Kingston, Anfield, CAIS, 同Think，呢幾間點樣？邊間好點？

swarovski2011

mandy_ng207 發表於 18-10-11 11:52
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I think it's the curriculum and teachers in an IS kinder that makes the d ...

I have this expectation but just a bit worry and still thinking

mandy_ng207

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Sorry I am not Kingston's parents. My son is currently in an IS kinder and thus have this observation.

Jumboshrimp

swarovski2011 發表於 18-10-11 09:01
Are you Kingston’s parents? May I ask what the differences between IS and bilingual kindergarten a ...

I assume a bilingual kindergarten is a local kindergarten?... if you want your kid going to international primary school, of course it's a good idea to get him /her to international kindergarten.
Just to let you know that kingston is asking for a non refundable levy at entry of k1. I forgot how much they charge. For playgroup and N, they charge $100K.

So if you are not really keen on Kingston and not planning to go to K2 ,  may be you need to consider about the levy.

And yes my kid is at Kingston

swarovski2011

Jumboshrimp 發表於 18-10-11 16:34
I assume a bilingual kindergarten is a local kindergarten?... if you want your kid going to internat ...

Yes, my school is local bilingual school. Kingston Levy is $50k. I applied some IS reception classes recently but not sure if we can get offer finally. That’s why we are still thinking if we should switch to Kingston K1 now.

Can you tell how k2’s English proficiency is? Wanna know their competitiveness to interview the other IS primary schools. Did you try to apply others?

Honestly, I would like to try the other primary with better student mix but all depends on their ability and luck.
Thanks for your suggestions

Monstereasy

elainL 發表於 18-10-10 23:03
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May I know what actually happened that cause so many teacher left the schoo ...

上年經歷左學校搬遷，小校變大校，管理層改變，head of school 退休等事件。
教師離開各有原因，但前管理層和教師之間溝通出現問題，相信亦係其中一條導火線。
新任管理層極積改善溝通，相信情況會改善。

Jumboshrimp

swarovski2011 發表於 18-10-11 17:27
本帖最後由 swarovski2011 於 18-10-11 17:41 編輯

Yes, my school is local bilingual school. Kingst ...

Yes, my school is local bilingual school. Kingston Levy is $50k. I applied some IS reception classes recently but not sure if we can get offer finally. That’s why we are still thinking if we should switch to Kingston K1 now.

.... ic. the good thing is Kingston is through train which means you don't need to worry much about primary school.

Can you tell how k2’s English proficiency is?

.... kids usually speak in English... so you don't need to worry much about English proficiency




Wanna know their competitiveness to interview the other IS primary schools. Did you try to apply others?

... I didnt' apply other school because I will let my kid going to its primary. I heard many of those who do not intend to go to to Kingston primary got offers from many other IS such as RC, ISF. But most decide to stay because parents at Kingston usually have high expectation on Chinese and want and we don't have alot of choices out there. Kingston primary and kindy are bilingual and  has one mandarin and one English teacher at the classroom the same time.


Honestly, I would like to try the other primary with better student mix but all depends on their ability and luck.

.... if you better student mix, try NAIS, ISF and ESF at HK island ( not sure which catchment you are in though)
Thanks for your suggestions

minimirror

Jumboshrimp 發表於 18-10-12 13:31
Yes, my school is local bilingual school. Kingston Levy is $50k. I applied some IS reception classes ...

So agree on why parents wanna stay at Kingston because of Chinese love

Kingston Primary is small and do not have fancy facilities like cafeteria, indoor gym and drama room. However, it has a well organised teaching system. Class size is small so teachers are able to see what’s really going on with kids. Their Chinese program is like pinyin based. It is a loving school. Kids there feel being cared and loved. I think for young kids this is quite important.

chocotung

Jumboshrimp 發表於 18-10-11 16:34
I assume a bilingual kindergarten is a local kindergarten?... if you want your kid going to internat ...

My friend’s girl is now at Kingston k2, majority of her classmates are native Mandarin speakers from wealthy Mainland Chinese families. No offense here but I suspect how much English would they use in their daily  conversations. I’m wondering how many “westerners” having English as their mother tongue are in Kingston ...
In this sense I don’t consider Kingston a “true” IS though it’s a happy school with caring teachers.

964000

chocotung 發表於 18-10-13 00:05
My friend’s girl is now at Kingston k2, majority of her classmates are native Mandarin speakers fro ...

.....

hitommycc

chocotung 發表於 18-10-13 00:05
My friend’s girl is now at Kingston k2, majority of her classmates are native Mandarin speakers fro ...

My sister’s boy was once in Kingston and she gave the same feedback. They have a strong campus language environment of Mandarin. She thought it a great advantage since she wanna send her kid to ISF.

iloveskp

swarovski2011 發表於 18-10-11 17:27
本帖最後由 swarovski2011 於 18-10-11 17:41 編輯

Yes, my school is local bilingual school. Kingst ...

My kid studied at Kingston, I can say teachers are caring about kids and I love the teacher : student ratio is small compared with other IS.
Chinese is very strong and they teach traditional Chinese.   
But I observed from last 2 years there are lot of wealthy mainland China students and they all are native mandarin speakers.   Lot of local and Chinese students but not a good student mix.

I’m impressed all the teachers can remember my kid name within first week at school.  They are very friendly.

iloveskp

iloveskp 發表於 18-10-13 08:51
My kid studied at Kingston, I can say teachers are caring about kids and I love the teacher : stude ...

I’m not sure if you got K1 Kingston offer.  My thought is if you aim at IS rather than local kindergarten.   And you think Chinese is important You can have bilingual environment at Kingston.

If you want students mix, it may not be your choice.

minimirror

chocotung 發表於 18-10-13 00:05
My friend’s girl is now at Kingston k2, majority of her classmates are native Mandarin speakers fro ...

Same as my son

When we was k2 , he was the only one who could not speak mandarin. My son didn’t feel left out at all. He spoke English with them and they communicated without any problem.

He still can’t speak but his mandarin improved a lot during k2 (3 years old class ) and he understands some phases in mandarin.

I struggled that if I should let him stay because Kingston requires good level of Both languages. My son only speaks English. If he can’t catch up with Chinese level, I may have to apply other schools.

Honestly I think it is depending on what parents want. Kingston is an IS school that strongly promote Both languages.

Whether it is or true IS, you may do a site visit then you would know.

chocotung

iloveskp 發表於 18-10-13 08:51
My kid studied at Kingston, I can say teachers are caring about kids and I love the teacher : stude ...

Apart from languages it’s also about cultural mix. That’s what I think Kingston can’t give as they admit so many Chinese. My friend’s girl ( a local)’s weekend activities are overwhelmed by birthday parties at those luxurious houses of those wealthy Chinese families.  If u look for IS I think there are many other choices out there.

minimirror

chocotung 發表於 18-10-13 09:37
Apart from languages it’s also about cultural mix. That’s what I think Kingston can’t give as the ...

Cultural mix ? I think about that too , but Many IS has many Chinese too. I saw some western kids in primary. It is difficult for school to have more western students because of its Chinese level. That’s make sense.

Actually I find Kingston setting quite similar to Canadian elementary school. Up to now, my son didn’t attend any fancy birthday party. Parents are humble and nice.

I think America International School has well cultural mix. Many IS has wealthy mainlanders, not just Kingston. I believe we cannot avoid them.

If one who is not so concern about Chinese learning, Kingston definitely not a good choice.

iloveskp

minimirror 發表於 18-10-13 10:04
Cultural mix ? I think about that too , but Many IS has many Chinese too. I saw some western kids i ...

Agreed.  I found Kingston communication all in bilingual language.  Many learning opportunities for  Chinese.  It’s a happy school unlike local kindergarten with lot of homework.
But if parents aim on cultural differences or student mix, it’s not your cup of tea.  Also there is no secondary school back up unless you are okay to go to sha Tou Kok.

Now we have lot of choices with other new IS opened.

minimirror

iloveskp 發表於 18-10-13 10:34
Agreed.  I found Kingston communication all in bilingual language.  Many learning opportunities for ...

Yes but I probably stay because it is so hard to find a school with small class size, experienced teachers and strong Chinese IS.

Yew Chung, ISF and CIS perhaps ?I am not sure about class size. I prefer small for young children. Teachers can find their problems and it is easier to correct their problems when they are still little.

Jumboshrimp

my kid is at K2 pm class. I spot that half of the classmates are hongers and half are from mainland China. The ratio is higher than the time when my kid was a nursery class. that time it was around 70% vs 30%. The campus language, at least , for my kid is English. When he interacts with kid whose mother tongue is Canto, he speaks English; when he talks with kid whose mother tongue is mandarin, he changes to mandarin, or sometimes English. Teachers told me that my son is not fluent in mandarin so he has difficult time explaining himself, especially at show and tell mandarin session. so most of the time he chooses to talk with the English teacher.

Jumboshrimp

Kingston has exactly what I want. I want my kid to have strong Chinese level in traditional Chinese. But at the same time, I don't want to send him to local school because I suffered from local school when I was at his age. Really there's not much choice for me if I want proficiency in Chinese. ISF is too far from my home. CIS? forget about it. no way my kid can get in... VSA is too far as well....

of course there are down side of Kingston such as Sha Tou Kok secondary, small campus etc....

so for me Kingston is more like a school in between local school and international. It's not an truly 'guai lo' IS which gives too little exposure of Chinese; on the other hand, it's not like local school that is pushy and focus too much on academic.

I mean different parents want different things. Some love big campus, some love through train, some prefer students from all around the world; some prefer international exposure. I think that's no right and wrong but the choice of parents.

elainL

Thanks