Nursery or not?

[smitha.kunnath]

Good one. About 2-3 month back when our daughter turned 18 months she wanted to be out with similar aged children and was really enjoying the play time with them. We thought we'll try a play school and got her admission for 2 hours a day. She is so happy to be at Playschool and even started crying while we go to take her back after 2 hours. I think its worth to keep them with their aged kids and let them enjoy the time.

 

[happily]

I am struggling a bit with this as well and have a few questions for anyone with experience with the school system here.

I haven't found a pre-nursery (is that what they call the under 2.5 year old classes?) that I'm totally happy with and I am happy to keep my daughter at home for as long as possible. However, I would like for her to eventually attend kindergarten at 3 years, either at ESF or an international school. Do the schools look at past activities and pre-nursery when they make decisions on who to accept? Would not having a pre-nursery on her record be a problem? I assume that one of the benefits of pre-nursery is that the children are more comfortable during interviews for kindergarten - any experience with this?

Thanks!

 

[yonge]

My elder attends Singapore International School - no other pre-school required for those entering at the PY1 (equivalent to HK's K2) level. He had gone to playgroup and nursery when we lived in Singapore, but I think the PY1 syllabus to paced with the assumption that one did not attend any other classes. The SIS PY1 interview was also very non-threatening. I only told my son that he was going to meet some people who would want to get to know him better, now that he's moved to HK, and that he should feel free to ask questions as well. He bounded out happily after the interview, telling me that they asked him a total of six questions, four of which were "getting to know you" questions and two was asking the child to describe a couple of pictures that they were shown. I have no experience with any other type of local/international school as we did not consider them.

 

[lesliefu]

i know at HKIS they say it doesn't make a difference if they attend pre-nursery (PN) or not. i guess whether your student interviews well is not about what you learn but whether or not your child sees / interacts enough with "strangers" to act naturally in a foreign situation. my daughter won't be attending PN till 3years old and I think it should be fine

 

[FionaN]

I had my doubt, but I am 100% pro nusery now....as a working mum...i think it much better for kids to spend time in Nusery with trained professional and other kids then at home with a helper.

I send my daughter to Caritas when she is 2, it amazing to see how much she enjoy it.....she first start for half day, then she start crying when I pick her up during lunch time, because she want to stay in school with the other kids (Caritas is full day nusery)...so I decided to keep her there full day after 4 months.

Within one week she start her full day nusery, she is toilet train and quit her pacifier in the same week.... All thanks to the school teachers... (i have been trying to train her myself at home, it never work !)

To happily,

I send my daughter to Caritas nusery as it close to home, and she is accepted by both ESF and Small World...