Recent development in ESF primary schools

JennyBaBa

Hi. Just post it for anyone interested. This is copied from an official email.

School fees 2007-08
Parents should have received by now an email from ESF Centre detailing the fee increases for the next academic year, along with an outline of spending plans. The letter can be found at the ESF website:
http://www.esf.edu.hk/index.aspx?nodeid=963&age=1&langno=1&UID=233&isArchive=false&parentNode=997  

Surety scheme for non resident families
In response to concerns in the business community about the lack of places in international schools, ESF introduced a surety scheme on 2 April. This allows companies to reserve places in ESF schools, where available, before the arrival in Hong Kong of their employee's families, by paying school fees for the months in the reservation period. This is a non-refundable, non-transferable payment and will only be reimbursed if a child fails an admissions test/interview. High priority (Category One) students already on a school waiting list will retain their priority over those arriving from overseas.
The scheme received 15 applications from many parts of the world in its first two weeks of operation.

Senior Appointments
Mark Beach has been appointed as Principal of Discovery Bay Private Independent School. Mr Beach has over 28 years' experience in education. He was the founding Principal of Tahatai Coast School, the first new state primary school in New Zealand since 1995. Under his leadership the school quickly gained a national and international reputation for exploring new methods of learning. Before joining ESF he was a consultant for the Supreme Education Council in Qatar, which provides educational leadership and teaching and learning advice to local schools.

Andrea Muller has been appointed as Curriculum Adviser (Primary) to the ESF Education team. Her role is to support our schools in implementing the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP). Andrea is currently the PYP Regional Manager (Asia-Pacific) for the International Baccalaureate Organisation, based in Singapore. She will start work in August and will be based at the Education Development Centre, Pokfulam.

Introducing InCAS
Since 2002, all ESF primary schools have used standardised tests from the UK National Assessment Agency (NAA) in English and mathematics with their Year 6 students. The information provided has been useful in helping us to evaluate our effectiveness and student's achievements. However, the NAA tests are limited in that they struggle to cover the range of ability in our schools and each level is very broad. There are also practical problems in their timing and they carry a high administrative cost.

With this is mind, we have decided to adopt the creative writing test and on-line assessments, InCAS (Interactive Computerised Assessment System), from Durham University. It is a system that is used in the UK and fits well with the IBO Primary Years Programme (PYP). Through the on-line system, schools will receive reports on student performance and a detailed analysis of the data almost immediately. From 2007, standardised tests will be used with Year 3 students as well as students in Year 6.

For parents of children in Year 3 or Year 6, the main effect of the change will be that, rather than being told the National Curriculum level their child is working at, they will be provided with a report on their child's achievements which indicates their performance compared to children of the same age. It is hoped that parents will find this helpful and as a result they will have a better picture of their child's achievement and progress.

MarcusD

Thanks!