Box Hill "International Preschool and Kindergarten": HK's biggest scam?

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How can a school charge almost HK$5000 per month for a 3 hour day with an unqualified teacher in a room that, according to some, is too small for the number of staff and students?

The K1 teacher at the Tiu Keng Leng (MetroTown) location (a small & cramped facility inside of a shopping mall) admits that she does not possess the required qualifications or other statutory requirements as per the HK Education Bureau?s Operation Manual for Pre-primary Institutions, section 8.2, pages E 8-3 through E 8-5.

The principal of the school simply states that teachers stay for a while and then go to "good schools". :rolling: They can't get staff to stay.

Be forewarned. Don't take my word for it -- go there and ask for yourself!
 
I had the same impression of another of these small "international schools", where they had a young blonde girl to simply show that the school is international, and everybody else was a local who didn't speak English (except the principal whose English is excellent). I wonder how many are scams.
 
the pre-primary business here in HK is really amazing. The desire to send children to a decent nursery/kindergarten is so strong it has created opportunities for fraud. Box Hill, as mentioned above, is one such case.

What about requiring parents to buy two sets of uniforms? School photos? Parties that require purchase of tickets?

Box Hill is notorious for all of that PLUS they have oerfected the ripoff even more: they charge $380 per month for 'supplies'. :haha: what? $380 per month for a kindergartner's paper and glue sticks? oh, maybe some crayons too. Multiply that by the 20 to 25 children in the class and what do we have? More than $7600 per month for coloured paper, crayons and glue sticks! They're laughing all the way to the bank.

the biggest scam in Hong Kong.

The parents are so proud to have their little precious wear a school uniform with the word :International' on it, that they haven't looked carefully at how the business (a business, not a school) is ripping them off.

Don't take my word for it -- go there and ask for yourself!
 
Aren't they all the same? They call themselves "international" and hire a foreign teacher, and charge $4,000 a month or more than the local kindergartens.

York International Kindergarten charges $71,000 a year. More than a university? Really? For a kindergarten? 3 years of Kindergarten costs more than a Master degree in Cambridge University.

The problem is that if you want your little angel to go to a top notch primary school (e.g. Diocesan) you need to send him/her first to one of these very expensive kindergartens. This way you show the primary school you are rich, and therefore a better human being than the poor out there. Right? :rolleyes:
 
York teaches in Cantonese (or Mandarin) and English. I wouldn't call it an 'international school' either, but it's a kind of local/english language school. Same as St. Catherine, Kentville, Box Hill and many others.
 
I am actually a Kindergarten teacher and have found that this happens in a lot of schools.. I have a daughter too so it makes me more wary to which Kindergarten I will send her.

If you are a teacher in an international school (the class teacher not assistant) you MUST be a QKT (qualified kindergarten teacher). However, if you are an English teacher in a local school then you do not have to be a QKT but you must have some sort of qualification related to teaching (TEFL/TESOL/CELTA) preferably with a degree.

After working with the international and local system of Kindergartens in Hong Kong. I am leaning more towards the local system for my daughter.
 
Thanks for keeping us updated with stuff like this, its always useful going through the forums when making such an important decision. After reading this stuff and talking to friends, I have come to the general conclusion that kindergartens which are in older areas are generally more well established and more experienced. Something worth considering even if you live over in Kowloon / NT but you have a car.
 
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