IS (ie ESF) or local DSS (ie DBSPD/ St. Paul's Co-ed)

Adrimom

Dear all,

Hi all, I saw some of the threads discussed here talking about the differences between international schools and typical local school (i.e. better English in IS, duck feed teaching approach in local schools etc).  I wish to draw a more 'apple to apple' comparison here - IS vs local direct subsidies schools, as they are closer in terms of school fee, and teaching approach (I suppose most directly subsidies schools nowadays no longer use the very 'duck feed' teaching approach and they also try to provide more resources and exposure to students).  How would you compare these two streams?  Ideally speaking, if your kid is accepted by all the above schools, which one would you choose?

The reason why I'm asking is, my son got accepted by a popular local kindergarten and he will be in K1 in Sept.  I am still considering which stream to put him to for primary.  Some people told me to try local first, coz if you are not happy with local, you can always switch to international, but definitely not vise versa.  How true is that?  I heard that ESF schools are also highly competitive.  How high a chance can one get into ESF primary if he studies in local kindy?  Can anyone shed some light?

Thanks so much!

Adrimom

So does that mean one has to stick with local/ IS once the decision is made as it's really hard to switch to a different stream later on?  It's a really tough decision to make though

Adrimom

Makes a lot of sense...
My wish list: I wish my son to achieve native level of English, without compromising his knowledge in Chinese (written/ spoken).  I want him study in a happy, flexible and not-too-stressful environment, but with good discipline.  As for curriculum, I haven't really done a lot of research yet as my son hasn't even started kindergarten...would welcome some more advice on this.  School fee is of course an issue.  We can at most afford DSS school fees or ESF, but not IS like GSIS or alike.  So it's basically DSS or ESF I have in mind for now.  

Hubby doesn't feel very comfortable if son turns into a guai jai and talks only English to us.  To me this isn't too much of a concern though.

I didn't really start considering IS until quite recently, otherwise I would have also applied ESF kindy instead of just local kindy.  Anyone could give me some advice on what options I can consider?

Adrimom

So since my son is accepted by a local kindergarten, how high a chance will he be accepted by an international school for primary? (we speak to him in Cantonese and English at home.  He understands both but he's definitely better in Cantonese when expressing himself and all that)  Anyone got similar experience?  Or do I really need to put him in a local for the morning and an int'l for the afternoon?  But that is way too tough for him at this age.  

I saw some members discussing about Renaissance College.  Is it supposed to be more balance btwn Eng and Chi lanaguage exposure?  How is it different from other ESF schools?  I am totally new to IS so would be happy if someone can give me more ideas.  Thanks!

Adrimom

Thanks oooray ;)  I'm trying to go through more threads right now.  Information overload   I'm digesting bit by bit...

Adrimom

Thanks Almon for your information about RC.  You have raised the right question.  I need to ask myself what I expect my child to achieve from school.  This is a question I have been asking myself over and over, and honestly I still haven't got a definite answer.  That's why I want to get more viewpoints from different parents, esp from those who have kids studying in international schools.  Hubby and I had no experience studying in IS, but both of us came from the so-called elite local schools in town.  We think it's ok if our son follow our footsteps, but we also want to understand more about some other options we can have/ afford to have.  Totally agree with all the above postings regarding the language focus.  I know we can't have both... it's still a huge dilemma.