ESF's launch of shake-up admissions due to serious over-demand

WYmom

Quoted From SCMP today:

Hundreds of English Schools Foundation parents are furious that their children could be forced to attend schools outside their local areas.
The ESF has launched a shake-up of admissions that has already affected more than 70 Primary Six pupils on Hong Kong Island.

Parents at Bradbury School in Stubbs Road, who had already applied to Island School in Mid-Levels, were told last week that their children would instead have to go to South Island School.

The move has angered parents who have accused the ESF of failing to consult.

The shake-up was prompted by a surge in demand for places in Kowloon last year that forced three schools, including the secondary King George V School, to put up temporary classrooms.

The ESF this year centralised its admissions process, required parents to apply to schools earlier and analysed applications to all schools for 2006. The data is being used to review the catchment boundaries - or zones - for all schools and come up with new zones to match demographic demand.

Chris Forse, acting assistant chief executive, said: "There is serious over-demand at some of our schools, particularly KGV. This is a comprehensive analysis of the zoning system." Parents in Kowloon and the New Territories would hear before Christmas how their zones would change.

Doug Shearer, chairman of the Bradbury School Parent Teacher Association, said the change to Bradbury's secondary partnerships had come as a shock to parents.

"What I find most concerning is that this was announced several weeks after the applications had been made," he said. "arents living at one end of Kennedy Road are being told that they must go to South Island, whereas people living just a few houses along the road are going to Island School.

"The principal, the school council, the PTA and the parents were never consulted," he said.

John Ward, of Discovery Bay, applied for his son Ralph, 10, who is in Year Six at Bradbury, to move to Island School in Mid-Levels. He attended a meeting at Island School for prospective parents last month but on November 25 received a letter from Bradbury saying Ralph would be going to South Island.

Mr Ward said: "I am thoroughly annoyed by it. It will be a massive inconvenience. My son will have his after-school activities curtailed.

"The worst impact will be the added travelling time. I reckon it could add an hour at either end of his day. It appears that the whole thing hasn't been thought through." Parents in Kowloon and the New Territories are waiting to hear how they will be affected.

Kim Anderson, chairwoman of Clearwater Bay School PTA, has written to parents warning some children would be offered places at Sha Tin College or a school on Hong Kong Island instead of KGV.

One mother, who asked not to be named, said: "Many are upset. Going to school on the island is too far. Our kids won't have any social life and the journeys will tire them."

:-|

Vrindavan

what i learned is that if your kid is studying at a esf school outside your residential zone.

There is no school bus service for your kid,
it would not be a problem for secondary school students. But school bus is essential for primary kids.

WYmom

Vrindavan 寫道:
what i learned is that if your kid is studying at a esf school outside your residential zone.

There is no school bus service for your kid,
it would not be a problem for secondary school students. But school bus is essential for primary kids.

No school bus for secondary school is a problem, my kid has to change bus 3 times to go to school starting year 7 if she needs to study in Shatin College instead of KGV.
:cry:

Vrindavan

kids are old enough to ride buses themselves?