kellett, French International , SIs, CDNIS, etc.

2

2mums

Registered User
I am a mother of 2 and so frustrated to find out that it is so hard to get kids in to kindergartens and Primary yrs in hk! I am new to the application processes and schools. Can u please write down your top 10 international schools to apply? the reasons for it and how easy to get in and how rich you have to be to get in?

the application fee is not cheap ,( although comparing to the fees and debentures , they are nothing.) do u all apply a lot of schools ? I think it is kind of mad to through out money for the sake of getting into a waiting list.

It seems not many people mentioned Kellett here. Why ? is it very hard to get in? my Kid is 2, If I apply now, any chance to get in ? is it a culturally diverse school or it is Anglo-British dominated single culture school?

help!
 
I can't comment on all your questions, but on Kellett I am not sure why it hasn't been talked about as much and I know a bit about the school as we plan to send our kids there and have a lot of friends with kids there. The school follows the British National Curriculum so it is very popular with British expat families, but there are Asian families with kids there too. I think with a two year old it would be hard to get in as it is one of the few schools with a waiting list from birth and it is popular. I applied for my now 18 month old when he was 4 weeks old and I know he is around 50th on the list (May born!) However in 2013 they will open a second campus in Kowloon Bay which will mean a lot more places. If you are willing to go to that campus (purpose built and looks fantastic from the plans) then there might be a place.
 
thanks for your sharing newbiekt. after your post i called them and they say that the waiting list is over 200 already and there r only 110 capacity even with opening of the new campus! oh.... it seems hopeless for my kid.

does anyone has any positive experiences to encourage me to go ahead with the application?
 
I would work out which schools you really like and then do a number of applications (we have done 3 for both our kids). The population here is so transient and so many people do multiple applications that the waiting lists don't give a true picture. It is undoubtedly competitive though.
 
Naming "top 10" schools would be meaningless. What criteria would you judge top 10 by?

It would equally be irresponsible to recommend school to you without knowing your motivation and desires for the future of your child. There are plenty of good schools but they each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Since you mentioned Kellett, I will make specific comments about it : Its a lovely school with a very nice campus and very accomplished teachers. If you visit the campus you will note that the student body looks like England. Lots of western-expats and blonde haired kids and very few other nationalities. They teach British curriculum strictly. Kids learn about Pounds and pence (not HKDollars and cents) and miles and yards (instead of meters and kilometers). It has a relatively weak Mandarin programme. Most of the kids there will end up in England schools eventually and Kellett provides them a very good education towards that goal. As you have found out, it is very popular and it is also fairly expensive.

If you are intending on sending your kids to schools outside of England, I would not recommend Kellett as a first choice.
 
well, we actually moved from UK to here last year. I have been looking for schools which are not too academic in early years, basically it should be like a UK school. I would like a school that is able to provide good facilities in arts, music, sports as well as academic. For me, HKA and ISF seem quite academic orientated. For Marianne, I am not sure as I am a native Mandarin speaker so I guess I can teach kids at home? but I am not confident on this. I have many friends whose kids has lost ability to use Chinese as their main language environment is English.
 
newbiekt said:
I would work out which schools you really like and then do a number of applications (we have done 3 for both our kids). The population here is so transient and so many people do multiple applications that the waiting lists don't give a true picture. It is undoubtedly competitive though.
Click to expand...

this is really encouraging!... I am so frustrated now. I am thinking that I have not done a good job as a mum-- why didn't I apply last year when I just arrived!
 
2mums said:
well, we actually moved from UK to here last year. I have been looking for schools which are not too academic in early years, basically it should be like a UK school. I would like a school that is able to provide good facilities in arts, music, sports as well as academic. For me, HKA and ISF seem quite academic orientated.
Click to expand...
I would not classify ISF nor HKA as quite academic. I dont know where you got that impression from but I would encourage you to visit them both and also talk to some parents to get multiple perspectives.
I have one child at ISF and our good friends have 2 kids as HKA.
ISF is not easy due to their Mandarin language but I would definitely not call it academic.

For Marianne, I am not sure as I am a native Mandarin speaker so I guess I can teach kids at home? but I am not confident on this. I have many friends whose kids has lost ability to use Chinese as their main language environment is English.
Click to expand...

If you wish to have your children to maintain their Chinese language the you should be looking at schools such as CIS, ISF, YewChung, KCS etc. If they are not immersed in the language for many hours a day, they will not be able to excel in it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

About this archive

This is an archive of over 20 years of GeoBaby and GeoSchools knowledge and discussions, kept online as a read-only reference.

Back
Top