SIS( Singapore international school) discussion

O

olivewyq

New member
We are from Shanghai. My hub move to Hong Kong as expats for the same bank he works in Shanghai.

We had applied for 5 schools and we got enrolled by 4 of them. We are now mainly a little bit struggling between SIS and ISF. Is there anyone be of help to offer your advices or thoughts?

The child should be strong in Chinese and I expect him to be proficient in English as I would like to send him to US for high educatiion.


Many thanks,
 
seems low traffic in this website. I would build one floor myself then. Almost all the Hong kong friends we know said SIS is better than ISF as it has sound track record as it is founded in 1991 while ISF some time early 2000. The child himself like ISF more and I think it is because of the facility and the libraries. ISF is more horisontal than normal Hong Kong schools which is more vertical on allocation.
 
Hi, my son attended SIS and we have friends who send their children to ISF. They are both well resourced schools and we know very happy students at both places. The main difference seems to be medium of instruction. SiS starts off 50/50 English/Mandarin and gradually moves to all English except for Chinese in later years. ISF bills itself as 30/70 English/Mandarin and moves to 30/70 in later years. Bear in mind that ISF is a very new school, so it's not clear if that formula will work. My son is now at KCS, where everything is taught in Mandarin except for English. I'm American and my husband is Singaporean, so our household is already English-speaking. The challenge for us is finding a good Mandarin medium education, and we're very pleased with KCS so far. Good luck and welcome to Hong Kong!
 
Yonge, can you share as to why you decided to move your son from SIS to KCS? Were you not happy with the environment or means of teaching at SIS? My daughter is currently in kindgarten at KCS but we are thinking of moving her to SIS for reception. Appreciate your feedback.
 
The main thing is medium of instruction. We're an English speaking household, do the only place our children are going to learn Mandarin will be in school. My son enjoyed SIS very much, but he didn't learn nearly as much Chinese there as he has at KCS. I'm less worried about his English, which is already very good, nor about access to extracurricular activities, which we already pursue as a family. If he is to enjoy Chinese as a language as opposed to a subject, he needs to get proficient as quickly as possible, so that he can start reading in it for pleasure. Hope this helps!
 
With 3 kids, I have some experience in this area so I'll add my 3c:

KCS : a very old traditional school (rota learning) which is 90% Putonghua. Very affordable fees but lacking in facilities.

SIS : an English school with a relatively good Mandarin component. Established with proven track record. Expensive school but someone has to pay for all those great facilities.

ISF : a truly bi-lingual school which starts with 70% Putonghua and continues on with eventually reaching 70% English. Relatively new but getting extremely popular. Also expensive but someone must pay for the upcoming swimming pool.

If mandarin is very important to you, then avoid SIS. It is an English school with much better mandarin than most other english schools but its still and English school.

HC
 
Thanks Yonge and HowardCoombs for your input. We have decided to send our daughter to SIS as we think she will be a better fit there.
 
yum-mum said:
Thanks Yonge and HowardCoombs for your input. We have decided to send our daughter to SIS as we think she will be a better fit there.
Click to expand...

Excellent choice. Its a great school with very good teachers and facilities; just dont expect the same level of Mandarin as kids that would have continued with KCS.

HC
 
My child just had py1 interview & it took about 15mins- i'm just wondering if this is the usual length of time?
as it seems rather short compared with other schools- it takes that time for my daughter to warm up. So a little anxious as to whether the interview went well
 
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