Primary School in English AND Cantonese????

There is also OWLS School in Mui Wo, offering two streams, Cantonese and English (local curriculum for Cantonese and British EYFS for the English hour) and English and Mandarin (All based on EYFS).

They currently accept students from playgroup age to P2. Outstanding teachers and small classes.
For the Cantonese stream the children get 2 hours of Cantonese a day and one hour of English, for the Mandarin stream it is 2 hours of English and one hour of Mandarin a day.

The children are a full mix of nationalities and the fees are reasonable.
 
NOT ALL public schools are about homework!!!

I am a local secondary school student. I went to St. Stephen's Girls' Primary School and I am currently attending its secondary school. I think it's not true in my case that students need to spend hours on their homework in public schools. I used to spend less than 30 minutes in primary 1-3, since there is something called "class period" after lunch every day. During this period, we have assembly in one day and we can do homework, revise and sometimes the teachers will help the students with learning difficulties. My school encourages students to read, join extra curricula activities (music, sports...) instead of doing too much homework. The students are really nice and everyone is friends, it's like you have a lot of sisters. I know a student who didn't speak cantonese at all when she first attended our school. She picked up really fast since the chinese in primary 1 is the basics. My school is one of the best schools is hong kong. I know that there are schools that is better, but in my opinion, they are way too competitive and will bring a lot of pressure to the kids. For me, school is about having fun with friends and enjoy learning. Hope my information can help you! :D
 
MamaBearto3,

(1) St. Stephen's Girls Primary School is not your average public school. It's highly competitive and if I'm not mistaken is a DSS. So you'll not use it as a basis for how the local school is like. I work in one and I KNOW that truckloads of homework is the norm. In many DSS, there's also a lot of afterschool support going on at home. To get into a local university here, it's all about grades and if you miss the boat, lots of kids from DSS don't actually go to local universities. SSGPS is an example of such a school. Most parents are wealthy enough to send their kids off shore. Local schools can have such liberal policies when they have parents who are quite keen and happy to send their kids offshore if they don't perform well enough for local options. And places at such schools are highly competitive which the young lady has ignored to mention. You're looking at thousands of applications for every enrolment. Links e.g. alumni member, connections to the board, money,... all come into play. And, let's not forget the portfolio a child must have when applying.

(2) HowardCoombs has painted an accurate picture. There's LOTS of homework. And if you cannot support your children in their development of Cantonese and Putonghua, you'll find yourself investing in a private tutor.

It is true, about having choices. If you are not fussed about the local system, there are many choices. Finding a school to fit your idealism and children's needs is another.
 
I am surprised by the comment that "lots of kids from DSS don't actually go to local universities. SSGPS is an example of such a school. Most parents are wealthy enough to send their kids off shore. Local schools can have such liberal policies when they have parents who are quite keen and happy to send their kids offshore if they don't perform well enough for local options."

My impression is that the kids at good schools like St. Stephen's generally are smart enough and perform well enough to gain entry to prestigious universities abroad and that is the reason why so many DSS students end up attending universities abroad. My husband attended DBS (a DSS school)and he and many of his classmates attended Ivy League Universities and Oxbrige Universities, more so than the International Schools when we tallied up the numbers while attending their information sessions (and requesting lists of where their graduates attended University).

We sent our kid to Lingnan for a couple of years and like the previous post was pleased with the experience. The teachers are very loving and speak nearly no Cantonese so this helped our kid acquire the language. However, the school currently has some "relocation" issues so we moved our kid to another school.

Homework loads vary greatly from what I can tell between kids I know of personally at DGS, DBS, St. Stephen's etc. so everything written from being able to complete it during breaks and slogging away at it at home is true.

Private tutors are not difficult to come by and not expensive by US or UK standards and there are loads of local University students willing to tutor.

Good luck!
 
Howard Coombs - Do your kids still go to Lingnan? can i ask what year they are in? I am interested to hear how western kids do in the primary section of Lingnan? My kids are in pre-nursery and K1 and i am wondering if it's worth it to keep them there despite the move to far-away siu sai wan or to move them now.
 
My kids all attended Lingnan and then moved on KCS for Mandarin immersion.

I know of only 1 child that went to Lingnan primary. If your focus is Cantonese then its a great caring and small school.

Lingnan nursery and KG is kind of unique with the leadership of Luk Chiu Kwan Hung; if you are going to take them out, what are your other options? Have you seen/found a comparable KG to Lingnan? I dont know of a KG as nice as Lingnan.
 
If learning Chinese is important to you, You might consider PLK CKY or Tsung Tsin Primary school Intl junior school section. They are private schools located on the KLN side. All subjects are conducted in Eng and Mardarin.
 
Why do you prefer Cantonese over Mandarin? Total number of Mandarin speakers are very high worldwide (900 million vs 60 million).
 
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