Which kindergarten to have better chance to get into Chinese international school?

Hi Howardcoombs,

So how did you manage to get child into ISF? Your child must be super smart and did a great interview...Your child went to Lingnan and KCIS right? I think you were kind enough to reply on my Lingnan thread before. Thanks.
 
Actually she is not special; just regular ordinary kid. There are one or 2 supersmart ISF kids in every grade but in general the kids are fairly normal and average.

My eldest child got into ISF at P6 level because she was fluent in English and Mandarin.

If you are trying to get into ISF in early years (reception) : You need to have an average and fairly normal child (not shy/ widthdrawn/quiet etc) along with a family commitment to Hong Kong (ISF generally reject transient families) and commitment to Chinese language and culture (it is a fully bilingual school)

If you are trying to get into ISF in later years : The same criteria above applies and on top of that the child must be fully fluent in English as well as Mandarin.
 
I have 4 students in ISF both from english speaking family,
it's a disaster that they should fighting with their homework
Everyday. They can not finish their homework if I'm not with
them,so u should also prepare a large sum of money for tutors.
 
Thats quite normal as Chinese is not their home language.
We've had tutors in our house (sometimes 2 at a time) since the kids were 3 years old to help them with their homework as we as western parents cannot help at all.

As for large sum of money, that all depends on what type of tutor you hire. We've always gone for university students and paid them around $100/hr - you dont need much more than that as you are just trying to support the learning and dont need a highly qualified teacher.

I'm aware that some parents hire tutors and pay them 300-500/hr : I think thats totally un-necessary.
 
Hi Howard, how do you like Isf?

We are undecided between Isf, sis and cis. Have you made some comparisons between the 3 you can share?
 
We love ISF and very happy with it. My bank account does not and the cost is a big drain on family finances.

I have visited all 3 schools multiple times and say with confidence that all 3 of them are excellent in teachers, facilities and overall education. Their fees are also close to each other.

The major difference is the level of commitment to Mandarin education.

SIS : people classify this as a Mandarin school but if you start digging into the number of classes and hours of teaching you will find very quickly that its an English school with a fairly decent Mandarin programme.

CIS : very good Mandarin programme is available but it is very much "optional". You can apply and get into the school at all levels without having any Mandarin. During my multiple visits I did not get the feeling that there was a major commitment to bilingualism and I know that CIS regularly accepts students who are transient (parents with 1-2 year contracts) which does lead to churn which is also present in a lot of HK international schools.

ISF : Strictly bilingual. Every kid must be fully bilingual at every grade past reception. The schools considers and routinely rejects transient families; they are looking for people with strong commitment to Hong Kong and bilingual education.
 
Very helpful thank you! How is the mandarin programme in sis compared to cis? Would you say the latter is stronger?

Besides mandarin, are you satisfied with the English and other curriculum being taught in Isf? We like the school but have a slight concern with its lack if track record. Am curios what you think of that.

Thanks in advance.
 
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