入拔萃之路

LesMis99

1. 强化英語是否基本條件?
The two interviews were conducted in Cantonese. This should rule out that spoken English was one of the key criteria in the decision process. In my opinion, the manners how the kids behaved were more important than any already acquired language skills, especially for a child of 5+. Think about it that there are still 6-12 years of learning down the line.

2. 你們是否都讓子女參加很多學習班/興趣班,以及參加各種比賽獲獎?
The most suitable place for kids (5+) is the playground. I believe anyone can afford taking their kids to a playground, say Victoria Park on Sunday.

3. 是否雖具一技之長如突出的體育,音樂或藝術成就 (雖然只是K3).
Not many kids like Mozart who started playing piano at 3 and knew composing music at 5 and could master 3 intruments at the age of 8. DG/DB interviewing process is not a music contest. There are no ways to verify how good the kids can be at music or art within such a short period of time.  Let alone 'achievement' at music for a kid at 5+ !

4. 是否一定就讀有名氣的幼稚園?
Lot of things that a well behaved child needs to possess can be taught at home at an early age. I think parents' model examples come first! Both famous and not so famous kids go to DG or DB.

5. 個人品格方面有什麽要求? 子女要很有自信及醒目型嗎? 還是學校想收不同種類的人材?
This is a kind of personal preferences between the interviewer (Mrs Dai) and the kid. A very subjective aspect, very hard to be quantified! I think this is where luck exists!

6. 幼稚園校內成績又是否很重要?
The potentials rather than the existing results for a kid of 5+ are the most important. You have to show what is the potential for the kid that appears more superior than others in order to win a place! Again, something that parents need to really think hard about your kids.

Also, the schools (DG/DB) don't conduct a reference/cross check on all the information you submitted before they send out the offers. In particular, they really don't care about where you live (rented or owned or fake address) and how much money you make so long as , I think, you can find a mean to settle the school fees.

When one comes to select some 140 out of 3000+, there must be some criteria to follow. Here is what I think based on our daughter's experience who was lucky to get an offer.

1. luck (55%)
2. good manners (20%)
3. parents' intentions and attitudes (via some examples) (20%)
4. money/address/financials/occupations (5%)

LesMis99

Would appreciate any comments from DGJS alumni to share with us what parents should really expect if their daughters study at DG/DB. Apart from academic achievements which I think are largely dependent upon how much efforts one puts into it, other aspects like the relationships among their fellow classmates would utlimately determine how much one would be influenced by the peers during the later part of their school life.  

What does the school atmosphere look like, I mean do children share with others what they learn, play, etc rather than building their own 'weapon' secretely?

Do they have real friends at school as the competition looks so intense in every respect? What do the parents really care about? A good life for an unforgetable childhood or marks and grades?

LesMis99

There have been a lot of discussions regarding backgrounds and characters. No doubt it is fair to say that good characters exist in any family backgrounds. To cultivate a good character in your child, you don't need to be a super rich people and live in a house. What's important for a good character is family education or simply a good model example of parents for children to follow.

Middle class family usually have more resources to allow or help their kids expose to a great variety of things compared with people with less resources as a result of less income or limited personal experiences. Therefore, the kids raised under different environments will have different behaviours and give people a impression/perception that kids from middle class or rich people will enjoy a special treatment by the school. Utlimately, kids' performance is everything what the school values the most during an interview process.

Nowadays, it is so easy and fair to acquire 'knowledge' in an economical way, which is easily available in the library or the internet.

Hope this makes sense to you!

LesMis99

With reference to my earlier claims that luck accounts for more than 50% during the selection process, I knew a couple of examples that DBS accepted those being turned down by Raimondi and also that DGS accepted someone who was also turned down by Raimondi as well. What I have learnt from these examples is that there are no universal selection criteria that can be used to explain all the cases. It all depends on "personal preferences" of the school principal (Mrs Dai). Who cares about the reasons!!! No matter what the selection criteria are and how well the child performs during the interview, the principal (Mrs Dai) has the utimate discretionary power which you and me will never know except herself.

LesMis99

Let's focus on the whole interviewing process. First, no interviews with parents are involved. Second, there is no reference checking on the invalidity of all the information submitted to the school except the results from the kid's kindergarten. The kid is the theme of the whole interviewing process. As far as I understand, the school does not check one's family background before they make an offer. Based on the obsevations, I don't think they really take into account the background into consideration in the final stage. Whether or not a good family background (or simply money) can lead to a good persoanlity, I really don't think so. As I said before, parents' model examples are what the children follow. They are by instint a copy 'cat' during this age. If one really wants to find out and explain why a child gets in while the other is rejected. I think the best way is to review how well one teaches their kids. Apart from that, luck is everything!

LesMis99

I believe the number of viewers on this topic will rise further and should easily surpass 100,000 or more by the time schools begin to invite application for P.1 later the year.

This chat should by no means be used as a tool to attack people with different opinions. Let's focus on our own experiences, successful or fail, in order to help others who are to pick their own dream schools soon.

I am sure if a child is placed in the TOP 5% in 'any' primary school, he/she will definitely be welcomed by the top schools like DBS/DG/SPCC/ etc ... irrespective of his/her family background. I think we should not place too much emphasis on a particular school (like DB/DG/SPCC). I believe also that if a child is ranked BOTTOM 5-10% in DB/DG, I am sure that he/she will feel no better than anyone scoring similar rank in other schools.

Let's talk about fact and not to force your subjective thinkings on others. I really hope that this topic will become a useful source of information to benefit other potential applicants.

LesMis99

The world has been changing. Maybe, we are in an age of "New Normal". Education is nowadays a product or commodity that possesses in itself some sort of value regarding branding. Choosing a school is no longer based on the fundamental needs but on the social image of the school. I think this is why there are so many differences and comparisons among various schools that have been posted on BK.

But Why?? HK education system has been evolving unknowingly from the early simple Chinese/English stream to banding system (1,2,3,4,5, etc) and now towards "branding" which is where we are now. The only purpose is to differentiate among students as to who are eligible for higher education and who are not. But looking at our young people, the un-employment rate for them is so high, at least much much higher than the reported 4.x%. Why? I think that there could be something wrong with what people are actually thinking about education, branding not the actual knowledge based itself. .....

[ 本帖最後由 LesMis99 於 11-1-5 10:37 編輯 ]

LesMis99

Thank GAT for creating this topic and also all the comments and opinions expressed by others since Dec 28. My husband and I are deeply impressed by how keen parents are trying to help their kids get in their dream schools. For those smart kids, wish you all the best! For those kids with less luck, please don't give up. That's life! ...

[ 本帖最後由 LesMis99 於 11-1-4 23:49 編輯 ]