was it real? I heard that someone committed suicide with her kid after refused by Bradbury ESF primary few years ago?

[2mums]

I heard this horrible story about that a woman jumped out of the building with her kid when she found out that her kid was refused by Bradbury ESF. Is this real? I am totally horrified by this story and upset about what the HK international schools interview system have done to the people!

 

[peainpod]

It happened four years ago, in Feb 2010 when the parents reportedly started arguing after their child was not offered a Year 1 place at an ESF school (not sure if it was Bradbury).

Apparently the mom was adamant that her child must be in an international school while the dad felt they could not afford any other international schools. In a fit of frustration, the mom grabbed her 4 yo daughter and leapt off the 7/F of Dragon shopping centre in Sham Shui Po. Her daughter survived but the mom did not.

 

[mickymaus]

Yes it is real, the child was an ESF kindergarten pupil and an applicant to Beacon Hill, the child survived uninjured but the mother died.

 

[mickymaus]

To be fair, the child being with an ESF kindergarten already enjoyed priority over outsiders, it was more a case of what stress and anxiety could do to an already obsessed mind.

 

[2mums]

To be fair, the child being with an ESF kindergarten already enjoyed priority over outsiders, it was more a case of what stress and anxiety could do to an already obsessed mind.

It is really a sad sad story and I assume the mother nature of the died mum has protected her daughter in some way so, probably that was the reason why the kid was not injured.

Considering the effort the mum has made to send her little girl days and days for at least 3 terms on the bus to an ESF kindergarten in the hope that the kid will be able to get an opportunity to get into an ESF school, the frustration of having been let done must be overwhelm. The thing is that the assessment of ESF schools are not well designed in the way. Its criteria is not clear enough and biased towards certain racial group. What is proper English level to enter the ESF? if the kid is shy or not well on the day, she could perform badly which does not mean she is lack of proper level of English.

I am just curious and wondering if any 'white' kids (sorry to use such a definition and I dont meat to upset anyone) doesn't matter which 'mother' language background they are from, were refused by ESF schools if they have attended ESF kindergarten? I don't mean to offend any racial group but in fact, I think the interviews are designed in the way the bias caused by kids appearance in terms of racial could heavily affect the judgment of some teachers involved in the process.

I have heard from some mums saying that although the kindergarten has said to the schools that the English of kids who have been refused are no worse than most kids the schools have interviewed, the kids were still refused. I have heard that some kids were accept by one esf BUT let down by other. How bizarre!

I felt the tragedy should have never happened if ESF schools have respect their kindergarten colleagues opinions and have a proper process to deal with the issues raised due to possible bias existing in the process.

At the end of the day, if the kids is not having special needs, would they fail to learn in a language environment they spent whole day there even their parents do not speak a word of that language? the possibility is very very rare. Just think about those kids who learn Mandarin / Spanish or other languages offered by international schools here really well with parents who can not speak a word in those language and they only learn that language few hours a week with or without extra tutorial. Are they all genius?!

 

[mickymaus]

It is really a sad sad story and I assume the mother nature of the died mum has protected her daughter in some way so, probably that was the reason why the kid was not injured.

According to news reports, it happened in a shopping mall with a central clearing, and the clearing was covered by a safety net meant to protect shoppers from any (small) falling object accidentally dropped from above. The mother first threw the child over and a few seconds later jumped off herself. The child being light was stopped by the net but the much heavier mother tore right through and fell to her death.

Yes it was a real tragedy but I wouldn't read too much into it. In fact over the years the success rate of ESF kindergarten pupils proceeding to their primary schools has been quite high, some say between 70% to 90%.

 

[mickymaus]

a central clearing <-- Just found the architectural jargon for it, an atrium, but you get the idea

 

[mickymaus]

Found a picture of the actual spot where it happened, that net looked pretty small and flimsy. I suspect it wasn't even meant for safety purposes, just decoration that happened to have saved a life ...

 

[2mums]

According to news reports, it happened in a shopping mall with a central clearing, and the clearing was covered by a safety net meant to protect shoppers from any (small) falling object accidentally dropped from above. The mother first threw the child over and a few seconds later jumped off herself. The child being light was stopped by the net but the much heavier mother tore right through and fell to her death.

Yes it was a real tragedy but I wouldn't read too much into it. In fact over the years the success rate of ESF kindergarten pupils proceeding to their primary schools has been quite high, some say between 70% to 90%.

It was sad that the mum has jumped too after few seconds. What made her do it? Guilty or if the child died she would rather die too? or she was trying to save the kids? anyway, the poor mum was clearly forced into the corner where she can not get out from without the HELP!

That is what I am trying to discuss here. Where is HELP for these parents! They are not numbers in the ratio , they are human being. I assume other 30%-10%
coped well except this poor mum?! ESF schools should really share certain responsibility here and reflect on it! did they do? have they been doing it?

The frustration of living in HongKong is that HKer focused their whole energy on disputing or against mainland China if they decided to speak out for things that matters even a lot of time they were highly biased but will ignore many other system injustice posed to them and others! People also considered a lot of social responsibility of the companies and institutions of their own fault therefore they need to perfect themselves and their kids by sending kids of 15 mths to tutorial and it is 'NORMAL'!

 

[mickymaus]

It was sad that the mum has jumped too after few seconds. What made her do it? Guilty or if the child died she would rather die too? or she was trying to save the kids?

I don't know, and I won't want to speculate.

If the discussion is really about not being happy with ESF and Hongkonger's dispute with China etc etc etc, perhaps it is better for you to start new threads rather than try to "grow" them from a tragic story.