Should we relocate?

[mandesmom]

If you have dcs who relocated to HK when they were older, I would love to hear your feedback.

We have an opportunity to relocate to HK on a package that covers school fees. We currently have a very comfortable life in NYC, but both my DH and I think this may be a great opportunity to expose our 6 and 11 year old to new cultures and the larger world. We're getting to the age when this would be the last chance to go off on an adventure (our parents are getting older, and do not want to move when our oldest is a teenager)

How hard was it for you to relocate your older kids? How was it getting them into schools and finding a place to live? Our children currently go to a progressive school and are happy in that model, so I would love feedback on schools that teach by experiencing rather than by listening.

On the one hand, we'd be crazy not to grab at this opportunity--things like this don't come along every day. We think it would be fantastic to open our kids eyes to the bigger world around them. On the other, we're comfortable now and why mess with that? I would love to hear people's experiences: both pro and con on their life in HK.

 

[rani1]

It's a great opportunity but it's not going to be easy getting your children into schools here. The waiting lists are long everywhere. Some families hv opted to move to Singapore instead n the husband traveling to HK often or every week.

You need to speak to yr employer n see if they r willing to purchase school debentures.

 

[dimsum_mum]

completely 100 per cent agree with rani.

you're probably already doing this, but research will really help you make your decision. research on this site and on various websites the schools you think are the best choices for your family and contact them.

do they have a debenture? is the company you are coming over here with willing to purchase a debenture? is either of your children going into a year (1 or 7) where the waitlists are particularly challenging and long?

if the company is willing to buy a debenture your troubles are fewer, but finding a debenture and a school that you like that has space is a challenge. Good for you for not leaping blindly, I am sure you will make the choice best for your family.

 

[mandesmom]

completely 100 per cent agree with rani.

if the company is willing to buy a debenture your troubles are fewer, but finding a debenture and a school that you like that has space is a challenge. Good for you for not leaping blindly, I am sure you will make the choice best for your family.

Thank you both so much for your feedback. I am doing a lot of research and yours has been some of the most helpful. We've decided that we do want to pursue this opportunity, but I will make clear that we can't do it without an assurance/caveat that it can't happen if there is no school for our children to go to! We currently live in NYC, which I thought was tough--HK sounds twice as hard. Plenty of people here don't get their first or second choice, but I've never heard of an NYC child not getting into any school at all and being homeschooled as a result.

Before I call the schools: my son is in Kindergarten right now, so I'm assuming Year 1 is the equivalent to 1st grade. My daughter is currently in 5th grade...would that make her year 6 or 7 in HK?

As I mentioned before, they are thriving in a progressive school here (eg: mistakes are part of the learning process, not a source of shame; more focused on instilling a love of learning that follows the child throughout his/her life; encourages creative thinking; etc.) , and I think that would be a good fit for them in HK. My son in particular is not going to sit still for hours at a desk--unless it involves math, then he will go all day--but 70% of the time, he is not going to sit there quietly with his hands folded and listening ears on.

The schools that seem like a good fit from their online mission statements are Hong Kong Academy and the Harbor School (Is this a regular school? The website is slightly vague. FWIW, neither of my children require special needs). I've heard good things about GSIS and RCHK as well. One of my friends suggested looking at Montessori, though I'm not very familiar with it and they have never experienced mixed age learning.

This is my biggest worry about taking the plunge: my kids LOVE learning now. They are genuinely motivated to go to school and my daughter even asks for extracurricular science work. I would beat myself up if I made a choice to move them into a place that took away that enthusiasm. Some of the comments on here and other expat sites make it sound like school in HK can be an unhappy grind. I keep reminding myself that that is not all schools, and that HK is so much more than school, that's why we are pursuing this.

As another aside, we could live anywhere in HK, though we've been told that, since we have a dog, New Territories would be the greenest, easiest choice. My husband will work in Central and a 45 minutes commute is fine by him, so once I settle out the school question, where to live will be my next research bit. It would be great to actually afford something with a little garden or terrace (so not possible in NYC).

In terms of school choice, do we need to settle reasonably close to where the kids could easily get back and forth to school? I've heard that's not such a big deal in HK since schools have private buses with bus mothers for the little ones and the city is safe enough for my daughter to take herself home. When we were there last year visiting friends in Discovery Bay, she saw kids from GSIS taking themselves home and thought it was awesome.

Anyway, sorry to wind on and on, but since our first priority is/are school(s), I want to get it right.

 

[mandesmom]

Ahh, just looked up the answer: my son will be Year 2 and daughter Year 7.

 

[howardcoombs]

Plenty of people here don't get their first or second choice, but I've never heard of an NYC child not getting into any school at all and being homeschooled as a result.

I've been here 18 years and to be honest, I've never heard of anyone not getting in any school.
What normally happens is that the parents refuse to compromise and are adamant that their kids be in a top tier international school or an ESF school without looking at *all* of their options including English medium public schools. When one is inflexible, one's choices are naturally limited.

 

[MommyTo3]

If you're willing to look into ESF, I would suggest signing up for their Corporate Surety Scheme. It's open now. A 2006-born child is now in Y1 and a 2001-born child is now in Y6 (going into Y7 next year = secondary).

Admissions | English Schools Foundation

Getting a school place is not easy but agree it depends how flexible you are. I have friends at Harbor School, it caters for special needs, "normal" needs and gifted children, a wide range of abilities with lots of personal attention. They're quite happy overall, but out of the few girls in the class (classes are small to begin with), a fairly large % has special needs. ESF has a wide range as well but classes are larger, so % wise it's different if that makes sense. Hong Kong Academy is an IB school but they use US grade system, etc. they'll be moving to Sai Kung, NT in 2013. My understanding is it's not impossible to get spots there with debentures.

Apart from all the school issues, I still believe it's a great opportunity for children, and their parents, to live abroad. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[mandesmom]

If you're willing to look into ESF, I would suggest signing up for their Corporate Surety Scheme. It's open now. A 2006-born child is now in Y1 and a 2001-born child is now in Y6 (going into Y7 next year = secondary).

Apart from all the school issues, I still believe it's a great opportunity for children, and their parents, to live abroad. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Thank you for the information. My son is an October 2005 baby and my daughter an October 2000. As we go to a school that uses an August cutoff for birthdays, my son is now in Kindergarten and daughter in 5th. It looks like the ESF system would hop him into Y3 and my daughter into year 8. Those seem like huge jumps academically. My son is just beginning to learn to read now. Is there flexibility for admission based on their academic records, or is birth year a hard rule? I've sent off an email to ESF, but with the holidays, I don't expect to hear back anytime soon.

 

[MommyTo3]

They can be flexible. And yes, in year 3 (my daughter is there now) they can basically read a small chapter book (but there is a large variety). If you can hold them back one year it would be Y2 and Y7 but Y7 spaces are very hard to get (since it's the first year of secondary). Anyway, look into it but look into other options as well, that may suit your current cut off better. Just wanted to mentioned the CSS as it can be quite helpful.

Other international schools in the NT (apart from the very popular on the island you could look into): Hong Luk Yuen IS, Japanese IS, Norwegian IS. My daughter's son is going from ESF Primary to Creative Secondary (and local DSS IB school). I also met some Americans last year who live in Taipo and their kids go to Norwegian. They were very happy there. Just explore all options.

Welcome to the Frontpage

 

[penguinsix]

I think the ESF uses a later cutoff than most of the international schools, which I think are more September/October cutoffs.

Have you spoken to HKIS (i.e. the American system school)? Your daughter, having completed two years of US education in the states would get priority for admission there (and then you could have a knock-on of sibling preference for your six year old). Admission for the younger one will probably be more difficult than the older, so it seems.

A debenture would really help. You might want to chat with the firm to see if that is a possibility.

As for other things like where to live, I'm afraid much of that is really dependent on the school location and the office location. You don't want your kids at HKIS (South Side) while you are in Disco Bay, doing a ferry before dawn every morning to make the bus. Conversely you don't want to have an office in the New Territories near Shenzhen and have a school in say Pok Fu Lam (GSIS). Once you have a better idea on the schools it should become a bit easier to get some housing choices.

One other note: many schools start here at age 4 (Reception) and then at age 5 commence "Year 1" which is similar to the British 'year' system. Coming from the US, where you likely started at age 5 in Kindergarten, you have to do a bit of an adjustment, such that Year 1 in the UK system is actually what we called Kindergarten in the US. Year 2 is First Grade in the US, etc. Generally though you'll find educators want to put your kids in classes with similarly aged classmates, so there is a little wiggle room around the edges with some schools (move forward, hold back, etc).