Re: any kids studying or studied in ESF (sai kung) kinder? thks!

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r4parents | 2006-07-22 03:25
Hi Sophia,

My son is promoting to P.6 in CWBS in the coming term and my daughter is going to study in Abacus this Nov because she will be 3 years old in Nov.

In fact, my son transferred from Yew Chung to CWBS 2 years ago. He loves CWBS much more than YC because he finds the learning environment in CWBS more interesting and people there more friendly. As for the homework, although it is apparently that they do not have too much homework, they have a lot of exercises and assignments in the school. When we went to the parents' inerviews which we had chances to discuss with the class teacher about the learning progress of my son, we were amazed at the great projects the students accomplished during the school time. The phi of the school is that they'd rather their student do most of the execise in the school and ENJOY reading more books at home.

As for the math in international school, I, being a science graduate long long time ago, do not think that the western people are lack of logicial thinking. Most of the great mathematicians and scientists are from the western countries. From my experience, the math standard really depends on the student's eagerness to learn. Remember I have just mentioned that they are required to do a lot of exercises and assignments in the school. Students will be grouped to sit together during the exercise time according to the results of those exercises. Students of higher ability will be given more difficult exercises whilst those of "less higher" will be given special assistance by the class teacher or teaching assistant. These groupings will be changed from time to time to motivate students to work better. In my son's case, he has been in the most advanced group for the first two trimesters of the school year. When he entered the last trimester, he was asked to go the office of the Deputy Principal with another two talented fellows during the math class once a week to study more advanced science and math topics such as the logic behind suduko and the physics of wave and force. So, Sophia, do not worry about the math. In fact, my wife studied statistics in the university and she appreciates the way ESF is teaching the math subject. It really gives the students a solid foundation and clear concept of math instead of reciting the math operation. When they go to post-graduate level, the difference between the local method and the IS one will be obvious.

The above is just a personal sharing. Hope you won't mind it is too long.

r4parents | 2006-07-22 03:48
Hi cocobean,

As mentioned in other area of this forum, my son is promoting to P.6 this Sept in CWBS and my daughter is going to Abacus this Nov. When we applied Abacus for her, we did not apply other kindergartens at all because we thought she might get a very good priority over others with a brother already studying om an ESF school. Moreover, we were the first one to submit the application form according to the admin office. However, we were not accepted until the third round of selection because there is a policy in Abacus that the priority of the place should go to those kids whose first language is not Chinese and cannot go to local schools (pls refer to the website of ESF). For our case, we are purely Hong Kong Chinese and so, we are in the third category. In fact, when we went to the parents' reception of Abacus last month, we found that my daughter is one of the only two Chinese in the class. The other one is a Taiwanese. I think the competition of ESF kindergartens is getting more keen these few years because more expats are coming to Hong Kong after the recession. So, I suggest you have some spare choices.

God bless you!
ekkw3786 | 2006-07-23 00:20
As for Abacus, my sister's case is a bit different. Her daughter will start K1 this Sep and she submitted an app to Abacus around Dec last year or Jan this year for admission to pre-nursery and her daughter was admitted shortly afterwards. No being put on a waiting list or anything like that. Her daughter is also a "pure" Hong Konger holding no foreign passports. So it did seem to me competition at Abacus was not very fierce.

When your son got admitted to CWBS, did the admission come easy? For my daughter who is going to start K2 this Sep, I want to apply to ESF too and got my sight set upon CWBS. However, recent comments from different sources are rather discouraging in terms of the difficulty of getting admitted for a local Chinese. So I was wondering if there are other parents in this forum who can share their comments or insights about the situation.
:cry:
r4parents | 2006-07-23 16:08
My son have studied in Yew Chung for 5 years before he transferred to CWBS 2 years ago. In fact, he was in the waiting list for almost 1 year that time. Luckily, CWBS had a new extension which could accomdate more new students of different grades in 2004. That's why he was accepted. I think if not for the extension, he could not get in because when my son went to the interview for CWBS, I met the parents who were with their son. They told me that his son had been waiting for more than 2 years. However, we could not meet his son even after the new school term started.

Is your niece studying in AM or PM class? So far as I know, the "competition" of AM class is keen. You know, parents like their kids to study AM session more because the time is better utiiized.
ekkw3786 | 2006-07-23 22:32
r4parents, thx for your info. So it does seem CWBS is difficult to get in for a local Chinese. I wonder if the situation remains the same even if the first language of the kid is Eng. (which is my daughter's situation and I know it has to be mentioned on the app form) Anyway it looks like we are likely to have to amend our plan, maybe another ESF school!

As for my niece, actually, my sister ended up not accepting the offer because of a problem of transportation. However, for admission to their K1 this Sep she was only offered a place on the waiting list. I don't know, maybe they never guaranteed that pre-nursery students can always secure a place in K1 so admission to pre-nursery and that to K1 are totally different stories! :-?
r4parents | 2006-07-24 09:38
Hi Ekkw,

Is your daughter holding a foreigh passport? If not, even your daughter speaks English in home, they do not treat your first language is Eng. BTW, is yr daughter going to P.1 or other grades? It is easier to get into the P.1 than other grades. The admission policy of all ESF schools are the same. FYI, here is the link for the admission to ESF school, http://www.esf.edu.hk/admission.html. Moreover, ESF uses catchment area to decide which ESF school you can apply. You can go to individual school to learn which districts they accept their students.

God bless you!
esp | 2006-07-24 10:42
Hi Momalice

How old was your son when he started studying in Abacus ? For local kinder, kids are accepted to nursery at the age of 2 and to K1 at 2yrs8mos (pls correct me if I'm wrong). How about Abacus ? You mentioned that your son had only joined Playgroup before studying in Abacus. Could he manage to communicate with teachers/classmates soon after the class started ? Do you speak Eng only with him at home ? How is his Chinese/Mandarin level lately ?

Sorry to put up a dozens of questions. I also live in TKO and wanna put my boy to Abacus for kinder. But quite different from u & other moms, I plan to put him to local kinder/primary school starting from K3. (Though all depends on his development by that time). Any mom goes this way ? Can you share ?
ekkw3786 | 2006-07-24 11:55
r4parents, thx a lot for your info. Yes, my daughter is going to start K2 this Sep. I need to submit an app for admission to P1 this Sep, too.

ESF has an unambiguous admission policy and it is written on their website. But it is always unclear to me how they interpret and implement the policy. I heard some info (on this forum and others) regarding that and sometimes a piece of info contradicts with another. So the most I can say about their implementation of the policy is I don't know, tho I would think judging whether a kid's first language is Eng. or another language by his/her nationality is a rough method at best. :cry:
ekkw3786 | 2006-07-24 11:57
esp, for your info, I visited Abacus last week and was told by an admin staff that they'd admit 3yo children or those very close to 3yo when the school term starts.
BBIX | 2006-07-24 16:32
hi, all bk moms, I wanna put my boy in abacus, he was born in 21may05, but do u hv any idea if they hv an interview for both parent and children? if they do, what they ask? it's difficult to get in? as he's holding foreigner passport.
and may I know if all of u put your child in nursery b4 kinder? I 'm still looking for which one it 's better, in TKO, Sai Kung or KLN tong, as we live in sai kung and we plan just send him for 1 year nursery, and for future, will put him in cwb school, so I 'm wonder if it's better to put him to learn half chinese and half eng in nursery if it would help, or just directly in eng nursery, cos I 'm afraid he doesn't hv chance to learn chinese even basic one in school.. thks!
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