Waiting list for West and South Island ESF Schools?

[robinlovesair]

Hello,
we plan to move to Hong Kong in February 2008 with a daughter that would be in 7th year. Are there waiting lists at this time to attend West or South Island ESF schools? Any advice about starting midyear?

 

[barbwong_130]

I applied for my son to join Year 8 in West Island School last November. I'm still waiting. I was told in the summer that he was fifth on the waiting list.

I rang up about my daughter whom I'm going to apply to Kennedy School for. There is also a waiting list there.

I would telephone the schools if you want a better idea. Don't talk to the admissions officer but try to get the head or deputy head to talk to you. I've found the admissions officers very unhelpful - all they will tell you is the school policy. If you want to find out numbers on the waiting list and whether something is actually possible (even if it isn't exactly the school policy) then talk to a real teacher.

Best of luck,
Barb

 

[robinlovesair]

Wow, this is scary. Does your child speak English as a first language? What school is your child in now? Did your company pay the debenture fee?
Thank you,
Robin

 

[barbwong_130]

My son was in the Canadian School but he didn’t like it and so I was looking for another school. I don’t know if, because he already had a school he was lower on a priority list, I do know that children with siblings already in an ESF school have a higher priority.

We also applied for (KCIS) Kiangsu & Chekiang School – International Section, http://www.kcis.edu.hk/KCCIS/kccismain.htm

He started at KCIS in September and he seems reasonably content there (he is never going to like school!). I’m not sure what we will do if and when West Island has a place – just see the lie of the land at the time. West Island has a much better reputation but I don’t like the idea of so many changes.

My son is a native English speaker and has always been educated in English. He also speaks Cantonese and Mandarin and is learning Chinese at school. The Chinese standard is higher at KCIS but the English standard is lower than West Island. They have different streams for Chinese depending on the level of the child.

There is no debenture at either the KCIS or West Island. The school fees are $7,300 month for 10 months. I’m not sure what the fees for West Island are but they will be lower than KCIS.

Another reason that I choose KCIS was because they are studying IGCSEs at age 16. I want my son to study these rather than the middle school IB programme. So this cut down the number of choices available to us.

Hope this helps,
Barb

 

[robinlovesair]

Hi Barb,
thank you so much for taking the time to write about your situation. It has been helpful to be to hear about another parent's process with the Hong Kong schools.
Robin