We have been offered a place at IMS for our 9 year old. I really liked the school when we were there for his interview, but he was more hesitant. My husband's company has bought a debenture for ESF Peak School and we are on the top of their list but has still not heard if we will get an interview or offer from them. Does anyone have any insight into these schools, positive or negative? I have heard mixed things about ESF, but I do like the campus, the IB system and love the fact that all my son's friends will be living nearby and that he will have just a couple of minutes to school. My instinct is to accept the offer from IMS which I did like, but if we get an offer from ESF, to go for that instead. It will be expensive, but right now I'm just grateful that we have a school for him this autumn at all and that is worth more than anything.
IMS vs Peak School
- Thread starter Marrol
- Start date
Based on your post, you seem to prefer ESF Peak over IMS in which case IMS is just your back up school. IMS requires you to purchase a 70k debenture and the monthly tuition for primary is around 13k per month. You are required to give at least two months notice if you intend to withdraw from school and when you redeem your debenture, they will deduct 20k for transfer fee. I guess what I am trying to say is IMS will be a very expensive back up school.
Hi Blueblue! Thank you for your answer. My problem is that I really don't have any preferences. Since we're still in England I do not know more about these schools than I can find on their websites! We visited IMS when my son had his interview, but we weren't able to get any tour. The same with the Peak school, the playground looked lovely peeking in over the fence, but that's all I got to see. I like the Montessori concept and think it would suit my son well. The question is, since my husbands company has already bought a debenture at ESF, is IMS good enough for us to loose that money? Also, is it good enough to make up for the longer travel time my son will have to do every day? Thirdly, if I say no to IMS, ESF might not be able to offer us any place, then we will be without school in August! It is all very stressful and I know this is what everybody coming from overseas to HK have to endure, but it is so hard to chose school when you actually don't know anything about them. We are lucky both to have any offer at all and to have a company who have promised to help us financially in any way they can when it comes to schools, but I do not want to waste their money or the schools time if we wont accept it it the end. Please help me anyone who has more inside information about these schools!
There are some posts on geoschool about IMS so you can read those and decide whether IMS is the right school for your child. Some parents love IMS while other don't.
For primary school, I hear that there are far more girls than boys (4 to 1, I am told), which may limit your son socially if he prefers to play with boys vs. girls. Also, the facilities are not that great (no cafeteria, no gym, etc).
But, this should not really concern you. Given that you have a debenture and first on the waitlist and its only May, my guess is that you son will not attend more than a couple of months at IMS (if at all).
Have you called the admissions office at Peak? They cannot predict whether a spot will open up this year before fall but they can probably give you the number of kids who moved out of the school last summer. That should give you a good idea.
If money is not an issue (and it does not sound like it), perhaps 50K is a small price to pay to ensure a spot for your son (especially if you think you will be stressed about it alll summer).
For primary school, I hear that there are far more girls than boys (4 to 1, I am told), which may limit your son socially if he prefers to play with boys vs. girls. Also, the facilities are not that great (no cafeteria, no gym, etc).
But, this should not really concern you. Given that you have a debenture and first on the waitlist and its only May, my guess is that you son will not attend more than a couple of months at IMS (if at all).
Have you called the admissions office at Peak? They cannot predict whether a spot will open up this year before fall but they can probably give you the number of kids who moved out of the school last summer. That should give you a good idea.
If money is not an issue (and it does not sound like it), perhaps 50K is a small price to pay to ensure a spot for your son (especially if you think you will be stressed about it alll summer).
hi marrol, i hope you have found a good school for your kid by now. i am an IMS parent with two kids in their primary and casa programme, and we couldnt be happier. i never really got on any forums about schools (first time today!). just by coincidence i found this thread and a few other threads about ims. i noticed there are a lot of “i heard” “a friend say” stuff, i guess end of the day its best to get in touch with the existing parents of your school options, if possible of course, that will be best way to find out the true situation. every single parent i met at IMS are very happy, and most importantly the children are so gracious and happy, thats precious to me. wish you best of luck in hk! 