CDNIS vs. ICS, need to make urgent decision!

bbblivehappily

Our girl has fortunately been accepted into upper school of both CDNIS and ICS, and we need to make a decision soon. We're a Christian family so ICS makes sense and we think the peer group there would be a better influence socially, but we live in Hong Kong Island so the travel (expecting 45mins minimal each way, by MTR or car) could take a toll on our child.
We are also slightly concerned about the lack of emphasis on Chinese at ICS (a class every 2 days) while CDNIS seems to have slightly higher level for their Chinese language studies (a class everyday)? As our family values Chinese education.

ICS's top-end matriculation seems pretty elite (2-3 to Stanford/Oxford in both 2022 and 2023) while CDNIS seems solid as well (4 to Oxford/Cambridge in the past 3 years).

I know ICS and CDNIS compete against each other in the ISSFHK for sports so parents/students probably know each other's schools and their vibe well.

Can anyone familiar with CDNIS and ICS please comment on:
(1) both schools' kids' reputation among international schools, in particular in terms of their behavior / mannerisms, personality, intellectual capacity, maturity etc? e.g. I assume ICS kids are well-behaved (correct me if I'm wrong), how are CDNIS kids like? I understand they're mostly (80-90%) local families.

(2) How's the travel from HK island to ICS, is it too much?
(3) Which school is more elite academically (in terms of matriculation to universities), or are they similar? (I understand ICS runs on AP while CDNIS runs on IB.)

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

964000

bbblivehappily 發表於 24-4-16 17:56
Our girl has fortunately been accepted into upper school of both CDNIS and ICS, and we need to make  ...

If I live in HKI and got CDNIS, I wouldn’t bother to travel to NT for ICS, unless you think religious influence is your topmost priority.

7jai

bbblivehappily 發表於 24-4-16 17:56
Our girl has fortunately been accepted into upper school of both CDNIS and ICS, and we need to make  ...

I think it depends on your family's priorities and what your families values are.
Based on what you said, ICS religious values align with yours.  Has good matriculation to good universities, and I assume you want ivey league schools (as you only quote ivey league universities) so the AP curriculum benefits your child more than OSSD/IB.

Also depends on your child's learning style.  Is your daughter more IB open thinker?  or is she a logic type of person?  Depending on this, IB would be CDNIS.  Logical would be AP.

I don't think commute time matters as you said she is upper school now.  If you said she was 4-5 years old, I would agree.  But if she's upper school, she's in her young teens, so I dont think distance should be a consideration here.

All the best!

KARST

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請問可分享是報讀哪個年級？是call waiting嗎？ 謝謝你！

kkandypan

小朋友R1 CDNIS + ICS offer.我地最後選擇左ICS,

ICS 宗教氣氛濃厚, 小朋友非常喜歡上學, 主動學習, 培養了閱讀習慣.

happyprincess

If both of them are similar, I'd choose CDNIS as ICS is so far away from HKI... travelling to and fro from the school consumes so much more time.  
And also in case any accident happens, closer the the school is better.

gfkwong

I choose Cdnis over ICS because of stronger Chinese, IB curriculum and the beautiful campus.

木子兔媽媽

1. We live on the Island and kids are in ICS.

2. Not knowing much about CDNIS (and non-Canadian) made us not applying CDNIS.

3. Apart from sports, both schools have joint band performance.

4. Chinese can be not strong enough for kids who are in ICS without local elementary school exposures.

5. Christianity is the head of ICS

6. Academics of the seniors depends on their own background and abilities.

7. I am still observing the kids’ middle school development. So far they are in the right track I suppose :)