local 神幼名幼 for International schools ？

racky673

Hey all, I understand that 神幼&名幼 such as CCKG / 寶山 / St. Cat / LH / KV are famous for streaming students to the best local schools. May I know how are their education different from international kindergartens like CWBVIC / ESF? LS and IS are clearly 2 different education systems in primary and secondary schools. But do they differ much in kindergartens?  

I prefer IS for my girls' primary and secondary education but I would like to do more research on kindergarten education. Will those local 神幼&名幼 better prepare my girl for the assessment in the top-tier IS in the sense that she will be more reactive to teachers' communication in the assessment.

Any comment is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

mandy_ng207

racky673 發表於 22-12-9 15:23
Hey all, I understand that 神幼&名幼 such as CCKG / 寶山 / St. Cat / LH / KV are famous for streamin ...

They do differ much, drilling starts in the kindergarten stage for LS while IS kindergarten offers literally “nothing academic” (in my experience) but an opportunity for kids to explore and become proactive in learning.
I believe most IS still prefer kids from IS kindergartens, many IS have their own kindergartens as well.
Whether you’re satisfied with the learning in IS kindergarten is another question…

JKLhome

回覆 racky673 的帖子

local kindergarten definitely focus much more on acedemic but IS kindergarten more on thinking and character building. go for those which you think more important to your kids.

ribenaberry

racky673 發表於 22-12-9 15:23
Hey all, I understand that 神幼&名幼 such as CCKG / 寶山 / St. Cat / LH / KV are famous for streamin ...

It depends on your family background and purpose in enrolling in a local kindergarten.  Does your child have a foreign passport?  Are you and your child native English speakers (native fluent, not average HK local/English with the helper only).  Which IS are you aiming for?  For many IS primary schools, you should apply for kindergarten/reception to ensure a place without further assessment for primary.

What is your purpose in enrolling in a local kindergarten?  Even a top tier kindergarten like St. Catherine's is not going to prepare your child for IS assessment for primary school, because their priorities are different.  IS kindergartens are much more relaxed and more about learning with play and building character.  No homework.  Local kindergartens will be a lot of rote learning with limited English exposure (even with NETs, since the playground language will be Cantonese).
edited: On reflection, if your aim is something like CIS, then maybe the Putonghua stream in a 名幼 for K1 can be beneficial prior to applying for their Reception Class.  But not for ESF etc.

964000

racky673 發表於 22-12-9 15:23
Hey all, I understand that 神幼&名幼 such as CCKG / 寶山 / St. Cat / LH / KV are famous for streamin ...

If target IS primaries, why don’t just go straight into their corresponding kindies then through train to primary. I think the major difference is in Chinese teaching (in Cantonese mainly) and paper testing skills, which are not useful in passing IS Y1 assessment.

beastiebistro

racky673 發表於 22-12-9 15:23
Hey all, I understand that 神幼&名幼 such as CCKG / 寶山 / St. Cat / LH / KV are famous for streamin ...

I don't believe for a second that you can draw a line down the middle and decide that ALL local kindergartens drill whereas ALL international kindergartens only focus on play with no homework.


The truth is there's a spectrum of offerings from various kindergartens. The extreme local ones may drill more than others, the extreme international ones may only focus on play. The majority are in the middle with some of both.

My three kids went to CWB VIC. It definitely was not all play and no work. On the other hand, the work was quite reasonable in my opinion and not overwhelming at all.

However, I also don't believe for a second any responsible parent would defer to a kindergarten to prepare their children for primary school entrance. Surely, it's the sole responsibility of the parents'.