2007 ESF Year 1 Application

ggbb

Today I received an acknowledgement email for my application. Anyone else has applied for your child? We can share our thoughts here.

SaBB

hi ggbb,
same here Which school are you applying?

ggbb

Hi SaBB: We are applying for Bradbury. How about you?

redJade

Hi ggbb and SaBB,

Do you know the difference between Bradbury and Kennedy??? Which one would you pick if you got offers fm both schools?

Abbie_mimi

I got the email yesterday but my friend got nothing. Who has applied but get nothing now?

SaBB

redJade,

As far as I know, we can apply only one ESF school, and we also do not have the right to choose which school to apply.
Which school we apply depends on where we live.

SaBB

Mrs.Fong

I received a letter few weeks ago.
We live in kowloon Tong, and i think the one in Beacon Hill is the closest one to us.
As i know, not all applicants will be granted an interview. Am I right?
Do u know if it is easy to get a place in ESF?  

SaBB

ggbb,
Are you applying any other int'l sch as well?

Mrs.Fong
Heard that it's quite difficult to gain a place in ESF. I know that some even didnt have a chance to go to the interview last year.  

SaBB
   

ggbb

SaBB: Hasn't decided on which Int'l Schools to apply yet. Do you have any recommendations? I don't have a clue.
Are you also applying to Bradbury or which other ESF Primary School?

redJade: Congratulations on your child being admitted to Bradbury this fall. I think both Bradbury and Kennedy Schools are quite good. I like the fact that Kennedy School uses HKU sports ground facilities. A few of my friends' children are current Kennedy School students and they all have positive comments about the school.
Do you prefer your child to attend South Island School during secondary years or West Island School?

MrsFong: I've heard that the child will be granted an interview only if there is a seat available for that child. So not all applicants will get a interview.

minggrace

Hi,
I also got an email to acknowlege my application. And that's it. But still I'm worried what if my kid fails... So I'm thinking of applying for one more international school not under ESF... I first thought of applying for Renaissance College and one ESF school, but RC staff said I could choose one for an interview only. Then I didn't submit the form to RC. I've been looking for one more international school... or should I wait for the interview result in January (supposed to be the end of the first round as stated in ESF email)?
Anyway, good luck to all the applicants!

redJade

ggbb,

Not sure which is a better choice between South Island and West Island. any comments? also do you know if there are big differences between ESF primary schools?

The reason we have a "choice" now is because we moved house since we applied and we are in kennedy's zone while we were in bradbury's before. now that bradbury has admitted us and it so happens that there is also a place in kennedy, we can choose whether to go to kennedy - valid till monday.

by the way, we applied for Kennedy last year, after the application deadline. and since we are low in priority according to ESF admission criteria (locals, non-english speaking etc) we really didn't have much hope of being admitted. We did attach a letter in the application (not portfolio) but not sure if it helped or not.

going to ESF seems more difficult than it really is as long as you don't mind being on the waiting list and may have to enter after school starts.

WYmom

Appears that it is easier to get in ESF schools on HK side than on Kln side in the past, especially difficult for Shatin Junior, maybe due to the difference in population spread and mix.  Guess it would be easier due to the opening of Renaissance College in same zone of SJS.

danielboy

I also got the acknowledgement email a couple of days ago.  However, the chance of an interview in my case is pretty low as I fall into the catchment area of SJS which has been and probably still is the hardest one to get into.  Don't know whether I should apply RC as a backup.  Still struggling!!

joenkm

You cannot apply both in the same time. Me too, SJS. Very long queue.

traveller

WYmom 寫道:
Appears that it is easier to get in ESF schools on HK side than on Kln side in the past, especially difficult for Shatin Junior, maybe due to the difference in population spread and mix.  Guess it would be easier due to the opening of Renaissance College in same zone of SJS.

以我所知, esf primary 人口密度最高是 bacon hill school (BHS). 所以在2006/07的 P1 intake, esf 將原屬於 BHS 的屯門至青衣範圍改給 shatin junior school (SJS). 更改後學生申請比例已有改善. 但因西九龍人口激增的關係. BHS 仍然是最高申請率的esf 小學. 並非 SJS.

traveller

joenkm 寫道:
You cannot apply both in the same time. Me too, SJS. Very long queue.

原則上你可同時申請RC 和 SJS. 因為RC 是屬於ESL. 不受 ESF 的收生管制. 但因RC是新校,為確保RC較易收滿學生. 所以在一般情況下RC會較先進行INTERVIEW.

06/07年的可行方法是先申請SJS. 若得不到1ST ROUND INTERVIEW ( JAN 2006 ). 就立刻再申請RC. 因 RC在06/07 是新校的關係, 所以在 2006年1月申請, 還有機會INTERVIEW及被取錄. 但07/08就可能行不通. 因RC在開校至今口碑幾好. 所以在 2007年1月才申請可能已經冇位了. 所以若你在ESF選生中屬最低組別. 直接申請RC就穩陣 D.

Abbie_mimi

redJade 寫道:

going to ESF seems more difficult than it really is as long as you don't mind being on the waiting list and may have to enter after school starts.

redJade,

Would you please describe more on your application procedures? How to become on the waiting list? Did you grant an interview?

Thanks.

redJade

Abbie-mimi,

We applied for school yr of 2006/07 when my son was at K2. He went to local Chinese kinder and we are local residents with no foreign passport. which put us at the end of the priority line. I heard that if you hold a foreign passport, the "get in" chance will be higher. We did not grant an interview last year but received a letter saying that they would put my son on the waiting list. We did not pursue any further and thought the application had failed. My son continued his K3 yr at the local kinder. We received a call fm ESF last week and they invited him for an interview. My son was admitted right after the interview. I will switch him fm K3 to ESF year 1 next month. Therefore, if your application did not go thru this yr, there's still hope after the school yr starts.

mtot

Hi,

Congratulations first!  

As you siad your son is in local chinese kinder, is his English sufficient for the interview?  Is he in international class?  Any tuition class for him in oral english?

Thanks for your information.

mom2twins

Hi

I also like to know as well whether your son studied mainstream class. My kids are studying mainstream at the moment but would like to whether this would hinder their chances of getting into a place in ESF even though we are native english speakers and foreign passport holders. I don't know much of the HK education system but is ESF P1 equivalent to K3?

Thanks in advance