ESF vs NAIS

nicolelaiyy

Dear all,
My daughter just got an offer from NAIS year 1 this year. She is studying in ESF k2 now, and mostly likely she will be admitted to KJS primary 1 this year.  May I know which one is better in terms of curriculum and academic results?

NAIS is an educational organization that runs international schools around the world. There are 43 international schools worldwide. But its new in HK and have not yet produce public result yet. Whereas ESF has long history and are well known in HK, but i find out that the curriulum in ESF is quite loose and teachers are not that enthusiastic in teaching. Maybe it happens only in kindergarten.  I m not sure about the primary.

Difficult to choose. Anyone that have kids in these two schools can share?

Thanks a lot

nicolelaiyy

anyone can share? thanks a lot!

nicolelaiyy

回覆 dtemplar 的帖子

so what are the new charges for NAIS now?

nicolelaiyy

I choose Nais finally.
For the interview, I don't know coz my daughter go inside the room  by herself. I only remember she told me she was tested on some maths. I think most of the IS simply assess the child's ability in understanding and speaking in English.

nicolelaiyy

I stuggled a lot when i made up a decision at that time, but i finally pick Nais.

I pick NAIS finally because of several reasons.

1. I prefer a more structured curriculum when kids are in primary stage. I dont mind IB in secondary, but I perfer more solid foundation when kids are young.

2. I prefer smaller class size. Nais has a class of 22 while ESF has 30.  Besides the students mix of NAIS is more international and British whereas there are mostly chinese and Indians in KJS

3. There are 46 campuses in the world for Nais. They are run by very experienced educational organization for a very long time, so even though its new, I have faith in them. I think what NAIS can offer is quit unique. The Global Campus helps students explore the world, learn new skills and develop a truly international perspective through outstanding online, in-school and worldwide experiences. In Nais , students can really boarden their horizon. They are not merely interactiing with their classmates in hk, but in the world. The school provide lots of opportunities for students to meet with in different campus in the world, for competition, performance, cultural exchange ....

4. The music program and science program are terrific. The music curriculum is run collaborately with prestigious Juilliard art school. Students have the chance to go to Juilliard for intensive training and performance.  Moreover, it has a partnership with MIT  to provide STEAM  programmes. I heard there are a few children actually went to MIT this year

5. There are swimming class, art, drama every week. They are not taught as ECA after school but are comulsory in the curriculum. Besides, there are lots of ECA (free of charge) to choose from after school, wheres you have to pay ECA in ESF.

6. They offer summer prgrammes and boarding programmes in Nord Anglia education group world wide.

If you are intersted in getting to know more about Nord, you better arrange school visit. Take a look of their website, facebook and youtube, you can find tons of information.

Hope it helps.

nicolelaiyy

MrsWhite 發表於 17-9-5 00:12
Thanks a lot for your sharing !
It is very useful

i think both. But you better check with the school. I m not familiar with the arrangement of the new campus. Likely Sai Kung one would take in students from reception to year 3. Lam Tin is through train from year 1-13.

nicolelaiyy

抺茶雪糕 發表於 17-8-31 12:50
We are very interested in nais, may I know what is the format of the interview? Thanks

In march, NAIS was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. It was a very thorough and rigorous inspection of every aspect of school life covering nine areas which were being assessed. The ISI inspects Independent Schools in the UK, is validated by OFSTED and accredited by the UK Government to conduct inspections around the world to those standards.

The school achieved the higheset possible accolade: scoring the top grade ~EXCELLENT~ in all nine categories

For those who are interested in NAIS, you may click the link below to view the report. Hope it helps.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/346533182094021?view=permalink&id=1373502539397075

nicolelaiyy

My daughter have started the school for slightly more than one month now. She likes it very much and settled very well.
Its still too early to tell  about how good/or not good is the school. So far I m quited satisfied with the commmunication between the school and parents.  They respond very quickly when problem arise. The curriculum is well structured and well informed to parents before start of school. The music curriculum is awesome coz it is run with  prestigious Juilliard art school.  Besides there is swiimming class, art, drama every week, not being taught as ECA after school, but in the curriculum..
There are also lots of ECA(free of charge) to choose from after school.

I think the global campus online is also very unique for NAIS. There are 46 schools around the world. There are lots of opportunities for students to meet others students  from around the world, to have competition between different campus in the world, for cultural exchange, for performance....I think students from NAIS can really boarden their horizon.  I like this platform very much.  My daughter is too young to make use of the global campus online. But I see some year 3 students have writing competition with other students in other campus. Their English standard is very high....If kids can really make use of this platform, they can gain a lot of knowledge, experience, different cultures... among all the different campuses  within the NAIS family

Hope it helps !

nicolelaiyy

saijanjan 發表於 17-10-27 11:36
May i ask if your kids is an overseas passport holder

No, we are locals