HELP: ICMS (Tin Hau), DMS (Central) or Best Concept

vivian-chy

My son is 3 years old and studying pre-nursery in Kowloon Tong. I'm planning to put him in Montessori school. Can anyone give me comments about Island Choldren Montessori (Tin Hau), Discovery Montessori (Central) and Best Concept (TST)? Thanks a lot!!

shadeslayer

Where do you live?

mldaddy

Some parents shared their experience of ICMS before. You may wish to search ICMS for relevant posts.

Hope this helps.(Typo)

vivian-chy

I live in Kowloon Tong. The most convenient campus is Best Concept, but when I made the visit, the teacher told me that their class ratio can be up to 1:14. There's a English native co-teacher at the moment but he will leave anytime when the English class is opened. And I found that the general comments for Best Concept are good because of Ms. Ellen, but she left now. So these are my concerns. But anyway, I'll go for Best Concept to have a try. By the way, my son is attending little motessorian and he is very happy and he likes the teacher so much. So I think I'll continue the 2 days class there and enrol 5 days in Best Concept. What do you think? Thanks so much!!

vivian-chy

Yes mldaddy, I saw those posts and this school will not be considered. Thanks a lot!

jolalee

My son is doing playgroup at DMS (Discovery Bay) and it is a great school. Not sure about the Central campus but I heard a lot of good things about it as well.

vivian-chy

Thx jolalee. The only concern in DMS (Central) is that they have a high turnover of the teacher. Like their deputy principal (she also teach), who is in DMS for 2 months only. It's hard to choose....

elmostoney

ms. ellen was the toddler class teacher at BC.

The reason that there is more discussion about ms. ellen is that most kids went to toddler class and quit when they had to start K1, so they never got a chance to move up to Casa (3 - 6).  

The casa teacher ms. nina at TST BC is also wonderful.  I don't know about the Kowloon Tong teacher.  From what I hv heard, she is from Taiwan also and studied for her Montessori qualification in Italy (?).  BC's owner is a qualified Montessori teacher as well and she is training for Montessori Primary qualification.

vivian-chy

O... So I understand now, thx Elmostoney. You really help me a lot!  I made the appointment w Ms Ellen next week, see if its suitable for my younger daughter, who is 21 months now. Btw, I just attend the school tour in Casa dei Bambini this morning and the principal's attitude is like "hate her" or "love her". Have you visit this school before? What do you think?

jolalee

I have visited CDB and a friend of mine used to have her kid there (they've now moved to Beijing). Joanna tend to talk down to the parents and has a very firm mindset as to what's good for the kids ("my way or the highway"). CDB is a great school with parents with strong backgrounds (can get the kids lots of interesting opportunities), but not all parents can take Joanna's military style. Due to location limitations i choose DMS in DB but if i live on HK island i might consider CDB.

elmostoney

I hv friends who used to have kids at CDB and I have visited their school a few times.  I even took my older one to their interview, but eventually decdied against it.

What I know is from a few years ago, so I don't know if anything has changed.  Principal ruled with an iron hand.  Many teachers were young and inexperienced.  Teacher turnover was high.  Some parents, esp. local parents may not like the principal's attitude.  She didn't take into consideration of local culture and customs.  

vivian-chy

Thx jolalee n Elmostoney. Under the circumstances, I will to put my son in BC, hope everything is going smooth. If you know any update about Montessori school/education, please share with me... Thx.

健康寶寶

I want my 2yrs old son to join ICMS(Lee Kin Wan) campus pn class, could anyone has comment for that campus?

elmostoney

the 鯉景灣 campus is new (probably opened just for one term), so I don't think anybody has experience.  However, I doubt their practice should differ much from their Tin Hau campus.  you can search prior comments on ICMS.

健康寶寶

我見網上d評語都唔錯， 但唔個上小學既出路如何呢?

elmostoney

網上評語唔錯, 唔覺得喎.  麻麻地就真.

glo000

我女女讀緊icms (pre Casa lei king wan campus), 讀左一個月，之前向best concept 返左成年，兩者比較，我鐘意icms多d，我女d英文，專注力好左，連best concept 老師都話佢好左好多

vivian-chy

回復 glo000 的帖子

Glo000, 我無去過LKW campus, 只望過Tin Hau. 當時有位老師帶我參觀, 外國人. 佢好熱心, 越講越大聲, 但當時有學生上緊堂, 雖然門關上, 但所有學生都望住我哋, 而老師仍然繼續講多五分鐘. 我哋嘅問題, 佢似乎聽唔到(or答唔到). 須知道montessori要喺安靜, 不受打擾嘅環境進行. 所以我好奇怪佢都係monte teacher, 應該比我更加清楚, 學生工作時大聲講嘢會好影響佢哋嘅專注力.
但我相信係個別事件, 如你女兒有進步又開心, 當然值得高興.. : )

By the way, 你個女幾歲? 喺Best Concept跟開邊位老師?