Affordable pre-schools at HK Island

[slin]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum and i must admit i'm still very confused with the HK edu system! ;( I have been reading up on the past threads over the last few weeks and have sorta shortlisted the following schools for my girl who is due to attend K1 in Sept 2015.

1) Victoria - understand its extremely difficult to get in but this is our first choice due to the close proximity to our home
2) ESF hillside
3) Small World Christian Kindergarten

I have a few more questions which i hope to gather more info on.

1) On average, how many schools should we send our application to? Some locals mentioned they have applied to close to 7-8 schools and only get invited to interviews in 1-2 schools? Is this a norm or an extreme case?
2) Is there any other good affordable bilingual kindergarten (English + putonghua) in the HK Island side? We are looking at tuition fees below 6k per month if thats possible.
3) Is it necessary to enrol into pre-nursery class? My girl (14 months old now) is attending some enrichment classes at the moment and i intend to keep her in there for the next year. Again, i was told by some local that the main reason why they send their children to pre-nursery is to gain automatic entry to K1 and some said my girl wont stand a chance to get an interview without pre-nursery classes experience.

Any views/sharings are much appreciated and sorry if any of the above have been discussed before.

Many thanks.

 

[rani]

For Kindergarten I would apply to at least 5 schools. The 3 which you have shortlisted are all good schools. ESF and Small World don't have a strong Mandarin program if that's what you're after.

Have a look at Island Montessori which has a bi-lingual playgroup as well.

Taste of Montessori (TOM) - Bilingual - ICMS Montessori

From my personal opinion, exposing your child to pre-nursery classes makes the transition to K1 so much easier. Kids are well socialized and confident. I remember when i dropped off my little one, he was so excited to be going to "big school" he ran in and didn't even say goodbye. The Mums were told to wait outside for an hour just in case and after 20 mins we were told to leave.

 

[slin]

Thanks ESFMum, any comment on Rosaryhill? Called them this morning but couldn't get much info, was just told to wait till they post up application notice and details will be "revealed" if we r invited for interviews.

 

[rani]

Rosaryhill school is a very popular school with locals and Expats, and not an easy school to get into. I would apply.

 

[slin]

Thanks ESFMum! Really appreciate your feedbacks

Just one more question - noted some schools like HKIS has reception classes? At what age do they start reception and how does it work? Say, if my girl enters Small World kindy at 3.5yo (she is a March baby) what are her primary school options? Would she still stand a chance to enter HKIS or one of the ESF schools like Bradbury?

Guess if she is accepted into ESF or Victoria, naturally she would progress on to their primary school (provided she pass the interview). That's pretty straightforward, what about students from other kindies like tutortime, woodlands, small world etc. What are their options?

Sorry am a little confused here. Many thanks.

 

[diva@tearoom]

i did send my kids to letterland...and i am happy for.

 

[estella28]

Slin, Small World has it's own primary school, Island Christian Academy, which the kindergarten students have priority entry to. There is obviously an application and interview (term used very loosely think along the lines of ESF interview) process but there is an entry priority granted to the Small World students.