Marymount Primary School

[mintycat]

Anyone has a daughter attending this school? I used to attend primary school here but that was many many years ago. I am wondering how is the quality of education now? I heard the English standard has declined. The new campus seems very impressive.

If a child attends an international kindergarten, what are the chances of getting into MPS?

Can anyone share their insight and experience?

 

[HappyV]

I used to do some relief/supply teaching at Marymount. Excellent 'local' school - with everything that goes with it - immense curriculum and eavy exam focus. However, in contrast to other local schools I know, Marmount does try to place an emphasis on community and extra-curricular. It is certainly considered to be a prestige school. I would imagine the only 'downside' to Intern. Kidy would be that the school would want assurance/proof of you child's ability to speak and write Chinese..............
I haven't seen the new campus up close.

 

[cemily]

I may be wrong, but I do not think Marymount is DSS ie you draw lots to get in? Hence, there is no "sure method" to get in unless you are an alumni?

Rgds

e

 

[mintycat]

Happy V ~ Thanks for your reply. It's good to know that MPS places an emphasis on extra curricular activities as most local schools are very exam and results oriented. I don't want my daughter to spend an insane amount of hours on homework in the first grade. I want her to enjoy her childhood and explore interests outside the books. International schools place more focus on an all rounded curriculum but they are so expensive and difficult to get into.

 

[joannek]

if you're alumni, your daughter's catholic, 1st born, then i think she'll sure get in. that's like 30pts already.

 

[jane01]

Our next door neighbour's daughter goes to Marymount and I think it is awful ! Her parents think it is great...

She gets up at 5.30am to leave for school at 6.30am. She gets home, has no time for play and does homework until 11pm. Her mother has given up work to help her with homework, as the poor child wasn't coping. She goes to summer school in the holidays.

We are always asking her to come and play with our daughters but she is always too busy doing homework. She never has time to play. It is just a hothouse. When she's not doing homework, she is doing clarinet practice. She really feels the pressure.

She is 10 and has to do lots of exams, etc. She has no guarantee of a place at the school in future. In fact rather than increasing the no. of students for high school, they decrease the number so that essentially the bottom two primary school classes are expelled. Imagine how those poor girls feel !

I went to a selective school in Australia so am not unfamiliar with the environment. However, this school is appalling ! No way I would let my child anywhere near the place. Child abuse if you ask me. (Am feeling very opinionated today).

 

[fingerscrossed]

I have a few friends whose daughters go to MPS and they love it. The thing is, for a local school, it's excellent. It's still exams oriented but the girls come out with pretty impressive English. It's also a plus if you want them to know chinese as well. If you want a more discovery approach to learning, it may not be the place for you, especially if you've been educated abroad yourself and hold personal beliefs about education.

Being a teacher at a local prestigious school, I can tell you there isn't a single primary or secondary school that is 'prestigious' and can deliver an activities approach to learning. They're all exams oriented and you'll have to live with that if going local is your choice.

 

[ELT]

I went to one of these prestigious convent schools from nursury until I left HK at 18 so I know exactly how it is to be in such system. To be honest, there were homework (i didn't think it was a lot though) and frequent tests, a mid term + final exam. I didn't do very well academically, just managed to pass most subjects and the school encouraged me to develop my interests in sports, so I did have a great time and enjoyed school a lot. When my F5 public exam results came out, my scores were pretty good despite my poor grades at school, so I knew from that point that one benefit of going to these local prestigious schools is that you are likely to do much better than kids in average schools (academically). We shouldn't place that much focus at academic results but unfortunately this is how the HK education system works right now. For families who don't have the option of enroling their kids to international schools or overseas education, going to local prestigious primary and secondary school would just give them a better chance of getting in to local universities.

Marymount was one of those very good schools at my time and I heard it still is. If I had a girl, that would be one of my top choices.

 

[joannek]

totally agree with ELT. i have exactly the same experience, and i went to Marymount. (in those days, it was called Maryknoll) if i were to let my daughter go to a local school MPS would be my first choice. despite that i've heard that the standard has been lowered a lot since our old days, i'm sure it's still one of the most sought after convent schools. ppl still "fight so much they hit their heads" (a cantonese saying) to get in.

 

[mintycat]

We are still debating whether to send LO to a local school (MPS) or international school (HKIS) as I am an alumna of both schools. I guess this is the dilemma of a lot of Chinese parents. I know we can probably get into MPS with little problem (as I am an old girl and we are all Catholics) but with HKIS, its a different story as the competition is high and space limited, there have been many cases where a child has been rejected despite having a parent as an alumni.

The decision affects which kindergarten we ultimately send LO to in 2008. If the standard of english is still good at MPS, I don't mind sending LO there first and then switching to HKIS in the future (as I did midway through primary school) but spaces will be even more limited.

Does anyone know how much Mandarin is taught at MPS?