CDNIS Vs SIS

gogocat

Dear All,

Just got an acceptance letter from SIS for PY1. Can anyone kindly compare these 2 schools? if you were me, which school will you choose?  We dont hv much time to think about the decision coz we need to confirm the place on 24 March. We may lose $10000 if we finally opt for another school...
Millions thanks.

gogocat

Sweetiebarney

Congratulations to you!  Your girl is very smart.  I will choose SIS.  As SIS is famous for its good academic results and emphasis on Chinese studies.

kimum

Hi gogocat,

My child was also accepted from SIS for PY2.  I have similar headache as you, cos he would have interviews for ESF and CDNIS next week.  Although he may not be accepted, I just wish to get prepared in case I have a choice.  Can you or any parents advise your preference on the following school and the reasons:
1. SIS
2. CDNIS
3. ESF
4. KCIS

Many many thanks to you all.

kimum

Blythe_miki

i will choose SIS / CNDIS

Sweetiebarney

SIS, CDNIS, ESF (which school?), KCIS

kimum

Hi Sweetiebarney

ESF is Peak School, not yet interview.

Do you mean your priority is first SIS and last KCIS?

Can you give some explanation?

Thanks a lot!

kimum

Sweetiebarney

SIS is famous for its academic results and discipline.  I do not have any info on KCIS.   

kimum

leehoma001,

Thanks for your opinion which I mostly agree.

For CDNIS, where can I find the prospect of its students after the secondary school?  Is it available on web site?

kimum

vinna

Hi Gogocat,

Congratulations!

SIS seems to be the natural choice if your child is smart and can stand higher pressure (certainly my daugther is not of this type!).  The only down side is you have to find a middle school for her.  I have some friends' children who continued their studies  in CIS after SIS.  Obviously SIS's academic standard is very  high.

On the other hand, every morning when I send my son to his school bus, I saw quite a few SIS students.  I   got an impression that their school bags are heavy  and they are not as cheerful as other Int'l school sstudents.  Perhaps it is only the character of that few students.  Yo may wish to check with the SIS  parents.

BTW, do you know whether CIS teaches Chinese in traditional or simplied characters?  I likle CDNIS cos it teachess traditional  Chinesse characters.  Needless to say, SIS  is  using simplified Chinese characters.


Vinna

gogocat

I dont know whether my daughter can put up with high pressure or not. I tried to compare the pros and cons of these 2 schools. Apart from the accent, I believe SIS is better than CDNIS. You may also wish to know that SIS will have its secondary section soon. Hence, even if she could not switch to other int school at P6, I believe the secondary school of SIS is not a bad choice. Yet, I guess SIS students are more competitive than students in other int school (up to P6 level).
you have mentioned you did see students from SIS. do they normally talk in English or Putonghau?

regards
gogocat

regards
gogocat

kimum

leehoma001,

Thanks for your detailed and important information.

kimum

lulurobert

My girl and my boy are studying at SIS while I had a nephew studying at ESF.  I can't comment on the other two schools as I don't have first hand knowledge of them.  

Basically, there are just 2 main issues.  

Firstly, you've got to know that SIS places as much emphasis on Putonghua (& Simplified Chinese characters) as on English.  So you have to decide how important it is for your child to learn Putonghua & Simplified Chinese characters in school.  To me, the others differences are not as important.  For example, I am not aware of any kids dropping out of SIS because they couldn't handle the school work.  Of course, if you want your kid to come first in the class, that is another matter.  My kids' spoken English do occasionally have a trace of Singaporean accent especially when they are talking to their Singaporean friends, but they tend to lose the accent during holidays.  My kids love going to school everyday while I'm sure there are others who are not so keen on it.  It just happens in every school.

The second main issue is that Western culture is different from Eastern one and people brought up in these 2 different background do look at things differently.  To give you an example, how Westerners view their relationship with their parents are different from Chinese people.  There is no right or wrong.  It's just something that you have to bear in mind.

gogocat

Hi lulurobert,
thanks for your comment.
As there are so many people do think SIS is similar to a local school with high pressure, do they have tests or exam very frequently?can yr nephew write and read Chinese?

Regards,
gogocat

lulurobert

Yes, they do have homeworks, tests and exams.  But, I don't think the workload is anywhere near those that you get in local schools.   To give you an idea, my girl who is in P2 spends less than 3 hours PER WEEK on average on her homework.  On the other hand, if you are looking for a completely carefree environment with a minimum amount of works, ESF will be the right place for your kid.

My nephew can read Chinese, but he can't write.  

gogocat

Hi leehoma,

Have you got any solid evidence to say that the english standard of many primary students in HK are much better than SIS?

regards
gogocat

lulurobert

There is not much point in comparing the English standard between different schools.  Firstly, as you said, there is no conclusive evidence.  Secondly, shall we compare the top students of each school?  How about the worst ones?  Even if we compare the "average" standard prevailing in the schools, but what is good English?   If you go to the following site, you will see that the students in England make a lot more spelling and grammatical errors than foreign students.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=378694&in_page_id=1770

So shall we say that schools in England have higher spoken standard, but lower written standard, than schools in foreign countries?  Or spelling and grammar just don't count?  Even if there were conclusive evidence showing that one particular school's "average" standard is higher than the rest, how can we be sure that our own kid is smart enough to reach this standard?  There is no answer to all these questions.  The gist of the question is if you want your kid to learn in school Putonghua and Simplified Chinese characters to more or less the same standard as English, then SIS will be fine.  If you think that English is a lot more important than Putonghua and Simplified Chinese characters, or if you think that these could be learned by private tuition or later on in life, then ESF will be fine.