Hong Lok Yuen International School

[bbc mom]

Dear Hay,
My son is 2yrs 2mths and goes to the afternoon parent/toddler playgroup. Being a small school they only run 2 nursery classes in the morning, therefore the pre-nursery class and playgroup occupy the two classrooms for the afternoon session.

Nursery class is for kids who have reached 3yrs, and pre-nursery for those 2yrs 8mths (depending on birth month). I believe pre-nursery is more geared towards getting the kids settled and accustomed to the school environment and help them overcome any separation issues. Nursery is a little more structured, although still some free play, and the kids are encouraged to do one piece of arts/crafts per day. Basic mandarin is also introduced through singing.

If you are interested in applying, do so quickly since they have already started the interview process. There is an informal child assessment with the nursery teacher, and then a parent interview with the principal.

I think it is a happy school with a good environment. The nursery teacher also supervises the playgroup so I have gotten to know her better and I like her very much. If you can join the playgroup you will get to see more of the school and learning environment, and decide if it's suitable for you. Good luck.

 

[Hay]

Dear bbc mom,

Thank you so much bbc mom!! I have joined the tots club recently and I would like to get more information/advice of Pre-Nursery/Nursery. Agreed with you that it's a good environment for children!

O! When is the starting date of interview? If I apply next week will too late or not? coz today is Friday! I would like to know that how about the interview with principal? is hard or easy? coz I worry I am not Native English Speaker!!

Will u send your son to pre-nursery/nursery class? if yes, hopefully I can see you there!!

Thousand Thanks!

Dear Hay,
My son is 2yrs 2mths and goes to the afternoon parent/toddler playgroup. Being a small school they only run 2 nursery classes in the morning, therefore the pre-nursery class and playgroup occupy the two classrooms for the afternoon session.

Nursery class is for kids who have reached 3yrs, and pre-nursery for those 2yrs 8mths (depending on birth month). I believe pre-nursery is more geared towards getting the kids settled and accustomed to the school environment and help them overcome any separation issues. Nursery is a little more structured, although still some free play, and the kids are encouraged to do one piece of arts/crafts per day. Basic mandarin is also introduced through singing.

If you are interested in applying, do so quickly since they have already started the interview process. There is an informal child assessment with the nursery teacher, and then a parent interview with the principal.

I think it is a happy school with a good environment. The nursery teacher also supervises the playgroup so I have gotten to know her better and I like her very much. If you can join the playgroup you will get to see more of the school and learning environment, and decide if it's suitable for you. Good luck.

 

[caty0606]

to kaplanmeier

kaplanmeier,

We're just considering HLY as the 1st choice, "IF" we want our child to change schools. We haven't decided anything yet. To us, these 2 schools seem to have some things in common, like a small school size, a nice environment, daily Putonghua lesson, etc. For JIS, there's only 1 class per grade and it seems there's a little lack of socialization... I know this is what the small-sized school is about, but it may be a little too small for my child. On top of that, JIS has lots of things to be improved in terms of formalizing the teaching standard among the staff, including the use of teaching materials and the way of assessing the children. But now the new principal has worked on all these issues and more, so we are really eager to see the changes. He told me the other day, "We are moving the mountain." I do hope they really are. So, my husband and I are still looking into these 2 schools as well as any other possible options that meets our expectations.

Are you JIS mom or HLY mom??

 

[kaplanmeier]

Dear Caty0606,

Yes, my child is in JIS. I believe I understand your concerns, especially why you would like to see that the teaching standards among staffs are somehow unified and assessment methods formalised, and am also looking forward to changes. However, I wonder if any good school can unify the teaching standard at all; it's probably very easy for a bad school! Dilemmatically, we probably would also like to see that the teachers are somewhat diversified in their approaches. Oh, I don't mean I disagree with you. I think in order to unify and formalise, I would like to see that they can state their expectation, for each grade, more explicitly and in more details so that we parents can request to raise or to lower their stated expectation. Once the teachers' and parents' expectations agree, I would be happy to see more diversification.

 

[bbc mom]

Hi Hay,
Sorry about the late reply. The interview is quite an informal chat so don't worry. Judging by your written english you should be fine. Good luck.

 

[Hay]

Hi bbc mom,

Thank you for your reply. You're right! The interview is quite an informal chat, one day is an informal child assessment with the nursery teacher, another day is a parent interview with the principal! coz, I went to interview last week! hehe...and they accepted my son for Pre-Nursery class! Now I am waiting for cofirmation letter!

Anyway, many many thanks for your invaluable advise for me!


Hay