That's weird ... but they may fail the interviews ...
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Information sharing about ESF application
- Thread starter hkislander123
- Start date
That's weird ... but they may fail the interviews ...
hkislander123
Registered User
Invited for the interview means they are almost accepted. Last time when I visited QBS, the principal said they do not invite more students than they need. I heard that they invite 200 students, and 11 failed. So, only if kids do not speak or behave badly, they fail. Also, I see QBS school bus every morning, and inside the bus, the students are almost HK kids. It is true that in ESF, there are so many HK students. I do not know why.
I have to admit that that was one of my concerns when I visited to school and went through the school book ... I hardly saw any "blond" kids, like mine. A lot of Asian faces, I would say 3/4. But again, I have quite a few kids from our building (non-Asian) go there, and they're all happy with the school, level of education, etc. I mean, we do live in Hong Kong, I am all for diversity instead of sending my child to a school with mainly "blond" children.
Time will tell ... They have space for 4 x 30 children in Primary, is my understanding. Or are there more classes?
Time will tell ... They have space for 4 x 30 children in Primary, is my understanding. Or are there more classes?
notmyaisle
Registered User
Bearing in mind we fall into Category 1 and did not get an interview - does anyone know of any Category 2 getting interviews with Bradbury?
These things happen sometmes.
These things happen sometmes.
The Asian kids could be from a non-chinese background (eg. Koreans, Japanese, Malaysians, Singaporeans etc), all of whom will struggle in the local system and should also be considered in category one.
The ratio of "pure blonde" to other south east asian faces/eurasians in the expatriate category is probably quite small. One only needs to step out of home to see that - one pure blonde in a sea of 100 or more asian faces.
I think they say ESF has about 30 different nationalities studying there.
A friend of mine (she's bbc - HK chinese born overseas) did not get the interview for her son and she thinks that it's because both her husband and her can speak, read and write Chinese - not fluently but enough to get by daily or read the Chinese papers. I wonder if they'll at least consider her for Cat. 2. But then again, she's not that keen on ESF anyway, she'd much prefer DSS schools. The ones who are targeting DSS may give up their places in ESF schools seeing that interviews for DSS are a year later.
I think we'll all have to trust that ESF will be as fair as they can be. Fingers crossed.
notmyaisle, I hope you'll hear from them soon. They probably need time to sort out all the letters and emails.
To the rest, good luck. I hope the interview won't be tough. I'm worried. I told my daughter about the interview and said that she'll have to go alone without her friends (or mummy) but she'll have lots of other kids to play with and that if they like her, she gets to go to their school. I told her that her new school is really fun. Her reply was, "No, I will cry". I think I'm NOT going to speak to her about it anymore. I'll just take her and whatever happens happens. She spent her first month at school (IN3/K2) crying and this was only 3 months ago.
The ratio of "pure blonde" to other south east asian faces/eurasians in the expatriate category is probably quite small. One only needs to step out of home to see that - one pure blonde in a sea of 100 or more asian faces.
I think they say ESF has about 30 different nationalities studying there.
A friend of mine (she's bbc - HK chinese born overseas) did not get the interview for her son and she thinks that it's because both her husband and her can speak, read and write Chinese - not fluently but enough to get by daily or read the Chinese papers. I wonder if they'll at least consider her for Cat. 2. But then again, she's not that keen on ESF anyway, she'd much prefer DSS schools. The ones who are targeting DSS may give up their places in ESF schools seeing that interviews for DSS are a year later.
I think we'll all have to trust that ESF will be as fair as they can be. Fingers crossed.
notmyaisle, I hope you'll hear from them soon. They probably need time to sort out all the letters and emails.
To the rest, good luck. I hope the interview won't be tough. I'm worried. I told my daughter about the interview and said that she'll have to go alone without her friends (or mummy) but she'll have lots of other kids to play with and that if they like her, she gets to go to their school. I told her that her new school is really fun. Her reply was, "No, I will cry". I think I'm NOT going to speak to her about it anymore. I'll just take her and whatever happens happens. She spent her first month at school (IN3/K2) crying and this was only 3 months ago.
May,
That's actually very true what you're saying about other nationalities, it's very hard to tell.
I am also a little worried about my daughter's interview, since she's a very good girl but very very shy. She's fine at her school now but I am afraid it's going to be all new. Luckily I found out that 2 of her class mates (2 children with priority due to older siblings) are in the same interview slot. So maybe you're daughter will also have a few familiar faces from the school she's currently at. Apparently they keep that in mind.
I have mentioned it to her, but since it's still "far" I'll not going to remind her every day ...
Good luck!
That's actually very true what you're saying about other nationalities, it's very hard to tell.
I am also a little worried about my daughter's interview, since she's a very good girl but very very shy. She's fine at her school now but I am afraid it's going to be all new. Luckily I found out that 2 of her class mates (2 children with priority due to older siblings) are in the same interview slot. So maybe you're daughter will also have a few familiar faces from the school she's currently at. Apparently they keep that in mind.
I have mentioned it to her, but since it's still "far" I'll not going to remind her every day ...
Good luck!
esf deliberately invites kids from the same class who are familiar with each other to interview together so they can see how kids interact. the teachers have already been to the majority of the schools and have made notes, so they know what the kids are like in their familiar environments.
thinking about the different nationalities in a class, my son got his esf class photo today...of a class of 30 there are at least 12 nationalities.
thinking about the different nationalities in a class, my son got his esf class photo today...of a class of 30 there are at least 12 nationalities.
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Oh dear! Too late for that now :-(
She was enrolled as a full day student back in September and we've just switched her to half day. I've spoken to two mothers in her school and all have different timings - all are in different classes.
I guess it's too late now to tell them that she's switched class, right?
She was enrolled as a full day student back in September and we've just switched her to half day. I've spoken to two mothers in her school and all have different timings - all are in different classes.
I guess it's too late now to tell them that she's switched class, right?
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Category 1 - no interview at Bradbury
Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has applied to Bradbury for P1 ie born in 2004 but has not got an interview. We are in that position and have been told that there are at least 60 children (also Category 1) who are on the waiting list. Everyone that I have talked to cannot believe that is the case but I have called the admissions officer to confirm that these are all category 1 children ie cannot speak Cantonese. They will also not tell us where we are on the waitlist. Like some others (perhaps foolishly) we did not make any back up plans as everyone had told us it would not be a problem getting in if we had a child who could only speak English. I have been told that ESF changed the catchment area so that Bradbury now includes all children from outlying islands who used to go to Kennedy so don't know if that is true but may be a reason why it is so oversubscribed this year. Can anyone shed any light or offer any suggestions of what to do next?
Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has applied to Bradbury for P1 ie born in 2004 but has not got an interview. We are in that position and have been told that there are at least 60 children (also Category 1) who are on the waiting list. Everyone that I have talked to cannot believe that is the case but I have called the admissions officer to confirm that these are all category 1 children ie cannot speak Cantonese. They will also not tell us where we are on the waitlist. Like some others (perhaps foolishly) we did not make any back up plans as everyone had told us it would not be a problem getting in if we had a child who could only speak English. I have been told that ESF changed the catchment area so that Bradbury now includes all children from outlying islands who used to go to Kennedy so don't know if that is true but may be a reason why it is so oversubscribed this year. Can anyone shed any light or offer any suggestions of what to do next?
hi teaspoon
this isn't much help, but i went to the esf website and under bradbury they list the catchment area:
http://www.esf.edu.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=970&langNo=1
please let us know how it goes.
i know of several families in hk whose children attend different esf schools, because the school was full for the year for one of their kids but had vacancies for another. as a p1, is there any way that you could get into another esf catchment school?
please let us know how it turns out.
this isn't much help, but i went to the esf website and under bradbury they list the catchment area:
http://www.esf.edu.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=970&langNo=1
please let us know how it goes.
i know of several families in hk whose children attend different esf schools, because the school was full for the year for one of their kids but had vacancies for another. as a p1, is there any way that you could get into another esf catchment school?
please let us know how it turns out.
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