otherwise I am always willing to pay

lameloiseFR

Hi all

I am one of the customers of Top School and I understand that the concerns of you all. But I have to say something for the team at Top School as I do not find the comments fair.

1) I don't think their pricing structure is unreasonable and I have to say, their pricing is fair. Because of the Head Girl and her team, we did not have to crazily apply almost all the schools and kindergartens for our little one. That have already saved us a lot of money. As a customer, my husband and I are very particular and we did request how we would like the stage 1 fact finding report to be structured. The Head Girl was happy to tailor for us.

2) I do not think that their services are just for expats. I am a working mom. Grew up in HK and went abroad to study and work for many years. Came back three years ago. To be honest, there are so many changes in the education system in the last decades in HK and there are so many systems and curriculums offered by different schools in the city. Yes I could have done the homework myself. And we did a bit but it was indeed not enough. Without Ruth's help, I would not be able to narrow down the choices of schools for my little one.

3) We paid $8,800 for a first stage report. It is like a fact finding exercise but it saved us from applying a few schools that would have cost us more than $8,800. They don't take money for placement. what they could offer is to review application (which they did for one of my applications) and assist in preparing the assessment and interviews.

4) if not with Top School, my little one won't be at a playgroup and likely to be his kindergarten and pre nursery that fits so well for him. The Head Girl also facilitated us to see if we could change our assessment session with one of the through trained international school which normally it is difficult for parents to request so.

5) without their help, we also couldn't be realistic on the choice of the schools list. There are schools on her suggested list that we thought we would have no chance at all but it is not necessary the case and also vice versa.

bforbtec

咁快出現打手

收得貴, 給人感覺好

父母就是最好的consultant

這些consultant 公司好快執

除了打手外, 無須努力為指控辯護

上網問多兩問, 好多真相出現

jolalee

回覆 bforbtec 的帖子

咁客觀少少，lameloiseFR 又唔似係打手，都係 end user 嗜。樓主問有關Top School 的 service, 難得有人用過又肯分享，那是一件好事。如果父母工作忙碌又唔想煩，願意出錢找consultant, why not?

當然我都覺得自己無這方面的需要，而且讚同你所說，父母就是最好的consultants。不過每個父母最多咪兩、三個小孩返不同學校，不能把十間八間親身經歷咁cross compare。我自己也喜歡聽educators and tuition teachers的分享，因為他們見過不同學校出的學生，聽他們一席話，勝過爬文幾個鐘。

話說過來，consultants 都有他們主觀的地方，那間好那間不合適，(尤其是對很小的孩子) 其實很難作實。當然，consultants若與新學校有利益關係、幫助新校recruit，那更需要父母自己睇得通透。

總括來說，自己可以用心處理的，不需要consultants。 但時間若不夠用、或者對這方面的research真的很抗拒的，跌幾千元找人幫忙也未嘗不可。

lameloiseFR

Sounds like I am a vey lazy mom. Ok a few things.

1) Top School's team have to discuss with what we are after as parents and what and how we want the education need for our child to be. This does take time.

2) We went to all the school tours on the list recommended initially proposed by the Head Girl (not just new schools and to be honest, there was nil new school on the list) and those that were originally on our own list. We went to all the school tours before finalising the list with the Head Girl and her team and also submitting application. I am not sure if all the parents would go to a school tour before sending in an application. but we did.

3) the list recommended by the Head Girl is just a suggestion based on how we discussed our needs. It is down to us the parents to do all the work. The Head Girl did make a bit of comment to one of my applications but I did the drafting on each question that the particular school was after. No single consultant can help a parent to do so. The consultant can facilitate but it is still down to the parents to demonstrate how they believe in the school.

4) To get the best service out from them, the parents need to do some ground work. You will find the service absolutely not worth it if you just think that it is a fact finding or just to help you getting into one of the schools.  Even between my husband and I do have different views and impression on what we need for our little one and how we perceive each of the schools.

5) on the topic of new schools, I don't think that their team does only recommend new schools. On the list that we got from Top Scchool's team, only one (out of 10) is a new school. That school ticks the box for various reasons and we expected that school to be on the list. On this point, Top School's service also serves as a validation check on the schools that my husband and I had in mind prior to engaging her team.


Some parents choose to hire helpers to do house chores. I choose to hire a consultant to facilitate in this area.  Some moms may think choosing a school should be done by the parents. Yes we still are but just with some help. Rather I think education is in all aspects. We do not hire helpers so I do house chores with my little ones whenever I am home. I do all the story reading with him and I do many other things that a helper is likely to do. I may offend others but I just want to say, we all seek help here and there.  Goodnight.

Hongchu

I suppose this is the same like people like to have agency to help the kids for oversea studies whereas some would like to apply by themselves. Just 家家有求。

lovecasey

To be fair..... Time is the issue here.. I spent hours and hours fillng up the applications and researching schools, i would not say i enjoy it and didnt like the pages of application form with all the personal statement. However, you would learn alot on the schools itself from doing the research which i dont think you can get from others' comments.
And last about 打手.... there is a 註冊時間and everyone can judge from it...