pls advise: DBSPD vs St. Paul's co-ed

melody8

my son is a very active boy and he likes all sorts of sports. i want him to maintain his eng standard, so DBS is my preferred option. however, i'm afraid he will participate too many sports and neglect his study there. could any parents share their thoughts with me? thanks for your help.

melody8

thank you for your advice. luckily, both schools have accepted him and i started to feel the pressure as parents.

you're right. i think i ll spend more time to allocate his activities since he's too small to set priorities. thanks a lot!

melody8

he's not smart at all. but he's very talkative & full of confidence.

my son is in CCKG. he is good at english and swimming

[ 本帖最後由 melody8 於 09-6-5 23:24 編輯 ]

melody8

thanks so much for all your advices. i live in kowloon tong and DBS is actually a closer one.

my husband takes care of his sports while i take care of his eng studies. since my husband is already a member of south china, so our son is not difficult to join their trainings. but i guess it's open to all and it's just a matter of paying the annual fee.

i always read with my son. we're reading the collection of roah dahl now. He's taking an advanced english course outside for his oral and writing. the materials are not easy for him, but he likes to challenge.

melody8

he has a gold medal for Eng speech festival and a bronze medal for swimming competition. You're right. His Chinese is not as good as his English.

I maintain a close relationship with his teachers. I always choose the quality of the teacher instead of the learning centre because big and established ones are not necessarily good. And it's his english teacher who advised me to switch to CCKG and develop his interest in swimming.

melody8

thank you for all your advices :loveliness:

let me share some of my experiences.

melody8

on swimming

- my son joined a swimming association in causeway bay (i can pm u if u want to know the name) at the age of 4. this is the minimum age to get in. they have swimming courses and the coach can advise u what competitions to join.

- they have other ball games too but my son doesn't have time to join them

melody8

on english

- my son has been attending an advanced english course in a learning centre. their curriculum is based on schools like DBSPD and DGJS. the materials are quite difficult but manageable
- they need to take a test before enrollment. the test is not easy. but u can skip the test if u take the same level course. pls pm if u want to know the name

melody8

on interview class

- my son is very shy in front of strangers and needs a long time to warm up. therefore he attended an interview course. but in my opinion, not every kid needs that. some kids can express themselves appropriately in front of strangers

- the interview course he attended is an intensive one during summer. i think that's the most suitable time as it's near the actual interview time. yet i still have time to do make ups if his performance is not good enough

- i chose a course which focuses on the technique and manner rather than memorizing model answers. Some centres are quite commercial and they claim 99% successful. but the numbers could be misleading

melody8

from reading pictures to roah dahl

- this really takes a long time to achieve that. he used to read oxford reading tree but i think there are too few words. he takes a reading and writing course which slowly teaches him to read longer story and less picture

- at home, i have a fixed reading time everyday to revise the materials he learnt from the course and read another story book together. if he can finish 1 book in a week, i'll give him something as a treat

melody8

on chinese courses

- i didn't put much emphasis on chinese as it's his mother tongue. he can't be too bad. i'll consider taking courses only if the level in school is too high for him

melody8

on maths courses

- i teach him at home. there're many fun exercises u can find in page one.  i always find candies as a very effective tool to teach him how to add or subtract!

melody8

i think i've answered all the questions. Good luck and hopefully we can meet each other in DBSPD later!

melody8

they won't cancel your admission if you hold 2 DSS. but it's not for all direct subsidy schools. i would recommend u to check with individual schools.

as for my case, DBSPD gives me a deadline and i need to tell them before Aug 31, or sooner the better. but of course, they said it's really the parents' choice. as for St. Paul's, there is no deadline but of course sooner the better again.

i finally chose DBSPD, so i canceled St Paul's seat last Sat.

However, once you hold a seat in DSS, you need to give up 'lucky draw' and there's a declaration form for you to sign.

Actually there's a website for DSS, they have an enquiry hotline in it.

hope it helps :)

DSS - http://www.dsssc.org.hk/main2/index.htm

melody8

Hi PNGCC,

i remember it's around mid Dec as we brought our kid to celebrate during x'mas

melody8

The publishers we choose for Maths exercises are Oxford & Evan-Moor. I would highly recommend you to do the exercises with your children, or else they will only treat it as a coloring book : (

These are the books I bought for my son:
- Oxford: Fun with Pattern and Shape
- Oxford: At Home with Maths
- Evan-Moor: Basic Maths Skills
- Evan-Moor: Math Games

they're of different levels and you can find them in Page One