International Montessori school
- Thread starter Olivia_P
- Start date
Perhaps, their academic level is good, but their administration is totally messed up.
They keep interview children but actually they can't provide the spot for them.They put everybody on waiting list to secure themselves. And when the spot available they'll ask you to pay debentures within very short time.
My friend had a very bad experience with them. Her daughter being offered a spot in Stanley campus is now being placed in Tin Hau campus temporary.
They're way too over- confident and lack of experience.
They keep interview children but actually they can't provide the spot for them.They put everybody on waiting list to secure themselves. And when the spot available they'll ask you to pay debentures within very short time.
My friend had a very bad experience with them. Her daughter being offered a spot in Stanley campus is now being placed in Tin Hau campus temporary.
They're way too over- confident and lack of experience.
My son goes to IMS and we received info that delay was due to government department's paperwork delay and not the school's fault. The school expects Stanley campus to open at the early 2014. Please see below excerpt from the email (sorry, it's a bit long).
So far, I find the school admin extremely organised, sometimes too organised for me really, with various dates announced very early and multiple reminders, etc. You sounded pretty upset with the school Olivia P, is there any specific reason(s) you'd like to share? Or is it all based on your friend's experiences? Just curious.
"Dear Parents,
Since the government awarded IMS the Stanley school premises in April, we have been working closely with many parties to achieve a launch of our newest Campus this coming September. Many preparations have been completed according to plan, including theenrollment of students for four debut classrooms, recruitment of teachers and staff, procurement of materials and furniture, and completion of architectural designs to provide the best learning environment for the children in Stanley.
The Education Bureau is providing active support to IMS, but government departmental paperwork has been exceedingly slow, causing a delay in the handover of the Stanley premises. As a result, we regretfully need to postpone the opening of the Stanley Campus. We would like to assure parents that we will do our utmost to facilitate a campus opening at the earliest, which we currently anticipate to be early 2014.
In the interim, in order to ensure the children are able to commence schooling in September, we will be starting the Stanley classes at our Tin Hau Campus as short-term measure. We are very fortunate that the Tin Hau Campus has the capacity to incorporate these classes, and we are completing some minor renovations over the next few weeks to make this possible:
Classrooms: Construction is already underway this summer in order to accommodate the planned new Lower Primary class in Tin Hau, and to provide for additional space for new classes in Tin Hau in the future. The accommodation the two new Stanley Lower Primary classes, and two new Stanley Campus Casa classes will be achieved by temporarily using the Music, and Art rooms, and making better use of the classrooms, Multipurpose room and Hall for specialty classes.
School Hours: please be reminded that the Tin Hau campus hours will start and end 15 minutes earlier than last year and the other IMS campuses due to bus constraints. The programs start at 8:00 am. The half day Casa ends at 11:30 am and the Full Day Casa and Primary students end their day at 2:30 pm.
Class Placement for children: Though physically commencing in Tin Hau, the Stanley classes will be established in September, and remain intact when the move to Stanley occurs. In this way, the children of the new Stanley classes will establish friendships and build their classroom communities from the beginning, together with their teachers.
Learn more: We will be available to speak to any parents in between our planned Parent Orientation sessions for new parents on Wednesday, August 28[SUP]th[/SUP] 2013 at the Tin Hau campus.
This delay is very disappointing for us as well as for you, and we regret any inconvenience that it may cause for our families and children. As you may know, this occurrence is very rare, and represents the first time that IMS has not been able to meet an opening date as promised to our community over our eleven year history in five other campuses. We are committed to providing a safe, happy and constructive learning environment to all our children, and will make every effort to ensure a smooth and successful launch of theStanley classes at Tin Hau in September, and the subsequent opening of the Stanley campus as early as possible in the new year.
We will remain in close communication with you as developments take place with the government, and more clarity is available for the exact timing of the Stanley opening.
Your patience and support of IMS at this time, as we work together to both minimize the impact of this on our existing Tin Hau community and accomodate and welcome this group of new families into the IMS community, is very greatly appreciated.
We would be happy to answer any questions you have in the meantime. Please contact us directly by email at[email protected], or by telephone at 2156.9033.
Warm regards,
Anne Sawyer and Karin Ann
School Founders"
So far, I find the school admin extremely organised, sometimes too organised for me really, with various dates announced very early and multiple reminders, etc. You sounded pretty upset with the school Olivia P, is there any specific reason(s) you'd like to share? Or is it all based on your friend's experiences? Just curious.
"Dear Parents,
Since the government awarded IMS the Stanley school premises in April, we have been working closely with many parties to achieve a launch of our newest Campus this coming September. Many preparations have been completed according to plan, including theenrollment of students for four debut classrooms, recruitment of teachers and staff, procurement of materials and furniture, and completion of architectural designs to provide the best learning environment for the children in Stanley.
The Education Bureau is providing active support to IMS, but government departmental paperwork has been exceedingly slow, causing a delay in the handover of the Stanley premises. As a result, we regretfully need to postpone the opening of the Stanley Campus. We would like to assure parents that we will do our utmost to facilitate a campus opening at the earliest, which we currently anticipate to be early 2014.
In the interim, in order to ensure the children are able to commence schooling in September, we will be starting the Stanley classes at our Tin Hau Campus as short-term measure. We are very fortunate that the Tin Hau Campus has the capacity to incorporate these classes, and we are completing some minor renovations over the next few weeks to make this possible:
Classrooms: Construction is already underway this summer in order to accommodate the planned new Lower Primary class in Tin Hau, and to provide for additional space for new classes in Tin Hau in the future. The accommodation the two new Stanley Lower Primary classes, and two new Stanley Campus Casa classes will be achieved by temporarily using the Music, and Art rooms, and making better use of the classrooms, Multipurpose room and Hall for specialty classes.
School Hours: please be reminded that the Tin Hau campus hours will start and end 15 minutes earlier than last year and the other IMS campuses due to bus constraints. The programs start at 8:00 am. The half day Casa ends at 11:30 am and the Full Day Casa and Primary students end their day at 2:30 pm.
Class Placement for children: Though physically commencing in Tin Hau, the Stanley classes will be established in September, and remain intact when the move to Stanley occurs. In this way, the children of the new Stanley classes will establish friendships and build their classroom communities from the beginning, together with their teachers.
Learn more: We will be available to speak to any parents in between our planned Parent Orientation sessions for new parents on Wednesday, August 28[SUP]th[/SUP] 2013 at the Tin Hau campus.
This delay is very disappointing for us as well as for you, and we regret any inconvenience that it may cause for our families and children. As you may know, this occurrence is very rare, and represents the first time that IMS has not been able to meet an opening date as promised to our community over our eleven year history in five other campuses. We are committed to providing a safe, happy and constructive learning environment to all our children, and will make every effort to ensure a smooth and successful launch of theStanley classes at Tin Hau in September, and the subsequent opening of the Stanley campus as early as possible in the new year.
We will remain in close communication with you as developments take place with the government, and more clarity is available for the exact timing of the Stanley opening.
Your patience and support of IMS at this time, as we work together to both minimize the impact of this on our existing Tin Hau community and accomodate and welcome this group of new families into the IMS community, is very greatly appreciated.
We would be happy to answer any questions you have in the meantime. Please contact us directly by email at[email protected], or by telephone at 2156.9033.
Warm regards,
Anne Sawyer and Karin Ann
School Founders"
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lailynette
New member
My child is with IMS. I'll say my experience with IMS teachers and staff have been wonderful. Staff have been super helpful. Teachers I've encountered are well experienced and really dedicated to Montessori. What I'm most impressed about its their Chinese curriculum. I've got friends in local school and their Chinese is still behind IMS. I knows its disappointing that the Stanley Campus did not open in time however that's only a short term issue. If you look further, I feel the benefit out weighs such short term annoyance.
thundacatchergo
Registered User
IMS is never at fault. the chinese program is so good that one of the founder's kid goes to a local school for better chinese.
Am an IMS parent too with two kids in its casa and primary programme, and i have to say, we couldnt be happier. interesting to notice on this geo forum that all “not a great school” comments about IMS are from non-IMS parents, and all the “a great school” comments are from existing IMS parents. i guess that says it all. what IMS impresses me most is how kind and gentle the kids are, and their passion to learn and explore. i think its a wonderful passion to have and i hope it will stay with them for the rest of their lives (thinking too far now!) 
as to its mandarin programme, my kids now at 6 years old can speak fluently, often they can “con” my relatives in china that they are calling locally. of course there will never be a perfect school in the world, but for me, the kids are happy, studying well and learning to love and care about the world, i have nothing to complain about.
as to its mandarin programme, my kids now at 6 years old can speak fluently, often they can “con” my relatives in china that they are calling locally. of course there will never be a perfect school in the world, but for me, the kids are happy, studying well and learning to love and care about the world, i have nothing to complain about.its a comparatively young school, just over 10 years and there has been only 1 or 2 generation of graduates. as far as i know, the graduates went to CIS (biggest percentage) , ESF secondary schools, harrow school (i think but not sure) and some of them returned to their own countries. am sure you will be able to find out more info from their open house etc.