Important: New ESF Calendar Proposal

[testuser]

Most of you ESF parents would have received the email indicating that the ESF is considering changing the calendar year, because a longer term seems to be wearing the kids down.

(Wearing them down? I used to walk uphill BOTH ways to school!)

More on English Schools Foundation - News Detail

Important to note:

We would like to invite your participation in the discussion process by submitting your comments at [email protected].

It would be helpful to ascertain views on the following questions and areas.

1. Of the three models, which model do you prefer and why?

2. What do you consider least appealing about the other 2 models?

3. What further questions would you suggest need to be considered?

4. What alternative model(s) would it be helpful to consider and why?


This email address will be open from now until 30 April. Responses will then be collated and a summary published on the ESF website by 27 May. A report will be presented to the ESF Board at their meeting on 16 June.

The new calendar can be found here:

http://www.esf.edu.hk/FileManager/EN/UTIL_UNEWS/esf calendar models 31 march 2009.pdf

As you can see - this is quite a serious change which could throw a lot of schedule out of whack - specially for a number of us where both the parents work and that work gets even more intense during year end / December.

Not yet looked at how this might affect travel pricing.

Also will affect parents whose kids are in different systems for whatever reason.

Email

In recent years there have been an increasing number of comments from parents and teachers regarding the school calendar. The main concern is that Term One is too long and that the quality of learning is seriously compromised in the final weeks, as students are just too tired. In addition, it has been suggested that teaching and learning would be improved by changing the calendar so that each term is of a more equal length.

We believe there is merit in these arguments. However, we also recognise that changes to the calendar will usually have knock-on effects which may be less desirable. In short, we need to decide if the educational advantages from any change are outweighed by the disadvantages.

We have mapped out how the school calendar should look from 2010-11 to 2014-2015 with and without the proposed changes (please click here). These calendars are provisional as not all public (general) holidays have been confirmed. The first calendar is essentially unchanged and is predicated on the current 3 term style. The second and third calendars show two alternatives, both based on a 4 term academic year.

We would welcome your views and comments on these models. Additional information and an email address to use may be found at the above link.

The consultation process will result in a report to the ESF Board of Governors and a decision reached at the Board meeting on 16 June 2009.

 

[MommyTo3]

Thank you very much for posting this. My child will start QBS in September, so this would also affect us in the near future. I looked at the options, and I would still prefer the current option 1, possibly 2 (something can be said for a longer autumn break and it's kind of a middle of the road solution) but would never chose option 3 (summer holiday too short to travel home for a long period, too hot in August and I don't want 3 weeks for Xmas either, too long for the kids in the middle of a school year, I prefer to keep them going with a proper, but not too long, break).

 

[testuser]

Same here, while we prefer option 1 ... option 2 is sort of ok if there is really a need to change the schedules.

Option 3 I suspect has been proposed for Australians who might want longer trips back home for "summer".

I'd recommend writing in if I were you.

 

[MommyTo3]

Thanks, I was planning on mailing them as well.

 

[Neha]

Aren't most teachers at ESF Schools Australians? i guess 3rd option will probably will have a huge support from them .

Option 1 is the best option for us

 

[pooch]

Option 3 is by far the best for me. 8 weeks in the summer is far too long!

 

[pooch]

i'll be mailing them for sure ;o)

 

[MommyTo3]

Aren't most teachers at ESF Schools Australians? i guess 3rd option will probably will have a huge support from them .

Option 1 is the best option for us

I am pretty sure, but I am not sure what the % of Australian students within ESF is. Not the majority for sure. Second, this is not Australia and also most other countries in the world have their longest holiday during July / August. Also if you have kids in other schools in HK, this would be a pain. Option 2 is again, more the middle of the road, but I would prefer 1 as well, but could live with 2. Interesting!

 

[pooch]

i would have thought that option 3 would suit a lot of non-Australians / NZers as well if they like to take vacations back home at Xmas...? A lot of my European / UK friends find the 8 week summer break a few weeks too long as well. There is still a 5 week break in July into August which seems pretty substantial to me.

I can see that it would be a nightmare if you had children in 2 different systems.

 

[Seb's Dad]

thank you for starting this thread

i am firmly in support of the current three term system.

from speaking with parents and teachers, these are the thoughts that have been presented to me so far:

1) what are children with two "working" parents meant to do during the two week October break? the cost for "break" activities is considerable! and many families might select "academic" options like day long maths, english, mandarin classes....the kids would return to school not refreshed at all!

2) it is too hot in august for the kids to be in school.

3) many schools in the uk don't end until mid july. if this four term proposal goes through, "family" time, where uk expats can spend time with cousins and family will be seriously reduced.

i'm doing more research, but this is what i have come up with so far!