教育王國
標題: CDNIS vs HKIS [打印本頁]
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-22 21:47 標題: CDNIS vs HKIS
My kid is in pre rec at CDNIS. While he loves his school and I don't have much to complain about, he's lucky to receive an offer from HKIS.
Now I am really torn. On one hand I like CDNIS as the teachers and the community have been wonderful. Parents in his class are so friendly and supportive. The teachers are great and my kid adores them. Yet HKIS seems to be an obvious choice for many due to its scale and track record.
Would love to hear your views for them.

作者: mafoonfoonyan 時間: 16-3-22 23:26
Definitely HKIS given all thats going on within CDNIS. Simple decision.
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-23 08:33 標題: 引用:Definitely+HKIS+given+all+thats+going+on
原帖由 mafoonfoonyan 於 16-03-22 發表
Definitely HKIS given all thats going on within CDNIS. Simple decision.
Thanks! The governance issue is not my biggest concern as all schools go through it at some point in time. It's just unfortunate that the issue at CDNIS is made public. I actually think the teachers are amazing for holding it together under such pressure and watchful eyes from the public.
I guess I would like to know more about the community, the culture and the general atmosphere at the school. If there's any existing HKIS parents to share your view it would be very helpful. Thanks!

作者: alwaysontrip 時間: 16-3-23 10:04 標題: 回覆:shabushabu 的帖子
May I know if the offer you kid received from HKIS is for R1 starting this August? Has the school already released the results?

作者: Shootastar 時間: 16-3-23 10:55
If your kid loves the school and the teachers and community are wonderful, there is no obvious reason for you to make a change, whether HKIS is a "better" school or not. A change of school may necessitate adjustment on your kid. If the adjustment is not good, then it may have negative impact on your kid.
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-23 11:07 標題: 回覆:alwaysontrip 的帖子
Yes its for R1 and we got an email yesterday.

作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-23 11:09 標題: 引用:If+your+kid+loves+the+school+and+the+tea
原帖由 Shootastar 於 16-03-23 發表
If your kid loves the school and the teachers and community are wonderful, there is no obvious reaso ...
Thats what I thought before I received an offer. But when you have it, it gives you more to think about...its a good problem I supposed....

作者: Shootastar 時間: 16-3-23 12:07
回覆 shabushabu 的帖子
CDNIS adopted the IB and Canadian curriculum while HKIS adopts the US AP (liberal art) system. You should consider which education is good to your kid. You should thoroughly understand the two systems apart from the personal factors mentioned by you before you make a decision.
作者: nintendo 時間: 16-3-23 13:00
shabushabu 發表於 16-3-23 08:33 
Thanks! The governance issue is not my biggest concern as all schools go through it at some point in ...
I do not agree. This is a big issue since I do not believe any schools has ever sacked so many teachers and senior management within a year. There has to be problems. Not sure how it is going now but definitely low morale.
Someone mentioned the curriculum. That is what I would look at as well.
作者: lovecasey 時間: 16-3-23 13:01
回覆 shabushabu 的帖子
Both IB and AP are recognized widely in US university, so it should not be a concern and both schools are a through train school.... why would you like to move your kid if he is happy with the current school?
作者: nintendo 時間: 16-3-23 13:07
IB is recognised in the US. It is not a recognition issue.
But parents need to know which curriculum suit their children best.
IB and AP would suit different types of students.
Of course, for some of the best students, they probably would do well in either.
作者: Shootastar 時間: 16-3-23 13:51
回覆 nintendo 的帖子
I can't agree with you more.
The American education system adopts the liberal art style education. The beauty of a liberal art style education is that you will have a wide choice of subjects for you to explore before you make a decision on what you really love.
IB also allows students to choose subjects but it is rather "rigid" in the sense that you have to choose subjects from different areas. As far as I know, you cannot take 3 science subjects at the same time even if you are strong on science. Again, you cannot drop science subjects even if you are weak.
It is not a right or wrong question for AP or IB education system. It is a matter for you to know which education system will suit your kid more so as to pust his limit of study to the far end of his potential.
作者: tsuenkee 時間: 16-3-23 17:54
I agree with Nintendo.
作者: lijacq 時間: 16-3-23 18:34 標題: 回覆:tsuenkee 的帖子
I agree too. My daughter is in IB system and they need to write a lot of analysis. So one must be good at writing even for Mathematics or Physics.

作者: julier_z 時間: 16-3-23 21:33
回覆 shabushabu 的帖子
Would you mind telling us when you had the interview?
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-23 23:18
本帖最後由 shabushabu 於 16-3-24 00:19 編輯
Shootastar 發表於 16-3-23 13:51 
回覆 nintendo 的帖子
I can't agree with you more.
Thanks for your comments on this Shootastar. We parents always on the search for the best for our kids. But the difficulty for me is that it's hard to decide which systems fit my kid's personality and learning style at such a young age. On the other hand, maybe it's not the most critical factor given both systems are well recognized. Especially in North America where we will be most likely heading toward.
I guess I am interested to learn about the "soft" aspects for HKIS as well, such as the teacher/students dynamic, how do they structure the learn through play in reception years, what's the community like, what are the goods and the bads etc
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-23 23:21
nintendo 發表於 16-3-23 13:07 
IB is recognised in the US. It is not a recognition issue.
But parents need to know which curriculum ...
What's your take on the student's profile that thrives for each system?
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-23 23:39
nintendo 發表於 16-3-23 13:07 
IB is recognised in the US. It is not a recognition issue.
But parents need to know which curriculum ...
Of course there are problems. Yet rarely do these governance / management issues get cascaded down to teaching staff levels, or get aired out in the public with bias. Like I said, the teachers have been amazing in putting our kids as their top priorities.
Anyway, this is not the focus of this post so no point to dwell into this further.
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-24 00:59
lovecasey 發表於 16-3-23 13:01 
回覆 shabushabu 的帖子
Both IB and AP are recognized widely in US university, so it should not be a ...
oops, missed your post earlier.
We were pretty clear with our preference for cdnis. Last year, we picked cdnis over gsis (friends called us crazy...) and earlier this year I've ceased the application procedure with fis and cis, as we come to know better of what we look for in school for our kid.
However, with HKIS I just don't have the same crystal clear determination. That's why I am hoping I could get more insights from you all to help me make a well informed decision.
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-24 08:35 標題: 引用:I+agree+too.+My+daughter+is+in+IB+system
原帖由 lijacq 於 16-03-23 發表
I agree too. My daughter is in IB system and they need to write a lot of analysis. So one must be g ...
I am curious to know how do the teachers provide support for students who struggle with putting their learning into writing?

作者: nov21 時間: 16-3-24 10:00
Before choosing a school who offers IB PYP (only 5 schools in HK offer IB in lower forms), parents should have a deep look of what IB PYP is as it will totally different from what we may think in terms of teaching and learning. That is the reason why CDNIS have a parents interview (new policy this year) for making sure parents understand the concept of IB PYP (CDNIS provides notes and seminars for parents to study). It is because teachers will not teach in the ways we may think.
More info for IB PYP
http://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/
作者: Shootastar 時間: 16-3-24 11:33
本帖最後由 Shootastar 於 16-3-24 11:36 編輯
回覆 shabushabu 的帖子
When our kids were young (around 2000), the IB system was not very popular in Hong Kong. At that time, only CIS and LPC adopted the IB system (correct me if I am wrong) and the number of IB graduates in the whole world was around 50,000 (also correct me if I am wrong). We then spent a lot of time to do research on the AP, AL and the local AL system. After comparing the pros and cons of the three education systems, we decided to take the AP system. At that time only 3 schools adopted the AP systems (HKIS, AIS and ICS).
Of course, if IB was as popular as it is today, we will explore thoroughly IB before we made the decision. As I said, the beauty of a liberal art style education (AP system) is to allow you flexibility to explore different subjects so as to find your true love. You will see that the range of subjects offered by HKIS is wider than other schools.
Although college placement results reflect something about the schools, the results may not give you a complete picture of the performance of the students because there are a number of factors, which are unrelated to the school performance, as far as college placement is concerned. If you want to compare different specific schools such as CDNIS and HKIS, apart from the education system they adopted, you have to compare the public examination results among their education systems.
If the students of a particular school perform well above or well below the peers in the same education system (academic results, music performance, sport performance etc), you should think the reasons why it is so. If they consistently perform well, there must be some reasons in terms of quality of teachers, supports from the schools, community relationship, opportunities offered to students, hard wares of the schools.
To be honest, there should not be many parents whose kids had or have studied in both CDNIS and HKIS. I think you should do researches into the above factors. You will have an idea about the two schools after your researches. Having said that I think the most important factor is what kind of education system you think will best fit your kid. No doubt both CDNIS and HKIS are very popular and top IS among international schools in Hong Kong.
作者: lijacq 時間: 16-3-24 12:11 標題: 回覆:shabushabu 的帖子
My son is also in an IB school in grade 7. He studies in local school in primary years. His teachers love to ask them to write an essay for tests but would give them a worksheet with questions so that the students can gather information to answer thr worksheet for about 1-2 weeks. Then the student will write an in class essay based on the information on the worksheet. My son has improved a lot in his writing and essay organizational skills as he can have a lot of time to gather information, understand the topic, plan his essay, and ask questions without having to memorize any facts.

作者: poonseelai 時間: 16-3-24 12:23 標題: 引用:Before+choosing+a+school+who+offers+IB+P
原帖由 nov21 於 16-03-24 發表
Before choosing a school who offers IB PYP (only 5 schools in HK offer IB in lower forms), parents s ...
唔, 睇下 notes 是否可深入了解真係唔知, 咁多年由PYP到現在DP, 我也是同兩個女一齊学做IB學生/家長, 我個人覌察是越低年级家長越緊張, 可能同整個大環境有關, 咁学校收生前同家長講多D都是好事

作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-24 14:42 標題: 引用:+本帖最後由+Shootastar+於+16-3-24+11:36+
原帖由 Shootastar 於 16-03-24 發表
本帖最後由 Shootastar 於 16-3-24 11:36 編輯
回覆 shabushabu 的帖子
Thanks Shootastar for your sharing. It must be funny to see the "struggle" we parents with young children face, compared to the real struggle along the academic journey. I do wish I could laugh about it soon. Really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.
It gives more for me to think about and I think I will be doing more research over these coming days. Such an awesome way to spend my easter.

作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-24 14:45 標題: 引用:My+son+is+also+in+an+IB+school+in+grade+
原帖由 lijacq 於 16-03-24 發表
My son is also in an IB school in grade 7. He studies in local school in primary years. His teache ...
I like the ib concept where the students are trained to be an enquirer and develop self motivation to learn, which I live about. But i guess the quality of the teachers played an extraordinary role, which sometimes is hard to assess from the outside.

作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-24 14:45 標題: 引用:My+son+is+also+in+an+IB+school+in+grade+
原帖由 lijacq 於 16-03-24 發表
My son is also in an IB school in grade 7. He studies in local school in primary years. His teache ...
Glad to hear your son is thriving under ib :)

作者: nintendo 時間: 16-3-24 14:53
本帖最後由 nintendo 於 16-3-24 14:53 編輯
shabushabu 發表於 16-3-23 23:21 
What's your take on the student's profile that thrives for each system?
Try google AP vs IB. There should be lots of resources.
To make it short, only students with very good language skills can perform well in IB.
If a students does not enjoy essay type of homework or exams, go for AP.
(Not saying there are no essay writing with AP, but there are just a lot more with IB).
作者: nov21 時間: 16-3-24 20:09
The below is the best article I think that explains the differences between IB and AP.
http://www.topprivateschools.ca/article.asp?article_id=3
IB vs AP Programs
Enrichment learning programs are increasing in popularity among Canadian private schools and their students. This article explores the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP), and discusses a few of their differences.
International Baccalaureate (IB)
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is one of the most widely recognized enrichment programs in the world. The IB is administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization, a non-profit foundation based in Switzerland, with regional offices around the world. The IBO has authorized 2000 IB schools around the world, including 250 public and private schools in Canada.
The IBO offers a Primary Year Program (PYP), a Middle Year Program, and an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). While many schools offer all three programs, some may only offer one or two.
The PYP is geared towards 3 to 12 year olds, and focuses on the development of the child in the classroom and the world outside. PYP curriculum consists of language, social studies, mathematics, science and technology, arts, and personal, social and physical education. There is no testing in PYP, so that students can focus on “how to learn” rather than “what to learn.”
The MYP is geared towards 11 to 16 year olds, and offers academic challenge and the development of life skills. The MYP curriculum consists of languages, humanities (history and geography), sciences (biology, chemistry and physics), maths (algebra, geometry, statistics and discrete maths), arts (visual and performing), physical education and technology.
The IBDP is a challenging program geared towards students in the penultimate and final years of high-school. The curriculum consists of study in six subject areas: English, a second language (usually French), individuals and societies (history, economics, business and management), sciences (biology, chemistry, physics and environmental systems), mathematics and computer science, and an elective of either visual arts or another subject from the ones listed above. A minimum of three subjects must be taken at higher level (HL), which requires 240 hours of teaching time, and the other three at standard level (SL), which requires 150 hours.
In addition, the IBDP program requires students to complete an Extended Essay (EE) of up to 4,000 words on a topic of their choice, and then make an oral presentation on the topic. Students must also study epistemology in a course called Theory of Knowledge (ToK), which also has an essay component. IBDP also requires students to complete at least 150 hours in the Creative, Action and Service (CAS) requirements, which involves engaging in some form of Creativity, participating in a sport or other physical Action, and doing social Service.
The IBDP leads to standardized exams at the end of the two-year program. Marks are awarded from 1 to 7 in each subject, with 7 being the highest. Students can also earn up to three additional points depending on the results of their Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge course. In order to receive the IBDP, students must earn a minimum of 24 points, with a maximum possible point total of 25. Some students only take a limited number of IB subjects or opt out of some activities, such as the EE or ToK courses. These students do not receive the IB Diploma, but instead receive certificates for each subject passed.
Many universities around the world recognize IB courses as first-year equivalents. In addition, the IBDP can qualify students for admission at some universities. Some universities even offer scholarships for students who have completed the IBDP with a minimum number of points. For example, IB students who score 32 points or higher are guaranteed a minimum entrance scholarship of $2000 at the University of Victoria.
IB gives students the critical thinking, writing and argumentation skills necessary to become learners for life. The goal of the program is to produce well-rounded, university-prepared global citizens.
The downsides of IB involve the extraordinary rigours of the program. Students experience a heavy workload and stress, which can result in missed extracurricular and social opportunities. Also, some students have concerns about the effects of the demanding curriculum on their grade averages.
But in spite of these possible downsides, IB continues to be the enrichment and university preparation program of choice for many students. For more information, visit the IBO website at http://www.ibo.org. For a summary of the IB recognition policies of Canadian universities, click here
Advanced Placement (AP)
Advanced Placement (AP) is the most popular enrichment learning program in North America. AP is administered by the College Board, a non-profit organization who also administers the SAT. Over 500 schools in Canada offer AP, and over 1 million students write AP exams each year.
AP consists of a year-long course of enriched study in a specific subject, followed by an exam in May. AP offers 37 courses and exams across 22 subject areas, including calculus, Latin, European history, economics and computer science, just to name a few.
Most AP exams involve multiple-choice questions with a free-response section in either essay or problem-solving format. The exams are graded on a 5 point system, where 5 means "extremely qualified," 3 means "qualified" and 1 means "not recommended." Scores are put on a bell curve, meaning that students are scored against each other rather than on a set standard.
While many schools offer AP courses alongside their regular curriculum, they rarely use the AP exam score as a grade for high-school courses, since exam scores are published in mid-July after most schools have already issued their final grades. AP exams are used by many Canadian and US universities to exempt students from entry level courses. Each university's use of the scores is different: some award a mark for a minimum score, others give an unmarked credit on the students’ transcript, while others waive course prerequisites. Its important to contact each university to determine their AP recognition policy.
The downsides of AP are similar to those of the IB program: a demanding curriculum and reduced free-time for extra-curricular or other activities. There is also a fee of $84 for each exam. Moreover, some criticise the AP program for focusing on content coverage to the exclusion of other skills, such as writing and critical thinking.
But the benefits are multiple: students receive enriched and accelerated curriculum, develop test-taking and study skills, and demonstrate maturity and university readiness which makes them stand out in the admission process.
To learn more about AP, visit http://www.ap.ca. For a listing of AP courses recognized by Canadian universities, click here
The Differences
Canadian and American universities accept AP and IB equally, but AP is more common in the US. While AP is only offered in North America, the IB diploma or certificates are prevalent worldwide, making it a better choice for those students looking to attend international universities.
The IB program offers a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme of study, while AP offers enrichment in single subject areas, which may or may not be combined with other subjects. In addition, the Theory of Knowledge and essay requirements of IB demonstrate skills and abilities beyond knowledge of a content area. However, IB requires extraordinary time-commitment, which may not be ideal for some students. AP allows students to choose enrichment in their stronger subjects, thereby not jeopardizing their grade averages. Moreover, students are not required to submit AP scores to universities, whereas IB scores are usually weighted into the marks students submit when applying.
However, both programs offer academic enrichment, the development of study and test-taking skills, and in many cases, a head-start in university. In addition, the external testing offered by each these programs is valuable in the university admission process, since unlike school marks, exam scores are comparable regardless of where the exam was administered.
As a result, each of these programs offers unique opportunities, and the choice between them should determined by the academic needs and goals of each individual student.
作者: shabushabu 時間: 16-3-24 21:33
nov21 發表於 16-3-24 20:09 
The below is the best article I think that explains the differences between IB and AP.
http://www ...
Thanks Nov21. I've read this article before and I agreed it does give a good basic understand for the differences between the two systems.
Just curious, are you kid(s) in the IB system? If so what's your thought for it?
作者: dbchu 時間: 16-3-24 22:31 標題: 回覆:CDNIS vs HKIS
Any bad side of cdnis?

作者: lijacq 時間: 16-3-25 08:43 標題: 回覆:dbchu 的帖子
CDNIS follows Ontario curriculum and the course names do not convert easily to US high course names. So if you want to change to US high schools after Grade 9, you may need to print out all curriculums and sit down with US high school counsellors to match classes so that you won't need to repeat some classes you have already studied before.
IB is very dependent on teacher's guidance, cos sometimes teachers can be too unorganized and kids may be lost (cos a lot of the tested materials are not taught in class but requires your own thinking and research) where AP is very organized and you will be tested on taught materials. AP is a series of tests and is good for good test takers where IB score is a 2 year effort which us extremely demanding throughout.
CDNIS report cards requires 97% to achieve a 7 in IB so it is very difficult to achieve 7 in higher grades.
CDNIS has undergone a big and lousy management change over the last 2 years and currently not accredited by CIS. Not sure that will affect university admissions.
Guidance office help with admissions counselling is very helpful but not aggressive. My daughter is always adviced by guidance offices not to apply to first tier universities which is true but kids are discouraged.
In my opinion, CDNIS is very strong in arts and humanities but lacking in Science subjects. Science lab reports are very demanding and is a big part of your grade, so again, requires very logical analysis and presentation and writing skills. Actually, boys who are smart but not confident in writing essays may not do well in the IB curriculum.
Just my 2 cents.
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