HK Preschool advice?

[howardcoombs]

The suggestions that have been given to you are all nice schools but they are all English based schools with very little Mandarin component, mostly play based and certainly wont cover the 3Rs to what you are used to. Coming from Singapore, I know that your LO would have had much higher level of Mandarin already; Woodlands will not come anywhere close to what you are used to. Someone above already commented on Woodlands ("they do nothing academic"); its a fun place but you wont get much in terms of Rs, let alone 3Rs

With that in mind and if you wish to continue a higher level, I would suggest you contact the following schools ASAP to see what they can do for you. All of them have "decent" levels of Mandarin of varying degrees and they suit various budgets. You can find out more by googling each one. Kiangsu Chekiang School, Independant Schools Foundation, Singapore International School, Victoria Shanghai Academy, Yew Chung International School and Chinese International School.

 

[Julian O'Connel]

Thank you very much people, that's really helpful advice already.

It does seem it would be a shame not to let him push on at the academic level he is at, as he seems quite happy at his current school. However just getting him in somewhere in HK sounds like a bigger challenge for now...

We will need to get on with our own research I guess, but this is a really useful start and thanks again.

Pixelfelf - Our guy is at that very branch of Columbia Academy on Havelock Road. If we were not leaving I suspect your LO would be in his same class!

If you want to email me directly, I would be more than happy to share our opinion and experience of the place (all good so far).

They do seem to push them along academically, but he doesn't suffer from it at all, and in fact seemed a little bit bored at some of the other more play orientated kindergartens we tried previously including Learning Vision and Cherie Hearts...

Anyway feel free to drop me a line if you like.

Best for now Julian

 

[carang]

you might want to try a kindergarten such as Learning Habitat. They are a famous, local kindergarten. They are quite academic, too.

 

[howardcoombs]

It does seem it would be a shame not to let him push on at the academic level he is at, as he seems quite happy at his current school. However just getting him in somewhere in HK sounds like a bigger challenge for now...

All the replies you've had so far have been for higher end English ones and I (and cara, the fast fingers) gave you a bunch of higher end bilingual ones. Both of these groups are in fairly high demand.

Dont forget that there is a 3rd choice and that is purely local Cantonese KGs. They are much more plentiful and will give your LO the opportunity to pick up a 3rd language in an immersion environment. You can then relax a bit more and take the time to look more carefully.
It seems you are not afraid of academic environment like many others are - you will have a huge choice in Hong Kong as most local KGs stress academic achievement over mere fun&games.

 

[evgreen]

You can also look into Tutor Time which is fully bilingual and I know they focus on the 3 R's as well. Best of luck to you.