how to choose a kindergarten?

R

riseandshine

Registered User
hello!

we are moving from the uk to hong kong in january for a year, maybe longer. our son is 3 and a half (four in april), and our daughter will be 18 months and we all currently only speak english. do all the children my son's age attend kindergarten or is it optional? do most children attend full or part time? will it be possible to get a place for him anywhere now as we are part way through the academic year? my husband will be working in central and we will probably be living close by - not sure yet where! my husband is going out in a couple of weeks time for 3 weeks to start work and sort out things like accommodation, should he arrange visits to some kindergartens? which ones would you recommend that are english speaking and might have a space? i would be happy with montessori style as well as mainstream. i am grateful for your help as i really don't know where to start and we don't have much time!

thank you

lucy
 
HI Riseandshine

Kindergartens are really a matter of personal choice and dependent on where you will be living when you get to HK?

I looked at about 5 kinders for my 3 1/2 year old when we arrived and settled for a small kindergarten that had a wonderful outdoor play area (a rarity in HK!). It suited her very much as liked outdoor play and also she was tansitioning from one session of kider a week in Australia to the HK system of 5 mornings. So I wanted small classes (she had 13 in her group and two teachers) as I thought it would be a little less intimidating.

Kindergarten sessions for a 4 year old are normally 5 morning a week here. Some people elect to do longer days and have afternoon sessions on top of the morning sessions which may help the child adjust better to the hours of schooling.

Have a look at the Woodlands groups of preschools. Some are conventioal kinders and some are montessori style. They are located everywhere in HK and might give you a gauge of teaching style, resources, space, student teacher ratio etc.

I don't think you will have too much trouble getting into most of them, especially if you are not fussy about morning versus afternoons.

I would also consider putting your kids names down now for schools as they are really hard to get in to.

Good luck.:)
 
thank you very much, that's very helpful. i'm relieved to hear i should be able to find a place for my son! do they have to do 5 sessions a week or is it possible to do less? i would prefer my son to do 3 sessions a week i think. do most kindergartens have a catchment area that you have to live within or is it just for ease of travel that people choose one close to where they will be staying? are there kindergartens attached to the international schools and is it worth looking at these or are they likely to be full now? if there was a particularly good kindergarten with outdoor play area then we could look for accommodation near the kindergarten rather than the other way around as we haven't chosen either yet! thank you again for your help and advice.
 
Here's the SCMP Good Schools Guide and it provides most of the basic info you'll need to begin a search.

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCM...aRCRD&specName=Good+Schools+Guide+(June+2009)

None of the kindergaretens we looked at had a catchment area. That seems to be solely an ESF thing and only at the next level.
We did not look in your area, but every place we looked at was 5 days/week. Some were half day and some were full day. The couple of principals we spoke with at the full day schools strongly recommended a half-day program first, rather than putting your child directly in a full day program. Refereshingly honest, since it ruled their schools out of our search.
There are kindergartens at some, but not all, of the internationals (see the Guide).
Unfortunately every place is different on their ownership and/or access to outdoor space.
Please note that seaprincess said both that you wouldn't have too much trouble and that you need to act now because schools are really hard to get into.
Our experience is that it is easy to find a place, but it might not be your number one choice. We considered over 20 kindergartens, visited about 10 and have narrowed that down to maybe 2 or 3 to actually apply to. Some of the ones we looked at are already full (for next September, at the age level we need).
 
thank you both for your helpful advice and links! i think when my husband is over in a few weeks he will hopefully decide on where we will be living, then i can research the local kindergartens online and set up some visits for when we all arrive in the new year.

do any of the english speaking kindergartens teach cantonese, or do you have to arrange lessons for them separately? i am learning some myself but would rather the children learnt from native speakers than from me! or will they be able to just pick it up from being around cantonese speaking children?
 
hi riseandshine

the international kinders tend to teach mandarin/putonghua as the other main language and there is a real move away from cantonese.

You can do three sessions a week. Most kinders will allow the child to build up to 5 per week especially when they have come from another country where they are not used to the kinder system. Having said that my daughter, after three weeks of three morning sessions, was keen to do everyday!
 
We didn't run into a single kindergarten offering Cantonese. Really, it isn't a very useful language outside of HK and HK is a temporary thing for most people in these schools. Except the locals who have no real need for Canto lessons.
The Mandarin lessons, though, ran from 90 minutes to 180 minutes per week, depending on the school.
 
that's really interesting, thank you, i didn't realise that about cantonese v mandarin.

someone mentioned to us that children attend school full time from age 4 - is that right?

thanks again!
 
if yr hubby is working in central y dun u look at places in the south side?
air quality is good there, not a lot of pp (rare in hk) & there's quite a # of international sch

a fd of mine, who is a singaporean, live in the bel air. a 1400sq ft seaview apartment costing roughly 30k/mnth (all included)

u can try looking at ESF schools, which has quite a few in hk, catering english speaking child. admission at the age of 3 & i think they'll ask u for interview cos u're joining in mid-way. school time is usually 1/2day, 5days a wk, every sch offer 5days here. it has full day schooling but usually pp opt for half day (am or pm, for 3hrs) fr the age 3-5, except both parents are working & no one is helping to take care the kid. starting at 6, they'll hv full day school, which is called primary school
 
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