Moving to HK with 4yr old - IMS, AISHK, KIS, FIS, ICA, HKA, Harbour School, P3 options - comments?

I have to comment (I have 2 children in IMS Elementary), I posted elsewhere that yes there are more girls than boys in IMS Elementary in most of the classes and it's a shame some parents focus on the gender for this decision. I have had friends move their sons to other schools and then regretting it as the standard of education is high in IMS, (even compared to ISF!) but not changing back as they told their sons that they were going to a 'big boy school' now etc etc.

There are no 'half-day' students in Elementary, you are either in Lower Primary (age 6 to 9 years old) or in Upper Primary (9 to 12 years old) and it's a full day for everyone. The half day the poster named 'flo' is talking about must refer to Casa age groups.

AND there is around 20 pupils per class in Elementary with two Montessori teachers per class. If I remember right, Casa classes has 2 Montessori teachers, some are still in training but they are not just 'teaching assistants' like in ESF.

I always found a good balance of age in the casa years (my girls started at IMS at 18 months) and when it came time for them to move/progress to Elementary, my (twin) girls were at different stages of education; the twin who had some catching up to do, worked really hard so that she could 'progress' to Elementary along with her sister. They felt moving to Elementary is/was a big deal and are proud of themselves. I love Montessori for inspiring confidence from within.
 
Just want respond to flo statement above, my son is in IMS Casa in Midlevels at the moment and his class has pretty good balance between older/younger children (around 50-50). The younger children go half day, while the older ones go full day. I was there 2 weeks ago for class observation in the afternoon and counted 11 older kids in class with one being absent that day.

My son's class has 2 fully-trained Montessori teachers (1 English-speaking teacher and 1 Mandarin-speaking teacher), teaching 25 kids. Ratio in the mornings will be 1: 12.5, and in the afternoon will be 1:6, so it's pretty good.

There is a bit of movement out of IMS at the end of Casa year. This is due to some parents' preference for a train-through school, to avoid searching for secondary school in the future - as IMS currently only has classes up to Primary level.

For us, this is less of a concern, as we may not be in HK by the time my son finishes his Primary. Furthermore, I believe that - even if we still here - it'd be no problem going from IMS Primary to other IS secondary school. Before we chose IMS, my son received an offer from KCIS too. My husband actually called CIS Headmaster and asked about the prospect of IMS vs KCIS graduates continuing to CIS (being one of the most coveted school). His answer was that CIS took graduates from both schools, and these graduates perform well in CIS.

Also, during the Primary orientation we attended (as my son is going to IMS Primary next year), the teacher explained that starting end of year 10, the school will work with the students to prepare applications to secondary, and also working together with the secondary schools they're going to. In specific to CIS (as we're interested in this for secondary - if we're still in HK), it actually happens to be the school that takes most of IMS graduates so far.

This year was actually our first year experiencing Montessori education, so I was a bit nervous on how it would go. But my son has been thriving while in IMS. And he just soooo loves learning, so we'd be keeping him there.

Hope this helps.
 
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Thanks everyone for continuing to comment, interesting to read the differing views.
With regards IMS we're confident this will be the right choice for our son, if he's offered a place. He's been in a Montessori environment since he turned one so is familiar with the materials, mixed age group class and work concepts.
We're happy with the traditional Montessori child/teacher ratios. We would also be happy with a few more girls in the class. It would benefit my son and, not that we're concerned, but am sure he'll meet more boys in sporting activities outside of school.
So now it's just a case of waiting to see how many Casa students re enroll for 2013-14 to see if there are any spots open (and of course hope he did well at his assessment!).
Fingers crossed !
And then we can get applying to the toddler program for my daughter

boys
 
All the best, BritOzMum, hope you'd receive a good news soon from IMS or other IS.

We're from Sydney too. It's a bit ironic actually that my son is now in Montessori education. We used to live very close to the Montessori school in Balmain, but never considered it for my son...and here we are in HK and he enrolled in one.
 
Kristaje we're also in the Balmain area, small world. Never considered Montessori before but ended up in a Montessori daycare/preschool in the city (couldn't get in anywhere in Balmain) and so happy we did.
Getting v impatient want answers from schools so we can plan where we'll be living!
 
Very small world indeed :)

All the best with the schooling situation. It's hard when things are in the air (so to speak), but they usually work themselves out in the end.

Oh, and enjoy Balmain's atmosphere, parks and outdoors as much as you can while you're there. It's very different here in HK. Not necessarily bad, but very very different. Cheers.
 
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Hearing a Lot of Good reviews about ICA...spoken to many parents and all keep praising them. One parent i recently met took ICA instead of ESF. The only worry is that it is only a primary school, but i heard from parents that they are starting a secondary school targetting 2015-16 and currently scouting for campus.
 
Thanks for your comments HKSchool. Got a good feeling about ICA when we saw the school. Had a real community feel and they seemed to high level of pastoral care as well as academic focus. In fact my son asked why we had to look at other schools when he liked the one we'd already seen, ICA. Don't think we'll be in HK by the time we get to secondary school (although you never know) so not too concerned that its just primary at the moment. Hopefully others are though, might knock a few off the wait list. Would be more than happy if we got an offer from ICA, but think their wait list may have to shrink a bit first!
 
I have a child in Year 2 at ICA and we also chose it despite having an ESF place (as did many parents I know, and not just ESF other international schools as well). It is a truly wonderful school and given that they got the primary school off the ground in just over a year I am certain that the secondary element will happen within the timescale they have set themselves. We will be in HK for secondary and even knowing that we chose ICA over the cast iron secondary option that ESF would have given us. Your impression BritOzMum was spot on, in my opinion. The school has a great academic programme with very structured numeracy and literacy programmes but manages to couple that with pastoral care and values formation which are amazing. Lastly and probably most importantly (to my mind anyway for primary school) the children LOVE going there!!!!! Good luck with your choices and your move.
 
Moving to HK this July with a 4 and 2 year old

Hi there - my husband's just on his way back from Europe having confirmed a move from Sydney to Hong Kong in July!!! I also have a 4 and and 2 year old, and incidentally live in Balmain ... Very small world. Great to find someone in exactly the same situation, albeit you're far ahead of us in your planning. Have you had any confirmations yet? I've had friends suggesting homeschool which fills with me dread given my son is so happy at his current pre-school. I've been looking at Little Dalton and Woodlands as interim options but its not ideal.
 
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