GSIS

Ruby1219

My son is studying in GSIS. What areas do you want to know? And, which year are you looking at?

Ruby1219

Sorry I just 'came back' and saw you gals' messages!!

Here are my feedback :

請問你小朋友讀YEAR 幾?
My son's in Year 6 now. He joined GSIS in mid term of Year 3.

我囡囡下個月IN K1, 但佢地得20個位, 我唸都無咩機會, 請問面試時有咩秘訣呀?
Sorry I don't know about the interview for Kindergarten.

你小朋友會唔會唔識中文呢? 佢地要YEAR 4先學好似遲左D咁, 高班工課多唔多呢?
He knows Chinese. His grades in Chinese at school is very good indeed, but I think it's becos the Chinese standard there is very low.


學校係咪好鐘意家長參與學校活動呢? 因我見佢地時不時都會邀請家長到學校講故事講書咁, 我自己唔多鍾意SOCIAL, 英文又唔係好叻, 如果好彩入到而又唔參與, 會唔會影響學校對小朋友既印象唔好既呢?
True that there are many opportunities for you to participate in their school activities. There's a Mother's Committee and X'mas Bazaar, Open Day etc. However, it's totally your choice whether to join or not. I am very inactive in these activities. I don't feel that's any negative impact on my son wor.

Hope the above helps.

Ruby1219

Sorry for such late reply.

My daughter is going to attend GSIS's interview next month too. Can you share how you prepared the interview?  I was told that the children will choose the toy they want to play in the interview room. Don't know what to acess and how to acess the children.

>>I hope your daughter had done well in the interview! Got the result?
In fact I have no idea about the interview for kindergarten, as my son joined in Year 3.
I never prepare my son for interviews. Cos I think it would do bad than good. It would only make your kid nervous and not doing well in the interview. And, I don't think there's anything that you can 惡補 for the interview.

I heard that there is a probation period of six months and if the students can not get to their standard ,they have to leave the school, is this  truth?
>>yes, there's a six months probation policy for new students. It's stated in the acceptance letter. But I haven't heard of any 'real case' of students being 'expelled' in the probation. So, I think it's not something to worry about.

Hope the above helps (still).

Ruby

Ruby1219

Oh. Why she did not go into the interview room?

Ruby1219

The turnover rate in GSIS is very high. Every year there were a few students leaving and therefore I think it's easier to get in by 插班 (my son's case).
I did not hear that students leaving because of IB. This year (Year 6), a couple of my son's classmates will be leaving to start secondary education in U.K or U.S.

Ruby1219

You would need to buy the debenture. Not sure how much is it now. Mine was HK$250,000.

Then, there're only costs for stationery (about few hundred dollars) and PE uniform (also few hundred dollars).

Till Year 6, they would have the Outward Bound that costs few thousand dollars.

And, study tours during the school year such as go to 桂林in Year 7, which I think would cost about HK$10,000?

But the trips should be optional.

Ruby1219

What is homework workload like starting in year 3?  

>>I remember homework workload in Year 3 was light. Maybe a few worksheets per week. Usually class teacher would assign the homework on Monday which due by end of the week. But it also depends on the class teacher. Some class teachers like to give more homework, some prefer the kids to finish the work at school.

As I remember, the homework workload increased drastically in Year 5 and Year 6. On top of a few English worksheets, there would be German and Chinese homework every week, and on top they need to do group projects and book reports as well.

And, I was told that by secondary (my son will enter Year 7 this coming August), there will be more homework, tests and exams; kinda like local schools.

How is chinese?  If a child is already proficient in chinese by the time they reach year 4 (due to private tutoring), what level of chinese will they be taught at GSIS?

>> I don't know what do you mean by proficient and it's really hard for me to judge the level, as I have no reference to other schools or local schools (I got only one kid and he's been studying in int'l school all along). In fact, my son is being regarded as 'proficient' and 'very good' in Chinese in the eyes of his classmates and their parents. However, my friends/relatives & I (the local Chinese) think his Chinese is not good enough. He joined GSIS in Year 3 and before that, he had Chinese lessons everyday in the previous primary school and kindergarten. I can only advise you that private tutoring is essential to keep up your kid's Chinese, especially if you will put him/her in GSIS. Then, if he/she can enter the 'flyers' group of Chinese in GSIS by Year 7, the standard would be really high (they are using Beijing Year 4 textbook  and I was told that even some local school students could not get into the 'flyers' group).

Hope the above helps.

Best,
Ruby

Ruby1219

If i remember correctly, it's about 3-4 lessons per week in Year 3 for Chinese. And they were using Singapore textbook, not sure which year level, should be 1-2 years lower I guess.
My son is now in the advanced group in Year 6 and they are using Beijing textbook Year 1 only. But if he enters the flyers group, it will jump to the Year 4 textbook of the same series. For the advance group (i.e. the second group most of the current Year 6 advance class will be automatically assigned to) will use the Year 2 textbook of the same series.

Ruby1219

Your kid is in Year2 now ? Which school is he/she going to now ?

Ruby1219

Hi Yumom,

Sorry I did not "come" to BK last few days, here are my "late" replies :

It's a bit saddening to learn that the workload of Year 5 and 6 are busy and Year 7 is a bit like local school! But is the homework of quality? (or like most local schools, just copy and write and write..).

>>it's just the workload being heavy, but the homework is nothing like local school (as per my memory when I was student). They do little printing/copying (just a little for Chinese). Most of the homeworks are worksheets about English vocabularies and their applications, reading & book reports, and many projects (ICT, General Studies, Science)

Is the syllabus good? Do you mind sharing what they learnt, say Science, History, Georgraphy in Year 6.

>> I think their syllabus is good. They have Science starting from Year 5, no History & Geography, but General Studies in which they studied Roman, Greek cultures, studies about Continents etc.  Their projects are always interesting. For example, this year they had done a "Continent Project", which they have to pick a continent and then present 1. a Game 2. a Song, 3. the Social/Political issues 4. the Map 5. a Food (with recipe and video of the cooking process, even share the real product with the class!) 6. a summary powerpoint presentation and video!

How would you rate the quality of the teachers (majority)?

>> Most of the teachers are good. Reasonable and caring. My son likes most of them. And you know what?  Even their principal is teaching them! PE, Math and English! When my son was in P.4, his class teacher told me that the principal so happened passed by and heard my son's presentation and was impressed : ). She's really involved in the teaching and the kids.

When will they introduce IB? Will the current Year 6 students be affected? Do students have a choice of joing IB or GSCE?

>>They should be starting IB in 2015, if I remember correctly. Yes, my son would be 'affected', but I don't know if there's a choice between IB and GSCE, I guess probably IB is a must.

Do all the classes separate the students into different groups according to their ability or just chinese class?

>> In primary, they just have different levels/groups for Chinese. But for Math, they would offer Extended Math (just more difficult class work) to the Math talented students

For German, is it necessary to arrange private tuition or does GSIS will arrange special tuition for new comers?   

>>No. The school would provide extra German class after school for those new comers who cannot catch up. But some of my son's classmates do have private tutorials, which is difficult to find a tutor and expensive ($500 per hour at least).

I've learnt that GSIS is particulary strong at Math and Science. Is private tuitoring required or we can rely on the school to "englighten" our kids' mind?

>>I'm not sure if that's true to primary school. My son said the Math at school is very easy. I did not hear any other kids needing supplementary classes for Math or Science. But some kids including my son are taking EPGY or CTY Math courses which are much more advanced than that from school.

Hope the above helps. How old is your kid? Is he/she entering GSIS coming August? Which year?

Ruby

Ruby1219

Hi adachan318,

I don't know. Sorry. And it's not something that significant or important I think.


Ruby

Ruby1219

Hi Yumom,

Oh! Your kid will be joining GSIS Year 7? Then s/he might become my son's classmate :)
Is a he or she?
Where is s/he from?
Did s/he join the Year 7 Orientation Day last Wed? My son said he met 8-9 new kids, one from DBS, several from SIS. Maybe they had met already? Haha.

EPGY = Education Program for Gifted Youth, by Stanford University
CTY = Center for Talented Youth, by Johns Hopkins University
Both are from the U.S., providing online English/Writing, Math and Science courses for talented kids in respective areas. My son's been doing EPGY for few years, and he's joining the Summer Program by CTY this year, hosted in HKUST.

Ruby

Ruby1219

Hi Yumon,

My son was keen and asked me about your daughter's name (send me pm if you would like to let him know).
In fact, I used to get to know a mom here at BK before her daughter joined GSIS!! And now our kids are classmates and we are friends!!
Why you want to change your girl from DGJS to GSIS? DG is such a top local school that many HK parents long for!
My son is not brilliant at all! Especially among the GSIS kids. He's just very interestedin math and science and doing quite well in that area, but his teacher said he has to catch in terms of English. The academic standard in GSIS is quite high, but my son likes the school very much and he's very motivates to learnin this school. That's why I like GSIS too : )

Ruby1219

Yumom,

sent you pm. pls check.

Ruby

Ruby1219

suzanlai,

Sorry I don't quite get your question.
What do you mean by"what will be an advantage if i were planning to enroll my daughter to GSIS?"

"i always heard from others that GSIS is a very tough school which focus on adcadamic, do you agree?"

I feel that GSIS is 'more academic' than the other international schools. It's kind of like an in-between of local and int'l schools. But the teaching style and enviroment are still free and motivating. Hope I'm answering your question.

Best,
Ruby

Ruby1219

Suzan,
Another way to approach the issue is decide what kind of education do you want for your kid.
My son, similar to Yumom's daughter, can fit in both local and int'l schools (i think). But I decided to enroll him into int'l schools since he was 2.5yrs old  becos I buy the teaching and learning approach of int'l schools. And simply, I knew I would be too busy at work to be qualified as a local school parent. And more importantly, I don't want to waste all my leisure, family time on doing homework and revising for tests/exams with my son.
Now, he's already 11 (P.6), looking at his school life versus my friends' kids' (who are studying at local schools), I confirm that I was right. I'm horrified knowing my friends are now (June-final exam season) locking themselves and their kids at home studying days and nights, can't even go out for a  lunch or dinner!

That's my two cents, hope it helps.

Ruby1219

Hi Chess,

My 'cons' of international schools :
1. Expensive
2. Lower Chinese level
3. Lower knowledge/appreciation of Chinese culture
4. As local parents, we won't mindle very well with other parents (mostly foreigners)

To me, point 2 & 3 are more of concern than point 1 & 4.

Ruby

Ruby1219

Chess,

It's true that in int'l schools, the kids do not need to 背書 and answer the questions in model answers. No offense, but isn't it a 'con' for local schools?

In int'l schools, kids finally would 'memorize' a lot of things, becos they found it interesting. My son loves retelling me the fun facts he found in books, but exactly he remembers them becos he was not forced to!
And in this new 'online' era, all sorts of information is available. I think 'memorization' is of less and less importance. While, the ability to seek knowledge and information is much more crucial. Don't you agree?
One more thing. The int'l school kids still need to 背 things like Chinese characters, English spelling, multiplication table, basic math formulas etc. But they don't need to 背 the textbooks (actually they don't have textbooks except Chinese and German) .

Ruby1219

Suzan,

This is exactly NOT my case! Cos I speak in Cantonese with my son since he was 3, when he got accepted by the international kindergarten and we confirmed to put him in international from kindergarten to secondary). Before 3, we spoke to him in English to ensure he can pass the interview.

Now, my son talks to me in Cantonese over 90% of time, he only speaks in English when he cannot find the Chinese words.
Actually, he speaks almost the best Cantonese at school, and he's the top student in Chinese subject at school (but you know, the Chinese level of GSIS is pretty low).

Ruby1219

Hi Chess,

Find my answers below :

1. how's school in GSIS? Your kid mix well with his schoolmates?

>>Yes, he enjoys school a lot. So far he loves GSIS and he said he would like to study there as long as he can i.e. till Year 13

2. is it difficult to get in at Year 8?
>> sorry I don't know about secondary. only thing I can tell you is the turnover rate of GSIS is very high, as many kids have to relocate for studying abroad or their parents have to relocate for jobs. So, do keep yourself in the waiting list and keep track to see when the vacancy arise.

3. how's entrance exam for primary level like? Written test plus interview?

When my son took the assessment in Year 3, he was given a math written test, had to write an English story and read a story with the teacher. It took about 1 hour time.