pre-nursery/nursery in kowloon - pls help!!!

[baguette]

Hi.

My daughter is gonna be 2 years and 7 months old on Sep 2010.
She's going to the nursery here in Dubai and she loves it.
Moreover I'm gonna work so I'll not be able to stay the whole day with her.

We are gonna live either in Kowloon (nearby Elements) or Kowloon Tong.

We would have loved to have her going to PIPS in Kowloon as our friends kids are going there and they gave us a wonderful feedback but it's already full....

What other option do we have in those areas?

Whe would like a nursery in which she can learn both English and Mandarin.

Moreover, PIPS has morning class up to 11.45 am and afternoon class...is any school like this??

Isn't there the option of staying longer (9 to 16 or 9 to 15)?

I'd rather her being in a school with many kids than home alone with a nanny.

Thanks for any information you can give me.

 

[carang]

there are some schools out there that do longer days (whole day) but those are generally local schools run in cantonese not english or mandarin.

my son goes to one such school in sai kung.

the whole day class runs from: 8-8:45 drop off and pick up between 4-5:30pm. it is a locally run, non-profit church affiliated school with lots of expat & mixed kids. my son loves it and it only costs $999 (whole day) or $60 (half-day) per month.

there are others out there like it, but you will not likely find them on an expat website such as this... they would be more easily found on a cantonese website such as baby kingdom. otherwise, you will have to pound the pavement when you arrive and look around your area at what is available. there are thousands of kindergartens/nurseries out there so you should be able to find something.

 

[baguette]

Thank you carang.
so, the expat kids in those schools just deal with Cantonese...mumble...mumble...

It would be great for my daughter to learn Cantonese but I am concerned that it would be too much for her Italian - Eglish - Cantonese....

and, moreover, we can speak Mandarin so we would understand her if she speaks Mandarin to us...but no cantonese...

I really don't know what to do.

Anyway, is it hard to get in those schools? Do they have waiting lists??

 

[carang]

the school that my son goes to is used to having western kids (they even provide notices in english to parents). the teachers say that the first year, the kids listen a lot... the second they start to talk more and the third year they are starting to become fluent.


it was easy for us to get our son into this school. as a matter of fact it was the only school we applied to.

i would wait, she's still young... wait until you get here and have a look around. find out where you will be living and then start looking.

personally, i like having my helper around as well. it means that we can change the schedule if we like and we are able to be more flexible.

 

[baguette]

I don't know...my daughter started going to the nursery when she was 14 months and she's always been happy about that.

We will have a helper and of course it will be a great help to have her around but I think what kids do in school with more teachers and many other kids is not comparable with time spent with the maid alone.

I cannot imagine having her at home for one school year...

 

[carang]

i'm not saying don't send her to school, i'm just saying that if you have the right helper, your daughter can be just as happy. BUT you need to find the right helper...

 

[baguette]

and that's not as easy as it may look, eh?

is there any chance to be able to enroll a kid in the middle of the schoolyear or not?

maybe the waiting lists will get shorter by then?

 

[carang]

yes, thre is always a chance... again, it depends on the school.

as for the helper, like with finding any good employ, it takes time.

 

[baguette]

carang, can I ask...where are you from?
are you hongkongese?

thinking about what you said about the Cantonese school...uff...one big part of me in some way thinks that that might be the best option because, living in HK, it makes sense that our child learns the local language and plays with kids from HK.
this would make her experience there much more interesting I guess.

On the other hand I am afraid I am asking too much.
And some friends from Italy told me that their kid attending a school with a majority of local pupils was always on his own because he was the only one not understanding and speaking fluently Cantonese.

Ironically, we've been living in China for 12 years and when we were there I've always tought my kids would have attend a Chinese school..never even took in consideration the International ones.
Motherhood made me weak.

 

[carang]

no, i'm canadian. i've lived here for 15 years, though... so maybe that counts as being "hongkongese"?

personally, i am not a person who would go to a country to live and NOT take advantage of at least trying to learn the language....i'm not fluent in cantonese, but i'm fairly well versed and can definitely get by in 99% of situations with my cantonese. my husband IS local, though, i was already here for over 3 years before i met him.

for us, to start with, it was more of a financial reason that we put our son into the local kindergarten... but, as i said, we are EXTREMELY happy with it. it's NOT like what i experienced growing up, but that doesn't make it wrong. the MOST important thing for me was that my son be happy going to school and he definitely is that. he's also less shy about speaking chinese to his grandparents when he sees them.

there are quite a few western kids at this kindergarten in particular, so your child would NOT feel out of place at all.

we have now even decided to put our son into a local chinese primary school, at least for a few years to see how he copes. if it's all too much for him, then we'll take him out. but, i REALLY want my kids to be bilingual, so there isn't much choice, really... if they went to international school, that would not be possible.

i know you said you were looking at elements/kowloon tong, but i would seriously suggest sai kung as a place to consider. it is NOT nearly as convenient at the other two, but the lifestyle more than makes up for it! the space, the green, the ocean all right there at your finger tips. chances are you will even get a place with a small garden, something you wouldn't get in either of the other two places.

you would most likely need a car though, but those are cheap second-hand...